Prosecutors dropped two counts of child abuse.
Jan 16, 2008 - Janice Reynolds, 47, was sentenced to five years' probation Friday and ordered to undergo mental health and anger management evaluations. She was ordered not to act as a foster parent or babysitter or be the primary caregiver for any child unless it is her biological child.
Reynolds is a special education teacher at Forest Hill High School. The charges she pleaded guilty to child neglect.
Police began to investigate Reynolds after her adopted son was hospitalized at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach with a fractured skull, two broken toes and grease burns on his back and face.The boy now lives with a family member. As part of the plea agreement, Reynolds agreed to permanently forfeit her teaching license.
She worked for the school district for 19 years and currently works in the food department.
We label plea agreements that include forfeiture of a teaching license as "bargains" because it's hard to imagine that without a license to bargain with the defendant would get that kind of generous consideration.
Dropping two charges of child abuse for injuries that included a fractured skull, broken bones and grease burns on a five-year-old child and calling it "child neglect" qualifies as a deal.
No one but the parties involved knows what goes on in plea bargain negotiations, but imagine the outcome if the defendant was a unemployed single parent who had to depend upon a public defender instead of a union-supplied attorney. The perception for most people is that an "educated" person would not do such a thing. If anything, this woman was trained to deal with the most difficult children.
Without a trial to air the facts, we can't know either whether the child actually suffered the injuries that are alleged. We have to depend upon prosecutors who are privy to medical records and medical personnel. And we have to trust that the prosecutor's foremost consideration is for the child. But it would make all of us more comfortable if we had a system that automatically stripped a teacher's licenses when children are the victims. And that just isn't happening.
Teachers shouldn't "agree to forfeit their licenses." It should be a given.
