SLO County union outraged by teacher’s arrest on suspicion of child abuse: ‘We are horrified’
A local teacher’s union expressed outrage after the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office arrested an Arroyo Grande teacher on suspicion of child abuse, calling the agency’s actions “egregious.”
Sarah Watts, 42, is accused of pulling a 13-year-old student’s hairbrush from her hand and throwing papers at her and the other pupils, injuring the girl.
Watts was arrested Tuesday and booked into San Luis Obispo County Jail in lieu of a $50,000 bond, but posted bail just after midnight Wednesday, according to Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Tony Cipolla.
Cipolla said the Sheriff’s Office had sent its investigation file to the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office by Thursday afternoon.
However, the District Attorney’s Office told The Tribune on Thursday afternoon that it had yet to receive the recommended charges for Watts from the Sheriff’s Office.
The Lucia Mar Unified Teachers Association sent an email to its members on Wednesday, saying the Sheriff’s Office’s actions “were egregious.”
“This specific matter was being handled swiftly and appropriately by district administration prior to law enforcement’s encroachment onto the school campus,” the union wrote in the email. “While many believe this dramatic demonstration of power was exercised only because the accusing student was a child of a sheriff’s deputy, we are horrified by the precedent it sets for our profession nationwide.”
Lucia Mar Unified School District spokesperson Amy Jacobs was unable to confirm Thursday whether the school district was handling the incident with Watts prior to sheriff’s deputies arriving on campus.
Neither the school district nor Sheriff’s Office would confirm the student was a child of a deputy.
However, employees at Mesa Middle School told the Tribune on Thursday the student involved in the incident is the child of a sheriff’s deputy who oversees the school resource officer at the school.
The sources asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation from the district or Sheriff’s Office.
According to the sources, teachers saw the student in classes and at track practice following the incident with Watts and did not see any clear injuries.
Cipolla said Thursday that he would not release any photos the agency took of the student’s injuries as they are considered evidence in the case.
“The teacher’s actions caused injuries to the student’s hand and near her eye that were clearly visible,” Cipolla wrote in an email to The Tribune. “When a child is injured at the hands of an adult, we are required to take action.”
Child abuse, as defined by the California penal code, is when someone “willfully inflicts upon a child any cruel or inhuman corporal punishment or an injury resulting in a traumatic condition.”
“There are some who apparently feel that the event that occurred was acceptable or so minor that we should have taken no action,” Cipolla wrote in his email. “It is our belief that any parent would have found injuries to their child at the hands of a teacher to be unacceptable.”
The school district said it is continuing to investigate the incident, and Watts remains on administrative leave.
In its email, the Lucia Mar Unified Teachers Association said the incident “clearly highlights a greater need for administrative support for unruly student behaviors in our classrooms.”
“This year has brought unprecedented levels of defiance and disruption,” the email read. “Teachers’ calls for support should not be ignored.”
