Officers with the Smyrna Police Department (SPD) recently culminated a criminal investigation into a teacher at Smyrna High School by making an arrest.
In February 2024, SPD was notified via a Division of Family Services (DFS) hotline report that Kanika Jackson, 40, of Smyrna, who was employed as a teacher at Smyrna High School, was allegedly verbally and physically abusive towards students in class.
SPD School Resource Officers and detectives immediately notified the Smyrna School District, which placed the employee on administrative leave. Officers then began an investigation in conjunction with the Department of Justice. Officials allege that their investigation showed that on three separate occasions during this school year, Ms. Jackson placed her hands on students in a physical manner, causing them offense and alarm according to police.
“In one instance, she allegedly grabbed a student’s hair and pulled it. In another, she is alleged to have grabbed a student’s neck and shaken them. In the final incident, she is also alleged to have grabbed a student by the neck and pushed them into a wall,” officials said Friday.
On Wednesday, June 12th, at approximately 11:30 a.m., investigators with SPD took Ms. Jackson into custody without incident at her residence. She was brought to SPD and formally charged with three counts of Offensive Touching. She was presented via video court to JP#2 where she was released on her own recognizance pending a future court hearing.
It should be noted that this investigation is separate from the ongoing Smyrna Elementary criminal investigation, police clarified.