This article was originally published by Port City Daily here, and is being shared with permission.
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A former New Hanover County Schools exceptional children teacher was found not guilty Monday of assaulting her kindergarten student, who is autistic and preverbal, last year.
Brittany Kosch was charged in October 2025 with two misdemeanor counts for assaulting two minors under 12 years of age while teaching at Anderson Elementary School. The criminal summons alleges Kosch slapped one child on the head and neck and kicked another child in the stomach.
Judge Richard Kern dismissed the case involving the minor who was allegedly slapped without a ruling; in the case involving the child allegedly kicked, Kosch was found not guilty. Kern concluded there was insufficient evidence to prove Kosch was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
READ MORE: Parent speaks out on charges against Anderson Elementary EC teacher
As is customary in district court, the cases were heard via bench trial. Kern presided and reached the not guilty verdict himself and without a jury.
Kosch was employed at Anderson Elementary from 2017 to 2025, becoming an EC department chair in 2020. The alleged incident, involving the child allegedly kicked, occurred last year on Sept. 16, though wasn’t reported until Sept. 19. School officials immediately put Kosch on administrative leave, though she resigned around a week later.
As revealed in court Monday, the two recent cases against Kosch made up four total assault complaints against the teacher during her eight-year NHCS tenure. The two other assault complaints were “unfounded” by the school district and were not investigated by law enforcement, though Kosch was put on a brief administrative leave for one of them. The details of these incidents were not disclosed in court.
Kosch was called to the stand Monday by her attorney, James Rutherford.
Kosch said she was “devastated” by the accusations against her and resigned to ensure her children had a dedicated teacher to replace her rather than disruption due to her administrative leave.
“I lived my entire life for my kids … this is still my dream job,” she said.
Since her resignation, Kosch has been employed as a babysitter and tutor; two of the families she works for had kids in Kosch’s class before she left. Rutherford also called to the stand two mothers currently employing Kosch; both attested they’ve never had any issues and are 100% confident in her character.
Kosch was asked to explain the setup of her classroom; she did and affirmed Rutherford’s assertion there was nowhere for anyone to hide from others. She added teachers and administrators were frequently in and out of her classroom.
When Rutherford asked Kosch directly if she hurt her student, she said no.
Rutherford said the two character witnesses and the lack of corroboration the report made against Kosch “speaks volumes” and proved the case didn’t meet proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
The report was made by Lynn Ballas, one of two teacher assistants in the room at the time of the alleged incident on Sept. 16. Though Ballas didn’t report it for three days after the incident.
Prosecutor Bradley Setzer remarked Ballas was putting her career on the line by speaking out, given the three-day delay in her report. State law requires teachers to immediately report suspicion of abuse, though doesn’t specify an exact timeline. Additionally, the child would not be able to speak for himself due to the severity of his autism.
“There was nothing to be gained,” Setzer said.
However, Rutherford pointed out Ballas texted Kosch a day after the alleged assault saying her students were lucky to have her. He said he didn’t know Ballas’ motives for the text or report, but described the two actions as incongruent with one another.
This text — along with the lack of testimony from the other teaching assistant in the room, Jennifer Midkiff, who denied seeing any assault occur to authorities — led Rutherford to argue there was not enough evidence to convict Kosch.
Though Kern ended up agreeing with Rutherford, the judge did thank Ballas for speaking out and said it was the “right thing to do.”
After the verdict, Tabitha Pinkston, mother of the student, urged anyone who thinks they witnessed inappropriate behavior to speak out immediately, noting the delay between the alleged incident and report could have meant the difference between noticeable injuries and not.
Pinkston has previously talked with Port City Daily about the incident involving her son, saying he continues to suffer emotionally from his experience. In the days following the alleged incident, Pinkston said she saw her son through nightmares, along with tears and panicked responses when she tried to ask him what happened.
The mother has also been critical of New Hanover County Schools’ response to the situation.
Pinkston told Port City Daily she was notified of her son’s assault in the car line when she was picking him up on Sept. 19. She wasn’t immediately told who was accused of the assault, where and when it happened; she later learned from law enforcement it didn’t occur on Sept. 19, but rather three days earlier. She also learned Kosch was the accused only after the teacher resigned.
District officials continued to fail her communication expectations, Pinkston said, and questioned repeatedly if her son was going to return to school. Pinkston’s son currently attends a different school with no plans to return to NHCS.
Pinkston was also critical of the school continuing to employ Kosch after other complaints against her, despite them being unfounded.
Though a criminal conviction would have put Kosch’s teaching license in jeopardy, Kosch now has a high likelihood of retaining it. As of Monday, her license was still current.
