VIDEO: Indiana Teacher Granted Early Retirement After Slapping Student in Face

An Indiana teacher is retiring early and could face criminal charges after a shocking video emerged appearing to show him slapping a student in the face.

Teacher Mike Hosinski, who has taught at Jimtown High School in Elkhart for 40 years, reportedly struck the student during morning classes in February, the South Bend Tribune reported.

Watch below: 

#WATCH: A teacher in Northern Indiana shoved a student up against a wall and then slapped them. Tonight, the Baugo Community School board approved an accelerated retirement for Mike Hosinski and he gets to keep his pension…
pic.twitter.com/KuvOvYPrPv

— Max Lewis (@MaxLewisTV) March 1, 2022

The video appears to show Hosinski grabbing the student – who has not been identified – by the backpack in the hallway, pushing him against a wall, and subsequently slapping him.

Baugo Community School Superintendent Byron Sanders said that the incident was over the student’s sweatshirt and that his head hit the wall as a result of the slap, WMAG-TV reported.

“School officials said the student suffered visible injuries and required immediate medical attention,” according to the South Bend Tribune.

The matter is being investigated by the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office, though the question of charges coming to fruition still lingers, WNDU reports. Attorney Peter Agostino told the outlet that corporal punishment is not prohibited in Indiana Schools.

“I think that the view in Indiana is still that the discipline laws in schools do not prohibit corporal punishment,” he said. “So that, there is still some open interpretation on how far that can go.”

“It probably ranges from battery which is in consented touching. Depending from there, how extensive the conduct was, how aggressive it was, could be viewed as some other attempt to inflict bodily injury,” the attorney told WNDU. 

Once the sheriff’s office completes its investigation, the prosecutor’s office will decide whether to charge the teacher. 

WSBT reports that Hosinski was initially set to retire at the end of the school year but requested it begin immediately. The Baugo Community School Board decided Monday to allow Hosinski, who WBND said was named Jimtown High School’s Teacher of the Year in 2020, to retire early with a full pension, WNDU reports.

Many community members in attendance seemed to back Hosinski.

When a board member stated the teacher should keep his full pension benefits during the meeting, those in attendance cheered, according to video from WNDU. 

“This is a complete failure on the administration with what happened to Hosinski,” a man in attendance told the board. 

While some have thrown their support behind the educator, others have been more critical. Pastor George Bostic Jr. has daughters who go to Jimtown High School, one of whom took a class with Hosinski, according to WBND. He told the outlet he is “appalled that something like that would happen!”

He added his daughters described the student’s behavior as disruptive but noted he does not “think there’s anything he could’ve said that should’ve provoked that kind of behavior from a teacher.”