Teacher's aide and principal charged with child abuse at Woodlawn Middle School, Alamance County Sheriff's Office says

Sarah Winkelmann and Emily Mikkelsen

7 hours ago

BURLINGTON, N.C. (WGHP) — A teaching assistant and a school administrator have been charged in connection with the abuse of a student.

According to the Alamance County Sheriff's Office, they began investigating allegations of student abuse on April 26 at Woodlawn Middle School.

Court documents say William Michael Jackson, 55, of Haw River, a teacher's assistant at Woodlawn, grabbed and applied pressure to the back of a student's neck and left him with bruises. According to the district, Jackson had been an employee for 10 months and his last day was Thursday. He was charged with child abuse and assault on a child under 12 years old.

Woodlawn principal Thomas William Kazimir, 53, of Mebane, was also charged with failure to report crimes committed against a minor.

Jackson had worked in the school system since 2020. Kazimir had worked in the district since 2000, first as a teacher before being hired as assistant principal in 2013 and principal in 2023. He is suspended effective June 13.

The Alamance-Burlington School System released the following statement:

Alamance-Burlington Schools regrets to announce that the Alamance County Sheriff's Department has informed us that 2 staff members at Woodlawn Middle School have been charged with a misdemeanor related to a school incident.

Teaching assistant William Jackson was charged with one misdemeanor count of child abuse and one misdemeanor count of molestation of a child under 12 years old. Director Tom Kazimir was charged with one count of failure to report a crime against minors.

As an employee for 10 months, Mr. Jackson's last day of employment for the 2023-2024 school year was June 13. Director Kazimir is currently suspended with pay while district and law enforcement investigations continue.

Today we are informing staff and families at Woodlawn Middle School of this very concerning information.

Our administrators and staff at Woodlawn Middle will continue to fully support students and families as ABSS continues to fully cooperate with the Sheriff's Department to ensure that our highest priority of student safety is met by all of our employees.

FOX8 asked ABSS how they plan to hold employees and administrators accountable for child safety. A district spokesperson said in a statement:

“Particular attention was paid this year during regular professional development sessions with principals and staff to district expectations and legal guidelines regarding reporting any incidents involving students to administrators and SROs, as well as the consequences of non-compliance with established policies and procedures. . We will continue to emphasize this important information to ABSS staff members and hold everyone accountable for their role in keeping students safe.

These allegations relate to six ABSS employees accused of crimes against children over the past 13 months.

In May 2023, a A Southern Alamance Middle School teacher has been charged with two counts of indecent liberties with a student and two counts of indecent liberties with children.. Then, a few months later, the The vice principal of the same school was charged with one count of sexual conduct with a student. Neither are employed in the district.

In late 2023, the principal of Eastlawn Elementary was charged with a statutory sex crime. A few months later, the deputy superintendent was accused of failing to report the incident. Eastlawn's principal is suspended and the assistant superintendent has resigned effective June 30.