A Chicago Public Schools teacher is accused of beating and choking a 12-year-old student inside a South Side classroom, making her at least the sixth CPS employee charged this school year with physically or sexually assaulting students.
Alayne Pierce-Collins, 37, faces felony counts of aggravated battery of a child causing great bodily harm and aggravated battery of a child by strangulation causing great bodily harm.
The allegations stem from an incident on December 12, 2025, at Pershing Magnet School, 3200 South Calumet Avenue, in the Douglas neighborhood, according to court records.
Prosecutors said Pierce-Collins grabbed the boy in her classroom and dragged him before striking him in the face, leaving him with bruising and swelling around one eye and cuts on both sides of his face. A CPD report said Pierce-Collins struck the boy in the face “numerous times.”
Prosecutors also alleged that at one point Pierce-Collins placed the child in a chokehold, preventing him from breathing. Students and school staff witnessed the attack, prosecutors said.
Judge Rivanda Doss Beal denied prosecutors’ request to detain Pierce-Collins pending trial and released her with standard conditions, including an order to stay away from the child.
CPS did not respond to CWB Chicago’s request for information and comment before publication.
The case adds to a growing list of criminal charges filed against CPS employees accused of targeting students during 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.
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