Cumberland teacher charged with hitting special-needs student

April Caudill, 37, of 5748 Pepperbush Drive in Fayetteville, was charged Monday with misdemeanor assault on a handicapped person and was released on an unsecured $1,000 bond.

Caudill has been suspended with pay from her job as a teacher of a special-needs classroom at J.W. Coon Elementary School since Oct. 23, the day the assault is alleged to have occurred.

According to the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office, a school custodian heard Caudill yelling at a student in her classroom who was crying, and the custodian then then witnessed the teacher striking the child hard enough to make the child bend over twice.

Investigators said video of the incident shows Caudill using her open hand to strike the special-needs student twice in the head. The student, who is nonverbal and suffers from seizures, normally wears a helmet for protection but didn't have it on at the time, investigators said.

"Because the injuries they sustained when they were younger requires them to wear a helmet and then to strike the child in the head while they're supposed to be wearing a helmet and they're not, it just brings about quite a bit of concern," sheriff's office spokesman Lt. Sean Swain said.

The student wasn't hurt in the incident, authorities said.

"We take this matter very seriously and do not condone violence against students or staff – the safety of all students and staff is paramount," Cumberland County Schools officials said in a statement. "When school officials were first informed of allegations of inappropriate conduct, they notified law enforcement immediately and suspended the employee involved."

Swain said the student's condition made it more difficult to gather evidence in the case, which is why it took almost three months to file a charge against Caudill.

Caudill has been employed with the Cumberland County Schools since 2004. She's been at J.W. Coon Elementary since 2011.