Woman Pleads No Contest to Charge of Attacking Teacher

A North Hollywood woman pleaded no contest Tuesday to a felony charge of assaulting her daughter’s 64-year-old kindergarten teacher in the classroom after the child complained that the instructor scolded her.

Benita McCrae, 30, faces up to one year in jail and three years probation under the terms of a plea agreement between prosecutors and her lawyer, Deputy Public Defender James M. Coady. Sentencing was scheduled for Nov. 6 in San Fernando Superior Court.

In exchange for her no-contest plea to one count of battery against a school employee, prosecutors dropped a charge of threatening a school employee.

Judge Stephen A. Marcus denied Coady’s request to release McCrae from custody on her own recognizance, but he lowered bail from $10,000 to $6,000. McCrae, who is being held at Sybil Brand Institute for Women, had not posted bail Tuesday.

Outside the courtroom where McCrae entered her plea, teacher Marjan Swantek described the alleged assault. She said McCrae burst into her classroom at Toluca Lake Elementary School on Oct. 3, began to choke her and slammed her against a wall.

Swantek said her kindergarten students told her that she was lifted several inches off the ground by McCrae, who police described as 6 feet tall and weighing 240 pounds. Swantek said she is 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs 142 pounds.

Swantek said the attack left her with bruises and scratches on her neck and a bruised elbow.

Coady did not dispute charges that his client assaulted the teacher. However, he said McCrae denies choking Swantek and scratching her neck.

Coady said McCrae was oversensitive about how others treated her daughter.

McCrae’s 5-year-old daughter was placed in the custody of the Department of Children’s Services after her mother was arrested. The mother has retained an attorney to attempt to regain custody of the girl, Coady said.

Swantek said McCrae had spent time observing her teach the day before the assault.

McCrae returned briefly the next day and confronted the teacher, saying, “You’re going to have to change your way of teaching or there’s going to be trouble,” Swantek said.

After McCrae left, her daughter told Swantek, “You’re going to get fired; you’re going to get fired,” the teacher said.

Swantek said she told the child in a firm voice, “Please don’t say that again.”

The teacher added that the exchange with the girl was the child’s “cue to go outside to get her mom.” McCrae returned shortly afterward and assaulted her, Swantek said.