EAA Teacher breaks up fight with broom...‏

[Pickford-Bentler]

The video shows a wrestling match in which the two combatants are locked together knocking over desks as they struggle. This goes on until one of the combatants gains an upper hand and starts to punch the other. This is the point where the teacher starts hitting the puncher on his back with a broom handle.

IMO, she did the right thing because, from her and my perspective, there was a reasonable chance that the boy being punched could be significantly harmed.

Being small, the teacher did what she could.

I say she should have not been fired.

It is a Catch 22. She does nothing and one boy ends up in he hospital - fired, or she hits the puncher on the back and gets fired or assaulting a minor.

Hockey fights are like this. You watch the tussle and, if one gets too much of an upper hand, you step in to end it.

Also, the students who just watched and did nothing have blame. At some point, you should get together and break that shit up.

[poobert]

Calling anyone an animal based upon a one minute clip of a fist fight is absurd.

Those playful little scamps. Is that better?

Some of you have your heads so far up your asses I don't know how you manage to type. Your idea of justice is to belittle and threaten retirees who worked their whole peaceful lives and make excuses for young hooligans. No wonder there is madness in the streets. It's condoned.

[Scottathew]

What the teacher did was wrong, but I hope those kids feel guilty that their behavior caused this. I already watched one interview on WJBK where one of the participants in the fight stated he didn't feel responsible.

I can accept that the teach got the consequence of being fired, but I'm more angry at the kids, and judging by their preliminary reactions, the parents are not doing their jobs.

I took Ryan Road home today and there was a WXYZ crew setting up a live shot.

[Wesley Mouch]

What the teacher did was wrong...

Do you not think the teacher or any other human being has the obligation to try and protect someone being beaten? How is that ever wrong?

[RaumVogel]

Those playful little scamps. Is that better?

Some of you have your heads so far up your asses I don't know how you manage to type. Your idea of justice is to belittle and threaten retirees who worked their whole peaceful lives and make excuses for young hooligans. No wonder there is madness in the streets. It's condoned.

Yes, the problem here isn't the teacher.It's the attitude that if you are entitled to "kick someones ass" if you have been "called out".Like I have stated earlier...it's the school systems responsability to find out the whole story and get down to justice.Don't just assume both children are to blame.Investigate and find out the truth.Then act accordingly. Instead of scapegoating the teacher and calling it over.

[jt1]

Those playful little scamps. Is that better?

Some of you have your heads so far up your asses I don't know how you manage to type. Your idea of justice is to belittle and threaten retirees who worked their whole peaceful lives and make excuses for young hooligans. No wonder there is madness in the streets. It's condoned.

where did I condone their actions? I just think it is a little dismissive to call them dismissive animals. They should face their punishment. The mother should shut her mouth and the teacher should not be penalized. I have said that all in the past. I think I have been pretty clear in the past that I am all for maximum punishment for criminals and troublemakers. One of my biggest gripes is the local courts refuse to really punish people to the full extent of the law. So your claim that I am excusing them is false

As for dismissing retires: we likely have a different philosophical view. I would prefer the retires are made whole but people like cla and ray have made it clear they don't give a shit about current residents so I'm not too worried about their quality of life.

[Scottathew]

Do you not think the teacher or any other human being has the obligation to try and protect someone being beaten? How is that ever wrong?

If the teacher had a gun, should she have started shooting?
If the teacher had a taser, should she have started zapping?
If the teacher had a crowbar, should she have started cracking skulls?
If the teacher had a broom, should she have started swinging?

At some point, using a weapon is excessive. Perhaps she crossed that line with the broom, perhaps she didn't. I don't think it's black and white, and I certainly see your argument that she was trying to step in.

At the moment she starts swinging the broom the boy in the striped shirt most certainly is losing and starting to turtle. At this point in hockey, MMA, etc... the refs step in and break it up.

I don't think poorly of the teacher for using a broom as a weapon to break up the fight. I think she's probably a moral and hardworking person. However, I do think it was a mistake, and one where losing your job may be an appropriate consequence.

But for all we know, but not for her intervention perhaps the other boy could have been seriously injured or worse. For all we know, she should be praised as a life-saving hero for doing what she did. Unfortunately, we'll never be able to know.

[Wesley Mouch]

If the teacher had a gun, should she have started shooting?
If the teacher had a taser, should she have started zapping?
If the teacher had a crowbar, should she have started cracking skulls?
If the teacher had a broom, should she have started swinging?

At some point, using a weapon is excessive. Perhaps she crossed that line with the broom, perhaps she didn't. I don't think it's black and white, and I certainly see your argument that she was trying to step in.

At the moment she starts swinging the broom the boy in the striped shirt most certainly is losing and starting to turtle. At this point in hockey, MMA, etc... the refs step in and break it up.

I don't think poorly of the teacher for using a broom as a weapon to break up the fight. I think she's probably a moral and hardworking person. However, I do think it was a mistake, and one where losing your job may be an appropriate consequence.

But for all we know, but not for her intervention perhaps the other boy could have been seriously injured or worse. For all we know, she should be praised as a life-saving hero for doing what she did. Unfortunately, we'll never be able to know.

True.

On the subject of force, I once hear an expert testify that police are generally able to respond to violence with one level more force that the perpetrator is applying.

A fistfight doesn't warrant a bazooka.

Broomhandle actually seems pretty reasonable.

[cla1945]

where did I condone their actions? I just think it is a little dismissive to call them dismissive animals. They should face their punishment. The mother should shut her mouth and the teacher should not be penalized. I have said that all in the past. I think I have been pretty clear in the past that I am all for maximum punishment for criminals and troublemakers. One of my biggest gripes is the local courts refuse to really punish people to the full extent of the law. So your claim that I am excusing them is false

As for dismissing retires: we likely have a different philosophical view. I would prefer the retires are made whole but people like cla and ray have made it clear they don't give a shit about current residents so I'm not too worried about their quality of life.

You are so full of it it's laughable. Of all people, Ray has never belittled Detroit and for that matter, neither have I. I say the truth about what's going on inside Detroit...and it's not just my opinion...do you ever read a newspaper or watch the news? I have never lumped the entire population of Detroit into anything and I have never said that I don't care about Detroit. I have said, I love Detroit, my hometown, but I don't like what its' become. I'm sure many residents of Detroit feel the same way I do.

[MizMotown]

When I was younger -- and never in a union job -- I used to think unions caused more harm than good. As I got older, I began to see the need for employee representation, especially when an issue like this happens. Still have never worked for a union, but I was appalled to see what Snyder and his republican majority legislature did to ram Right to Work down our throats in a lame-duck session.

That said, I will repost this part of my previous comment as it pertains to what the leader of the President of the Detroit Federation of Teachers said. Understandably, he does not represent the EAA teachers, but I'm surprised he did not stand up for her actions.

Keith Johnson, President of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, tells FOX 2's Maurielle Lue he believes the teacher was wrong for using a broom, although he understands her motive. "Unfortunately, the method that she used, in terms of swatting one with a broom, is a violation of the corporal punishment provision under the Michigan school code. But she's caught in a quandary because under that same code she's expected to do what is necessary to diffuse a situation," he says.

A representative from Pershing's communication's office says teachers were instructed during orientation to call for security on a walkie talkie during such situations. FOX 2 has learned this teacher's walkie talkie wasn't working.



Read more: http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/25...#ixzz318Ho1dq5

[downtownguy]

^^I'm sorry, MizMotown, but your point is? I posted everything you did from the same Fox story which was linked earlier in this thread.

[downtownguy]

You are so full of it it's laughable. Of all people, Ray has never belittled Detroit and for that matter, neither have I. I say the truth about what's going on inside Detroit...and it's not just my opinion...do you ever read a newspaper or watch the news? I have never lumped the entire population of Detroit into anything and I have never said that I don't care about Detroit. I have said, I love Detroit, my hometown, but I don't like what its' become. I'm sure many residents of Detroit feel the same way I do.

I certainly disagree with jt1 about Ray. Ray's a good guy and I always enjoy his posts. And I respect them even if we don't agree. However, there is no excuse to refer to people as animals. But, based on the tone you set in so many of your previous posts, I'm not surprised.

I am extremely grateful for your service as a firefighter, as I am all your brave brothers and sisters on the job. But you diminish any admiration for you personally when you refer to human beings as animals.

[Spartan]

Unfortunately, the method that she used, in terms of swatting one with a broom, is a violation of the corporal punishment provision under the Michigan school code.

I must have missed the part of this story where any "punishment" was being distributed. There's a difference between hitting a kid as a consequence and trying to diffuse a situation...

[Wesley Mouch]

I must have missed the part of this story where any "punishment" was being distributed. There's a difference between hitting a kid as a consequence and trying to diffuse a situation...

Inflexible rules are bad -- but if we're trying to parse them, you've a good point. This wasn't 'punishment'. This was effort to protect a student / diffuse violence.

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our little rules we can't see right from wrong.

[GPCharles]

As stated by Captain Barbossa "... the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules. Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, Miss Turner."

"Flexible" rules aren't rules, they are guidelines. The teachers sometimes feel like they are on a pirate ship, with the pirates running the show.

[Danny]

That Detroit Public School Teacher deserves her job back. We should protest in front of Pershing High School and hold signs saying, 'Give back her job!'

[313WX]

That Detroit Public School Teacher

Pershing isn't a Detroit Public School, but an EAA school, which is a state-run district.

[Danny]

Good news, D-YES members!!

The Pershing High School Teacher who has been fired from breaking up a fight with a broom has been rehired.

YAY!

[cla1945]

Here's the link
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...nstated-by-EAA

[Scottathew]

At first I thought the firing was justified, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was a punishment that seemed too harsh. Perhaps just a write-up or something less harsh.

I don't think using the broom was a good choice, but to be honest she didn't have any good choices to make. It was a terrible situation.

I'm glad she got re-hired.


I feel bad for the little shit that was fighting and took no responsibility for his actions. He's going to have a long life of learning responsibility the hard way.

[Wesley Mouch]

I feel bad for the little shit that was fighting and took no responsibility for his actions. He's going to have a long life of learning responsibility the hard way.

I don't feel sorry for him. I feel sorry for the kids who choose good. Who listen to their pastor. Who heed their parents. Who find ways to create a better life.

Sure, Detroitnerd points out how society is stacked against them. True. Some overcome. Let's celebrate that.

I'll just hope that he figures out the error in his ways before he becomes a statistic in another thread's home-invasion body count and leaves victims in his wake.

[Honky Tonk]

Finally! Someone did the right thing.

[courtney]

Also, the students who just watched and did nothing have blame. At some point, you should get together and break that shit up.

Apparently I'd done a bad job of skimming this thread the last time I read it, because I missed this little gem.

If you HONESTLY think for one second that a student should have risked THEIR OWN SAFETY to get in between two who are acting like morons intent on causing physical damage to someone else, you need your head examined.

I saw quite a few fights in middle school and high school [[involving a large number of races and ethnic groups) including one in which the soccer coach/geometry teacher former Marine get his arm snapped by the trash that was fighting. I still also remember getting shoved against a locker when one started in the hallway nearby.

If I didn't have something a lot more damaging than a broom, I'm not sticking around to pretend to be Little Miss Hero.

As to those for/against calling fighting morons "animals", humans are animals, so yes, they are animals. But so are those who have more common sense than to try to beat the crap out of someone IN A HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOM.

I'm glad that I didn't see the news report where the mother of the moron who ended up with "welts" [[wahhh, poor baby, the world's smallest violin is playing just for him), since this whole thing infuriates me.