Covington teacher’s assistant accused of battery against special needs student

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Covington Police said a teacher’s assistant is facing a battery charge after an incident involving a special needs student at E.E. Lyon Elementary School.

Police said they released Gladys Holliday on a summons for misdemeanor simple battery Monday.

According to officials, a school administrator at E.E. Lyon Elementary School in Metairie witnessed the alleged incident and reported it to a school resource officer in October.

The St. Tammany Parish school system said Holliday has been placed on leave.

Covington Police Department Deputy Chief Edwin Masters said the incident allegedly took place Oct. 23 and was reported that same day.

Authorities said the school resource officer immediately notified the police department’s criminal investigation division, which organized a forensic interview with the alleged victim.

Based on the child’s account of the case, Masters said the department decided to move forward with a charge against Holliday.

Masters said the department notified Holliday of the charge Friday. He said she was arrested and released on the summons Monday.

Masters explained the role the forensic interview has in cases like this.

“It’s not fair to that child to have to relive whatever they had to go through, so what the Hope House provides, the Children’s Advocacy Center Hope House provides is a specifically trained forensic interviewer where they have to tell their story and say what happened to them one time to that interviewer,” Masters said.

Holliday’s arrest comes after two former school administrators were charged earlier this year on allegations they didn’t report child abuse. They pleaded guilty in that case in September.

Deputy Chief Masters said Holliday will go to court on the simple battery charge Jan. 20.

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