Ex-Macomb County teacher gets probation for abusing special needs kids

A former Macomb County teacher who abused students with special needs will not spend a day in jail.

A judge sentenced 28-year-old Brittany Stevens to two years probation. The Mount Clemens woman verbally and physically abused children with autism at Sequoyah  Elementary in Macomb Township between May and December of 2017.

The students were just 8 and 9 years old. The Mount Clemens woman was charged in 2018 and fired from her job by the district. 

Parents say Stevens slapped and insulted their children when she should have been helping them.

"As a parent I am left with the heartbreak because you hurt my daughter and guilt because I never saw it coming," said Catherine Berg, mother of an abused student in court. "And the fear that will always haunt me wondering if someone else will come into her life and hurt her again."

"A single drop of water on a T-shirt could send any of these kids into a meltdown, an absolute tailspin," said April Monteleone, the mother of an abused student. "So the constant toxicity in that classroom and the language and then factor in the physical abuse. None of those kids had a chance."

Stevens was originally charged with felony child abuse but she pleaded guilty to reduced charges of assault and battery.