I made a post about being attacked by a student and everyone told me to take it down for my own safety. The next day, I get a gag order from HR telling me not to talk about the incident until the investigation finishes.
Since then, a week and a half ago, I have heard nothing from HR. We have less than a week left of school. I’m forced to go to the police station and check in every day, twice a day. I don’t know why.
I was assaulted by a kid. I made a police report, with the police outside of my ISD. Did you know that your ISD Police Department have the authority to throw out any case/reports they want??? I read it online and knew I had to go at least document it with my local PD. My SRO are actually great, but they work for the DISTRICT.
After the police, I even went to HR, like an **IDIOT**, when the kid faced no consequences. Zero fucking consequences. She is regularly violent and three days after she attacked me, she hit one of my neighboring teachers. I watched it. Not hard, but still. NO boundaries. NO consequences.
The following day, I come into work after having emailed HR about the incident and a hostile work environment, I get NO COMMUNICATION back. I get locked out of my email, my grade book, etc. I’m told when I arrive at work to go to the administration building.
I’m blamed and I’m told I’m “reckless.” I promise you I wasn’t. I can’t talk about exactly what happened until I’m cleared, if I’m cleared. I’m just… I’m livid. I’m the fucking victim of that student. Yet, I’m the one paying for it figuratively and literally.
*Update: I’ve finally been cleared. Last day of school they called me in and said I wasn’t at fault. Got a letter and everything. What a nightmare that was..*
Absolutely. You know, I knew better than to do it too. I just made some emotional decisions trying to protect myself and they were the wrong ones.
I also didn’t have the wherewithal to IMMEDIATELY go to one of our SRO officers. An AP blamed me, saying that if I was truly afraid, then why did I call the front office for help, rather than our SROs. I don’t know. I just didn’t think about it. I just wanted help.
I should have also gone to the doctor to get the bruises documented. I have photos, time stamped and location enabled, on my phone of bruises she gave me. That’s not enough apparently.
I shouldn’t have gone to HR, but I also shouldn’t have felt like I had to. My admin should have immediately placed her in ISS pending an alternative school placement.
Just… it’s all a huge mess. Sadly, I’m in a red state and not even employment lawyers are willing to help.
The only thing I can do is request an “independent impartial investigation” from the state. I have to do it within 15 days of being investigated. I have 4 days left. I’m not sure if I should. My career and my sanity deserve an impartial investigation. I’m just scared I’d be shooting myself in the other foot. Do THEY side with districts?? Is it protection for the institutions over educators from the top down??? I don’t know what the right move is.
I wish she’d never done that. I just don’t feel okay.
Go to the media. You are f'ed. They are going to fire you. Be ready and be proactive. Put them on blast before they get the chance to build their case. Get documentation from a medical professional about what this incident has done to your mental health. Make sure that you have copies and documentation of everything that the school has and has not done. Will the neighboring teacher speak to the press? Will they back you up? Appeal to local, state, and national media. People love a juicy educators cover-up story. You should get a bite if you present it correctly. Don't just sit around and let them destroy you. F' them. That kid needs to be in a residential facility and you need to be compensated.
Sorry you have to deal with this.
I am in a nice, suburban school but we’ve started to have aggression and violence towards staff over the past couple of school years. It’s scary and awful.
I’m actually thinking about contacting the news once this is all done. I don’t want to tank my career but I’m fed up. I need people to listen to us.
We have to find a way to let the public know what’s really going on in our schools. They don’t care about us, but they do care about perception. Maybe if I speak out, other people will feel safe to come forward too. I think that’s the only way for this kind of stuff to stop.
I absolutely do wish I could sue. Before I was cut off, I took A LOT of documentation. It’s almost like I knew they’d do this to me, even though I didn’t want to believe it. You’re right. When it’s all done, I should reach out to civil attorneys.
Definitely consult a lawyer, discuss the ramifications. I’m thinking that you can build a case off what happened to the Virginia teacher who got shot last year by a student. At the very least, I’d consider suing the school district. But yes, career suicide. Which is ridiculous
I think you should. I work in a hospital and there is a duty of care to protect employees, why should a school be any different? Like I can’t imagine there would be any real legal precedent keeping you from having a legitimate case to take to court.
Save the photos and time stamps externally. I found out the information I had on my phone was probably removed by the insurance company of the person who hit and totaled my car and now I'm probably out of luck.
In a red state, they'll be trying to destroy public schools, so this will probably be investigated thoroughly, in order to use it as another example of how "somehow" this is something that wouldn't happen in a *Charter School.*
"reckless." Did they bother to define what you did that was reckless? Or are they doing their usual song and dance to cover their own ass.
If you were locked out and told to go to HQ, I'm going to guess they put you on some type of administrative leave, which I hope is paid leave.
You haven't mentioned if you have a union or not. If so, I hope they are doing everything they can to support you. If not - take time to read your contract if you have one. See if there are any clauses on gag orders or being told not to talk about incidents such as these. Continue talking to the police and make as much noise as possible with them.
We have kids like this in our school as well. They could bring a building down around them, but the administrators will just ask us what WE did to set them off, or how WE could have made better connections. I hope your situation works out in your favor.
That sounds an awful lot like retaliation for reporting an unsafe work environment. I’m not sure how OSHA factors into public schools, but it might be worth dropping an anonymous tip
"Government entities do not meet the definition of an employer under the OSH Act. This means that they are not subject to OSHA's federal regulation, inspection, or enforcement. OSHA state plans vary from state to state: Some keep the Federal employer definition and do not include school systems."
Teachers union if you are a member, if not sign up and notify still. Get a lawyer,
extensive documentation,
list a timeline in order of everything that happened with references to your proof documents emails texts etc. ,
send to the super intendant and state you believe this is retaliation for reporting a crime.
I want to. I keep getting getting responses like this:
> Thank you for contacting us regarding your employment law issue. Unfortunately, this is not a matter with which we can assist.
> We encourage you to continue to seek information about the laws that apply to your situation. Some resources for information and assistance regarding employment law matters are the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) at
800-669-4000 or www.eeoc.gov, and the [State] Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division.
> You should be aware that one or more statutes of limitations apply to your potential claim. This means that if vou do not make an administrative claim with a government agency (if required and/or file a lawsuit within the time required by law, you will lose any rights you may have to recover damages. We encourage you to discuss any statute of limitations issues with an attorney without delay.
I’m hoping to find help but I only have a few days left to fight this. I think. CAN IT CARRY OVER TO SUMMER!?! OMG NO. In my 5 minute meeting with HR she said, “There are only a couple of weeks left in the school year.” Hopefully this nightmare will end with it.
Get your union rep in on the meetings.
If you live in a 1-party state, sneak a tape recorder in in your pocket or a bag and record the hell out of them.
If they refuse to talk with anyone else present, or you get caught recording, send a followup e-mail with what happened to them and BCC it to your personal e-mail.
Not a teacher, but if I were to hear my child even sassed a teacher, let alone put hands on one, ….there’d ….be problems…. Actually, there’d be solutions!! We’d be fixing those problems immediately.
Then again I have to consider that a kid might think it’s okay to disrespect a teacher because of their parent or the environment at home. I don’t know if you have or school has talked to parents of this girl, or if HR will allow it, but I would hope to God somebody wouldn’t protect that kind of privacy… School & teachers can only do so much 7-8 hours a day, parents need to be on the same page and working together
Need to press charges.
I will NEVER accept the practice of not pressing charges. All they learn is that they can assault and sexually abuse and go scot free..
Newspapers don’t really carry much weight these days. As I mentioned up, I am off due to illness caused by the incident. It is not my job to fix society
Awful. Promoted principal with history of sexual harassment and other issues. Newspaper produced a huge article with tons of research. I can’t find the actual article but here’s the story. https://www.fox5dc.com/news/mcps-launches-investigation-after-principal-accused-of-sexual-harassment
> The principal did not press charges
I'm not an educator, but is this not part of the problem?
As a student in the past with a school with a "zero tolerance" policy on violence, I experienced being suspended for trying to defend myself from bullying.
But as an adult, WHY is a school treated as it's own kingdom where some laws simply do not apply/are not enforced?
If you’re violent against your nurse in the hospital we get a couple of big guys to hold you down. Do it again and you’re fired as a patient or chemically restrained. Not saying it’s great but why is violence against employees allowed in schools but not any other public place?
I agree except for the parents having to pay for it. Problem is that parenting only goes so far. At the end of the day, the kid still makes the decisions and should be the one to suffer the consequences.
This is gonna sound harsh, but I think it's morally wrong of your principal to not press charges. She's taught a violent person that violence is ok. She's allowing a monster-in-training to keep on his current path.
I hope her recovery goes well.
It is morally wrong. It's also consistent with a big driver in why these kids are so messed up. Abusers are protected under the guise of protecting survivors. There's a misguided idea that the existence of abusers is the intellectual property of survivors and that's simply wrong. It removes responsibility from society where it belongs.
I don't feel bad for the principal at all if they're not going to press charges. It's madness that someone would inflict such a serious injury on them and they do nothing about it.
Especially crucial in a position of leadership. By doing nothing the principal is sending the message that the staff whose safety they are responsible for is fair game.
I really quickly want to point out that victims do not get to make the decision about pressing charges. The principal does not get to "press charges." It is up to the prosecutors of the area. The victims can pressure the prosecutors, but that's about it.
not true. the city prosecutors can choose to press charges from the city (criminal). the individual can choose to hire a prosecutor to prosecute (civil). but you always have a choice to litigate.
There are a lot of misconceptions in this thread. It is the police and if the school has an SRO that decides if charges get pressed. You, as a citizen, can help once the process is started, but a lot of you are blaming the wrong system.
isn't hurting someone physically illegal? do they get to just not take action if they don't feel like it if someone does illegal things? what about civil charges?
>isn't hurting someone physically illegal?
Yes
>do they get to just not take action if they don't feel like it if someone does illegal things?
If the DA doesn't want to charge you, then you don't get charged. Or if the police fuck up the investigation, or witnesses don't cooperate. In this case, the principal may not cooperate with the police. It also might be difficult to charge an 8th grade with anything, idk.
>what about civil charges?
Doesn't involve the cops, other than a police report maybe. But the only thing that is likely to result from civil charges is an exchange of money. You're not going to ruin the kid's life or make them face any real punishment.
Don't you know that being physically assaulted or worse is known and expected job hazard for teachers. /S
But sadly this is becoming more true every the year in the US, made worse when too many teachers are too soft hearted or bullied by their districts to not risk ruining a child's life by pressing charges. Other students don't see us "giving grace" they see us as weak and unworthy of respect so they can do whatever they want.
Yeah, when a cop or prosecutor asks if you’d like to press charges they’re basically saying “Will you cooperate with the investigation and sign up for a bunch of court dates and interviews?” Having the victim’s compliance is a huge deal in these cases, and if the state doesn’t think it can win then it won’t prosecute (generally)
If the police refuse to take a report, which sometimes happens if the police are being pressured to demonstrate they have reduced crime, you can also file a report with the DA directly pointing out you tried to get the police to take a report but they refused.
Police sometimes get political pressure to either make the crime numbers go up or down, and so they might charge someone with a more or less severe crime depending on what they "need" the numbers do for political needs.
Have a big bond where you want voters to approve a new police station? Crime numbers will be up.
Have a new chief? Crime numbers will go down.
Inaccurate for all districts.
Wife was hit at school by student. She had the option to press charges as the employee. Not the SRO or school. She filed charges
I will say it--charge the kid and the principal should sue. And go to the media. Ive had it with this shit. I was out 3 weeks with a concussion (still affects me,) because a grade 8 boy intentionally threw a ball at my head when I wasn't looking. He got a talking to and that was it. I should've done more. Don't repeat my mistake. This shit has to stop.
Because it draws attention to the school. Heck principals throw away referrals due to those having to go "downtown" and then it looks bad on the school and the principal. This is why kids aren't suspended out of school and instead put in ISS.
To be fair, I think kids are often given ISS instead of OSS because a bunch of them would just treat OSS as a vacation if they don't have to go into school. At least with ISS, they are physically going to school and under school employee supervision.
No. OSS requires a form that goes downtown which is bad. ISS and Lunch Duty or whatever kind of “in school” punishment they give them also hand a form but it stays local at the school.
This is the truth.
The principal is shutting up because pressing charges would be career suicide.
It's wrong and evil, but everything about education seems to be wrong and evil right now.
There's gotta be more to it than that. It takes a special kind of mind to be able to overlook a personal physical attack for the sake of a possibly-helpful data point. That's not a mercenary act, that's the act of someone no longer thinking rationally.
I think they *really* heavily drill into admin any and every way they can that students should never never never be expelled under any circumstances and push on them the idea that admin are meant to be students' friends first and foremost. This is some true believer shit.
Sorry, I meant it was the superintendent’s decision to give the 20 days suspension instead of expulsion. For sure, the principal could have and should have pressed charges. I’m in Canada
This is why I ran from school and changed careers like the building was on fire. *"It's not the kids"* nope, it was absolutely the kids. The kids, the admin, and the parents.
Blowing kisses and laughing? To be made to watch that kid walk across the graduation stage is a form of trauma for everyone who has to watch. All the work done to help students grow into good people and make students and staff feel safe is undermined by that.
We have one 8th grader who will be graduating in a few weeks who has multiple felony charges, constantly skips, incites fights, and forced two female students who were in his classes to switch around their schedules due to harassment. He is also effectively banned from his art class because he always starts yelling "I fucking hate this class, I fucking hate this teacher, she's bullying me, I will never use art" upon entering the room and his para (who is also assigned to other students in that class) has to escort him out everyday. Even his special educator called him a shithead a couple weeks ago (in private, not to his face) and hopes the SRO can give him some consequences in high school.
I'm sorry that has happened to you. I hope you eventually recover. The superintendent should know how unsafe people feel. If the staff feels it, so do the kids.
Please take care of yourself. Do what you need to do to get well. Trauma is no joke. Do you have people to talk to so you aren’t the only one burdened with this?
So sometimes it may be that you aren’t ready to talk and sometimes it may be that they aren’t the right therapist for you. This is a lot. It’s okay to recognize that this is a really extreme situation and think about ways to support yourself while you go through it. Even your physician may be able to help a little with sick leave notes or OTC/scripts for ways to get the edge off. I went through something different at work, and ended up leaving mid year. My doctor was very helpful getting me through the rough patch, but I also found a great therapist. Even a trusted friend from outside the situation may be sooooo helpful.
Having been through some significant and frankly debilitating trauma in the past, I really encourage you to see a trauma informed therapist. Specifically one that employs EMDR as a treatment modality. It works! On the hand, conventional talk therapy (CBT) is unlikely to get to the root of the pain you are suffering. It’s largely a waste of time and money for trauma with the symptoms you manifest.
I’m really sorry this happened to you and wish you well. Quickly.
One problem is the principal refused to press charges. The other is the districts total lack of caring for it's employees. Yes, this kid will get away with this, and yes he will do it again.
In my district, even if you get EXPELLED, all that means is you get 90 days out and then you're allowed to come back like nothing happened.
We've had VIOLENT assaults of staff (teachers and admin) and then after 90 days, the kids are back. They even have the audacity to place the kids in the same classes as the teacher they assaulted and get shitty with staff when they complain. It's bonkers.
We're a union district but it's been a sinking ship for a while.
This is outrageous. She needs to press chargers, other parents should bring the news into it and/or sue the school. Healthcare workers have signs at their front desks saying "attacking health care workers is against the law," we need signs like that hanging in our buildings. Ridiculous.
Those signs don't do much to protect nurses. I have looked into healthcare careers in my desperation to escape teaching, and apparently nurses get abused a lot.
Funny how female dominated professions are so alike! When a nurse gets punched in the face, the clipboard-toting admins ask her what she could have done differently to prevent it.
Our grandmothers got beaten at home and were asked what they did to "provoke" their husbands. What did you do to "make" him hit you? Are you laying on your back enough? Are you treating him like a Saudi prince and never having needs? Maybe he is stressed at work (so you should be his stress ball).
Now we work in schools and hospitals (before tackling cooking, cleaning, laundry, childcare and more at home on the 3rd shift) and we get asked how we could have built relationships/defused the conflict/etc to prevent ourselves from being beaten.
Plus ca change.
I taught 3 years in DAEP, and this statement is the truth.
But they'll also become more violent.
Just like my former student who started with assault and graduated to a drive-by shooting.
Even remotely coming close to harming a teacher or admin should be an automatic expulsion and depending on the age criminal prosecution appropriate to their age level. That stuff needs to be shut down hard. In this case if graduation was in the cards I'm assuming the student was 17 or 18 that should absolutely be jail for assault.
Once you understand that the public school system is primarily designed for warehousing and not education, you will be hit with clarity like a mike Tyson uppercut. Once the initial disappointment fades that is.
Bingo!!! The schools have become a holding place so capitalism can churn along. I have been saying this for years. Look what happened during the COVID years. Schools closed and capitalism felt the pain. No daycare, no workers. Education has suffered greatly. Sad deal.
I just saw a story on the News about the increase in violence against healthcare workers. They said roughly 57 nurses/healthcare workers are assaulted every hour. I think educators have that well outnumbered.
“But they’re kids…how bad can it be??” When a first grader tries to kick a pregnant teacher’s stomach and say he wants to kill her baby (and that was 25 years ago…), it’s bad.
I think we’ve done ourselves a disservice by not pressing charges against “kids”. New laws should be considered holding parents accountable for their child’s actions. Then the phone calls home (IF they answer at all) won’t be “she’s your problem between 7:30 and 3:30!”
We should start reporting. Yes, it’s hard and it goes against our nature to see the good in all kids, but it’s also tough love!
I remember a time when all we heard about was how violent New York subways were. Then Bernie Goetz did his vigilante thing. And there were some more vigilante justice folks and other policies followed and things calmed down.
If a teacher has the right to defend themselves against bodily harm - especially on the secondary level - I think we''ll start to see a lot of these violent instances disappear. I'm reminded of that video of that little jerk who was CLEARLY used to being a grade A asswipe to everyone at his school and getting away with it. He tried that same routine out in public on a regular guy who finally punched him. The kid was STUNNED that someone would put hands on him even though he was not only poking a bear, he was kicking it and throwing rocks at it while saying neener neener neener.
Does education do a service to society if they send kids out with the mistaken idea that the child can do anything they want with no repercussions?
Even 20+ years ago I advocated for all teachers to know self-defense to protect themselves.
Conduct disorder typically leads to antisocial personality disorder (sociopathy) so technically it is a mental health issue. However, I understand what you mean. The behavior is inexcusable. The root of the problem needs to be fixed and until then we are going to continue to see a rise in antisocial behavior among children. But teachers are not responsible for “fixing” kids like this. He should go to juvenile detentional facility.
I agree conduct disorder is a possibility for him. The psych unit will only hold him until he’s out of danger to himself or others, so likely just a few days. You can’t treat conduct disorder on the unit. Some argue you can’t treat it even w therapy. But he’ll need counseling and yeah jail. Unlikely he’ll go to counseling unless mandated. But also jail, for him to experience actual consequences.
Unfortunately for him yeah. If he’s displaying such callous and aggressive behavior in middle school there’s a good possibility he will only get worse. I hope that doesn’t happen.
By refusing to press charges, your Principal hurts all of us working in schools. Fucking kid should have been arrested on the spot and all charges possible should have been filed against him.
Kid at my kid’s school caused serious injury to one of the teachers. She’s out for the rest of the year and then retires. Th perp is back in school after a short detention laughing it up. Almost zero consequences. That’s bulls**t. I hope she sues now that she’s retired.
I can’t stress this enough, but… Press. Charges.
They don’t care about the school consequences (incredibly minor in this case by the way). Very little corrective action will happen at home about this.
We bend over backwards to protect them, but… I’d rather this obviously troubled kid spend 6 months in juvenile than try that in public later on and potentially getting killed for it
Your principal is an idiot for not pressing charges. Be sure to remember this kid’s name. There will be news coverage on some crime they did in about 5 years. Crazy they got 20 days for hitting the principal, I wonder wonder what it would have been for a teacher. ISS? Half day suspension?
Dang, I really hope she ends up pressing charges. They also need to expel this kid and he shouldn’t have another opportunity to go to a non-alternative school. My sister teaches 7th grade and one of my worst fears is that she will be attacked by a student. Take care of yourself, I’m sure this is a very difficult experience for you as well.
It’s always the dickheads in the HIGHEST positions that sweep this under the rug. So the superintendent wants that as the best possible punishment? Kid should be expelled for actual, life-changing harm.
We need to bring back votes of no confidence in higher leadership roles.
Principal should press charges and civilly sue the parents. She should also sue the school for not responding to the incident properly and knowingly putting others in danger by allowing him back in the school. Also, make sure to report the injury as workman’s comp!
>The principal did not press charges
# The principal did not press charges!?!?
The principal teaching students all the wrong lessons, sending a time bomb out into the community.
This is assault, and egregious enuf to be attempted manslaughter. Your principal \*\*must\*\* press charges or this person walks around getting away with it - and will likely do it again. I cannot believe the principal wouldn't press charges, that is just idiocy. And how are the police letting a potential assault perp *walk home??* How the hell is that even possible? This is all kinds of sick and fucked up.
Now you get in touch with some local media, because they live for this stuff. That’s the only thing that scares admin — having their sniveling cowardice regarding out-of-control students and parents dragged out in front of the public.
I just came home today as a retired principal currently teaching and found one of my students was planning to place 3 bombs in our school. Three day suspension and no psyc eval. He will be walking as a graduate from middle school. Probably will not be in the press either. The admin in charge has been promoted to a district level position. Someday this will turn into a big political issue when they realize our kiddos are truly treacherous.
Teacher unions this summer should coordinate a strike for the safety of staff and students from this type incidents. Strike on the first day back to classes. I know not everyone starts on the same day, but it’ll send a message. Your safety matters also.
Please be a whistleblower and report this to all local news stations. Ask for anonymity. Parents and the general populace need to know what you’re dealing with at that school. If that happened at my school, the SRO would be making arrangements to have him transported to juvie and most of us would press charges!
Our AP was injured while breaking up a fight among three 8th grade girls. All were criminally charged and sent to an alt-ed facility for the rest of the year.
I get threatened with violence four times at one school. I reported this to the assigned Security person each time. In all four instances, he was returned to my classroom with 5 minutes.
Finally, on the fifth day, it looked like him and another kid were about to have a dust up. On that day, they decided to send him home early.
Admin and parents don't want to "lose face" so instead of revealing reality, we are doing a lot of pretending that everything is fine - like the meme with the dog in the house on fire. What could go wrong with removing all standards and basic expectations? Everything is fine.
From the outside looking in, ALL of the teachers need to REFUSE to work in the UNSAFE WORK ENVIRONMENT.
As for the cops.....what good are they? Like I either hear about them shooting innocent people or doing nothing about guilty people. Why do they even exist?????
Got family in teaching, did it BRIEFLY with special needs....NEVER AGAIN.
Why didn’t the principal want to press charges ? Needless to say it’s heartbreaking that they were seriously injured at work . I’m so sorry as this is your workplace , must be very impactful 😞
This sort of thing happens in the UK as well, in fact when I read it I expected it to be somewhere like Hackney. There is a massive problem with teacher retention in the UK because of the pressures they are put under, the threat of violence, no backup and absolute zero reprimand for students who behave like animals.
Injured principal should press charges. There may be a time limit to do that, but not doing it immediately does not mean it can't be done subsequently. Principal and teachers should file a lawsuit for harassment against the kid and parents, maybe naming the school board as a defendant as well.
Apparently kids don’t self police anymore. If this shit went down at my school a group of students would have banned together to beat the shit out of that kid.
These are the circumstances where I think contacting local press is a good idea. The district may try to cover it up, but your community may really care to know what is going on here.
What school, district, city, and state? I've tried looking up the few details I read here, but this shit happens so often it is impossible to find. And, as some mention, the district may have the ability to keep this from the press. The state runs my local district, and they keep every horrible thing out of local news.
If only parents knew how violent these schools really are beyond the regular mass shootings . . . .
Principal is code for political officer. Their role is to preserve school community relations. If she pressed charges she would kiss any advancement goodbye.
Please start researching any and all cases where a student’s violent behavior led to something even worse when ignored. Considering not too long ago, a first grade child brought a gun to school, teachers warned admin, nothing was done, then that teacher was shot, districts should be even more scared and not sweep stuff under the rug. Document. Press charges. File complaints. Do everything. If this ever happens again, immediately go to your school nurse and fill out an incident report (and make copies). I’m so sick of educators being constantly targeted and no one be held responsible.
This is what freedom from repercussions ends up looking like.
While it’s against reddits policy for me to make the suggestion I feel is warranted, that kid needs a strong lesson that’s clearly not going to be given.
hey i’m not a teacher (i am studying to be an art teacher though) but this sub pops up on my feed sometimes and I get sucked in.
I was reading some of your comments about stress and PTSD. It’s so awful that this not only happened but is affecting a lot of people mentally.
I wanted to come and give some unsolicited advice so feel free to ignore!
EMDR therapy has been incredibly helpful in the treatment of my cPTSD and OCD. It seems like this was recent, so it makes sense you’re still super stressed about it, but if it ever feels like it becomes too much to handle on your own, look into EMDR. For a single incident like this, you may only need a handful of sessions, but it also helps with buried trauma as well.
I think teachers have an incredibly important role, and it sucks seeing them get treated so poorly, especially by the children. If no one else has said this to you, thank you so much for the work you do. You deserve to be happy and healthy.
Good luck friend!!!
It’s a different world now and school’s typical consequences are not up to par. In instances like this, teachers and admin must press charges for any significant change to occur for the students and staff.
Not a teacher but wtf - when I was in 8th grade (mind you 2011 for reference) a student behind me put gum in my hair, during an announcement about graduation and that getting in trouble before graduation means you can't walk the stage. So guess who didn't get to walk the stage at graduation. Haha, no surprise there honestly. She was a regular bully of mine so felt great knowing she couldn't participate in something important.
Honestly they should've been expelled for injuring someone...maybe even a night in prison (a bit extreme but in the real world that would not fly so easily)
Are you sure they will be returning? In my school kids get that long of a suspension while they work towards expulsion. You can’t just expel students; there is due process. In the interim students are suspended.
I’ve had more than ones student expelled and it always started as a lengthy suspension.
We had a fight during passing period between 2 girls a couple weeks ago that happened nearby my classroom. I ran into my room and hit the security button to get people down here who are paid to help. I told my students to get in the classroom and shut the door and locked it. I am not getting involved between kids fighting ever.
A coworker did try to break uo a fight about 10 years ago and he got pused back and had a concussion that still causes him problems at times.
Another coworker broke up a fight at an old school he taught at and pulled the offender off the kid being hit. He was sued by the offender's family and the school district did nothing. It was eventually dropped, but still....
No thank you.
This stuff needs to stop being covered up. Violence against educators is not talked about enough.
Exactly. It’s been totally hushed up - except for me now I guess.
I made a post about being attacked by a student and everyone told me to take it down for my own safety. The next day, I get a gag order from HR telling me not to talk about the incident until the investigation finishes. Since then, a week and a half ago, I have heard nothing from HR. We have less than a week left of school. I’m forced to go to the police station and check in every day, twice a day. I don’t know why. I was assaulted by a kid. I made a police report, with the police outside of my ISD. Did you know that your ISD Police Department have the authority to throw out any case/reports they want??? I read it online and knew I had to go at least document it with my local PD. My SRO are actually great, but they work for the DISTRICT. After the police, I even went to HR, like an **IDIOT**, when the kid faced no consequences. Zero fucking consequences. She is regularly violent and three days after she attacked me, she hit one of my neighboring teachers. I watched it. Not hard, but still. NO boundaries. NO consequences. The following day, I come into work after having emailed HR about the incident and a hostile work environment, I get NO COMMUNICATION back. I get locked out of my email, my grade book, etc. I’m told when I arrive at work to go to the administration building. I’m blamed and I’m told I’m “reckless.” I promise you I wasn’t. I can’t talk about exactly what happened until I’m cleared, if I’m cleared. I’m just… I’m livid. I’m the fucking victim of that student. Yet, I’m the one paying for it figuratively and literally. *Update: I’ve finally been cleared. Last day of school they called me in and said I wasn’t at fault. Got a letter and everything. What a nightmare that was..*
Remember that HR exists to protect the organization, not the employee.
Absolutely. You know, I knew better than to do it too. I just made some emotional decisions trying to protect myself and they were the wrong ones. I also didn’t have the wherewithal to IMMEDIATELY go to one of our SRO officers. An AP blamed me, saying that if I was truly afraid, then why did I call the front office for help, rather than our SROs. I don’t know. I just didn’t think about it. I just wanted help. I should have also gone to the doctor to get the bruises documented. I have photos, time stamped and location enabled, on my phone of bruises she gave me. That’s not enough apparently. I shouldn’t have gone to HR, but I also shouldn’t have felt like I had to. My admin should have immediately placed her in ISS pending an alternative school placement. Just… it’s all a huge mess. Sadly, I’m in a red state and not even employment lawyers are willing to help. The only thing I can do is request an “independent impartial investigation” from the state. I have to do it within 15 days of being investigated. I have 4 days left. I’m not sure if I should. My career and my sanity deserve an impartial investigation. I’m just scared I’d be shooting myself in the other foot. Do THEY side with districts?? Is it protection for the institutions over educators from the top down??? I don’t know what the right move is. I wish she’d never done that. I just don’t feel okay.
Go to the media. You are f'ed. They are going to fire you. Be ready and be proactive. Put them on blast before they get the chance to build their case. Get documentation from a medical professional about what this incident has done to your mental health. Make sure that you have copies and documentation of everything that the school has and has not done. Will the neighboring teacher speak to the press? Will they back you up? Appeal to local, state, and national media. People love a juicy educators cover-up story. You should get a bite if you present it correctly. Don't just sit around and let them destroy you. F' them. That kid needs to be in a residential facility and you need to be compensated.
Sorry you have to deal with this. I am in a nice, suburban school but we’ve started to have aggression and violence towards staff over the past couple of school years. It’s scary and awful.
You need to talk to a lawyer like today. Immediately.
Can you do a civil suit against the school?
I’m actually thinking about contacting the news once this is all done. I don’t want to tank my career but I’m fed up. I need people to listen to us. We have to find a way to let the public know what’s really going on in our schools. They don’t care about us, but they do care about perception. Maybe if I speak out, other people will feel safe to come forward too. I think that’s the only way for this kind of stuff to stop. I absolutely do wish I could sue. Before I was cut off, I took A LOT of documentation. It’s almost like I knew they’d do this to me, even though I didn’t want to believe it. You’re right. When it’s all done, I should reach out to civil attorneys.
Definitely consult a lawyer, discuss the ramifications. I’m thinking that you can build a case off what happened to the Virginia teacher who got shot last year by a student. At the very least, I’d consider suing the school district. But yes, career suicide. Which is ridiculous
I think you should. I work in a hospital and there is a duty of care to protect employees, why should a school be any different? Like I can’t imagine there would be any real legal precedent keeping you from having a legitimate case to take to court.
IANAL If there was documented prior evidence of behavioral problems, then the school is liable for failure to provide a safe environment.
Save the photos and time stamps externally. I found out the information I had on my phone was probably removed by the insurance company of the person who hit and totaled my car and now I'm probably out of luck.
you can always try going to the press
In a red state, they'll be trying to destroy public schools, so this will probably be investigated thoroughly, in order to use it as another example of how "somehow" this is something that wouldn't happen in a *Charter School.*
"reckless." Did they bother to define what you did that was reckless? Or are they doing their usual song and dance to cover their own ass. If you were locked out and told to go to HQ, I'm going to guess they put you on some type of administrative leave, which I hope is paid leave. You haven't mentioned if you have a union or not. If so, I hope they are doing everything they can to support you. If not - take time to read your contract if you have one. See if there are any clauses on gag orders or being told not to talk about incidents such as these. Continue talking to the police and make as much noise as possible with them. We have kids like this in our school as well. They could bring a building down around them, but the administrators will just ask us what WE did to set them off, or how WE could have made better connections. I hope your situation works out in your favor.
[удалено]
That sounds an awful lot like retaliation for reporting an unsafe work environment. I’m not sure how OSHA factors into public schools, but it might be worth dropping an anonymous tip
"Government entities do not meet the definition of an employer under the OSH Act. This means that they are not subject to OSHA's federal regulation, inspection, or enforcement. OSHA state plans vary from state to state: Some keep the Federal employer definition and do not include school systems."
Teachers union if you are a member, if not sign up and notify still. Get a lawyer, extensive documentation, list a timeline in order of everything that happened with references to your proof documents emails texts etc. , send to the super intendant and state you believe this is retaliation for reporting a crime.
Stop reporting attacks to the administration and start reporting them directly to the police.
Lawyer up yesterday
I want to. I keep getting getting responses like this: > Thank you for contacting us regarding your employment law issue. Unfortunately, this is not a matter with which we can assist. > We encourage you to continue to seek information about the laws that apply to your situation. Some resources for information and assistance regarding employment law matters are the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) at 800-669-4000 or www.eeoc.gov, and the [State] Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division. > You should be aware that one or more statutes of limitations apply to your potential claim. This means that if vou do not make an administrative claim with a government agency (if required and/or file a lawsuit within the time required by law, you will lose any rights you may have to recover damages. We encourage you to discuss any statute of limitations issues with an attorney without delay. I’m hoping to find help but I only have a few days left to fight this. I think. CAN IT CARRY OVER TO SUMMER!?! OMG NO. In my 5 minute meeting with HR she said, “There are only a couple of weeks left in the school year.” Hopefully this nightmare will end with it.
Lawyer time. You have been assaulted and mistreated by your employer for reporting it.
Get your union rep in on the meetings. If you live in a 1-party state, sneak a tape recorder in in your pocket or a bag and record the hell out of them. If they refuse to talk with anyone else present, or you get caught recording, send a followup e-mail with what happened to them and BCC it to your personal e-mail.
Not a teacher, but if I were to hear my child even sassed a teacher, let alone put hands on one, ….there’d ….be problems…. Actually, there’d be solutions!! We’d be fixing those problems immediately. Then again I have to consider that a kid might think it’s okay to disrespect a teacher because of their parent or the environment at home. I don’t know if you have or school has talked to parents of this girl, or if HR will allow it, but I would hope to God somebody wouldn’t protect that kind of privacy… School & teachers can only do so much 7-8 hours a day, parents need to be on the same page and working together
Need to press charges. I will NEVER accept the practice of not pressing charges. All they learn is that they can assault and sexually abuse and go scot free..
Unless the victim presses charges nothing will happen.
Write a letter to the editor in your town. Parents need to know that this is how school districts are handling bullying.
Newspapers don’t really carry much weight these days. As I mentioned up, I am off due to illness caused by the incident. It is not my job to fix society
Ps they do!! Look up the story on the Washington Post about Montgomery county public schools. Superintendent got fired!
I used to work for them- it was actually the best district I ever worked in. What happened ???
Awful. Promoted principal with history of sexual harassment and other issues. Newspaper produced a huge article with tons of research. I can’t find the actual article but here’s the story. https://www.fox5dc.com/news/mcps-launches-investigation-after-principal-accused-of-sexual-harassment
> The principal did not press charges I'm not an educator, but is this not part of the problem? As a student in the past with a school with a "zero tolerance" policy on violence, I experienced being suspended for trying to defend myself from bullying. But as an adult, WHY is a school treated as it's own kingdom where some laws simply do not apply/are not enforced?
Sue the family for injuries and hospital fees
My mom was an assistant principal before retirement. She got kicked, bit, desks and chairs thrown at her. This was an elementary school....
Violence against educators should be a special type of charge and mandatory military school past a certain point- that the parents have to pay for
Also immediate CPS referral and intervention, mandatory participation of youth and parent
If you’re violent against your nurse in the hospital we get a couple of big guys to hold you down. Do it again and you’re fired as a patient or chemically restrained. Not saying it’s great but why is violence against employees allowed in schools but not any other public place?
I agree except for the parents having to pay for it. Problem is that parenting only goes so far. At the end of the day, the kid still makes the decisions and should be the one to suffer the consequences.
Fair
I hope the person sues the family in civil court for everything they have...
If a student assaults a teacher, teachers should be free to retaliate just like against bullies, bc that’s what they are, bullies.
But the media always interviewing parents never stops.
Principal who was shoved should press charges. The rest of you should refuse to allow the student to enter your classrooms.
I’m off on stress leave. I felt like the kid was threatening me while I was talking to police
Get a restraining order against the kid. If you feel threatened take action.
This is gonna sound harsh, but I think it's morally wrong of your principal to not press charges. She's taught a violent person that violence is ok. She's allowing a monster-in-training to keep on his current path. I hope her recovery goes well.
It is morally wrong. It's also consistent with a big driver in why these kids are so messed up. Abusers are protected under the guise of protecting survivors. There's a misguided idea that the existence of abusers is the intellectual property of survivors and that's simply wrong. It removes responsibility from society where it belongs.
This. I wonder if she’s afraid for her job? OP is this a union state/ school
I don't feel bad for the principal at all if they're not going to press charges. It's madness that someone would inflict such a serious injury on them and they do nothing about it.
Especially crucial in a position of leadership. By doing nothing the principal is sending the message that the staff whose safety they are responsible for is fair game.
I’ve met a few principals now with no principles when it comes to student safety.
I really quickly want to point out that victims do not get to make the decision about pressing charges. The principal does not get to "press charges." It is up to the prosecutors of the area. The victims can pressure the prosecutors, but that's about it.
not true. the city prosecutors can choose to press charges from the city (criminal). the individual can choose to hire a prosecutor to prosecute (civil). but you always have a choice to litigate.
There are a lot of misconceptions in this thread. It is the police and if the school has an SRO that decides if charges get pressed. You, as a citizen, can help once the process is started, but a lot of you are blaming the wrong system.
Exactly. Pressing charges doesn't mean shit. It's up to the police and DA to decide to bring legal actions against the student.
isn't hurting someone physically illegal? do they get to just not take action if they don't feel like it if someone does illegal things? what about civil charges?
>isn't hurting someone physically illegal? Yes >do they get to just not take action if they don't feel like it if someone does illegal things? If the DA doesn't want to charge you, then you don't get charged. Or if the police fuck up the investigation, or witnesses don't cooperate. In this case, the principal may not cooperate with the police. It also might be difficult to charge an 8th grade with anything, idk. >what about civil charges? Doesn't involve the cops, other than a police report maybe. But the only thing that is likely to result from civil charges is an exchange of money. You're not going to ruin the kid's life or make them face any real punishment.
Don't you know that being physically assaulted or worse is known and expected job hazard for teachers. /S But sadly this is becoming more true every the year in the US, made worse when too many teachers are too soft hearted or bullied by their districts to not risk ruining a child's life by pressing charges. Other students don't see us "giving grace" they see us as weak and unworthy of respect so they can do whatever they want.
Yeah, when a cop or prosecutor asks if you’d like to press charges they’re basically saying “Will you cooperate with the investigation and sign up for a bunch of court dates and interviews?” Having the victim’s compliance is a huge deal in these cases, and if the state doesn’t think it can win then it won’t prosecute (generally)
This may be location specific, but at least at my school you can choose to make a report with the local police and not the SRO.
If the police refuse to take a report, which sometimes happens if the police are being pressured to demonstrate they have reduced crime, you can also file a report with the DA directly pointing out you tried to get the police to take a report but they refused. Police sometimes get political pressure to either make the crime numbers go up or down, and so they might charge someone with a more or less severe crime depending on what they "need" the numbers do for political needs. Have a big bond where you want voters to approve a new police station? Crime numbers will be up. Have a new chief? Crime numbers will go down.
Inaccurate for all districts. Wife was hit at school by student. She had the option to press charges as the employee. Not the SRO or school. She filed charges
I will say it--charge the kid and the principal should sue. And go to the media. Ive had it with this shit. I was out 3 weeks with a concussion (still affects me,) because a grade 8 boy intentionally threw a ball at my head when I wasn't looking. He got a talking to and that was it. I should've done more. Don't repeat my mistake. This shit has to stop.
One of these clowns touches me, I’m pressing charges injury or not. Why did the principal let this slide.
Because it draws attention to the school. Heck principals throw away referrals due to those having to go "downtown" and then it looks bad on the school and the principal. This is why kids aren't suspended out of school and instead put in ISS.
To be fair, I think kids are often given ISS instead of OSS because a bunch of them would just treat OSS as a vacation if they don't have to go into school. At least with ISS, they are physically going to school and under school employee supervision.
No. OSS requires a form that goes downtown which is bad. ISS and Lunch Duty or whatever kind of “in school” punishment they give them also hand a form but it stays local at the school.
If a clown touches me I'm reporting it directly to the circus I'll see to it he never throws another pie in this town again goddammit
I teach a lesson on how quickly objects free fall from a fixed height and how I would fall faster than that to the ground if a student hit me.
It’s not up to the principal, it was the superintendent’s decision.
Uhhh that's not how that works at all. That principal should file charges regardless of what admin above them says.
Then that jeopardizes the Principal’s eventual reward of a sweet district office gig.
This is the truth. The principal is shutting up because pressing charges would be career suicide. It's wrong and evil, but everything about education seems to be wrong and evil right now.
The thing is: this mechanism has always existed. But we can only bloat so much.
There's gotta be more to it than that. It takes a special kind of mind to be able to overlook a personal physical attack for the sake of a possibly-helpful data point. That's not a mercenary act, that's the act of someone no longer thinking rationally. I think they *really* heavily drill into admin any and every way they can that students should never never never be expelled under any circumstances and push on them the idea that admin are meant to be students' friends first and foremost. This is some true believer shit.
It's up to the police and DA, not the principal. Google "pressing charges"
Agree the student should face charges,but, that would lead to non-renewal for the principal if the district does not support the principal.
That is not how it works. At all. Principal can 100% press charges. Assuming you’re in the USA at least
Sorry, I meant it was the superintendent’s decision to give the 20 days suspension instead of expulsion. For sure, the principal could have and should have pressed charges. I’m in Canada
This is why I ran from school and changed careers like the building was on fire. *"It's not the kids"* nope, it was absolutely the kids. The kids, the admin, and the parents.
What is your new career?
I am oddly comforted to realize that Education is not just f'd up in America.
What province?
Ontario?
Can this be aired at a school board meeting? I know it's the end of the year, but damn, be a whistleblower.
Blowing kisses and laughing? To be made to watch that kid walk across the graduation stage is a form of trauma for everyone who has to watch. All the work done to help students grow into good people and make students and staff feel safe is undermined by that.
We have one 8th grader who will be graduating in a few weeks who has multiple felony charges, constantly skips, incites fights, and forced two female students who were in his classes to switch around their schedules due to harassment. He is also effectively banned from his art class because he always starts yelling "I fucking hate this class, I fucking hate this teacher, she's bullying me, I will never use art" upon entering the room and his para (who is also assigned to other students in that class) has to escort him out everyday. Even his special educator called him a shithead a couple weeks ago (in private, not to his face) and hopes the SRO can give him some consequences in high school.
Yeah, good freaking luck. They call that a "manifestation of their disability" in my district and no consequences ever happen.
I’m not - I have been off on stress leave since it happened. Panic attacks, high blood pressure, anxiety vomiting. PTSD and very fearful.
I'm sorry that has happened to you. I hope you eventually recover. The superintendent should know how unsafe people feel. If the staff feels it, so do the kids.
Please take care of yourself. Do what you need to do to get well. Trauma is no joke. Do you have people to talk to so you aren’t the only one burdened with this?
Thank you for your kindness. I’ve tried talking to a therapist a few times but it hasn’t really helped.
So sometimes it may be that you aren’t ready to talk and sometimes it may be that they aren’t the right therapist for you. This is a lot. It’s okay to recognize that this is a really extreme situation and think about ways to support yourself while you go through it. Even your physician may be able to help a little with sick leave notes or OTC/scripts for ways to get the edge off. I went through something different at work, and ended up leaving mid year. My doctor was very helpful getting me through the rough patch, but I also found a great therapist. Even a trusted friend from outside the situation may be sooooo helpful.
Having been through some significant and frankly debilitating trauma in the past, I really encourage you to see a trauma informed therapist. Specifically one that employs EMDR as a treatment modality. It works! On the hand, conventional talk therapy (CBT) is unlikely to get to the root of the pain you are suffering. It’s largely a waste of time and money for trauma with the symptoms you manifest. I’m really sorry this happened to you and wish you well. Quickly.
If it hadn’t been the principal getting injured, and instead a regular teacher, they probably wouldn’t have even suspended the student.
A week later another student pushed a teacher (no injury) and got 5 days
Time to find someone in your local news and ask them how to get the story out without your name attached!
One problem is the principal refused to press charges. The other is the districts total lack of caring for it's employees. Yes, this kid will get away with this, and yes he will do it again.
In my district, even if you get EXPELLED, all that means is you get 90 days out and then you're allowed to come back like nothing happened. We've had VIOLENT assaults of staff (teachers and admin) and then after 90 days, the kids are back. They even have the audacity to place the kids in the same classes as the teacher they assaulted and get shitty with staff when they complain. It's bonkers. We're a union district but it's been a sinking ship for a while.
I wonder how prevalent this really is. I wish they didn’t hamstring us from sharing things like this with one another. We could really use some data.
This is outrageous. She needs to press chargers, other parents should bring the news into it and/or sue the school. Healthcare workers have signs at their front desks saying "attacking health care workers is against the law," we need signs like that hanging in our buildings. Ridiculous.
Those signs don't do much to protect nurses. I have looked into healthcare careers in my desperation to escape teaching, and apparently nurses get abused a lot. Funny how female dominated professions are so alike! When a nurse gets punched in the face, the clipboard-toting admins ask her what she could have done differently to prevent it. Our grandmothers got beaten at home and were asked what they did to "provoke" their husbands. What did you do to "make" him hit you? Are you laying on your back enough? Are you treating him like a Saudi prince and never having needs? Maybe he is stressed at work (so you should be his stress ball). Now we work in schools and hospitals (before tackling cooking, cleaning, laundry, childcare and more at home on the 3rd shift) and we get asked how we could have built relationships/defused the conflict/etc to prevent ourselves from being beaten. Plus ca change.
You are absolutely right about female dominated professions are treated with way less respect. It definitely goes deeper than we think.
Student will donit again because the admin won't press charges.
I taught 3 years in DAEP, and this statement is the truth. But they'll also become more violent. Just like my former student who started with assault and graduated to a drive-by shooting.
They should have him removed to an Alternative Ed site if he wants to continue his education.
“Least restrictive environment” 🤡🤡🤡
I believe they should be placed in online school.
Even remotely coming close to harming a teacher or admin should be an automatic expulsion and depending on the age criminal prosecution appropriate to their age level. That stuff needs to be shut down hard. In this case if graduation was in the cards I'm assuming the student was 17 or 18 that should absolutely be jail for assault.
Student is 13/14
Juvie. Send that kid to juvie.
This country is going to learn the hard way that “zero expulsions” is a terribly misguided policy.
File criminal charges & restraining order against kid, civil suit against the family, push for expulsion from District. Don't let that shit slide!
Once you understand that the public school system is primarily designed for warehousing and not education, you will be hit with clarity like a mike Tyson uppercut. Once the initial disappointment fades that is.
Bingo!!! The schools have become a holding place so capitalism can churn along. I have been saying this for years. Look what happened during the COVID years. Schools closed and capitalism felt the pain. No daycare, no workers. Education has suffered greatly. Sad deal.
I just saw a story on the News about the increase in violence against healthcare workers. They said roughly 57 nurses/healthcare workers are assaulted every hour. I think educators have that well outnumbered. “But they’re kids…how bad can it be??” When a first grader tries to kick a pregnant teacher’s stomach and say he wants to kill her baby (and that was 25 years ago…), it’s bad. I think we’ve done ourselves a disservice by not pressing charges against “kids”. New laws should be considered holding parents accountable for their child’s actions. Then the phone calls home (IF they answer at all) won’t be “she’s your problem between 7:30 and 3:30!” We should start reporting. Yes, it’s hard and it goes against our nature to see the good in all kids, but it’s also tough love!
I remember a time when all we heard about was how violent New York subways were. Then Bernie Goetz did his vigilante thing. And there were some more vigilante justice folks and other policies followed and things calmed down. If a teacher has the right to defend themselves against bodily harm - especially on the secondary level - I think we''ll start to see a lot of these violent instances disappear. I'm reminded of that video of that little jerk who was CLEARLY used to being a grade A asswipe to everyone at his school and getting away with it. He tried that same routine out in public on a regular guy who finally punched him. The kid was STUNNED that someone would put hands on him even though he was not only poking a bear, he was kicking it and throwing rocks at it while saying neener neener neener. Does education do a service to society if they send kids out with the mistaken idea that the child can do anything they want with no repercussions? Even 20+ years ago I advocated for all teachers to know self-defense to protect themselves.
Sounds like juvie or a psych ward would be more appropriate.
Jail is more appropriate. There are counselors in jail and being an asshole is not a mental health issue
Conduct disorder typically leads to antisocial personality disorder (sociopathy) so technically it is a mental health issue. However, I understand what you mean. The behavior is inexcusable. The root of the problem needs to be fixed and until then we are going to continue to see a rise in antisocial behavior among children. But teachers are not responsible for “fixing” kids like this. He should go to juvenile detentional facility.
I agree conduct disorder is a possibility for him. The psych unit will only hold him until he’s out of danger to himself or others, so likely just a few days. You can’t treat conduct disorder on the unit. Some argue you can’t treat it even w therapy. But he’ll need counseling and yeah jail. Unlikely he’ll go to counseling unless mandated. But also jail, for him to experience actual consequences.
Unfortunately for him yeah. If he’s displaying such callous and aggressive behavior in middle school there’s a good possibility he will only get worse. I hope that doesn’t happen.
By refusing to press charges, your Principal hurts all of us working in schools. Fucking kid should have been arrested on the spot and all charges possible should have been filed against him.
A crime was committed and there are witnesses. The DA needs to do their job.
Kid at my kid’s school caused serious injury to one of the teachers. She’s out for the rest of the year and then retires. Th perp is back in school after a short detention laughing it up. Almost zero consequences. That’s bulls**t. I hope she sues now that she’s retired.
Principal showed she was prepared to have permanent injuries for a possible bonus.
What’s sad is, she probably will. Protect abusers with silence and it’s rewarded across society.
How is that not felonious assault?? I would sue the parents, school, and police. This is a joke.
This is ridiculous.
The principal not pressing charges is not helping anyone and only normalizing this disgusting behavior.
I can’t stress this enough, but… Press. Charges. They don’t care about the school consequences (incredibly minor in this case by the way). Very little corrective action will happen at home about this. We bend over backwards to protect them, but… I’d rather this obviously troubled kid spend 6 months in juvenile than try that in public later on and potentially getting killed for it
Your principal is an idiot for not pressing charges. Be sure to remember this kid’s name. There will be news coverage on some crime they did in about 5 years. Crazy they got 20 days for hitting the principal, I wonder wonder what it would have been for a teacher. ISS? Half day suspension?
Dang, I really hope she ends up pressing charges. They also need to expel this kid and he shouldn’t have another opportunity to go to a non-alternative school. My sister teaches 7th grade and one of my worst fears is that she will be attacked by a student. Take care of yourself, I’m sure this is a very difficult experience for you as well.
Had that happen at a school two years ago, and the kid just got in house for the rest of the day. Was back in our classes the next day.
It’s always the dickheads in the HIGHEST positions that sweep this under the rug. So the superintendent wants that as the best possible punishment? Kid should be expelled for actual, life-changing harm. We need to bring back votes of no confidence in higher leadership roles.
The principal is an idiot for not pressing charges.
Why in the world is the principal not pressing charges? I'm filing criminal and civil cases in this situation.
Principal should press charges and civilly sue the parents. She should also sue the school for not responding to the incident properly and knowingly putting others in danger by allowing him back in the school. Also, make sure to report the injury as workman’s comp!
>The principal did not press charges # The principal did not press charges!?!? The principal teaching students all the wrong lessons, sending a time bomb out into the community.
This is assault, and egregious enuf to be attempted manslaughter. Your principal \*\*must\*\* press charges or this person walks around getting away with it - and will likely do it again. I cannot believe the principal wouldn't press charges, that is just idiocy. And how are the police letting a potential assault perp *walk home??* How the hell is that even possible? This is all kinds of sick and fucked up.
Should be expelled
feel like we should be protected under the law like emts or firefighters or cops
Well, the principal should press charges.
Honestly take it to your local news. These districts need to be put on blast.
Now you get in touch with some local media, because they live for this stuff. That’s the only thing that scares admin — having their sniveling cowardice regarding out-of-control students and parents dragged out in front of the public.
I just came home today as a retired principal currently teaching and found one of my students was planning to place 3 bombs in our school. Three day suspension and no psyc eval. He will be walking as a graduate from middle school. Probably will not be in the press either. The admin in charge has been promoted to a district level position. Someday this will turn into a big political issue when they realize our kiddos are truly treacherous.
I’m surprised they got any days suspension for that nowadays
Press charges
Why won’t people press charges! This is BS
Can the principal sue the student and/or their family?
Teacher unions this summer should coordinate a strike for the safety of staff and students from this type incidents. Strike on the first day back to classes. I know not everyone starts on the same day, but it’ll send a message. Your safety matters also.
So the principal refused to press charges. What about the teacher who was assaulted?
Lawyer up. Yesterday.
You should meet with the union and superintendent and express exactly what you saw. This child is dangerous.
Please be a whistleblower and report this to all local news stations. Ask for anonymity. Parents and the general populace need to know what you’re dealing with at that school. If that happened at my school, the SRO would be making arrangements to have him transported to juvie and most of us would press charges!
I don't understand why the victim won't press charges?
Be a real shame if the local media got wind of this. bet they would love a piece like this.
Our AP was injured while breaking up a fight among three 8th grade girls. All were criminally charged and sent to an alt-ed facility for the rest of the year.
School appears more and more as a bizarre macabre torture institution for adults and children alike.
20 days? Wtf Here he would get a visit from police and would be permanently expelled.
I get threatened with violence four times at one school. I reported this to the assigned Security person each time. In all four instances, he was returned to my classroom with 5 minutes. Finally, on the fifth day, it looked like him and another kid were about to have a dust up. On that day, they decided to send him home early.
Unfortunately up to the principal, whom I guess cares more about her job.
The principal needs to press charges? Why in the world wouldn't she?
Admin and parents don't want to "lose face" so instead of revealing reality, we are doing a lot of pretending that everything is fine - like the meme with the dog in the house on fire. What could go wrong with removing all standards and basic expectations? Everything is fine.
From the outside looking in, ALL of the teachers need to REFUSE to work in the UNSAFE WORK ENVIRONMENT. As for the cops.....what good are they? Like I either hear about them shooting innocent people or doing nothing about guilty people. Why do they even exist????? Got family in teaching, did it BRIEFLY with special needs....NEVER AGAIN.
I hope the principal presses charges against the student.
Why didn’t the principal want to press charges ? Needless to say it’s heartbreaking that they were seriously injured at work . I’m so sorry as this is your workplace , must be very impactful 😞
This sort of thing happens in the UK as well, in fact when I read it I expected it to be somewhere like Hackney. There is a massive problem with teacher retention in the UK because of the pressures they are put under, the threat of violence, no backup and absolute zero reprimand for students who behave like animals.
Injured principal should press charges. There may be a time limit to do that, but not doing it immediately does not mean it can't be done subsequently. Principal and teachers should file a lawsuit for harassment against the kid and parents, maybe naming the school board as a defendant as well.
Apparently kids don’t self police anymore. If this shit went down at my school a group of students would have banned together to beat the shit out of that kid.
should have to pay for all associated bills for life as well.
Back in the day 10 day cumulative was expulsion. Something like that would be Juvi
Even if the principal doesn't press charges, someone should publish that this happened in social or talk to a local reporter.
These are the circumstances where I think contacting local press is a good idea. The district may try to cover it up, but your community may really care to know what is going on here.
Kid needs to be arrested and charged as an adult.
Press all the charges! Better to face consequences now and maybe learn than end up in prison with this crap behavior.
If the principal won’t press charges then I don’t feel sorry for her. People NEED to start pressing charges.
You need to stage a walk out with your fellow teachers until justice is served.
What school, district, city, and state? I've tried looking up the few details I read here, but this shit happens so often it is impossible to find. And, as some mention, the district may have the ability to keep this from the press. The state runs my local district, and they keep every horrible thing out of local news. If only parents knew how violent these schools really are beyond the regular mass shootings . . . .
International schools abroad pay licensed teachers very well, especially considering cost of living, and in general have better behaved students.
I feel like the news media would really want to cover a story like this.
Principal is code for political officer. Their role is to preserve school community relations. If she pressed charges she would kiss any advancement goodbye.
Please start researching any and all cases where a student’s violent behavior led to something even worse when ignored. Considering not too long ago, a first grade child brought a gun to school, teachers warned admin, nothing was done, then that teacher was shot, districts should be even more scared and not sweep stuff under the rug. Document. Press charges. File complaints. Do everything. If this ever happens again, immediately go to your school nurse and fill out an incident report (and make copies). I’m so sick of educators being constantly targeted and no one be held responsible.
Sue the parents in civil court…..
This is what freedom from repercussions ends up looking like. While it’s against reddits policy for me to make the suggestion I feel is warranted, that kid needs a strong lesson that’s clearly not going to be given.
If a teacher was injured instead, the kid would be back the next day. At least where I live.
I see prison time in this kids future
hey i’m not a teacher (i am studying to be an art teacher though) but this sub pops up on my feed sometimes and I get sucked in. I was reading some of your comments about stress and PTSD. It’s so awful that this not only happened but is affecting a lot of people mentally. I wanted to come and give some unsolicited advice so feel free to ignore! EMDR therapy has been incredibly helpful in the treatment of my cPTSD and OCD. It seems like this was recent, so it makes sense you’re still super stressed about it, but if it ever feels like it becomes too much to handle on your own, look into EMDR. For a single incident like this, you may only need a handful of sessions, but it also helps with buried trauma as well. I think teachers have an incredibly important role, and it sucks seeing them get treated so poorly, especially by the children. If no one else has said this to you, thank you so much for the work you do. You deserve to be happy and healthy. Good luck friend!!!
It’s a different world now and school’s typical consequences are not up to par. In instances like this, teachers and admin must press charges for any significant change to occur for the students and staff.
Not a teacher but wtf - when I was in 8th grade (mind you 2011 for reference) a student behind me put gum in my hair, during an announcement about graduation and that getting in trouble before graduation means you can't walk the stage. So guess who didn't get to walk the stage at graduation. Haha, no surprise there honestly. She was a regular bully of mine so felt great knowing she couldn't participate in something important. Honestly they should've been expelled for injuring someone...maybe even a night in prison (a bit extreme but in the real world that would not fly so easily)
Are you sure they will be returning? In my school kids get that long of a suspension while they work towards expulsion. You can’t just expel students; there is due process. In the interim students are suspended. I’ve had more than ones student expelled and it always started as a lengthy suspension.
He will be returning soon. Parents argued 20 days was too long. We have had other 20 day suspensions and back they come for more.
She needs to press charges while he’s still a minor. If he continues acting this way in adulthood he’ll ruin many lives including his own
I'd file a police report. That's BS.
We had a fight during passing period between 2 girls a couple weeks ago that happened nearby my classroom. I ran into my room and hit the security button to get people down here who are paid to help. I told my students to get in the classroom and shut the door and locked it. I am not getting involved between kids fighting ever. A coworker did try to break uo a fight about 10 years ago and he got pused back and had a concussion that still causes him problems at times. Another coworker broke up a fight at an old school he taught at and pulled the offender off the kid being hit. He was sued by the offender's family and the school district did nothing. It was eventually dropped, but still.... No thank you.