Third grade teacher arrested after throwing chair at student

MONROE, La. (KNOE) - On Friday, September 29, a third-grade teacher at Columbia Elementary School in Caldwell Parish was arrested and charged with negligent injury after throwing a chair at a 9-year-old student.

According to the arrest warrant, Lexes Boyde was teaching her third-grade class when one student asked to go to the office. Boyde said she thought the student was trying to get out of doing their work, and claims that she “lost it”. Boyde told deputies on scene that she slammed her hand down on the table that she and the child were sitting at. The arrest warrant states that Boyde threw a chair that hit a 9-year-old in the head causing them to get 8 staples.

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KNOE spoke with Caldwell Parish Sheriff, Clay Bennett, who said the teacher admitted to injuring the kid.

“The teacher kind of said she lost it and flipped the chair over and the chair ended up hitting the kid in the head,” Bennett said.

Another parent, Cheyenne Hatten, whose kid was in the classroom during the incident, said she’s concerned with the lack of charges brought against Boyde because of what her daughter claimed happened.

“She said that the teacher just started yelling, and next thing you know, she went to walk away, and when she turned back around she picked the chair up and flung it and it hit the little kid in the back of the head and the little kid touched their head and said ‘why, why did you hurt me’,” Hatten said.

According to the arrest warrant, a hallway camera near the classroom captured audio of the incident where Boyde is heard responding to the child’s question saying “I’m sorry, I lost it.”

Sheriff Bennett said that based on the information they were given at the time of the incident, he and the District Attorney decided to charge Boyde with negligent injury because they believed it to be unintentional.

“The discrepancy whether intent was involved, that’s the difference in negligent injuring and some other charge, was intent. And the information that we had at the time was that it was not an intentional thing,” said Bennett.

Hatten said some parents are concerned with how any incident could escalate to a point where a child was severely injured.

“She wasn’t sure if she was throwing it to throw it at that kid, but why else…she flipped a chair, it shouldn’t have been flipped period,” Hatten said.

Sheriff Bennett said the charges could be adjusted after their investigation is over, but they’re still obtaining witness statements from kids who were in the classroom.

“We don’t want to overcharge and we don’t want to undercharge, we want to be fair and we wanna make sure that the charge is correct for what we do,” Bennett said.

Hatten said she is now concerned for her children at Columbia Elementary because there was no communication between school officials and parents about what happened.

“They’re just pushing it under the rug like nothing happened. Like ‘Oops it was an accident I busted your kid’s head open, I’m so sorry.’ That’s not fair, no,” said Hatten.

Boyde has been suspended from teaching at Columbia Elementary School as the investigation is ongoing.

KNOE reached out to the Caldwell Parish School board for an interview but received a statement back.

“Caldwell Parish School District released the following statement regarding the recent incident at Columbia Elementary School:

“We are aware of the arrest of one of our teachers in connection with an injury sustained by a student at Columbia Elementary School. Although personnel and student matters are confidential and the specifics of such matters may not be discussed, student safety and the proper conduct of school district employees are a priority. The children attending Caldwell Parish Schools are instructed by professionals, and allegations of this nature are disheartening. We are reviewing the matter internally in order that it may be properly addressed and are cooperating with law enforcement in its investigation of this matter at this time.”