Ex-teacher's aide charged with cruelty toward child

A former North Charleston teacher's aide is accused of mistreating two special-needs students.

Irene Andrews, 60, of North Charleston is charged with two counts of cruelty toward a child. She is free on her own personal recognizance after she turned herself in Wednesday.

Andrews no longer was working for the Charleston County School District as of Friday, said General Counsel John Emerson.

A teacher at A.C. Corcoran Elementary School saw Andrews holding a crying, 4-year-old autistic student by his bare feet Oct. 21, according to a police report.

Andrews struck the bottom of the child's feet at least five times with a plastic ruler, the report states. She told the teacher, "You didn't see anything," according to the report.

The teacher reported the incident to the principal.

The principal also told police that Andrews had been disciplined in September for locking a student in a bathroom as punishment.

According to a report, Andrews held the door shut while a 4-year-old special-needs student yelled and tried to get out. A teacher let the child out and reported the incident, but school officials did not tell police.

Police questioned why Charleston County School District officials didn't tell them about the incidents sooner. The principal waited three hours before reporting the ruler incident to police, a report states.

The principal told police she was told by an associate superintendent not to notify police until she heard back from district officials, the report states.

School officials said Friday that everyone took the incident seriously from the beginning and that there was never any intent not to call police.

Emerson said the principal immediately made sure the child was not injured and that his parents were contacted right away. Once they determined the boy was safe, they started to gather facts, he said.

"In the moment it was not immediately clear that it was the necessary thing to do," Emerson said. "Had we had all the facts that we have now, it would have been a much more pressing matter to call police."

School officials said Andrews was removed from that classroom that same afternoon. She was on paid administrative leave until Friday.

District spokesman Elliot Smalley said the incident involving the bathroom happened three weeks earlier and involved a different child. It was seen as a very poor decision and inappropriate behavior but did not trigger a call to police, Smalley said. The incident was documented in a written reprimand, he said.

Andrews has worked for the school district since August 2006, according to personnel files released to The Post and Courier. School officials said that before the September incident, she had no negative marks on her record and was well-regarded among staff.

Calls to Andrews' home Friday went unanswered.