In February there was a teacher’s assistant brutally assaulted by a 17-year-old student. The student knocked the teacher unconscious.
Joan Naydich is showing no mercy for the student in his upcoming sentence. For context, the student assaulted the teacher after she took away his video game. The student stands at 6 feet 6 inches tall. He left the teacher with five broken ribs, a severe concussion and hearing loss.
“Everybody that knows me or knew me [before the attack], knows that I’m a totally different person now,” Joan Naydich told Fox 35. “My whole life was just turned upside down.”
Naydich told the station that she wants the student sentenced to a maximum of 30 years behind bars for the stomach-churning incident that left her physically and emotionally broken.
Naydich said that her speech has slowed and that she suffers from ongoing cognitive problems.
“Unfortunately, a lot of my injuries that are not visible I’m going to have for the rest of my life,” she said.
On top of her physical ailments, Naydich said she is struggling to get her workers’ compensation case resolved. She claims the case has been all but abandoned by the Flagler County School District since the attack.
Naydich returned to the school in August under a new title. Shortly after she was placed on unpaid leave, according to Fox 35.
Because she was placed on unpaid leave, she’s been living off of GoFundMe donations. The account has raised around $106,000 so far.
The student pleaded guilty to the attack last month, and Naydich has refused to help his defense seek a lighter sentence.
Judge Terrence Perkins can hit the student who assaulted Naydich with a term of anywhere between probation to the maximum of three decades behind bars.
Naydich told Fox 35 that she wants a maximum of 30 years and is willing to take the stand to help ensure that outcome.
“I want to make sure he is not able to walk the streets freely,” she told the station.
To hear Tony Katz’s thoughts on the situation, click the link below.
