A school director in Arkansas has been accused of being the “ringleader” of a makeshift child fight club, and she recently learned her fate following the crime.
Mary Tracy Morrison, the owner and director of The Delta Institute for the Developing Brain and the Engage program in Jonesboro, pleaded guilty to one count of permitting child abuse and four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile on Monday, May 4, according to KAIT.
Morrison, 51, has been sentenced to serve 30 days in jail, 120 days of house arrest with electronic monitoring and nine years of probation following her plea.
She has also been prohibited from working with children in any professional capacity. Additionally, the judge ordered her to surrender her occupational therapy license and any other related licenses, as well as complete a mental health assessment and follow all recommended treatments.
Morrison was arrested in April 2025 after a teen boy’s mother told the Craighead County Sheriff’s Office that her son reported he was mentally and physically abused while at the school.
Deputies obtained footage of the incident, which revealed Morrison had “instructed the child to sit on the floor while being surrounded on the outside of a circle by 18 other juvenile students and Dr. Morrison,” according to a probable cause affidavit viewed by KAIT.
Morrison allegedly told the other students to put their hands on the child and hit him with an “unknown object.” Morrison allegedly verbally berated the child, while the footage showed another student kicking and choking the child.
Following the alleged incident, Morrison was seen “giving the juvenile a high five, displaying her pleasure with the student’s actions.”
Also during the alleged incident, which lasted 30 minutes, another teacher directed a student to strike a classmate “in the private area.”
Morrison “instructed the victim to apologize to all other students” following the incident and told the students that they could not discuss what happened ever again.
Fellow school employees Michael Bean, Kristin Bell and Kathrine Lipscomb were also arrested in connection with the abuse. According to the affidavit, all three adults witnessed the abuse and did not intervene.
Attorney Bill Stanley, who represents Bean, 38, and Bell, 36, and attorney Paul Ford, who represents Morrison, argued that the affidavit did not provide evidence of actual physical injury to the victim, per KAIT. Due to the findings, the attorneys argued that the charge of permitting abuse of a minor should be amended.
It is not currently clear if Bean, Bell and Lipscomb have entered pleas. The Craighead County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Us Weekly’s request for comment regarding all four arrests.
