COLUMBIANA COUNTY Teacher to face jury trial in assault case

The district investigated and took no disciplinary action against the teacher.
LISBON -- A jury trial is to be held for a Lisbon junior high school teacher accused of assaulting a pupil.
David Crismon, 39, of 31279 Schneider Road, Hanoverton, remains free on bond after pleading innocent last week to assault, a first-degree misdemeanor bearing a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The plea was entered before Judge Robert Roberts of Columbiana County Municipal Court. A trial date has yet to be set.
Crismon is accused in the April 2 assault of a seventh-grade boy.
A Lisbon police complaint alleges that Crismon grabbed the boy on the chin and mouth and pushed the boy, causing him to fall.
The boy was not seriously injured.
What preceded it
Lisbon Schools Superintendent Charles McShane said Tuesday that the episode occurred at the end of a gym class, during which someone hit Crismon in the back of the head with a volleyball.
Crismon turned and saw a boy holding a ball and laughing. He assumed the boy had thrown the ball that struck him, triggering an encounter between the two, McShane said.
School officials eventually determined that the boy in question did not throw the ball. It was another boy, who was later suspended by the school district.
A school probe into the episode between Crismon and the first boy concluded that the encounter failed to amount to an assault, McShane said.
No action was taken by the district against Crismon, who has a clean teaching record, McShane said.
"This is really a nice teacher," McShane said. "An unfortunate situation happened. We would like to get this behind us."
Crismon has been teaching at Lisbon since 1988. Besides serving as gym instructor, Crismon also is head junior high boys basketball coach. He also is head coach of the varsity softball team.
McShane would not comment on what would occur if Crismon is found guilty of the assault charge.