Another former Tipton County Preschool employee has been charged with assaulting a non-verbal special needs student.

According to the affidavit of complaint, on April 16, an employee reported she’d witnessed Christina Burk pull a student’s hair.

The report was escalated to the Tipton County Sheriff’s Office as well as the Department of Children’s Services.

When Burk, 43, was interviewed by detectives, she reportedly told them she had pulled the child’s hair after the child had pulled another student’s hair.

Burk is an OT/PT assistant who was pulled in to help in that classroom that day because the two regular assistants were out.

“She was pulled in to help that day because they were shorthanded,” said Director of Schools Dr. John Combs. “She was responding to another student’s misconduct, but not in a way that she’d been trained to respond. That is not our protocol.”

She was suspended without pay on April 16 and terminated on May 21.

“Many may question why an arrest was not made sooner, so I want to clear that up,” Sheriff Shannon Beasley said in a press release Monday night. “School officials took immediate, appropriate actions against the assistant; therefore, no further threat existed. Our children, especially those who are vulnerable, deserve our protection, and we have a duty to thoroughly investigate and hold individuals accountable, and we owe it to the family to ensure the case is investigated properly. We have worked closely with the family of the child, school officials, and the District Attorney’s Office throughout this investigation.”

Burk, who lives in Brighton, is the second Tipton County Preschool employee arrested in the last four weeks. On May 13, teacher Katie Turnbow was charged with assaulting a student after she allegedly threatened the student with a belt and shook them off of a trash can.

“Both of them were in poor judgment in responding to a conduct situation,” Combs said. “We’re making sure we beef up training for this next year.”

He said special education classrooms have one teacher and two assistants and, in both cases, the other adults in the room report the offenses.

“That’s how we know these things happened.”

The arrests are affecting public perception of the program.

“We’ve always had a good reputation with the Tipton County Preschool. I hate this has tarnished that somewhat.”

Burk was released on a $5,000 bond on June 10. Her first hearing in Tipton County General Sessions Court was Tuesday, June 16.

Burk is considered innocent until proven guilty.