Teacher Judith Cacho Arraigned for Allegedly Harming 8-year-old Student
Judith Cacho
Forty-five-year-old Judith Cacho, a teacher at Queen Square Anglican School, was arraigned on a single charge of harm today. The incident reportedly occurred on January sixteenth, almost four months ago, but it was not until today that Cacho was arraigned before Senior Magistrate, Tricia Pitts-Anderson. Cacho pleaded not guilty to the charged and was offered bail of five hundred dollars plus one surety of the same amount. She is to return to court on June twenty-eighth. This incident highlights the very serious matter of corporal punishment. More than a decade ago, corporal punishment was banned in all schools so the question as to why the teacher allegedly hit Anthony Adolphus with a ruler in his eye is baffling. When the mother, Celida Lamb, began to ask questions, she was given the runaround by the management of the school. On February twenty sixth, Anthony and his mother Celida Lamb told us what happened in the classroom on January sixteenth.
Anthony Adolphus, Eight Years Old [File: February 26th, 2019]
“She got a phone call and then she just went out of the classroom then afterwards she came back in and she just run and got a ruler and whap me in my eye.”
Hipolito Novelo
“Do you know why she hit you in your eye?”
Anthony Adolphus
Anthony Adolphus
“No sir.”
Hipolito Novelo
“Did she tell you anything before she hit you in your eye?”
Anthony Adolphus
“No sir.”
Hipolito Novelo
“What happened after she hit you?”
Anthony Adolphus
“She told me to go wipe my eye, wash my face. I was holding my eye because my eye was hurting me then I started to drop off from the chair.”
Hipolito Novelo
“And this happened inside the classroom with all of the students?”
Anthony Adolphus
“Yes sir. And then the lock up the door.”
Celida Lamb
Celida Lamb, Mother [File: February 26th, 2019]
“I went to Education Department; they saw his hand and his eye. They took pictures. They took note of him.”
Hipolito Novelo
“Did they promise to do something about it?”
Celida Lamb
“They never promising to do anything. I went back there again. I went to the police too because I wanted to know who hit my child. They did not want to tell me. I don’t know her. So I went to the police and I reported to the police. The police went there and investigate and when they went there they said it was school protocol. They cannot arrest her because it is school protocol and they cannot arrest her on school grounds. You can’t just go there and arrest the teacher.”
Hipolito Novelo
“So the school has the policy that they can punish the child physically?”
Celida Lamb
“No. Patrick Faber said that no corporal punishment so why would she hit my child and beat him like that?”
Hipolito Novelo
“Do you think it is something personal?”
Celida Lamb
“I don’t know. That is what I want to find out because I don’t know her and she said, ‘bring your ma’. When I went there she did not face me. It was the principal who came and faced me. She hid. This was not called for. He is not a troublesome child. He is not a child that would disrespect anyone.”
