An Arkansas school director who prosecutors allege orchestrated a brutal classroom assault on a 13-year-old will spend just 30 days behind bars.

Mary Tracy Morrison, 51, allegedly owned and ran The Delta Institute for the Developing Brain and the Engage program in Jonesboro, according to Fox News. She pleaded guilty Monday to one count of permitting child abuse and four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, KAIT-TV reported. Three additional employees were arrested for their alleged links to the case: Michael Bean, 38, Kristin Bell, 36, and Kathrine Lipscomb, 45, Fox News reported. (RELATED: Judge Sentences Tennessee Man To 438 Years In Record-Breaking Multi-State Child Sex Abuse Case)

Beyond the brief jail term, Morrison drew 108 months of probation, 120 days of house arrest with electronic monitoring after her release, and a permanent ban from professionally working with children, KAIT-TV reported. She must give up her occupational therapy license, complete a mental health assessment, and stay away from the victim. Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jessica Thomason told KAIT the deal kept the children out of the courtroom while still imposing lasting consequences. “Morrison will no longer be permitted to work with children,” Thomason said.

School director accused of leading child fight club sentenced to probation, 30 days in jail https://t.co/VHHDkVOvGN

— Live5News (@Live5News) May 5, 2026

Prosecuting Attorney Sonia Hagood publicly branded Morrison the “ringleader of this makeshift child fight club” when the case broke last year, KAIT reported. The investigation kicked off on April 17, 2025, after a student’s mother contacted the Craighead County Sheriff’s Office to report that her child endured mental and physical abuse at the school, according to KAIT.

Investigators recovered video allegedly showing the child seated inside a circle of 18 students who were directed to put their hands on the victim, according to court document obtained by Arkansas Times.

“Dr. Morrison can be heard telling other students to put their hands on the juvenile child located in the center of the circle and can be seen putting her hands on the child as well as hitting the child with an unknown object,” the document alleged.

Morrison allegedly verbally degraded the child during the 30-minute episode, watched another student choke the victim, and then high-fived the attacker. Morrison allegedly gave a student permission to hit the victim in the genitals, according to the document.

The school marketed itself to children with autism and operated as part of the state’s LEARNS voucher program, The Arkansas Times reported. An attorney for Lipscomb, Randel Miller, pushed back on the prosecution’s framing, telling the outlet the session was “not meant to harm anybody, it was meant to help them.”

He claims that Lipscomb told him the events were not like what has been described in public reports.