Angela Rose George, a special education teacher at Midway Elementary School who was accused of hitting a first grader in the face two years ago, pleaded no contest on Wednesday to abusing a child with a disability.
The first grader, who was 7 at the time, reported to a teacher’s aide that George hit him in the face above the eyebrow on March 28, 2024, according to the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office police affidavit. The aide took the first grader to the nurse’s office. The school nurse photographed the injury, which the child described as a scratch, according to the nurse. Principal Jennie Mecham was also notified and reported the incident to the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office.
In a following interview with the Wasatch County Children’s Justice Center, the first grader said he was studying sight words and “wasn’t being good enough” for George when she “smacked” him twice and put him in “time out,” according to the police affidavit.
The incident took place during indoor recess when George was alone in the classroom with the first grader and three other students while the rest of the class and aides were taking recess outside.
The first two aides who returned to the classroom said in interviews with police that George was upset with the first grader when they arrived.
Later in the day, one of the aides noticed a “red welt” above the first grader’s eyebrow. The first grader said George hit him.
The aide and the first grader left the room, and the child repeated that George had hit him. George then said she had “only (come) down on him like a hammer,” according to the police affidavit. Another aide witnessed the exchange.
Three of the five aides in the classroom said that between the end of recess and the first grader’s leaving the classroom, they saw another student hit the child on top of his head. Two agreed this was not the cause of the first grader’s injury above his eyebrow, as the other student did not hit the child near his face.
The third aide only said she witnessed the incident in her interview with police. She also disclosed that she had met with Principal Mecham the day before the incident regarding her concerns about George, whom the aide described as “a bully” in an interview with Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Baeza.
Another aide also reported to law enforcement that she met with the elementary school principal to express worries about George. According to court documents, she said she saw George “push kids, yank kids and kick the ball from underneath them.” Other aides also described George as aggressive.
George has been on paid administrative leave since the incident. Data from Transparent Utah shows she was paid a salary of nearly $87,000, plus over $51,000 in benefits, in 2025. She was charged with abuse or neglect of a child with a disability, a third-degree felony, in April 2024.
George first pleaded not guilty to the charge on Oct. 30, 2024. The hearing in Fourth District Court on Wednesday was to determine whether the case would be heard by a jury next week.
George’s no contest plea acknowledges there may have been sufficient evidence to find her guilty in a jury trial, but Judge Jennifer Mabey said it does not constitute an admission of guilt.
As part of George’s plea deal with Wasatch County prosecutors, the third-degree felony was lowered to a misdemeanor.
George has undergone court-ordered Level I Anger Management and Thinking Errors courses through Capstone Counseling Centers, which she completed earlier this month.
Other than the counseling courses, George had to maintain a clean criminal record for 12 months as part of her plea deal. However, the timeline began when she was first charged in 2024, and George retroactively met this requirement.
Ryan Bartlett, the director of strategic communications for the Utah State Board of Education, confirmed the Utah Professional Practices Advisory Commission is actively investigating George. He said the commission will review the case and issue a disciplinary recommendation to the state Board of Education following the resolved court proceedings.
A disciplinary recommendation could range from a letter of warning to a teaching license suspension or revocation, though Bartlett explained it will be the state Board of Education that makes the final decision.
The Wasatch County School District declined to comment on the case.
“While we understand there is public interest, we are committed to respecting employee privacy and following appropriate HR procedures and legal requirements,” the school district’s statement read.
Mabey acknowledged the resolution of the two-year-long case “might not feel satisfying, quite frankly, for anyone.”
“One of the difficulties this job has taught me is that sometimes situations occur that, no matter the outcome, it won’t necessarily feel as if justice has been done,” she said.
Nonetheless, Mabey accepted the resolution of the case because it had been “very carefully negotiated.” Mabey expressed hope that the Capstone Counseling Centers courses George had taken would assist her in the future.
The first grader’s parents wanted to avoid a trial to avoid the possibility of traumatizing their son through testifying. The child’s mother, who asked to remain anonymous to maintain her son’s privacy, later said she would have preferred a trial over George’s felony charge being lowered to a misdemeanor. However, the child’s parents do not plan on appealing the decision at this time.
In a victim impact statement, the child’s mother described watching her son’s interview with the Children’s Justice Center as something she would never forget.
“No child should ever believe they deserve to be hurt because they were not ‘good enough,’” she said.
She said her son had developed stress-related body rashes in the days following the interview. Later, when he spotted George unexpectedly in a grocery store parking lot, he “immediately dove down in the car because he was afraid she would see him.”
When the first grader’s mother asked him whether he had anything he wanted her to say to George in court, he said, “You hurt my heart.”
“The mark above his eye faded long ago, but the emotional impact for him did not,” the child’s mother said.
George also read a two-sentence statement. She acknowledged the difficulties the case had brought to her own family, friends and students.
“Hopefully, today brings closure so all of us can move forward,” she said.