Teacher to Stand Trial on Charges of Beating Boy, 9

A teacher at an Arleta elementary school is scheduled to stand trial next week for beating a 9-year-old boy with a stick in front of the youngster’s classmates, the Los Angeles city attorney’s office reported Friday.

James Rozelle, 42, of Los Angeles--who had been reprimanded by school authorities after earlier reports of harshness to children--was charged in March, 1989, with battery, cruelty to a child and inflicting corporal punishment on a child, all misdemeanors, Deputy City Atty. Victor R. Kalustian said.

Rozelle, who taught at Beachy Avenue Elementary School at the time of the March 1 incident, struck Michael E. Ortiz, of Arleta, a fourth-grader, at least 20 times on the buttocks because the youngster was not doing his work and was talking in class, Kalustian said.

Ted Goldstein, spokesman for the city attorney’s office, said the school’s principal reprimanded Rozelle in February, 1983, for his alleged “penchant for corporal punishment.” No criminal charges were filed as a result of the alleged misconduct then, he said.

Also, classmates interviewed by police after the latest incident said corporal punishment was common in Rozelle’s classroom, Goldstein said. Goldstein said the statements indicate Rozelle conducted the classroom with a “Marine Corps drill instructor-type attitude.”

The spokesman said the stick that Rozelle allegedly used to beat Michael was three feet long and a half inch in diameter. The stick is normally used to push wooden rings on a board in a children’s game, he said.

After hitting Michael, Rozelle took the boy to his grandmother’s home in Pacoima because the youngster was in pain, Goldstein said. The grandmother took the boy to a doctor, who called police to report the alleged beating, Goldstein said.

The boy, now 11, suffered bruises but otherwise was uninjured, Kalustian said.

If convicted on all three counts, Rozelle could be sentenced to a maximum of three years in jail, Goldstein said. But the instructor will most likely be sentenced to a lesser term, the spokesman said.

Rozelle, who was not taken into custody, pleaded not guilty to all three counts at his arraignment in October, Kalustian said.

Rozelle, in accordance with Los Angeles Unified School District policy, has been assigned a non-teaching job away from the school until the case is resolved, school officials said.

Jury selection in Rozelle’s trial was scheduled to start Friday in San Fernando Municipal Court, but was delayed to Wednesday because other cases were being heard in the courtroom, Kalustian said.