A Wake County elementary school teaching assistant has been arrested on charges of injuring a student under her supervision.
Court records show Zebulon police charged Shirley Richardson, 62, on Thursday with two counts of child molestation while she worked at Wakelon Elementary School. She is accused of bruising a student’s forearm and placing the child at additional risk of bodily harm by pinning him between mats and a bookshelf on May 2.
“The safety of our children is of the utmost importance,” Zebulon police said in a Facebook post Thursday. “We appreciate the cooperation of the Wake County Public School System as our staff conducted the investigation.”
Richardson was released from the Wake County Jail on $1,000 bond.
Richardson works in special programs at Wakelon. But it is not immediately clear whether the child she is accused of is a student with special needs.
Richardson’s job status was not immediately known. But the Wake County school system typically suspends employees with pay after criminal charges are filed against them.
3 Wake School Employees Arrested
Richardson is at least the third Wake County elementary school employee accused of abusing or assaulting a student this school year. All three employees work with students with disabilities.
▪ In December, an East Garner Elementary School teaching assistant was charged with assault on a child under 12, assault on a person with a disability and child abuse.
Tiffany Krystine Ebron is accused of dragging a 9-year-old student across the floor by the feet after lifting him by the feet, causing his head to hit the ground.
▪ In February, a teacher at Carver Elementary School was charged with one count of child abuse and one count of assault on a person with a disability.
Lori Miller Holland is accused of “unlawfully assaulting” a student with a disability by “dragging the child down the school hallway.”
The criminal cases against Ebron and Holland are pending. It was not immediately clear whether both women, who were suspended with pay upon their arrest, are still employed by the school system.
