Student arrested for assaulting teacher over cell phone (Willis: house, law)

[Trainwreck20]

In this case, as I said before, she could have stood there, palm up and said "hand it over, or you can carry to the principal's office with a pink slip" (or whatever they call a write-up nowadays). Had he refused, she needed only to summon a male teacher, or security, and had the kid escorted out of class, and she could have gone back to teaching.

I agree fully, but that is in hindsight, too...I suspect that phones are (or were) regularly confinscated by teachers for some time w/o incident. This is probablymore of a case of the teacher not thinking it through. There are a lot of things I would/should have done differently in my life, but it is not a perfect world and you sometimes act w/o thinking. I doubt that the teachers have any training (probably just the policy memo) on how to deal with phones, etc. I do suspect, however, that there may be a little more clarification for the teachers after this .

It's not about cutting him any slack at all, except that the incident ought not be called a felony.

Probably true, but I don't know anything about the real details of the incident, and have little regard with the media's reporting and have known it to be shamefully (possibly even intentionally) inaccuarte in the past. I also suspect that this will not end up a felony at the end of the process, I think it is quite common for the highest level of punishment for a crime to be charged, and then reduce it as appropriate. 'Back in the day' it was quite common to haul kids to jail for a few hours while their parents were called to pick them up. It was then up to the parents to decide how quickly to come get them. It probably was a great scare tactic, but now the police would get sued or something and the parents would be there in 30 minutes or less. This way, you are acting completely within the letter of the law and you scare the parents as well .

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

I think you're misinterpreting some of the responses to mean that the kid would escape accountability. That's not at all the case, at least from my viewpoint. He should be held fully accountable and brought into line. It's not about cutting him any slack at all, except that the incident ought not be called a felony.

You seem hung up though on thinking that the buck stops with the teacher and that she had no other options available but to snatch up the phone and then fight to hold on. I don't know why you can't see that she had other options, as I outlined pages ago, that would have been more effective and prudent and would have allowed her to maintain control of the situation instead of losing control of the situation.

I wish someone experienced in this sort of human interaction would come on and comment. I deal with recalcitrant tenants on a regular basis, many of whom, though full grown, behave as bad or worse than this punk. I get yelled out from time to time just for enforcing rules that were already agreed to. I've learned, often the hard way, that being "right" in a dispute and trying to assume a dominant stance is often the very worst tactical choice. If choices can be offered, it's always better.

In this case, as I said before, she could have stood there, palm up and said "hand it over, or you can carry to the principal's office with a pink slip" (or whatever they call a write-up nowadays). Had he refused, she needed only to summon a male teacher, or security, and had the kid escorted out of class, and she could have gone back to teaching.

Explain to me how following such an approach would be giving up her power, or how it would be letting the kid get away with anything. I honestly don't get why you think her approach was the only and/or best way to handle it. It was the worst way, as evidenced by the outcome.

Steve

???????????????
And how would he be any more equipped to handle the confiscation than she?

[loves2read]

as a female teacher, many, many male students have a real psychological aversion to giving in to a female teacher because 1) they don't respect women, 2) they think peers would see them as wimps, 3) they live by the law of the jungle where the strong rule and are basically bullies to anyone smaller than they are for any reason at all...
so yes--having a male teacher MIGHT have helped...but if it was a smaller male teacher that the student loomed over--who was not a coach--then I don't think it would have helped...

I would really like to know 1) if this teacher and student have a past history, 2) if this student was new to the school or was in attendance last year, 3) if this student has a history with adminstration for referrals, 4) how much experience the teacher has, 5) if the room has a phone to the office (many don't), 6) what the assignment was the class was working on that day and how well the student did,

most students don't react this way--so there was a reason--more than one probably--just no real details into why it happened...and there won't be...but think about any movie --like Crash--where simple actions can escalate into significant ones, where sometimes something unimportant turns out to be incendiary later on...

[austinite45]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

In this case, as I said before, she could have stood there, palm up and said "hand it over, or you can carry to the principal's office with a pink slip" (or whatever they call a write-up nowadays). Had he refused, she needed only to summon a male teacher, or security, and had the kid escorted out of class, and she could have gone back to teaching.

utterly ludicrous!!!!

how about trying (really trying) to look at the incident from a different perspective?

the student could have kept the cellphone in his locker or backpack; he didn't!

he could have apologized to the teacher for violating classroom rules and disrupting the class, then asked nicely for the phone after the class. he didn't!

he could have done nothing in class and tried to talk to the vice principal after class. he didn't!

you sure have a double standard - demanding the teacher, who has done nothing wrong, to be nicer to the punk, while demanding the rude punk to be treated with respect and above the law.

[G Grasshopper]

I'm wondering if any of us actually know the facts of the case well enough to argue in any direction.

[dick1973]

Originally Posted by G Grasshopper

I'm wondering if any of us actually know the facts of the case well enough to argue in any direction.

I agree, most likely a minor event that scared the hell out the teacher from having her authority challenged.

[loves2read]

you can have your authority challenged without having your wrist seized...

you don't know that the teacher was "scared" at all
you imply that the teacher overreacted to the student's actions

nothing that interferes with a teacher trying to establish an atmosphere of respect and order in a classroom is a "minor" event...
you have no idea how quickly the attitudes and actions of students can get out of hand in a classroom over something that might start out as infinitesimal--much less minor...
I have seen (and tried to stop) students who have come to physical contact after just three words of a confrontation or an accidental shove in the hall...
the same action with another student could have turned into a moment of amusement on both sides--no harm/no foul
this student is trouble--if it was not this teacher in this class at that time--it would have been someone else because there was no give in that student...
do you expect all teachers to ignore what is going on with him--he is looking to confront limits--

as loose as you make his limits, he will push those boundaries even more very likely because it is about power--people like that are black holes who always feel the need to feed on taking power from others

[dick1973]

[quote=loves2read;10618005]you can have your authority challenged without having your wrist seized...
]

But use can't have you wrist seized unless you put it harms way. In this world which includes classrooms, if you take property without asking and you are not in law enforcement your should be prepared for anything. The teacher got scared or PO and called the cops. if she wasn't scared, she was embarrased from the unsuccessful challange.

Just like the kids pushing in the Hall, it didn't have to go that far. Police should have not been involved. No felony assault charged filed.

Teachers should know better. It is in lesson #1 that most learn at about age 3. Take someone toy and they are going to pop you in the month.

The teacher, pricipal and school district must have skipped school when lesson #1 was being taught.

[mlassoff]

I'd like to look at this from a different perspective. University of Oregon football player LeGarrette Blount punched out a player on the opposite team. Sucker punched him in the face. I'm sure most of you have seen the video. Blount was suspended from football. He can't play a GAME anymore. Where are his felony charges? Oh, right... He plays football. If you don't think Blount's assault isn't worthy of a felony charge, you should really look at why this child in Lakeway IS charged with a felony... For grabbing a hand and not causing any kind of injury.

The kid was wrong, should show more respect for his teacher, etc. But again, a felony is a gross overreaction-- especially when we let football players get away with assaults on national television and make excuses for them.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by Jennibc

???????????????
And how would he be any more equipped to handle the confiscation than she?

Oh please, give me a break.

Do you think if it had been a male teacher in the first place, same set of circumstances, that the kid would be charged with a felony, or that it would even have made the news? I don't think so.

Men and woman are different, and it shows up in encounters such as this. Call it sexist or whatever, but it's a fact. Society reacts differently based on gender, and also ethnic class, sexual orientation, etc. We see it in the news every day.

Had it been the wrestling coach teaching a history class, none of this would even be known to the public.

Steve