A teacher at a Head Start preschool in Miami has been charged with hitting three children in his care, including a 5-year-old girl whom police say he kicked in the face as she lay on her cot during nap time.

Jean E. Dorvil, 56, a preschool teacher at the Head Start program at Charles R. Drew Elementary in Miami, was charged Friday with aggravated child abuse with great bodily harm, three charges of battery and two charges of child abuse with no harm.

Four of the charges are felonies. Dorvil is in jail without bond.

During their investigation of the girl's case, school police discovered that a staffer at Drew knew about two other children who had been kicked by Dorvil earlier in the school year -- but had failed to report the incidents as required by state law.

When police confronted Dorvil, they say he admitted kicking those two children.

The latest incident occurred on April 16, when 5-year-old Mikel Blue told authorities Dorvil kicked her in the face after she went to the restroom without permission during nap time, the girl's mother, Cynthia Blue, said. The youngster, who needed to use the restroom, said Dorvil kicked her in the mouth after she returned from the bathroom and was resting on her cot.

Cynthia Blue said her daughter came home from school that day with a cut on her mouth and blood on her blouse.

"It stunned me," Cynthia Blue said. ''Her lip was cut on the outside, and it was bleeding.'' Blue said she asked her daughter how her lip was cut. She replied: ''He got mad at me because I went to the bathroom,'' Blue said.

During the course of their investigation, officers with the Miami-Dade Schools Police interviewed staff members. One employee told the detective that two other students had complained that Dorvil kicked them earlier this year, said Sgt. Ivan Silva, a Miami-Dade Schools Police spokesman.

The staff member did not notify anyone at the time about the abuse complaint, Silva said. Under Florida law, anyone who comes into regular contact with children -- such as teachers, doctors, social workers and therapists -- must report any suspicions of child abuse or neglect to the state's abuse hot line.

The detective interviewed the two boys -- both 5 years old -- and their parents. The boys said they had been kicked by Dorvil sometime at the begining of the school year. Later, during an interview with detectives, Dorvil ''admitted to those incidents, and that's why he was charged,'' Silva said.

Child welfare administrators said Tuesday that they are worried that the abuse reports from this school year may not be the first time Dorvil abused kids.

Dorvil, who had been teaching at Drew for more than a decade, was reprimanded in 2002 for failing to report that another child had been hurt in his care. ''The child hurt his mouth and was bleeding,'' a January 2002 report says. ``You assessed the accident to be minor even when the child clearly had blood from his mouth.

''You did not obtain the assistance of the nurse who is on site; you did not try to contact the parent, you did not inform me (your supervisor)'' the report adds. ``I hope you understand the gravity of the occurrence and the consequences of your negligence.''

Jacqui Colyer, the Department of Children & Families' top Miami administrator, said similarities between the 2002 incident and the one last month concern her. Calling the 2002 report ''identical'' to the more recent one, Colyer said her agency did not investigate the incident because Head Start administrators failed to report it.

Though the DCF investigation of Dorvil remains open, Colyer said the agency was about to close the case without verifying any allegations of abuse or neglect. She said DCF investigators had run into inconsistencies in Mikel's description of what happened last month.

Flora Beal, DCF's spokeswoman, said the agency will discuss the case with schools police before closing their investigation. ''We are working with law enforcement to gather all the available information so that we can make our findings,'' Beal said.

In the wake of Dorvil's arrest, Beal said DCF will be working with Head Start and Miami-Dade schools as a whole to emphasize the importance of reporting suspected child abuse.

Dorvil has been suspended from the Drew Head Start program, in accordance with county policy, said Julie Edwards, executive director of the Community Action Agency, which oversees Head Start in Miami-Dade. And Head Start administrators are trying to determine whether other children have been harmed in Dorvil's classroom.

Edwards said every staff member undergoes a thorough background investigation before being hired, including criminal histories, and all employees are made aware of the more than 1,300 federal Head Start regulations and state laws, including the one that mandates reporting of suspected child abuse.

Edwards said she had not been aware that two boys said they had complained previously to staff that Dorvil had kicked them.

''We have taken this very, very seriously,'' she said. ``This is forcing us to take a closer look at operations and determine what areas we need to improve on.''

WTF IS THIS WORLD COMING TOO?????????

hope he gets the max!!!! violence is everywhere

It most definitely is, but what in the ____ ran through his mind. She had to go potty, so let me kick her in the face? What about the other teachers? the assistants? should they also face charges for not reporting?

This is one sad, sad world we live in

people abuse kids a lot. it's sick and I feel for the little ones. I teach dance (mostly 3 yrs old and up) and I couldn't even think about being cruel that way. this man has rage or something and needs to stay away from little ones. bet he would be a coward when it came to someone his own age

thats beyond violence thats just pure f'd up! If he did that to my son hed have alot more to worry about that prison.

((((lastman)))...hey gorgeous. I agree with that. even my son has broken up older kids picking on little ones. I would like to see if he could handle this mom and try to lay a finger on me before he goes down to the ground

if they knew about it and did not report it, they should face consequences too.

I have this same type of mentality, especially when it comes to a small child being abused, I say put this teacher in a room and let the children's parents and family kick him in the f'ing face. doubt he'd make it out

Head Start should be liable as well. you should report anything that has to do with this kind of thing

nice

how ya been?

? who?

sorry didn't quote, haven't seen you much in the forums, asking how you were.

Oh haha good thanks yeah I used to spend more time in here a while back..How are you?

oh sure fran....block me why don't cha

I'm sorry was not my intention to block you

and you are right, he is gorgeous

love ya fran...now let's find the guy in the OP and "talk" to him

whats the OP?

OP=original post