A former teacher at White Oaks Elementary School in Burke will surrender her teaching license amid accusations that she physically assaulted students at the school.
Elizabeth Yoshimi Nagagata, who previously worked as a special education teacher at the school, entered an Alford plea on June 18 to two misdemeanor counts of assault & battery, allowing her to plead guilty while maintaining her innocence.
According to court records, the 63-year-old was also ordered to serve 10 days in jail — down from the 20-day sentence she received in April but later appealed.
Under the Virginia code, misdemeanor assault and battery carries a maximum penalty of up to a year in jail if convicted.
A Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judge had acquitted Nagagata on five simple assault charges but found her guilty of two offenses that allegedly occurred on Oct. 1 and Nov. 14, 2023. After her appeal, the conviction will no longer stand as a result of an agreement between Nagagata and the Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office.
Nagagata, who was employed at the school until June 2024, was initially charged with seven counts of simple assault after an investigation by Child Protective Services reportedly found that she had assaulted three students on separate occasions during the 2023-2024 academic year.
The alleged incidents included picking up and dropping a student, stomping on a child’s arm, pulling a chair out from under a student and shoving, according to court documents.
All of the students involved were 4 years old at the time of the incidents, the documents said.
Four months after Nagagata’s arrest, White Oaks Elementary assistant principal Dana Chen was arrested and charged with failing to report the allegations to law enforcement and Child Protective Services. In February, a judge found Chen not guilty.
