Teacher jailed after hitting mother in classroom

A classroom fight in front of 19 young children ended with a teacher in jail and a mother in hospital.

Teacher Katrina Ann Rucker, 30, has been charged with battery and cruelty to children for allegedly beating a parent who tried to retrieve her daughter’s book bag from the school in Macon, Georgia.

Police said Lurella Amica went to the elementary school yesterday morning to deliver a note to her nine-year-old daughter.

At the classroom door, the girl told her mother that Rucker had thrown her bag in the rubbish bin.

Amica entered the classroom and tried to get the book bag, but Rucker grabbed for it and the two struggled,.

After Amica wrestled the bag away, police say Rucker picked up a chair and hit her in the back, knocking Amica to the floor. Rucker then began punching Amica in the face and body.

During the fight, the girl was reportedly crying for her teacher to stop hitting her mother and ran up to them. Rucker then allegedly hit the child, pulled her hair and pushed her out of the way before starting to strike the mother again.

Rucker dragged Amica by the hair outside the classroom, according to police.

“A school administrator and another teacher had to pull the teacher off the mother,” said Macon police spokeswoman Melanie Hofmann.

In Rucker’s account of the story, she said Amica hit her hand during the initial struggle, Hofmann said.

“The teacher said she was defending herself because she gets a shot in that hand and it hurt,” Hofmann said.

Principal Karen Konke sent letters to parents about the incident.

“Let me assure you the school is safe and that our students have been involved in appropriate instructional activities throughout the day,” she wrote.