A Chicago Public Schools teacher is accused of beating and choking a 12-year-old kid in a classroom on the South Side, making her at least the sixth CPS employee charged with physical or sexual assault this school year.
Alayne Pierce-Collins, 37, is charged with felony counts of aggravated battery of a child causing severe bodily damage and aggravated battery of a child by strangulation causing great bodily harm.
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According to court records, the claims originate from an incident on December 12, 2025, at Pershing Magnet School, located at 3200 South Calumet Avenue in the Douglas area.
Prosecutors claim Pierce-Collins grabbed the youngster in her classroom and dragged him before punching him in the face, causing bruises and swelling around one eye and cuts on both sides of his face. According to the CPD report, Pierce-Collins smacked the youngster in the face “numerous times.”
Prosecutors also claimed that Pierce-Collins placed the boy in a chokehold, preventing him from breathing. Prosecutors alleged that students and school workers observed the attack.
Judge Rivanda Doss Beal dismissed prosecutors’ plea to keep Pierce-Collins pending trial and released her on customary conditions, including a stay away order from the child.
The case joins a growing list of criminal charges brought against CPS personnel suspected of targeting students throughout the current school year.
- Mycale Ford, 41, a former special education classroom assistant at Gresham School of Excellence, was charged with grooming for allegedly sending a 13-year-old female student a message on Instagram asking if he could pay to see her body: “That body looking right, can I pay you to see it?” A judge ordered Ford detained, citing a “lack of self-control” and a risk to children. Prosecutors noted Ford faced a similar but unproven allegation in 2016 while working as a school security guard at another elementary school.
- Heather Pancer, 48, a former security guard at George Washington High School, was charged with criminal sexual assault after prosecutors say she sexually abused two female students at her Hammond, Indiana, home between 2018 and 2020. Prosecutors say Pancer lured the first victim, who was 15, by asking her to help care for her ailing husband and autistic son.
- Melissa Monroy, 48, a substitute special education classroom aide at Beard Elementary School in Norwood Park, is charged with aggravated battery of a child after prosecutors say a CPS security officer watched on live surveillance as she dragged and pushed an 8-year-old nonverbal autistic boy during a three-minute struggle outside a school bathroom.
- Laundon Hubbert, 52, a teacher at Carter G. Woodson Elementary School in Bronzeville, was charged with aggravated battery of a child for allegedly pushing a 5-year-old student to the floor, kicking him multiple times, and ripping off his hoodie. A teaching assistant partially captured the February 6 incident on video, prosecutors said.
- Tamika Odeh, 44, a special education assistant at Parker Elementary School in Englewood, was charged with aggravated battery of a child. Prosecutors said she placed an 8-year-old student in a chokehold and threw him to the lunchroom floor on November 3, causing ligament damage to his neck that required physical therapy. A judge declined to detain Odeh and released her with orders to stay away from the victim and anyone under 18.
