NJ Teacher Who Slapped Student Will Keep Job

An elementary school special education teacher who struck a student in 2010 had the length of her suspension doubled but will keep her job, according to a report on MyCentralJersey.com.

Franklin Park School teacher Edith Craft says she had been hit by the 8-year-old boy on many occasions before she slapped him across the face on Nov. 1, 2010, the Home News Tribune reported.

While the Board of Education wanted to take away Craft's tenure and fire her, a state Appellate Division panel affirmed a decision by the state education commissioner to suspend Craft without pay and block her next raise.

The student had refused to do anything but go on the computer and slapped the teacher first that morning, the report said. The boy wasn't hurt, nor did he appear upset by being hit, according to court filings.

Neither the police nor the Division of Youth and Family Services ever interviewed Craft, who was originally suspended for 120 days in January 2011. She had never been disciplined since being hired in 2004, the report said.