State board ordered last week that the teacher's license be revoked.
State board ordered last week that the teacher's license be revoked. File photo. NEWARK -- A former city teacher has been stripped of his licenses stemming from a 2013 incident in which a school official said he saw the teacher spanking a four-year-old preschool student in the classroom.
According to an order of revocation recently released by the New Jersey Department of Education State Board of Examiners, school officials accused Richard Barnes-Bay - then a tenured pre-K teacher at Speedway School - of hitting the young student twice in front of a full classroom of children.
The district brought certified tenure charges against Bey after Assistant Superintendent Mitchell Center reported he was visiting the school on March 18, 2013 when he heard yelling coming from a classroom, the document states. He allegedly heard someone say, "Come to school like a man - got to get a beating like a man," it said.
When Center entered the classroom, he said he saw Bey pull the student out of his chair by the arm, and hit him twice on the buttocks in front of the class, it said.
Center then removed the crying child from the classroom, it said. The superintendent described the hits as "aggressive," the documents said.
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Bey was removed from his position, documents said.
According to state documents, Bey testified in 2013 that he did not hit the child, but that the boy was upset when the class was told to get in a circle, and he took the boy by the hand to lead him to the circle. Bey said he told the boy to "be a man today and join the club," and tapped his rear, it said.
Bey could not be reached for comment on the incident.
The state board said in the documents that it reviewed the arbitrator hearings between Bey and the district at several meetings over the past two years.
In subsequent hearings, Bey pointed to his history of community involvement. According to a Jersey Tomato Press report, Bey was honored as a "Community Connection Champion" by the Newark Youth Connection Council in 2009.
In a decision earlier this year, Administrative Law Judge Jesse H. Strauss commended Bey on his previous record, but said that "this singular act was neither justifiable nor excusable, and it overwhelms the otherwise exemplary career of Barnes-Bey," according to documents.
Strauss ordered that Bey's teaching licenses be revoked, they said.
At its July 30 meeting, the state board certified Strauss's decision, and determined that "Barnes-Bey's conduct demonstrates that he is incapable of being a role model for students and that conduct warrants revocation."
The board officially adopted the decision on Sept. 17, and ordered Bey's two teaching certificates be revoked.
Newark Public Schools did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
