Indiana teacher’s license revoked after video shows her forcing student to eat vomit

BROWNSBURG, Ind. — One of two Brownsburg Community School Corporation teachers accused of forcing a student to eat his own vomit has voluntarily surrendered her teaching license.

Although five adults were charged in connection with the incident, which took place in February of 2023, only two of those involved were licensed teachers at the school.

The Department of Education requested that Sara Seymour and Julie Taylor voluntarily surrender their licenses after the charges were filed against them.

Seymour surrendered her license on June 7, according to documents filed with the Department of Education, meaning it has officially been revoked.

Taylor did not respond to the IDOE’s request, so the department has filed a complaint with the Office of Administrative Law Proceedings to forcefully revoke her license.

In the complaint, the IDOE alleges that when they asked Taylor why she did not report the incident she said that she did not consider what happened to the child to be abuse.

All five employees were either fired or resigned after they were captured on video forcing a young student to eat his own vomit.

Seymour and Debra Kanipe, who was a Life Skills Instructional Aide, have both been charged with neglect of a dependent and failure to report.

Taylor, along with instructional aide Kristen Mitchell and Meghan King, who was a behavioral technician at K1ds Count Therapy, have all been charged with failure to report.

Brownsburg police were first contacted on April 12, regarding a report that a student had been mistreated during lunch.

The incident captured on surveillance video happened back in February, but the video was not reviewed until two months later when the incident was reported.

Surveillance video obtained from a search warrant shows a teacher and assistant forcing a Brown Elementary School student to eat his own vomit during lunch, according to the probable cause affidavits filed against the five adults involved.

The video, according to court documents, shows one of the instructors telling the 7-year-old student that if they vomit while choking they will have to eat their vomit. The child is given a tray and then vomits on the tray. The video then shows a second employee handing the child a spoon and telling them to eat their vomit. The child can then be seen eating some of the vomit off of the tray before being forced to clean it up.