Battlefield Primary mourns loss of teacher in crash

FORT OGLETHORPE, Georgia (WDEF) – Battlefield Primary is mourning the loss of a special ed teacher.

Kimberly Payne died in a crash on the UTC campus late Friday night.

Her Jeep Wrangler broke through a barricade, drove down several flights of stairs, hit a cement column and rolled over on its roof.

On Monday, the school issued this statement about Payne:

“Catoosa County Public Schools employees are devastated by the death of a teacher in a tragic accident on Friday night. Kimberly Payne was hired at Battlefield Primary as a paraprofessional in 2003, and she became a special education teacher at the school in 2011. According to Battlefield Primary Principal Geoffrey Rhodes, Ms. Payne was a great teacher and employee. He said, “She was always smiling, and she had fun with students. It was not unusual to see her dancing with students in the morning in the car-rider line. Above all, she made sure her students knew that she loved them. She will be greatly missed at our school.”

Additional counselors were brought to the school on Monday to help students and employees process the loss.