JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A teacher at KIPP Impact Middle School has been fired after pushing a student outside a classroom, which is a violation of the school’s code of conduct, a spokesman for the Jacksonville charter school told News4Jax on Tuesday.
The spokesman said terminating the seventh-grade teacher, who the school is not naming, was a "very clear decision for the school."
The principal sent home a letter to parents on Tuesday, saying that after becoming aware of the incident before spring break, the teacher was placed on leave while the school investigated.
In the letter, Principal Brittney Black apologized to the student and the student's family for what happened. She added that the school is "committed to acting swiftly to address any and all issues like these."
READ: Letter to parents from principal of KIPP Impact Middle School
There's no word on whether the student was injured in any way.
"A teacher should never be allowed to put their hands on a student, regardless of what the case may be," said Lacora Hardy, whose daughter is a former student of KIPP VOICE Elementary School. "A child should be able to go to school and learn and be able to look up to the teacher as a mentor, not look at the teacher and be fearful of the teacher."
Last fall, the school spokesman said, there was a separate, unrelated incident in which another teacher was fired for a code of conduct violation.
Hardy said she's now glad her daughter will not be attending KIPP Impact Middle School.
"They need to do a little more investigating on who they hire," Hardy said.
KIPP Impact Middle School, which is located on McDuff Avenue North in the city's Woodstock area, was founded in 2010 and has 280 students enrolled in grades 5-8, according to the school's website.