FAYETTE COUNTY, Tenn — A Fayette County elementary school principal was arrested Tuesday after the Fayette County Sheriff's Office said she covered up a possible assault on a student by a teacher by preventing school resource officers from investigating what happened.
According to the Fayette County Sheriff's Office, Fabre Ford, the principal of Southwest Elementary School, was charged with tampering or fabricating evidence in an aggravated assault investigation, after she did not report a possible assault on a student to law enforcement, and, in fact, interfered with a school resource officer's investigation into the incident.
The Sheriff's Office said a school resource officer discovered the incident when a teacher went home on concussion protocol, after a student apparently hit the teacher with a metal thermos. When the officer spoke to Ford about the incident, the Sheriff's Office said she prevented the officer from interviewing students and staff about what happened, and said the school "handled" the incident.
That's when investigators at the Sheriff's Office became involved, and were told that the teacher may have assaulted the student first. The Sheriff's Office said investigators asked Ford to speak to them regarding what happened, and she refused to provide them with any information or witness statements from students.
Ford was charged with Tampering with or Fabricating Evidence for the refusal to cooperate with the investigation and provide the witness statements or any other evidence regarding the incident.
We've reached out to Fayette County Schools for a statement on this incident, and will update this story once we've received a reply.