Linda Terrell McLean owner and founder of Christian, Georgia private school, Favor Christian Academy pleads guilty to 11 counts of child cruelty.
The founder of a private school in Georgia has pled guilty to first-degree child cruelty after being accused of choking and beating eight students — sometimes with a yardstick.
Linda Terrell McLean, who owns Favor Christian Academy in Thomasville, pled guilty on Tuesday to charges including 11 counts of cruelty to children and four counts of aggravated assault after being indicted in 2017, the Thomasville Times-Enterprise reports.
An 18-count indictment accused McLean of hitting one child at the school with a ruler, while another student told authorities she struck him repeatedly with a belt inside a lunchroom as other children looked on. Favor Christian enrolls students in pre-K through eighth grade.
But it gets worse.
Former private school administrator’s trial to start next week.https://t.co/DiQ3q3z86P
— The Times-Enterprise (@timesenterprise) September 4, 2019
“….grabbing a child’s head, twisting their neck and forcing their head onto a table repeatedly…”
In one instance, McLean was accused of having forced a student to hold down another as she whipped the boy with a yardstick according to filed court documents.
Another student told authorities McLean grabbed and shook her.
In another incident, McLean was also accused of grabbing a child’s head, twisting their neck and forcing their head onto a table repeatedly. She also threw workbooks at children and choked them on other occasions.
All of the incidents took place in 2016 except for one that occurred in 2015, according to the indictment.
McLean’s sentencing date has not yet been set, but she faces up to a combined 180 years in prison or on probation.
As part of her plea, video footage of the alleged beatings was not shown in court, WCTV reports. McLean remains free on $50,000 bond and has moved across the state to Atlanta.
Not immediately understood is what compelled the educator to administer unrelenting physical abuse against her students.
