RANGELEY – A mother of a 14-year-old girl slapped in the face by a substitute teacher is satisfied with school officials’ decision to ban the woman from teaching and volunteering at the Rangeley Lakes Regional School.
“I just think the whole thing is sad,” Margaret White, mother of the teenager, said Thursday.
Heidi Sorensen, 48, of Rangeley, a substitute and volunteer at the school for about five years, was charged with misdemeanor assault by police Tuesday for the incident that occurred Dec. 2.
Both police and Sorensen said the teacher open-hand slapped the girl in the face after the teacher said the girl asked for an assignment in a loud voice in the school library.
“I don’t know whether she was loud, very loud or if she was hollering, either way, she doesn’t deserve to be slapped. If she needed discipline, we have the principal and superintendent for that,” White said. “Kids are just supposed to feel safe in school. My daughter spends a lot of time in school. It’s sad.”
Sorensen said Wednesday she was teaching an art class and took students to the library to do some research. The class was disruptive and she had just got most of the the class calmed when the girl spoke in a loud voice. She said she slapped her “not hard” to wake her up to be quiet in the library.
Sorensen said she was sorry for what happened and she shouldn’t have done it and that she overreacted to the girl’s “hollering.” She’s even written a letter to the family to tell them she is sorry.
White agreed it shouldn’t have happened.
“It’s just total interruption of life,” White said. “Holidays are supposed to be happy. I am satisfied with the school’s decision. The principal and the superintendent acted very promptly on it and I am very happy with that.”
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