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Former teacher accused of pulling out 7-year-old's hair charged with child cruelty

ROSWELL, Ga. — Roswell police said a former private school elementary teacher got so angry at a student, she pulled her hair out.

“A teacher of a 7-year-old child was upset,” Officer Lisa Holland said. “She was messing around with some hand sanitizer, and the teacher got upset with her for that and yanked her hair back so hard that it actually pulled one of her braids out of her hair.”

Holland said the girl began to cry and reported the incident to school officials, who notified police.

Police told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik the incident happened in September 2015 at the International Charter School of Atlanta, but it took nearly three years for police to track Josie Djachechi down to answer to a charge of felony cruelty to children.

Authorities in Gwinnett County picked her up two weeks ago on the outstanding warrant.

Records show she was booked into the Fulton County jail and bonded out.

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“The teacher’s job is to protect students,” said Holland. “They are their caregiver for the day, and it’s unfortunate that this girl was hurt by that teacher.”

Djachechi’s former employer sent Petchenik an emailed statement:

“The International Charter School of Atlanta (ICSAtlanta) does not provide comments on former employees and personnel matters. Please note that Ms. Djachechi has not been employed with ICSAtlanta since October 2015.”

Djachechi was to appear in court Friday for a hearing, but court officials told Channel 2 Action News the hearing was postponed, pending a grand jury indictment.

She did not respond to Petchenik’s request for her side of the story.

Community members told Petchenik they are shocked by the allegations.

“I don’t think she needs to be teaching. Got some anger issues,” said Sue Harmon. “That’s terrible.  If my child came home like that, I’d be down at that school.”