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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A high school teacher was hospitalized after a 15-year-old student allegedly knocked her down, then repeatedly kicked and hit her, school officials said.

LaVerne Hamlin, a 32-year teaching veteran, was taken by ambulance to VCU Medical Center, where she was treated, Richmond schools spokeswoman Treeda R. Smith said.

The student was charged with aggravated assault and taken to the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center. He also has been suspended pending a hearing before a school-system panel, Smith said.

The incident occurred Friday afternoon at Armstrong High School when Hamlin tried to take a classroom telephone from the student, according to a school incident report. Hamlin, who teaches physics and biology at the school, asked the student to end his conversation three times, and he refused, the report said.

"We are very concerned about (Hamlin) and her family," Smith said. "This is the kind of thing that upsets us all. It hurts the entire Richmond public schools family."

Hamlin received the Exemplary High School Teacher Award from the National Science Teachers Association and Ciba Specialty Chemicals Foundation last spring.