Listen: West Virginia Teacher Threatens to ‘Backhand’ 7-Year-Old Student

A teacher in West Virginia was recorded in October threatening to attack a 7-year-old special education student. A mother sent a recording device to school after she became suspicious of her child’s reaction to going to school, catching on tape a teacher’s threat to “backhand” a student.

A teacher at Berkley Heights Elementary School in Berkeley County, West Virginia, was forced to resign this week after audio was leaked of her threatening to “backhand” a 7-year-old student.

Amber Pack, the mother of 7-year-old Adri Pack, realized something was wrong when her daughter was refusing to return to school. She decided to place an audio recorder in Adri’s backpack to determine what was going on in the classroom.

“I ought to backhand you right in your teeth. How’s that for anxiety?” the teacher says on the audio clip, which was eight hours long.

The teacher resigned shortly after the tape was sent to the school district.

A prosecuting attorney from Berkeley Country reviewed all eight hours of the audio recording said that the tape does not prove “abuse or neglect” that “created a risk of death or bodily injury.” The attorney went on to clarify her remark, adding that she was not endorsing the verbal treatment of the student.

In a statement,  a spokesperson for the district vaguely condemned the teacher for threatening the student. The spokesperson said that they are still conducting an investigation into the incident and are working with Child Protective Services to come to a proper resolution.

“Berkeley County Schools will not tolerate any action or inaction that impacts the health, welfare and safety of our students. The employees involved in the Berkeley Heights incident were placed on administrative leave since the allegations surfaced and the teacher has since resigned.

We’re conducting an internal investigation and are cooperating fully with the investigation by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Child Protective Services.”