When you take your kids to school, you expect the teachers and other staff there to protect and safeguard them. What you don't expect, however, is for the school director to become the ringleader of a child fight club.
But that's what 51-year-old Mary Tracy Morrison has just been sentenced to 30 days in jail for. According to the New York Post, she also received 120 days of house arrest, and nine years of probation.
She was the director and owner of The Delta Institute for the Developing Brain in Arkansas, which is a school for neurodivergent children with autism and ADHD, among other differences.
Morrison was originally arrested in April of last year, after a mother of a 13-year-old student told the Craighead County Sheriff's Office that her son was consistently being mentally and physically abused.
A probable cause affidavit said that Morrison made 18 children surround another child in the makeshift fight club. She had "instructed the child to sit on the floor while being surrounded." The affidavit also said that Morrison told the students to put the hands on the child, and hit them with an "unknown object".
Morrison even verbally berated and encouraged other children to beat the child. She gave a high-five to a student which choked and kicked the child in the center.
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Other Arkansas Staff Were Arrested Following the Fight Club Arrest
But, Morrison wasn't the only teacher involved in the makeshift fight club. 38-year-old Michael Bean, 36-year-old Kristin Bell, and 45-year-old Kathrine Lipscomb were all arrested in connection with the shocking incident.
Morrison also lost her teaching license, and her occupational therapy license. She can't have any contact with the victim, either.
The Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for the case, Jessica Thomason, stressed that the way the case was handled meant that the children involved were protected. She said, "This resolution ensures that the victims are not required to relive these events through the court process and secures conditions that protect the community going forward. Morrison will no longer be permitted to work with children."
What an absolutely wild case. If nothing else, we're just glad no more kids are being hurt.
