A Detroit high school teacher who used a broom in an attempt to break up a violent altercation between two male students has been fired for alleged child abuse.
The incident at Pershing High School last Wednesday was, as usual, captured on cell phone video.
The teacher can appeal her termination to the state Education Achievement Authority next month. The EAA runs Pershing because it is one of the city’s low-performing schools. Unions do not represent EAA schools, so the teacher in question is not eligible for elaborate due process protections that would apply to teachers in traditional schools.
Pershing teachers reportedly are supposed to call security on their walkie-talkies when fights break out in school, but apparently this teacher’s walkie-talkie didn’t work. In the video (see embed below), the combatants appear to be separated by another student.
An EAA statement released today suggested that officials intended to sweep her out of the school district: “The Education Achievement Authority of Michigan has recommended the teacher’s termination of employment to its Board of Directors. Which means the termination is effective immediately; she will have an opportunity, like any other employee, to meet with the board as they consider this recommendation at its next scheduled board meeting. She will be notified in writing of the confirmed date and time of the next scheduled board meeting. The teacher was hired on Jan. 27 2014.”
The two students who were brawling in class have been suspended for 10 days.
According to the teacher’s dad, “his daughter was fired because the school told her she had violated a policy against striking any student. Yet, [he] says, his daughter has been getting a tremendous amount of support from friends and others. She plans on getting an attorney because she feels she was unjustly let go.”
Do you think this Detroit teacher was out of line by swatting one of the fighting students in the back with a broom? Do you think the teacher’s punishment is justified?
[image via Shutterstock ]