FIGHT IT..... Stand up for your kid.... The teacher is the one who should be punished, if this was happening and he wasn't paying attention. No tolerance for doing a poor job. DD
WARNING! Major oversimplification ahead! A man walking down the street sees another man stealing money from an armored car. The car is unattended because the driver is hitting on the meter maid. The first guy says Hey! you can't do that! The second guy says Here!, and shoves a wad of the money into the first guys pants then runs off. The first guys then runs off with the money in his pants, but is caught by a cop. His defense: It wasn't my fault, the other guy should not have been able to steal the money because the driver wasn't doing his job. In the matter of your son retaliating against the bully, I think he did the right thing. But trying to excuse his actions because the teacher didn't do his job is simply passing the buck.
A guy comes into anothers house and attacks the owner. In self defense, the owner kills the attacker. The owner is not in trouble because he was defending himself.
There's no law against defending yourself in your own home. There is a rule against fighting at school.
Fine, a guy assualts you in an alley. He keeps shoving you to the ground so that you can;t get up and tell the cop, who is assigned to protect you, who is just around the corner talking to a pretty lady. You punch him to protect yourself. Do you do time for punching him to get free and reprot this? Now, if this cop was assigned to be watching over you, and this happened, would the cop be in trouble?
WHOA!!! Just caught this. I'm not excusing his actions. His actions were justifiable. He was defending himself. He should have never been in that situation to begin with. Educators are responsible for the well being and protection of those they teach. If this PE teacher was to busy dorking around to keep my son from being bullied and picked on, you're damn right I am going to raise hell for a punishment where he had to do what an ADULT wouldn't.
So the question is "Do students have the right to self defense on school grounds?" What does the district policy say? If it says no (zero tolerance) then he broke the rules. Been looking at the Brownsville ISD district policy (right? Brownsville?), and so far, all I have found may support your case: When imposing discipline, District personnel shall adhere to the following general guidelines: Discipline shall be administered when necessary to protect students, school employees, or property and maintain essential order and discipline. Students shall be treated fairly and equitably. Discipline shall be based on a careful assessment of the circumstances of each case. Factors to consider shall include: The seriousness of the offense. The student's age. The frequency of misconduct. The student's attitude. The potential effect of the misconduct on the school environment. Requirements of Chapter 37 of the Education Code; and The Student Code of Conduct adopted by the Board. Nothing in there say "zero tolerance"
More from the Brownsville ISD Student Code of Conduct: ASSAULT PROHIBITED Students are prohibited from assaulting anyone on school property or at any school-related event. Education Code 37.006; Penal Code 22.01 DEFINITIONS Simple assault is defined as: SIMPLE ASSAULT Intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causing bodily injury to another. Education Code 37.006(a)(1); Penal Code 22.01(a)(1) Intentionally or knowingly threatening another with imminent bodily injury. Penal Code 22.01(a)(2) Intentionally or knowingly causing physical contact with another when the person knows or should reasonably believe that the other will regard the contact as offensive or provocative. Penal Code 22.01(a)(3)
Your boy had a reaction and went with it. He was taught to defend himself, as you said. I would defend your son on it and have a parent-teacher conference w/ the other boy's parents and figure out what the hell is going on. Bullies need to be stopped when they're young, or they're going to continue their B.S. on other kids.
All teachers are not able to stop all fights. You know this. When my wife was teaching, she was TRAINED to leave her classroom to get help from a cop or male teacher (like you?) WHEN a fight broke out in her room. Her supervisors knew she could not prevent all of them. She is not a security guard. She was a 20-something female teacher. It is not her responsibility to completely be able to stop all fights. I would not want her jeopardizing her safety trying to break up fights between high-school kids. I don't expect my 60 year old mother who is still teaching to be able to "supervise" 30+ inner city high-school kids and stop fights from happening. They can start in an instant. When kids start to fight its going to take someone stronger to break it up. This same thing can happen to your kid when he gets in highschool. You can not expect the teachers to be his bodygaurds. He broke the rule. How can one father (Behad) see this and another be so oblivious? Parents are the major problem with our schools. This is why teachers quit. BTW, You wont answer Behad's questions because you really know the correct answer.
Is defending himself breaking the rules? I guess he just should have left himself pinned, seeing as he tried to get the bully off of him but couldn't without hitting him. Do you have any clue of liability in the PE field? No? Apparently not. Any clues on the concept of malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance? Parents are the major problem in the school? Wow. You sure are the resident expert in the educatinal field all of the sudden. Now you compare a 20 year old female breaking up a high school fight to a 45 year old male PE teacher breaking up a few 8 year olds. Don't try to lecture me about breaking up fights. A good friend of mine was thrown to the ground and kicked while breaking up a couple of guys fighting this past Friday. The fact is this. The teacher was NOT SUPERVISING! Why can;t you understand that? What would you propose my son do? lay down and let himself get shoved and pinned? You are clueless. You asked earlier if I know about parents going and complaining about nothing. You're damn right I do. Now I will be in there as a parent, and paying taxpayer complaining about something worthwhile. When you're kid is in the same boat, remember your stance on this. I will be sure to remind you if you forget. As far as Behads question, is the teacher liable if he gets in a fight in the restroom? No, but that comes into play in the subject of liability in the classroom environment. Will I have the same stance if he punches a guy to defend himself in the bathroom? Yes. Will the teacher be accountable? No. Will he be punished? If he is pinned and this is the only way for him to get free, and gets punished, I will be right back in there. Did I answer your precious question?
No, I actually have an INFORMED opinion on a contested issue. Something that is apparently foreign to you.
Thanks for the email Behad. I found out that another paraprofessional saw the incident and told my wife that he doesn't know why my boy is being punished, since, in his own words "he was just defending himself".
Oh, and just for the record, the kid admitted to the principal that he was shoving and cussing at my boy.
Those that say he should be punished are just being ridiculous. What is a kid supposed to do? Take punches and then report it later? There is NO situation in the adult world in which we would say that is the RIGHT response. Unless you're amish you'd at least defend yourself and sort it out later. It's just crazy to be an apologist for teachers not paying attention enough to stop fights. We are NOT talking about 16 year old males, for crying out loud.
