OFFICIALS REASSIGN TEACHER DURING TRIAL

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 30, 1993                   TAG: 9301300280
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
OFFICIALS REASSIGN TEACHER DURING TRIAL
A Roanoke special-education teacher was removed from teaching duties and placed on special assignment Friday after school officials learned he is facing an assault and battery charge in Campbell County.
Horace Luck Falls is accused of striking an 11-year-old student in the chest in May in a restroom at Concord Elementary School near Lynchburg, where he was teaching.
A substitute teacher will fill in for Falls until his trial is concluded. He will be assigned to non-teaching duties, school officials said.
Falls went on trial Thursday in Campbell County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. The trial is in recess and defense attorneys will begin presenting Falls' side of the case when the trial resumes. The date for that resumption has not yet been determined.
Campbell County Sheriff's Capt. Mike Harris described the circumstances leading to Falls' being charged:
Last May, Falls found several boys in the restroom in the school. He started talking to them, and then started horseplaying.
Harris said Falls then struck a Ninja Turtle pose and directed a fake karate kick at one of the boys. Falls grabbed the boy to keep him from falling backwards.
Falls is accused of then striking a second boy in the chest.
Fay Pleasants, executive for staff development and personnel at Roanoke schools, said Falls notified school authorities about the charges Friday. She would not name the school in which he teaches.
He was placed on special assignment after his principal, the School Board's attorney, Pleasants and Superintendent Frank Tota discussed the matter.
When city school officials ran a criminal check on Falls in July before his employment, his record showed no criminal charges. School Board policy does not require employees to inform school officials if they are charged with a crime.
"We had no knowledge of this incident," Pleasants said. "Obviously, if the resolution is something that is not in the best interest of children, we will have to take appropriate actions."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB