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To the Editor:

Being such a news hound, I took a break from the news as too many articles were all about the evil doings of individuals in positions of authority or trust. Imagine my horror when I was informed of a child being abused in our school system by “building-level teacher of the year in 2019” Nicole Horne of East Side Elementary. Watching the video made me physically ill. All I could think about was the trauma that the 5th grader was experiencing at the moment of that brutal attack. “She felt like she was doing the right thing because this child, a 5th grader, was being disrespectful, and she wanted to keep the game going.”

What basketball game is so important for an adult to physically interact with a child and assault them?

You had a 5th grader using their “right to free speech” making a statement with no intent to cause harm or injury. Horne intentionally restricted the constitutional rights of this student involving freedom of expression as well as abusing the student emotionally, and physically, and bullying by an authority figure does constitute a violation of this student’s rights as this 5th graders’ well-being and safety were dismissed.

This was 41 years of rage unleashed and now she wants a second chance by asking for “Judicial Diversion.” Does this 5th grader’s mental health get a second chance? Absolutely not. This student will no doubt suffer mental anguish for years to come if not for life. Nicole Horne is a “Child Abuser” and has no right to ask for or be given judicial diversion or expungement of any criminal convictions.

Having abused a child, she has “revoked” her right to ever be in any type of a position of authority to “lord over children.”

Jacey Augustus, Director

Elizabethton Blue Grays