HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - An assistant principal at an elementary school in Hollywood is facing serious charges following a domestic disturbance in Weston, authorities said.
Marc Horowitz, an assistant principal at Orange Brook Elementary School, was placed under arrest following late Friday night’s incident.
Monday morning, the 53-year-old stood before Broward Circuit Court Judge Corey B. Friedman to face charges of robbery by sudden snatching without a firearm or weapon, as well as touch or strike battery.
According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a report of a domestic disturbance call near the 16000 block of Southwest Fifth Way in Weston.
Responding deputies claim the suspect “consumed alcoholic beverages upon arriving home” and “argued back and forth before [he] snatched her phone from her hand.”
Then, deputies said, he “asked her for the remote control. When she was unable to locate it, [he] pushed her to the ground with both open hands on her chest, causing her to fall on her left side.” Horowitz was taken into custody.
Details later confirmed that the person he allegedly pushed to the ground was his child’s mother.
7News cameras on Monday captured parents dropping off their children on the school’s campus, where word of Horowitz’s arrest spread quickly and made for a shocking start to the week.
“She showed me his picture, I said, ‘Are you kidding?'” said parent Jacquelyn Peterson. “These are babies, almost, you know, that you’re working with, and you get someone like that here, that’s kind of devastating.”
But parent Ashley Acevedo said her interactions with Horowitz have been nothing but pleasant.
“I haven’t had anything wrong or seen him react in any way that wasn’t acceptable,” she said.
Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco shared her reaction to Horowitz’s arrest on Sunday.
“He’s the second in command in a school that happens to be one of my former schools that I worked in for a very long time, Orange Brook Elementary,” she said. “So I have colleagues that are there and, trust me, everybody already knows about it, and they’re, you know, they’re shocked, concerned and embarrassed. There were concerns of him being aggressive, assertive, loud, yelling but just because you have those traits doesn’t mean you can become physical or violent.”
Horowitz has been an educator for over 20 years.
“My philosophy is that we need to work to educate the whole child. It’s much more than just academics,” Horowitz told 7News in a February 2021 interview.
In 2021, Horowitz was an instructional coach at Flamingo Elementary School in Davie, where he was nominated as a finalist for Teacher of the Year.
“And just being a part of their education, each year for 180 days, I can’t help but feel overwhelmed and just a sense of self-pride to know that I’ve been able to be an impact, maybe provide that spark to get a student interested in a topic,” he said.
Regarding Horowitz’s status with the school, Broward County Public Schools spokesperson John J. Sullivan shared a statement with 7News, writing in part:
“[Horowitz] is being reassigned from the school following an off-campus incident, pending further human resources review and action, which may include termination. Broward County Public Schools holds its school leaders to the highest standards of professional conduct and takes matters that may fall short of those standards seriously.”
Friedman issued Horowitz a $3,000 bond, which the suspect has since posted.
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