Substitute teacher shoved students' heads into wall, deputies say

Mohga Kodsy arrested after incident at Daytona Beach elementary school

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A 59-year-old substitute teacher was arrested Friday in Volusia County on allegations of pushing the heads of four elementary school students against a wall.

Mohga Kodsy was arrested on two counts of an act that could result in the physical or mental injury of a child.

According to a charging affidavit, Kodsy was working as a substitute at Turie T. Small Elementary School in Daytona Beach and disciplined four students -- a 7-year-old and three 8-year-olds -- for "acting out."​​​​​​

Kodsy made the children face a wall while a movie was being shown to the rest of the class, officials said.

The children told a school resource officer that they turned around several times to watch the movie, and Kodsy pushed their foreheads into the wall, according to the affidavit. The children also said Kodsy called them "evil," the affidavit stated.

"They were watching a movie and they kept turning around and she went up to them, all four of them, and hit their heads on the wall where they were facing," Daytona Beach Police public information officer Lyda Long said.

Another teacher said the children claimed Kodsy had thrown them against the wall, according to the affidavit.

The school nurse checked the children, who did not have any visible injuries, officials said.

Kodsy told authorities that she lined the students against the wall because they were laughing at her, but she denied touching them, the affidavit said.

"It's just unfortunate that this had to come to that, to a corporal punishment, and also calling them a very strong word which isn't right either," Long said.

Officials said the parents of two of the students decided to press charges against Kodsy, who was arrested and taken to jail.

"It's not something that anybody should be doing to a kid in school or anywhere else really," Long said.

When News 6 went to Kodsy's home she declined to comment for this story.


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Daniel started with WKMG-TV in 2000 and became the digital content manager in 2009. When he's not working on ClickOrlando.com, Daniel likes to head to the beach or find a sporting event nearby.

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