Substitute teacher arrested for offering to pay students to bully

A substitute physical education teacher working in Caddo Parish School District was arrested Sept 12 after an August 23 incident when the substitute offered to pay up to $25 dollars for five students to tackle another student, according to Public Information Officer Bia Roldan, with Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office. Aadrina Smith, 24—reportedly of Atlanta, Texas— is alleged to have offered to pay five different students $5 each to tackle another student in PE class. Detectives with CPSO arrested Smith for encouraging students to commit battery and bully a classmate said, Sheriff Steve Prator. “Video of the incident shows Smith verbally communicating with five students and appeared to congratulate three who participated in the battery,” Roldan said. “The substitute teacher sat on the bleachers while the victim lay on the gym floor and later got up. Smith never helped the victim and did not report the incident.”

The incident happened at North Caddo Elementary Middle School on August 23 during a P.E. class, according to a report received by the Caddo Youth Services Division.

“Smith was arrested September 12 and booked into Caddo Correctional Center on five counts of contributing to the delinquency of juveniles and malfeasance in office,” Roldan said.

It is important to note, “The substitute teacher only offered to pay the students,” Roldan clarified. “She didn’t actually pay them.”

“It was a teacher like this that bullied my youngest daughter in her first year in public school. She was previously in private school,” Kristi Engfurtner Dykes, local resident said. “My daughter is an adult now, and that teacher’s bullying and her encouragement to have her classmates bully her still affects her today.”

“When you are a leader over children, you have a big responsibility. Take it more than seriously. Treat those children like your immortal soul depends on it,” Dykes added.

Smith was terminated by the Caddo Parish School District and Roldan said the investigation is ongoing and more arrests are pending.