A woman was arrested Friday after she slapped a middle school student in the face, according to the Lake Oswego Police Department in Oregon.
Authorities identified the woman as 43-year-old Ellen J. Sawo. She was reportedly presenting to a class at Lakeridge Middle School for a career day event when she became upset with students at the school.
“She began yelling profanities at them and, at one point, slapped one of the students in the face,” said police. “Fortunately, the student who was slapped was not physically injured. Mrs. Sawo left the school prior to police arriving on the scene without any further incident.”
Lake Oswego Police Department spokesperson Tom Harper said the incident was “shocking,” according to Fox 12.
Later, officers from the department contacted Sawo and arrested her on harassment charges. They brought her to Clackamas County Jail.
Sawo was not listed on the Clackamas County Sheriff’s jail roster as of Tuesday.
“Sawo is a founder of a business development firm, according to her personal website,” said The Chronicle.
Principal Dr. Kurt Schultz said Sawo’s actions were “unacceptable for the classroom and our learning community,” and that he and a 7th grade counselor visited the class. Schultz said that six other presentations went smoothly.
As of 2014, corporal punishment, “a discipline method in which a supervising adult deliberately inflicts pain upon a child in response to a child's unacceptable behavior and/or inappropriate language,” was legal in 19 U.S. states, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Oregon was not one of them.
Data from the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights indicates the number of students reported to receive corporal punishment decreased by 34.5% from 203-14 to 2017-18. Last month, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona “wrote to Governors, Chief State School Officers, and School District and School Leaders and urged them to end corporal punishment in schools,” according to a press release.
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