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A South Carolina particular schooling trainer, who was topped 2025 Trainer of the 12 months at her constitution faculty, was arrested after she was accused of punching a toddler.
Erin Wheeler, 34, was charged with illegal little one neglect for allegedly placing the kid on Nov. 27, in keeping with arrest data obtained by KWQC.
Wheeler, a trainer at South Carolina Whitmore College in Columbia, allegedly chased the kid into a rest room and continued punching them within the brow and higher physique because the sufferer tried to defend themselves by blocking the blows.
Police mentioned the sufferer sustained bruising on their arms from blocking the punches.
Authorities famous the alleged assault didn’t happen on faculty grounds.
Wheeler appeared in Lexington County court docket final week, the place a choose set her bond at $2,500 and issued a no-contact order between her and the sufferer, KWQC reported.
The sufferer’s mom, who was not recognized, blasted the court docket’s resolution for handing the trainer what she described as a “low bond,” the outlet reported.
Constitution faculty officers mentioned they’re conscious of the allegations in opposition to Wheeler however emphasised the incident didn’t contain any of their college students.
The varsity, which educates college students in grades 9 via 12, mentioned the educator was positioned on paid administrative go away pending an investigation.
Wheeler was named Whitmore College’s 2025 Trainer of the 12 months in March for embodying “the essence of an impressive educator,” Government Director Kim Dunbar mentioned in a assertion.
“Her modern approaches to particular schooling haven’t solely reworked the educational experiences for her college students however have additionally set a benchmark for excellence inside our faculty,” Dunbar mentioned. “We’re extremely lucky to have Erin as a part of our group, and this award is a well-deserved acknowledgment of her laborious work and impression.”
Wheeler earned bachelor’s and grasp’s levels from Columbia School in 2014 and 2017, and started instructing on the Whitmore College in 2015.
In Fall 2024, she enrolled at Arkansas State College to pursue an Training Specialist diploma in Administration centered on principalship.
Three weeks earlier than the alleged incident, Wheeler was featured throughout the Whitmore College’s varied social media pages, advocating for the way the varsity “empowers college students and adjustments lives.”
Wheeler mentioned her ardour for schooling started in highschool, the place academics impressed her to pursue the career.
She selected to concentrate on particular schooling as a result of her older sister was born deaf.
“I typically noticed how in a different way she was handled once we had been in public, and that didn’t sit nicely with me,” Wheeler mentioned.
“I simply wished individuals to know that there was not something fallacious with my sister, she simply couldn’t hear. Exceptionalities don’t make an individual helpless, much less clever, or unworthy of respect.”
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