Lunch Lady Accused of Paying $1 to Student to Beat Up Classmate

A woman working in a Michigan elementary school lunch room was fired earlier this month after a student said she paid classmates to bully him.

An elementary school student and other witnesses alleged a lunch lady paid another student a dollar to beat up a classmate who called her a profane name. (Image source: Shutterstock)

"Mrs. Lance, you gotta help me! That lunch lady is giving kids a dollar to beat me up," Campus Elementary teacher Renee Lance wrote in a statement of the incident reported to her, according to the Grand Rapids Press.

Lance and other school employees provided statements about witnessing what took place.

The fourth grade student making the claim told the Grand Rapids Public School District's Public Safety Department that two classmates said they were paid by the worker but "didn't beat me up," because they were his buddies. These two students though did admit to pushing him, according to the Press.

Witnesses said he likely was targeted for calling the woman a "pregnant b****."

Through a Freedom of Information Act request, the Grand Rapids Press was able to identify the worker as a contracted employee named Brooke Wilson-Johnson, who was fired from West Michigan Janitorial Services on October 7. The Press reported that Wilson-Johnson admitted to the incident, saying she gave $1 to a student who "accidentally" bumped his classmate.

According to documents obtained by the newspaper, Wilson-Johnson had told the student in question to stand near the lunchroom wall because "he was talking and not listening to staff directions." This prompted him to refuse and call her a profane name, an employee witness said in a statement.

Principal Bernard Colton also said in the documents he often frequents the lunchroom to monitor students and has had to reprimand the student for breaking rules before.

Speaking with the boy's mother about this specific incident, Colton noted in a statement that she said she didn't necessarily believe her son's story because he "tends to lie so much." That said, the next morning the mother called Colton, this time backing his claims of bullying, according to the Press.

Read more details about the alleged incident, which has not seen any criminal charges, in the Grand Rapids Press' full article.

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Featured image via Shutterstock.

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