SAN ANTONIO – In most kindergarten classes, children learn lessons like the golden rule, turning the other cheek and repaying mean acts with kindness.
But in a Judson Independent District kindergarten classroom, teacher Cynthia Ambrose taught her kids that’s it’s all about an eye for an eye.
Her actions have earned her probation, 30 days of jail time and the possible loss of her teaching license.
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Ambrose, a former kindergarten teacher at Salinas Elementary, was found guilty of official oppression for telling her students to show their fellow student Aiden Neely “how it feels to be bullied,” reports My San Antonio.
This troubling episode began when Neely, a 6-year-old kindergartener, was turned in for hitting another student.
Ambrose determined that the proper punishment would be to show Neely “how it feels” by lining up the other 20 students and instructing them to each take a turn hitting him.
“It started out as a pat,” fellow teacher Barbara Ramirez testified. “Then (Ambrose) told the class, ‘Come on, hit him harder.’”
Ambrose reportedly told the class to stop after the seventh student hit Neely very hard on the back and made him cry, according to the news story.
This isn’t the only report of Ambrose teaching her students to repay evil with more evil.
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Ramirez also testified at the hearing that she heard Ambrose tell another student to pinch a bully for pinching him in the first place.
State prosecutor Patrick Ballantyne argued during the trial that this was a case of child abuse and that the other 20 students were victims of Ambrose’s actions as well.
“They learned to handle violence with more violence … an eye for an eye,” Ballantyne said.
The judge sentenced Ambrose to two years of probation with 30 days of jail time. She has the option of serving the sentence on work release or reporting to the jail on weekends.
She is also facing a one-year suspension by the Texas Education Agency, according to the news report.
In exchange for her testimony, Ramirez signed an immunity agreement that protected her from being prosecuted for not reporting these crimes immediately.


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