The case against a Brenham elementary school administrator who parents said went too far in punishing a 4-year-old student has been dropped, Washington County's district attorney said Friday.
A grand jury decided nearly two weeks ago that not enough evidence existed to warrant a trial for Alton Elementary School Principal Calvin Kossie.
District Attorney Bill Parham said no charges would be brought against Kossie, who was not arrested in the case.
"That's as far we can take it," he said. "I have no additional new evidence."
Kossie said Friday that he was relieved to be done with the process.
"The people here that know me and know the school know that didn't happen," Kossie said. "My prayer is that something good will come out of this. There's no bitterness -- nothing but praise."
Family members of the boy, who is now 5, told police in January that Kossie had spanked him hard enough to leave bruises.
The boy's mother, who moved to Brenham from Somerville about a year ago, said she was "disgusted" when she saw the bruises on her son.
It is the policy of The Eagle not to print names that could identify the minor victim of a possible crime.
The boy's 24-year-old mother signed a form allowing corporal punishment when she enrolled her son in pre-kindergarten. But she said administrators went too far in punishing her son.
"They called me and said that he had been playing rough and climbing on the shelves, and they were going to administer corporal punishment and asked if that was OK," she said. "But when I got home, my husband said to look at his butt, and he had bruises all over him."
The boy's family took pictures of his bruises and filed a police report. The boy was taken out of school temporarily and went to stay with his grandparents in Somerville.
The boy's 66-year-old grandfather said he was outraged by the grand jury's decision.
"If I had hit a man and left him marks like that, or a policeman had hit a prisoner and left him bruised like that, the policeman would have lost his job, and I would have been in jail," he said.
School district officials conducted an internal investigation into the Jan. 29 incident and found no evidence of abuse. Kossie said the spanking the boy received was "within the rules of the school and the permission of his parents."
Kossie said he was grateful for the support from parents and community members.
"I haven't gotten one negative comment since this happened," he said, adding that this was the only time he had been accused of abusing a student in his seven years as principal of Alton.
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