PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – A Broward County Public Schools first-grade teacher’s classroom punishments for one of her students constituted criminal child neglect, according to police, leading to her arrest Tuesday.
Rhonda Angelina Daniels Bishop, 57, was teaching at Watkins Elementary School, located at 3520 SW 52nd Ave. in Pembroke Park, at the time of her arrest.
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According to an arrest report from the Pembroke Park Police Department, when a student’s mother asked him why he had scratch marks on his arms, he told her that Daniels Bishop was “poking him” with a “push pin” and punishes him by “combing his hair.”
A case worker with the Florida Department of Children and Families, which was first notified of the allegations, said the child told her that he was punished that way for “hitting other kids.”
“Upon learning of the allegations, the school’s leadership immediately notified the proper authorities to investigate,” a BCPS spokesperson said following the arrest. “Ms. Daniels, a first-grade teacher, will be reassigned to a position away from students and the school pending the outcome of the case. We defer to law enforcement for any additional information regarding the investigation.”
Daniels Bishop, who lives in Pembroke Pines, was jailed in the North Broward Bureau facility on a charge of child neglect without great bodily harm and was held on a $5,000 bond.