Policy prevented Florida teacher from breaking up fight

[chanel]

School district officials in Palm Beach, Florida, are defending a middle school teacher who did not intervene when two of his students got into a physical altercation in his classroom at the end of October.

According to a statement released by the school district, the teacher, Donald Charbonneau, was following a school policy that staff can only intervene after undergoing special training on how to properly deal with such incidents.

Thompson's mother, Mara Cornish, agrees with the Pooles that the teacher should have done more to stop the fight. "You're the adult," she told ABC 24 News. "You're supposed to stop it."

But Washington University education professor Carol Kochhar-Bryant tells ABC News the school district's policy regarding teachers and altercations is not surprising.

"In the past there have been many families, if the child gets injured in any way by an intervention by a teacher, there have been instances where the teachers have been reprimanded," said Kochhar-Bryant.

School district says policy prevented Florida teacher from breaking up fight | syracuse.com

What do you think - Should teachers be expected to intervene in physical altercations?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

School district officials in Palm Beach, Florida, are defending a middle school teacher who did not intervene when two of his students got into a physical altercation in his classroom at the end of October.

According to a statement released by the school district, the teacher, Donald Charbonneau, was following a school policy that staff can only intervene after undergoing special training on how to properly deal with such incidents.

Thompson's mother, Mara Cornish, agrees with the Pooles that the teacher should have done more to stop the fight. "You're the adult," she told ABC 24 News. "You're supposed to stop it."

But Washington University education professor Carol Kochhar-Bryant tells ABC News the school district's policy regarding teachers and altercations is not surprising.

"In the past there have been many families, if the child gets injured in any way by an intervention by a teacher, there have been instances where the teachers have been reprimanded," said Kochhar-Bryant.

School district says policy prevented Florida teacher from breaking up fight | syracuse.com

What do you think - Should teachers be expected to intervene in physical altercations?

Students are under the supervision of the class room teacher and the school while there. ABSOLUTELY a teacher should intervene when a fight breaks out. This is ignorant. The school is responsible for those students. By NOT breaking up the fight, if something happens to one or both of them the school can and will be sued.

As for the bullshit cop out about disciplining a teacher for breaking up a fight, THAT is a school policy that is ignorant as hell.

 

[chanel]

Blame the lawyers Sarge. As I've stated before, our school and union only advises teachers to say "stop fighting" and call for security. Of course, most intervene when necessary, but we have had teachers hurt badly. Also, I witnessed a "young lady" being restrained by a trained police officer yell "He's touching my boobs!" Some of these little pretend victims are trained from birth to sue. It's a shame.

I have a feeling all teachers will have to be trained in this in the near future. But there will be circumstances where a 5 ft. female cannot get in the middle of two 6 ft. teenagers. What then?

 

[KissMy]

I expect the teachers to do all they can to stop the fight. I am glad another student got it on video to help prosecute the aggressor & document the schools negligence.

 

[xotoxi]

But there will be circumstances where a 5 ft. female cannot get in the middle of two 6 ft. teenagers. What then?

Tasers.


"Don't Tase Me, Teach!!!"

 

[Skull Pilot]

Ah the mantra of the municipal employee, "There's no good reason, it's just our policy"

 

[KissMy]

But there will be circumstances where a 5 ft. female cannot get in the middle of two 6 ft. teenagers. What then?

Tasers.


"Don't Tase Me, Teach!!!"

Ahh.. I can just see the "Don't Tase Me, Teach!!!" YouTube video now.

 

[Annie]

It seems to me there's a world of difference between a fight breaking out in a hallway or lunchroom or even locker room, then one in a classroom where students shouldn't be unattended.

The video says the teacher was at his desk, on the computer when this began. There's no defense for that. Assuming this began at the beginning of class, why else would the 'bully' be up out of his seat? why wasn't the teacher welcoming the students and getting a 'feel' of what was up? That's just 'best practices.'

 

[Article 15]

Depends on the teacher and who is fighting.

When I was in middle and high school they had a handful of male teachers called "the Q squad" who were called over the loud speaker to break up any fights your typical 5 foot nothing female teacher couldn't handle.

 

[Ravi]

iirc this policy was put in place after a teacher in PB county was knifed while attempting to break up a fight.

IMO, we don't pay teachers enough to risk their lives and most schools, at least in my county, have a cop on duty and security round the clock.

School is a prison.

 

[chanel]

Good point Annie and goes to show that each cicumstance may have to be handled differently. That's essentially how it works in our building. However as you know, many school policies take a "one size fits all" approach to discipline. How many schools have "zero tolerance" policies? In some schools, hugging is banned. What I'd like to see is some kind of "good samaritan" type "hold harmless" clause, for adults who intervene. The lawyers would fight it I'm sure, but it seems like the only sensible resolution.

 

[JakeStarkey]

I knew of a middle school and junior high school that was having difficulties with students fighting. Several of the dads volunteered to patrol the school before and after and during lunch hours. They had a policy of the laying on of hands. Within a week there was no trouble whatsoever. Edit: I just looked it up in my notes. That happened eight years ago. The parents were also notified of the policy and that children that were fighting or struck an adult would be turned over to the authorities for proper handling.

 

[Care4all]

School district officials in Palm Beach, Florida, are defending a middle school teacher who did not intervene when two of his students got into a physical altercation in his classroom at the end of October.

According to a statement released by the school district, the teacher, Donald Charbonneau, was following a school policy that staff can only intervene after undergoing special training on how to properly deal with such incidents.

Thompson's mother, Mara Cornish, agrees with the Pooles that the teacher should have done more to stop the fight. "You're the adult," she told ABC 24 News. "You're supposed to stop it."

But Washington University education professor Carol Kochhar-Bryant tells ABC News the school district's policy regarding teachers and altercations is not surprising.

"In the past there have been many families, if the child gets injured in any way by an intervention by a teacher, there have been instances where the teachers have been reprimanded," said Kochhar-Bryant.

School district says policy prevented Florida teacher from breaking up fight | syracuse.com

What do you think - Should teachers be expected to intervene in physical altercations?

I think it depends....my sister is a teacher in florida, (went to college there in NJ... at Glassboro for her initial bachelor's degree) and got a broken jaw and her stomach kicked in when she tried to break up a fight going on at the school buses, by two students who were twice her size.

 

[Granny]

It's a bad situation all the way around. I think it's one of those great "expert" pronouncements by apologists around the early '60s that went over-the-top years ago. Having been on the receiving end of unchecked child abuse, it was good that people actually started taking a look at the abuse and its effects on children. BUT there is a very big difference between child abuse and child discipline. Discipline has all but been tossed out the window, helped along by children being drilled with the "snitch" program - if your parents even look at you cross-eyed "tell your teacher or someone you trust and report them to the authorities."

Teachers who want to teach have been put in the position of being teacher, counselor, psychologist, mediator, cop, and God knows what else. Mediocrity has become a norm. Society in general, for a good number of reasons, has absolutely spun out of control - and not just in the classroom. AND we have become a very litigious society regarding everything that comes down the pike - no matter what the situation, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

School should be a safe harbor where teachers can teach and students can learn. Parents need to take back care and (proper) control of the very best outcome for the benefit of their children.

Teachers should have an expectation that they are not going to be shot, stabbed, or have the hell beaten out of them. Students should have the same expectation. Parents should have the expectation that their children will be good hands. I have to agree with the parents - the teacher is the adult and should take control of his or her classroom - but the teacher should not have been put in a combative situation in the first place.

My opinion is that most of the "experts" aren't. All they have is some ideal or cause that they want to foist onto the rest of society - by any means necessary. They and their great expert opinions have ultimately brought far more harm than good for society.

 

[ConHog]

Our teachers are encouraged not to intervene in a fight for a few reasons.

1. Potential danger to them
2. Potential lawsuits to the school
3. We have LEO on campus who are trained to deal with the situations

It is a sad fact that children will scream abuse for any reason and that parents will sue for any reason, so we ask teachers to not get involved; now that being said we do ask our teachers to be proactive in preventing fights from occurring in the first place as Annie alluded to.

 

[Toro]

School district officials in Palm Beach, Florida, are defending a middle school teacher who did not intervene when two of his students got into a physical altercation in his classroom at the end of October.

According to a statement released by the school district, the teacher, Donald Charbonneau, was following a school policy that staff can only intervene after undergoing special training on how to properly deal with such incidents.

Thompson's mother, Mara Cornish, agrees with the Pooles that the teacher should have done more to stop the fight. "You're the adult," she told ABC 24 News. "You're supposed to stop it."

But Washington University education professor Carol Kochhar-Bryant tells ABC News the school district's policy regarding teachers and altercations is not surprising.

"In the past there have been many families, if the child gets injured in any way by an intervention by a teacher, there have been instances where the teachers have been reprimanded," said Kochhar-Bryant.

School district says policy prevented Florida teacher from breaking up fight | syracuse.com

What do you think - Should teachers be expected to intervene in physical altercations?

Yeah, but I blame the parents for whining when the teachers intervened when their kids were in the fight. That's the reason why this dumb policy is in place.

 

[Annie]

I've taught 'at risk' jr. and sr. public high school students that had already dropped out and returned to school in an impoverished area. I've taught middle school kids in parochial school. I'm currently subbing in two public districts for middle schools and high schools in pretty wealthy suburbs. I've never had kids come close to a fight in my room. Yes, there have been instances where tempers have flared coming into the room, but it was diffused at the door-granted ONCE I had to say, "Fine, I'll call two deans to come and sort it out or sit down!" They sat. About 15 minutes later, took them into the hall to make sure it really was ended. Of course it was a pissing contest.

Sort of preventing banning? LOL!

Seriously, I'm sure there are times to get the officer or at least deans involved, I just haven't run into one in over 14 years of teaching so far. Monday could be the day.

In this case though, seems the teacher wasn't on the job.

 

[chanel]

My guess is this teacher is new. And had he intervened, he could have lost his job for not following the policy. He really had little choice. (although sitting at his computer didn't look so good). A tenured teacher might have been more willing to take that risk.

I had a fight break out in my classroom a few years ago. Came out of nowhere. A student accidently knocked a paper off another's desk and the kid went stark raving ballistic. The only thing I could do was call security and usher the other kids out of the room. Fortunately a large male friend was walking by and came in and grabbed the aggressor.

The student was suspended for 10 days and never returned to school. That solved future problems for sure.

As a high school teacher, you don't know what went on earlier in the day. They don't check their baggage at the door.

 

[Douger]

School district officials in Palm Beach, Florida, are defending a middle school teacher who did not intervene when two of his students got into a physical altercation in his classroom at the end of October.

According to a statement released by the school district, the teacher, Donald Charbonneau, was following a school policy that staff can only intervene after undergoing special training on how to properly deal with such incidents.

Thompson's mother, Mara Cornish, agrees with the Pooles that the teacher should have done more to stop the fight. "You're the adult," she told ABC 24 News. "You're supposed to stop it."

But Washington University education professor Carol Kochhar-Bryant tells ABC News the school district's policy regarding teachers and altercations is not surprising.

"In the past there have been many families, if the child gets injured in any way by an intervention by a teacher, there have been instances where the teachers have been reprimanded," said Kochhar-Bryant.

School district says policy prevented Florida teacher from breaking up fight | syracuse.com

What do you think - Should teachers be expected to intervene in physical altercations?

They voted for it.Looks like"Chad" intervened again. Idiots.

 

[Ravi]

The school is being sued. In the end, it doesn't seem to matter what the teacher does...step in and get injured or inadvertently injure a student and get sued, or call for help and not step in and get sued.

It surprises me that anyone wants to teach.