Dr. La’Quetta Small, superintendent of Atlantic City Public Schools, and her husband, Atlantic City Mayor Small, were charged yesterday with second-degree endangering the welfare and simple assault of their teenage daughter. The Mayor was also charged with third-degree terroristic threats and third-degree aggravated assault.

Dr. Small has been the superintendent of Atlantic City school district, which educates 6,300 students, for two and a half years. Previously she was a teacher in Newark City Public Schools.

According to the the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office,

“During one incident, Marty Small, Sr. is alleged to have hit his daughter multiple times in the head with a broom causing her to lose consciousness. Another incident alleged that Marty Small, Sr., during an argument with his daughter, continuously threatened to hurt her by ‘earth slamming’ her down the stairs, grabbing her head and throwing her to the ground, and smacking the weave out of her head. Another incident involved Marty Small, Sr. punching his daughter repeatedly in her legs causing bruising. It is alleged that La’Quetta Small, during one incident, punched her daughter multiple times on her chest leaving bruising. Another incident alleged that La’Quetta Small dragged her daughter by her hair then struck her with a belt on her shoulders leaving marks. Another incident alleged that La’Quetta Small punched her daughter in the mouth during an argument.”

NBC is reporting that the investigation into the Smalls’ alleged abuse of their daughter was hampered by miscommunication and, possibly, negligence. On January 22nd of this year, at a mental health training for students at Atlantic City High School, students were given cards and told to circle a smiling face, a neutral face, or an unhappy face. Small’s daughter circled “neutral” and wrote “abuse” on the back, asking to see a counselor. When a counselor contacted her later that morning she described getting hit with a broom and said she’d already informed high school principal Constance Days-Chapman. When contacted the counselor spoke to Days Chapman, the principal said she’d notify the Department of Child Protection & Permanency (DCP&P). 

Later that day, the student told her therapist she had informed school officials about the abuse at home: “I was really stressed, I was crying a lot, I wasn’t mentally stable, I wasn’t comfortable around them, I just didn’t feel safe.” The therapist called  La’Quetta Small that evening, who told her there was no abuse; she and her husband didn’t like her daughter’s boyfriend and there had been squabbles about that. 

When investigators interviewed the boyfriend, he showed detectives video clips from his cellphone showing evidence of abuse, including swelling, scratches, bruising, and hair loss. The boy’s mother confirmed she’d heard about the abuse. 

Later, investigators found out principal Days-Chapman never notified DCP&P. When they spoke to  the AtlantiCare Teen Center, which provides mental health care for Atlantic City High School students, staff there said they would have told DCP&P but were told the agency had already been notified by the school.

Mayor Small’s attorney, Ed Jacobs, told NBC,

“The charges filed by the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office today make no claims of public corruption or misconduct in office or any failure by Mayor Small, to properly discharge his responsibilities as the mayor of Atlantic City, On the contrary, they focus only on personal, private family matter.”

Jacobs said later, “it was a misguided attempt to micromanage very private and personal family matters including challenges facing parents attempting to properly raise a teenage child.”

It is unclear at this time if La’Quetta Small has her own attorney. Atlantic City Public Schools has not responded to a request for comment or her current status.