Former Brownsburg teacher sentenced to probation in 2023 vomit incident

HENDRICKS COUNTY, Ind. – A former teacher avoided prison time after forcing a special needs student to eat his own vomit.

Sara Seymour pleaded guilty to one count of neglect of a dependent as a misdemeanor charge. In exchange for her plea deal, the court dismissed an additional charge of failure to make a report.

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According to court documents, Seymour was sentenced to 365 days in jail, with the bulk of the sentence (363 days) suspended to probation. She was given credit for time served.

The agreement included several conditions, including surrendering her license to the Indiana Department of Education. The state doesn’t want her to work in any “direct-service position” with someone under the age of 18.

The state also recommended that she remain at home between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. A no-contact order remained in effect with the victim.

Seymour, a former Life Skills teacher at Brown Elementary School in Brownsburg, was at the center of a Feb. 16, 2023, incident in which a special needs student was told to eat his own vomit. It happened in the lunchroom and was captured on security video.

School officials didn’t learn about it until April 12, 2023, leading to an investigation by the Brownsburg Police Department.

According to Brownsburg police, Seymour told the student that, if he vomited, he would have to eat whatever he threw up. When the boy vomited, an aide, Debra Kanipe, provided him with a spoon.

Seymour and Kanipe stood on either side while the child ate a portion of the vomit, police said. The boy used paper towels to clean up what was left.

Three other staff members were involved in the incident or witnessed it. None of them reported it to school administrators.

In late April 2023, the Hendricks County Prosecutor’s Office filed criminal charges against five people, including Seymour and Kanipe.

A month later, officials announced the district had fired Seymour, Kanipe and another person. A fourth staffer resigned. The contractor was not employed by BCSC and could not resign or be fired by the district.

Seymour’s plea deal means four of the five cases are now resolved.

In the three other cases, the individuals avoided jail time after pleading guilty to failure to make a report.

The case against Kanipe is pending. She’s charged with neglect of a dependent and failure to make a report. A jury trial is scheduled for June.