An 11-year-old Highview Sixth Grade Center student is facing assault charges after he allegedly kicked and injured the school’s principal while he was being disciplined Tuesday.

The boy is scheduled to appear in Butler County Juvenile Court on Dec. 4 and has been suspended from school for 10 days, his mother said.

According to a Middletown police report filed by School Resource Officer Jim Lusk, the student kicked Highview principal Maria Marsh “knocking her to the floor, constituting assault.”

The boy’s mother, Christine Jones, told The Journal she was told Marsh had grabbed her son by the arm after he refused to stop tapping loudly on a school locker. She said the principal — still holding onto the boy’s arm — began to lead him to the main office. When the boy’s arm began to hurt, he swung his fist at Marsh and then kicked her, knocking her down, Jones said.

“The principal grabbed him by the arm and left a mark that was still visible more than an hour later,” Jones said. “I was told that the principal had to go to the emergency room.”

Middletown City Schools officials said Thursday they had not seen a copy of the police report and wouldn’t comment until they did. After the Journal showed the district a copy of the report, district spokeswoman Gracie Gregory emailed the following statement:

“We are aware of the incident. We are taking it very seriously, and appropriate action will be taken according to our Student Code of Conduct,” Gregory wrote.

The district’s Code of Conduct states: “No student, by use of violence, force, noise, coercion, threat, intimidation, fear, active or passive resistance, or any other conduct, shall cause the disruption or obstruction of any lawful mission, process, or function of the school, or urge other students to engage in such conduct.”

Jones said Highview has surveillance cameras at the school, but she was told by school officials that they hadn’t been working all year.

“So since the cameras didn’t show what happened, it’s really the school’s word against my son’s,” she said.

Gregory would not comment on whether the school’s surveillance cameras were in working order or whether Marsh had been hospitalized or missed any work days because of the incident.