A middle school substitute teacher allegedly used a belt to discipline students in the classroom.
Video of the incident subsequently found its way to LiveLeak and YouTube. See footage embedded below.
The encounter reportedly occurred at the Gywnn Park Middle School in Brandywine, Maryland, a suburb of Washington D.C. Parenthetically, Gwynn Park has a school uniform policy in effect.
According to WTTG in Washington, which learned of the incident from a grandmother of one of the kids in the classroom, the origin of the incident has yet to be determined. It’s not clear if the students seen in the video were trying to stop the incident, causing a commotion or hiding from the teacher.
After the video came to light, Prince Georges County school officials released the following statement about the as-yet unidentified educator.
“On Friday, May 15, a substitute teacher used improper actions to discipline students while in one of our classes at Gwynn Park Middle School. The substitute teacher has been removed from the classroom and the matter has been referred to the appropriate law enforcement agencies. Prince George’s County Public Schools does not condone this type of behavior and it is not representative of the level of professionalism and respectful conduct of the team at the school. PGCPS works to create a respectful and safe environment for all students and staff.”
Police have launched an investigation into this chaotic classroom incident.
The causes differ, but this is unfortunately hardly the only teacher-student violent altercation that has found its way to social media.
Last week, a Phoenix substitute teacher was accused of assaulting a middle school student after the student hurled the “N-Word” at him. It, too, was captured on cellphone video, and prompted a police investigation.
In surveillance footage from 2012, that surfaced last year, an elementary school principal in Bridgeport, Connecticut, allegedly dragged two different kindergarteners down the hall by the legs .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTAzAHDHrqM
In April 2013, a female teacher and a female student in California got into a brawl after the teacher confiscated the 15-year-old’s cosmetics and phone. In Oakland that same month, a male substitute teacher and a female eighth grader got into a punching-and-kicking brawl in an Alliance Academy classroom.
Elsewhere in the Golden State, a high school science teacher got into a wrestling match about a year ago with a student who allegedly brought drugs to the classroom.
Last May, a Houston high school student was arrested on a charge of injury to the elderly after allegedly pushing a substitute teacher to the floor and retrieving his confiscated cell phone.
In Detroit, a teacher who used a broom in an attempt to break up a violent altercation between two male students at Pershing High School was fired for alleged child abuse.
Apart from the Maryland teacher who allegedly hit students with a belt, do you think teacher-student classroom violence is on the rise, and if so, why?
[image credit: Gwynn Park Middle School]