Inset: Rachel Kirspel (Harrison County Jail). Background: The Texas school where Kirspel allegedly abused a 5-year-old student (Google Maps).
A 37-year-old teacher in Texas is accused of abusing a 5-year-old student for being disruptive during rest time, allegedly swinging the child around by her feet, dropping her on her head, then calling her “ugly as hell.”
Rachel Kirspel, who taught at the Marshall Early Childhood Center in Harrison County, is charged with one count of injury to a child, records show.
According to a criminal complaint, the incident took place at the school on May 14 in front of the victim”s classmates and at least one other teacher.
“The defendant had hung a 5-year-old student upside down by her feet and had swung her side-to-side and then pulled up and down,” the criminal complaint states. “As a result of the defendant’s actions, the student hit her head causing pain to her head.”
An employee who witnessed the alleged assault told investigators she was standing outside the classroom putting papers in the students’ backpacks when she heard Kirspel say, “You are ugly as hell,” followed by “You can tell your mama didn’t raise you right.”
The witness said she then “heard the kids screaming” and looked inside the classroom where she saw Kirspel “holding [the victim] upside down by her feet and swinging her side to side and up and down.” The employee “yelled” at Kirspel, asking “what was she doing,” which is when Kirspel “flipped” the victim right-side-up.
When Kirspel asked the victim if she was OK, the child said to “put her down and no she was not OK,” the complaint states. The other employee then told Kirspel to leave the room because the victim “was screaming and crying.”
In an interview with police, Kirspel said the incident stemmed from the 5-year-old being disruptive during rest time. When Kirspel told the kids to get on their sleeping mats, she said the victim “decided not to.”
“The defendant then stated that [the victim] laid down but decided to play around, so the defendant grabbed her off her mat and put her over her shoulder,” the complaint states. “The defendant said that did not work, so she hung her upside down and [the victim] started crying. She said that is when [the other school employee] came in the room and told her to leave.”
Kirspel claimed she left the room and quit her job.
Describing the incident to school administrators, the victim said, “My head was down and my feet was up,” before confirming that the top of her head hurt afterward.
The 5-year-old later spoke to a child forensic specialist about the incident, providing slightly more detail.
“[The victim] told them that the defendant pulled her nap mat from underneath her and it flipped her over,” the complaint states. “[The victim] then told them that the defendant grabbed her by the collar of her shirt then picked her up by her feet and started swinging her while her head was down. [She] told them that her arm hurt and then showed [the interviewer] where her head hurt. [The victim] also told [the interviewer] that the defendant cussed at her and called her ‘ugly.'”
According to the child, Kirspel further said she would be telling the victim’s mother that the victim “could not come back to school anymore because it is not safe.”
“Upon notice of the incident, Marshall ISD first ensured the student’s well-being and safety. The aide was immediately removed without the ability to return, was investigated, and terminated,” the Marshall Independent School District said in a statement. “The MISD Police Department has investigated the incident and has referred it to additional law enforcement.”
Kirspel was booked into the Harrison County Jail Monday on $50,000 bond. She was no longer listed as an inmate at the facility as of Friday evening, records show.
