A sanctuary where parents leave their hearts in the hands of trusted teachers turned into a crime scene in North Carolina last September. What occurred wasn’t a playground accident or a common toddler scrape, but a calculated act of cruelty involving a hot glue gun, a defenseless toddler and the daycare teacher behind the harrowing ordeal.
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It started with a typical three-year-old being, well, a three-year-old at Concord Academy in the Charlotte suburb of Concord, North Carolina, on Sept. 20. At the private Christian school, you’d expect a lesson in patience; instead, teacher Lashawna Williams did the unthinkable because the toddler wouldn’t sit down.
Williams, 42, intentionally used a hot glue gun to apply glue to a chair and forced the child to sit in it, WCNC Charlotte reported. The child suffered second-degree burns to their upper thighs. She reportedly did not tell anyone the child was hurt, so the toddler did not receive any medical care for seven hours.
She was fired immediately and criminal charges of child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor followed. Williams pleaded guilty to it all in Cabarrus County District Court.
Thanks to a plea agreement, her contributing to the delinquency of a minor charge was dismissed and Williams was sentenced to serve 10 days in jail on Feb. 11, local news station WXII 12 reported. Additionally, she will be on supervised probation for six months, required to complete 24 hours of community service and must have no contact with the child or the child’s family, according to Queen City News.
The case sparked outrage among childcare safety advocates. “We need better people in charge, and if you don’t like kids, don’t have patience, and don’t have compassion– don’t work in a daycare,” Tara Robertson, a behavioral therapist with Eagles Will ABA Therapy, told WCNC Charlotte. “If we can’t have a little bit of compassion, then we need to find another job.”
Folks online also condemned Williams and the sentencing judge. “someone should post a picture of the judge and the prosecutor….. make sure they’re famous for their participation in this atrocity,” one X user wrote.
Another added: “Let’s stick the judge to a chair with hot glue. Would that be convincing?”
“The way I’d be in a mug shot next,” one Facebook user commented on a post.
The September 2025 incident wasn’t the first time the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services found violations at Concord Academy.
Between June 2023 and Feb. 2026, Queen City News reported seven out of 12 visits had found violations, including mislabeled or expired medication, missing background checks, staff lacking CPR training and chemicals being in reach of children.
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