Ex-‘Teacher of the Year’ sorry for student beating
VIDEO - Sheri Lynn Davis, the Houston teacher caught on tape beating a 13-year-old student, is now facing unemployment, criminal investigation and a pending lawsuit...
A teacher who was caught on video beating a student at a northwest Houston charter school apologized on Friday.
The video of Sheri Lynn Davis has gone viral. People all over the world have seen the images of Davis beating 13-year-old Isaiah Reagins in her classroom.
So, how did the former teacher of the year come to this?
“I am without excuse for my actions because I know this has been a painful situation — an incident that I truly regret. If I could go back again, I would do things much much differently,” Davis said.
Davis read a statement while flanked by attorneys, but declined to answer questions.
Since the video, shot by a student on her cell phone, went public, Davis has been fired, sued by Reagins’ parents, and is now under criminal investigation by sheriff’s detectives.
“There is a lot more to the story. There’s a lot more that’s going to come out about that school,” attorney Chip Lewis said.
Davis, 40, is the mother of two boys. She has been teaching at Jamie’s House Charter School for three years, and for two of those years, according to her attorney, she was named Teacher of the Year.
She was reportedly Reagins’ favorite teacher. But her attorney said Davis and the boy had a history.
“The young man has been in the school. He’s been expelled from the school. He’s come back. There’s been a long history with he and the school and some of that history is related to Sheri,” Lewis said.
WATCH THIS VIDEO OF HOUSTON TEACHER APOLOGIZE FOR STUDENT BEATING
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Lewis would not go into detail, he said, because detectives still have not talked to Davis.
But he said the incident happened on April 29 after Davis left her classroom to break up a fight in the hall outside.
Someone closed the door and locked it. Davis panicked, Lewis said, because she was concerned that a special needs student inside might be harmed by other students.
Lewis said the beating happened after another student let Davis back inside.
“There’s a lot that was going on that led to the events that are on that video,” Lewis said.
“Was your client in control of herself?” asked one reporter.
“No. My client, Sheri, had the cumulative effects of attacks and violent incidents and she clearly let her emotions get the better of her,” Lewis said.
Davis was a science teacher at the school. She does not have a teaching certificate, but they’re not required at charter schools.
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