Student beats up teacher

[jennylou]

Did you all hear about this?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24047456/

It sounds like the school has a major problem with fighting and violence.

I'm not sure that the teacher used the best choice of words, but at the same time, when someone gets in my face, I can't say that I would use the best words either. I don't think telling someone that you will defend yourself is a trigger word.

[JenniferEC]

The school doesn't deserve to have her as a teacher.

[BusyBee21]

That is absolutely ridiculous. That the school has taken to not reporting incidents for fear that the school would be labeled "persistantly dangerous" is inexcusable. Teachers and students have a right to feel safe at their schools. Hopefully she gets a lot of money in her lawsuit that I am sure will be filed shortly. That school needs to either be shut down, or have some actual administrators who know what they are doing run the school. Children should not be running the school.

[PookiePrincess]

That is absolutely ridiculous. That the school has taken to not reporting incidents for fear that the school would be labeled "persistantly dangerous" is inexcusable. Teachers and students have a right to feel safe at their schools. Hopefully she gets a lot of money in her lawsuit that I am sure will be filed shortly. That school needs to either be shut down, or have some actual administrators who know what they are doing run the school. Children should not be running the school.

I worked at a school like that last year. I would write kids up and the referrals would disappear after they went to the AP. Needless to say I don't work there anymore.

[BethIrish]

I haven't opened the link, but that school sounds like my highschool. My Mom was a teacher there (she retired last year) and was assaulted on 3 separate occassions. Once, she had a shopping cart essentially hurled across the classroom at her! (She was the home ec teacher.)

I kid you not, she stopped allowing the kids to chop veggies and such - she didn't want them to have knives! She basically pre-cut anything that needed to be cut with a sharp knife. Nice, eh?

[IrishEyes]

I live near Baltimore and for a couple of years now, it's been in the news that teachers would report fights (not necessarily against teachers, but even student-student incidents) and the administration would do anything but suspend or expel the students. Given the NCLB and the labeling of schools as persistently dangerous if there are too many students suspended (which allows students to freely transfer to other schools), they try to downplay everything because this is a rampant problem in most of the city schools.

I think it's time that this issue comes to the forefront, especially here in Baltimore, so we can discuss the issue of violence in schools.

[Asha]

yup, the school i worked at was like this. they wouldnt' suspend kids for violence bc it goes on the school's public record. teachers were usually blamed if a student got violent.

[hub1176]

Not surprised at all. My sister, who teaches in North Carolina, had a student get up in her face a few weeks ago. This was after she and some other teachers were trying to get the students to class after breaking up a fight. I don't think there was any action taken, even though the student then skipped her class for the next two weeks.
Too many schools(administrators) allow students to run the show, which creates a dangerous environment for everyone. I personally don't think the teacher did anything wrong by saying she would defend herself, and the comment by her principal is Monday morning quarterbacking at its worst.

[Southlooper]

This is one of the reasons why Teachers Unions are so important. Where is Baltimore Teachers Union? This would be grounds for war (and a hefty lawsuit) in Chicago.

[jennylou]

I went to school in CA - we had our fair share of fights, for sure. We lived in the dessert - where many of the trouble kids from LA were shipped off. Which meant we had trouble makers in our school. And there were so many being sent there that they were forming their gangs there. So, there were definite problems with that, and then you had the skaters too. But, I also remember that we had proctors and police officers on campus. And, while we had many fights per week, those people were dealt with - why let the kids run the campus? If you are a dangerous school, you're dangerous, hiding it doesn't change it. And whether you have the label or not, people know about you. Why not just face the problem head on and deal with it?

[Scooter]

If you are a dangerous school, you're dangerous, hiding it doesn't change it. And whether you have the label or not, people know about you. Why not just face the problem head on and deal with it?I went to a fairly rough high school, lots of gang activity & drug use. The principal always denied there were any gang members at our school, but every year several people died from gang violence and you just had to look at all the red and blue to see for yourself. He wasn't fooling anybody. and I think it boiled down to funding issues. They also used to kick out kids who were truant a lot and failing on their 18th birthday--same reason I think. If they're not in class enough, why let them take up the space you could give to another kid who might actually attend class and bring in revenue to the school?

The article said that this Baltimore school would have to let the students chose to go to different schools, if it was labelled "persistently dangerous." If they get a certain amount of funding for each student present every day, and that attendance number continues to go down, it's only a matter of time before the school fails and all the staff lose their jobs.

[Niobe]

If they get a certain amount of funding for each student present every day, and that attendance number continues to go down, it's only a matter of time before the school fails and all the staff lose their jobs.

I went to one of these high schools - it was the only school in the area, so the state was threatening to have it taken over by a corporation or something, if they didn't get their graduation rate up. So, no more expulsions. Pretty much no more harsh discipline at all, for fear you'd drop out. I knew kids who were caught with drugs, caught with knives, got in fights, started fires, who only got a couple days detention. I can't complain too much though - the violence was never bad, and I got to run around barefoot with hot pink hair and wave protest signs at the pep rallies. :cool:

[jimmysgirl424]

The really messed up part is that even if the school was declared persistently dangerous and students were allowed to go to other city schools instead, they wouldn't have many choices. Sadly, most of Baltimore City's schools are suffering from high rates of violence. DH and I had looked at a house right on the city/county line and ruled it out because DD would have ended up having to attend city schools.

ETA: I think the other reason why the incident and many others like it aren't being reported is because it would all reflect quite badly on Baltimore City's School CEO. He was just given the position in June of last year and promised great things regarding the violence issues that plague so many of the schools. Yeah. Right.

[pocahontas]

Just last year I worked at a high school where a math teacher was beat up by a freshman (when I think freshman...the youngest kids in the school I don't typically think of them doing something like this so I was absolutely shocked.) Anyhoo, the girl was in this teacher's algebra class and it was almost time to end the period but the bell hadn't rung. Well, the girl wanted to leave BEFORE the bell and the teacher stood at her door (as if to say no one was going to leave before the bell). So the girl hit her which knocked her to the ground and then got on top of her punching her. Allegedly, none of the other students pulled the girl off and also allegedly, another algebra teacher next door looked over and saw what was happening and didn't intervene. (I wasn't there...so this is just hearsay.) The teacher was pretty bruised up and didn't return to school for 6 months. The girl was immediately suspended and at the end of last year they held an "expulsion" hearing...not sure what the outcome was because I left that school. However, the teacher is back there (and they gave her "honors" kids as if that would heal the wound, I suppose, since she didn't have to be back in her old class with the same students and she has all the "smart" kids now. ;)) I promise you I was surprised that she came back because she is one of those "exchange" teachers from a foreign country here on work visa and I thought she would go back home and CURSE America. She really showed that she is quite a trooper and so many teachers rallied around her when the administration or the police officer that we used to have housed in our building said she should have never stood blocking the doorway because that was a "confrontational" move. :rolleyes:

[Red'sGirl]

It is a sad state of affairs when adults are being trained to be afraid of their students. It's like they're wild animals - "don't look them in the eyes or stand in a confrontational stance". WTF?!

[phoenics]

It is a sad state of affairs when adults are being trained to be afraid of their students. It's like they're wild animals - "don't look them in the eyes or stand in a confrontational stance". WTF?!

Yeah. This is nuts.

[sixlets]

You now have the option to 'volunteer' at these inner city schools. The Baltimore City schools CEO said today that is now the public's duty to make sure things like this don't occur. Isn't HIS responsibility to do this?

This is one volunteering position I will pass on.

[jimmysgirl424]

You now have the option to 'volunteer' at these inner city schools. The Baltimore City schools CEO said today that is now the public's duty to make sure things like this don't occur. Isn't HIS responsibility to do this?

This is one volunteering position I will pass on.

Can you believe it? I almost choked when I heard it on the news last night and again this morning. Ummm, no, it is NOT our duty as the public to protect the teachers! It is YOURS as the CEO of this city's schools! Give me a break!! I know of nobody who would even consider putting themselves into a volunteer situation in one of these 'problem' schools!

[phoenics]

I know - why would anyone volunteer there when the schools blame the victims of the violence?

This kind of mess really ticks me off.

[Eric's Wife]

DH teaches at a middle school with learning disabled students. A few months ago, the teacher next door was attacked by a student. The attack was so violent that other students were deeply troubled by it enough for the parent of another student to contact the superintendent. When it came time for the school officer to write a report on the incident, the officer basically told her as a special ed teacher it was an expected part of her job to occasionally get attacked!!!!

I also have worked at a school where referrals have disappeared. Luckily that assistant principal is gone. She would throw referrals away if there were too many referrals for kids from a particular ethnic group.

[Ellyn]

This is terrible...

Makes me so grateful and happy for my teaching situation. If this EVER happened in my school I know the administration would be behind the teacher and know the other students would not sit and watch.

[shebestova]

I used to teach at an inner-city high school and a student threw a bottle at a teacher and hit him in the eye. Needless to say, the teacher had a horrible black eye. And what did the administrators have to say about it? They told the other teachers that the teacher "provoked" the attack. :eek:

I taught at an alternative middle school for a year and at the inner-city high school for four years. I knew I had to get out of such a negative and violent environment when I saw a boy attack another boy in the hall. The attacker threw the other boy to the ground and kicked and punched him over and over again. The boy curled up into a fetal position and they attacker still wouldn't stop. The boy's pants began to slide down and the attacked still wouldn't stop. And all of this was because the boy accidentally bumped into the attacker in the hall.

I have seen so many horrendous fights, from one girl biting a chunk out of another girl's face to a kid screaming at an assistant principal that he "f***ed his mother". I am so over the lack of respect of some of these kids.

Call me old-fashioned, but where are their parents? Most of the time, nowhere to be found, which is why they behave the way that they do. Either their parents are never around or their parents behave exactly the same way. It is not an excuse, but it is some sort of explanation.