Florida substitute teacher busted for allegedly kicking special needs student: ‘Now we’re square’

Read the original at New York Post ↗
Cite

Zilber, A. (2026, October 20). Florida substitute teacher busted for allegedly kicking special needs student: ‘Now we’re square’. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/10/19/us-news/florida-substitute-teacher-busted-for-allegedly-kicking-special-needs-student/

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

New York Post · collected 2026-10-20 · by Ariel Zilber

Quick Summary

A Florida substitute teacher faced child abuse charges after allegedly kicking a student with disabilities during class. The incident occurred when the student exhibited behavioral issues; a witness reported seeing the substitute kick the student and later heard him say they were now "square." Despite Schewitz's claims of accidental contact, photographic evidence showed injuries to the student’s leg. School officials confirmed the student’s account of being kicked, while authorities charged the substitute with child abuse without great bodily harm.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-20, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

A Florida substitute teacher in Flagler County was arrested for allegedly kicking a special needs student during class. The incident occurred when the substitute, identified as Schewitz, reportedly used excessive force to manage the student's behavioral difficulties on Friday. According to investigators, Schewitz told a witness, "He kicked me and I kicked him. So now we’re square," after being questioned about a large mark on the student’s leg. The student's mother later reported that her child had missing skin from their leg due to the injury, as documented in photographs provided to deputies. Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore emphasized that such behavior would not be tolerated and highlighted the district's commitment to student safety.

Written for “Teacher Arrested For Kicking Student” on 2026-10-20, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 92450 · logged 2026-10-20

Story

📰 Teacher Arrested For Kicking Student
Crime & Law · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
21
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
29%
6 of 21 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
66/100
New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-20 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

New York Post · 11939 article(s) · 33 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 33 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Ariel Zilber
65 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore likewise emphasized that student safety was the district’s priority. “This kind of behavior will not be tolerated on our campuses,” Moore said.
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Also by Ariel Zilber
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 65 articles by Ariel Zilber →

Topics

Flagler Beach Flagler County Flagler Schools Florida WKMG

Subjects

Schewitz PERSON · 9× Flagler Beach GPE · 1× Flagler County GPE · 1× Flagler Schools ORG · 1× Florida GPE · 1× LaShakia Moore PERSON · 1× Moore PERSON · 1× Rick Staly PERSON · 1× WKMG ORG · 1×

Narrative

Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore likewise emphasized that student safety was the district’s priority. “This kind of behavior will not be tolerated on our campuses,” Moore said.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-20
🔮 Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore likewise emphasized that student safety was the district’s priority. “This kind of behavior will not be tolerated on our campuses,” Moore said.

Claims (21 extracted, 6 hedged)

A Florida substitute teacher was busted after allegedly kicking a student with disabilities in the leg — then telling a witness that he had kicked the child back to even the score, authorities said. uncertain
authorities → bust → score
“He kicked me and I kicked him. asserted
I → kick → him
So now we’re square,” Schewitz allegedly told a witness who questioned him about a large mark on the student’s leg, investigators said. uncertain
investigators → ’re → leg
The Flagler Beach resident, who was working as a substitute at the school, was charged with child abuse without great bodily harm. asserted
who → work → harm
The incident unfolded on Friday when the student, whose disability was not specified, was experiencing behavioral difficulties during class, according to investigators. uncertain
disability → unfold → investigators
One witness said Schewitz used excessive force to get the student into a chair, then made the child put his hands on a table while warning, “The gloves are off.” asserted
gloves → say → table
The witness told investigators that the substitute’s treatment of the student made her uncomfortable. asserted
her → tell → student
Another witness said he saw Schewitz kick the child and subsequently spotted a large mark on the student’s leg. asserted
Schewitz → say → leg
The student’s mother subsequently told deputies that skin was missing from her child’s leg and provided photographs of the injury, according to WKMG, which cited the arrest report. uncertain
which → tell → report
School officials questioned the student, who confirmed that Schewitz had kicked him, authorities said. asserted
authorities → question → him
But Schewitz gave deputies a different account, insisting that the contact was accidental. asserted
contact → give → account
He claimed the student had arrived late to class, refused to sit down and began kicking toward him, eventually striking his leg. asserted
student → claim → leg
Schewitz said he extended his own foot and accidentally kicked the student. asserted
he → say → student
He also claimed the child had been moving around the classroom and attempting to poke other students with a pencil, prompting him to guide the student into an empty chair by the shoulder. asserted
child → claim → shoulder
The substitute acknowledged placing the child’s hands on a table and sternly warning that “the gloves were coming off,” according to investigators. uncertain
gloves → acknowledge → investigators
When confronted about his alleged remark that he and the student were now square, Schewitz initially denied making the statement before expressing uncertainty about whether he had said it. asserted
he → confront → it
He nevertheless maintained that the kick was accidental, authorities said. asserted
authorities → maintain → ?
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly condemned the alleged conduct, saying adults entrusted with caring for children — particularly those with disabilities — must remain levelheaded. asserted
adults → condemn → disabilities
Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore likewise emphasized that student safety was the district’s priority. “This kind of behavior will not be tolerated on our campuses,” Moore said. asserted
Moore → emphasize → campuses
Schewitz was booked into the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility and released Saturday on $2,500 bond, according to the sheriff’s office. uncertain
Schewitz → book → office
It was not immediately clear whether Schewitz had been suspended, fired or removed from the school district’s substitute teaching roster. asserted
Schewitz → suspend → roster
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