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Assaults by DISD students on staff have doubled in recent years
Allen Gwinn 2008-03-23 18:45 DISD (Schools)
by Tawnell D. Hobbs of the Dallas Morning News Diana May didn't think to look down after leaving a portable building at Seagoville High School. So she didn't see the tripwire strung across a walkway. Diana May had to fight for retroactive assault leave pay after she fell over a tripwire at Seagoville High School. A DISD hearing officer in June awarded her nearly three months of retroactive assault leave pay and reinstated the sick days that she used to heal. The special-education teacher landed hard on the cement, receiving multiple injuries, mainly to her neck and lower back. She spent two and a half months recuperating. Need Clear Policy on Assaults
Anonymous (not verified) 2008-03-23 22:02
What many teachers want is a clear policy on what exactly we are supposed to do when a fight breaks out. If the student is twice my size, well common sense dictates that I stay clear, but could you see the press coverage if a serious injury of a student occurred and the witnesses said teachers stood by and did nothing? State law actually gives teachers the authority to intervene physically, but DISD policy this year is to actively terminate or suspend teachers who do. (Three incidents I know of.) The DISD stacks up better than Austin in the paper, but is it because we are finally getting control in some schools, or because the stats aren't accurate? Double-edged sword, this reporting of incidents. If principals are TOO honest, they can be smacked by DISD as not having control or by NCLB as being a dangerous school. If they cover it up, the pressure builds until there is an incident they can't hide (Seagoville). Some people still like to claim that nothing happened at Skyline a couple of years ago, but ask the neighbors and they will tell you there was a HUGE incident, but Moses kept it out of the papers. Of course, ask the Board of Trustees, and maybe they would like to give the first assault a "free pass"--no ticket. You know, we wouldn't want to hurt the child's self-esteem. If you want to reform DISD, you have to reform the comunity--the parents. When kids come into school, cuss out or hit a teacher and expect nothing to happen to them, where do you think that comes from? Too bad teachers can't slap them in the face. That is what will happen to them on the street, if not worse. [Ed Note: Who are the 3 teachers who were terminated for intervening, and could you get them to post their stories here?] To break 'em up or not to break 'em up
Anonymous (not verified) 2008-03-24 19:17
My first year of teaching, at Stockard Middle School in 1996, I heard the story of a teacher in her 30s who had to have a hip replacement because she had broken up a fight between two 7th grade girls the previous year...and this was not a small or light-weight teacher. It's just that, in the heat of battle, things happen. At my high school several years ago, an assistant principal's eye was badly damaged by a male student swinging at the guy he was fighting and connecting with the AP's eye. Thankfully he didn't lose his sight. I mention these things because they go through my mind when a fight gets started. Therefore, I generally avoid them. However, having said that, I just broke up a fight between two girls (one of whom is a student of mine) right as it got started, before much damage had been done. So, yeah, it's tricky and, for me anyway, it's a case by case basis. That's the only problem I have with there being a SET policy (which I realize there is NOT at this moment). If we are NEVER to break up fights, then I would have had to helplessly watch my student and another girl go at it as I tried to hustle my students in the classroom and waited for security. On the other hand, if we are supposed to break up fights, I will always think back to the two stories I referenced above. It is such a tricky thing - very complex. Assaults
Anonymous (not verified) 2008-03-24 17:04
When kids come into school, cuss out or hit a teacher and expect nothing to happen to them, where do you think that comes from? What if the school LETS the kids do that to teachers to get rid of the ones that they don't want? You do have some schools that want to run folk off and that's the weapon they use. I know one teacher that quit the district because he would have killed one of them because adminstration let the kids disrespect him. He called parents and did everything by the book. Yet when the kids attacked him nothing was done. And mind you this man does/did sercurity for Cowboys and Mavericks and was big built like Nate Newton. And yes some school staff do PICK on kids and when nothing is done, those kids fight back. Those kids fight back because the parents refuse/won't help them. You get tired of coming school everyday and getting picked on by staff for your sexual orientation, clothing, hair style, race and other things. It's a two way street for each situation. Kids that use profanity
Susan (not verified) 2008-04-25 16:41
Just asking a student to put up the cell phone! You get cursed out, you repeat one word that what was said to you(like in elementary school) repeat after me class,as we learn a song (ect). the student is very loud calling you B----, F---- Y--. The teacher gets send home for abuse. You find out you're the fourth person this student has abuse, but did not hit. Whats up with that |
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