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News & ArtsWednesday, April 11, 2012
Crime South Lake High School Teacher Arrested for Allegedly Assaulting Student
Posted by Cienna Madrid on Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 2:38 PM
UPDATE: I'd gotten a tip that this incident occurred at Rainier Beach High School but SPD just confirmed it was at South Lake High School.
Today at noon, Seattle police officers were called to Rainier Beach High School South Lake High School to investigate claims that a 53-year-old teacher had “slapped and strangled” one of his students:
According to witnesses, the suspect/teacher was teaching a class and the 17-year-old victim and another student were in the back of a class talking. The suspect/teacher told the two studetns [sic] to be quiet. The students ignored the request at which point the suspect/teacher went to the back of the class and confronted both students. It is at this point a disturbance ensued and the suspect grabbed the victim by the throat. According to the victim and witnesses the suspect/teacher choked and strangled the victim.
Officers contacted the suspect/teacher in the Staff lounge. He was arrested and transported to the South Precinct for processing.
I know, I know: This is allegedly terrible behavior on the part of a teacher. It's an abuse of power, violence is never okay, it sets a bad example, blah blah blah. But I still vividly remember high school. Most kids are part- or full-time shitheads. And so every time I read about a teacher freaking out on a student, part of me completely empathizes.
But feel free to disagree with me in the comments, HA HA HA.
3
I've worked at RBHS before. I probably don't know the teacher in question, but... the occasional teacher having a mental breakdown is hardly surprising in any situation/school. Just look at the stress involved, and multiple that stress accordingly with other factors (teenagers in general is the base-line, factor in additional stresses for impoverished population, unsupportive admin, beleaguered school, under fire by the district, constantly threatened with closure, racial tensions, poverty tensions -did I mention poverty? Every time I hear about a teacher cracking like this, I just think I'm glad I got out when I did. I miss working with kids and I've been unemployed for nearly a year, but... fucking district/occupation.
If it's any consolation, only the teachers who crack by assaulting students make the news; all the other teachers who crack via divorce, alcoholism, drug use, etc, never make the news, and are far more common.
If it's any consolation, only the teachers who crack by assaulting students make the news; all the other teachers who crack via divorce, alcoholism, drug use, etc, never make the news, and are far more common.
4
My best friend is a great teacher and she tells me all the time that she wants to strangle some of the kids, and she means it.
5
@4 I believe it! I remember being in highschool and having classmates make the teacher cry. I mean, you gotta be tough-skinned to be a teacher, but my god, these kids were so cruel! And it's not like a teacher can even say "Shut up" without getting crucified.
6
while teaching a creative writing class, i confiscated a cell phone from a kid using it during class. he stood up and shouted ' if you don't give me my phone back i will bust you in your fucking FACE'.. i called security because there was no way in life a 15 year old kid was going to bust me in my 'fucking face' and live to tell.
..so yeah.. what #3 said...
..so yeah.. what #3 said...
8
@6 @3 Are soooo right. I never taught public school but years back when I taught karate and kickboxing the gym decided to "give back" and did outreach to schools for "at risk" youth. So for a few moths I got stuck doing an after school program for 8 and 9th graders most of whom had developmental problems, criminal records, and just fucking miserable home lives. I pretty much did the adult program. God what a terrible idea. Did I mention the bright idea of teaching these kids, some tougher than me, how to box, rear naked choke, and throw each other around? I don't know what we were thinking. Some of those kids had value structures so warped - one kid was an arsonist, another basically a sex predator, several in gangs - there was literally no form of discipline or threat I could use to keep them in line if their respect for me slipped. Which thankfully it never did. But it came close a couple of times. And I COULD hit them. I can't imagine what it was like for their regular teachers. I'd never do that again.
9
"According to witnesses, two tenth grade students were being disruptive in class and the suspect/teacher asked for them to complete an assignment to keep them from being disruptive.
When they refused he yelled and swore at them. One of the students said something similar to “You can’t say that.” The suspect/teacher grabbed the student by the throat, and also slapped him in the head.
The student said he was unable to breathe for a very brief period when the suspect/teacher grabbed him by the throat. When officers arrived approximately an hour after the assault, the student still had red marks on his neck."
Sure, he could have just sent them both to the principal's office... but our man was in the mood for a little slappin' and stranglin'. We've all been there...
When they refused he yelled and swore at them. One of the students said something similar to “You can’t say that.” The suspect/teacher grabbed the student by the throat, and also slapped him in the head.
The student said he was unable to breathe for a very brief period when the suspect/teacher grabbed him by the throat. When officers arrived approximately an hour after the assault, the student still had red marks on his neck."
Sure, he could have just sent them both to the principal's office... but our man was in the mood for a little slappin' and stranglin'. We've all been there...
10
I guess I'm on the fence. On the one hand, teenagers can be massive dickholes; on the other hand, I'm not too old to remember the petty dictator teachers I ran into during my school career, who even treated the well-behaved students like shit.
And the one time I witnessed a teacher "snap" and assault one of my fellow students, she was totally of the petty dictator persuasion, and the student she assaulted was merely guilty of talking back, she wasn't breaking the rules or disrupting the class.
And the one time I witnessed a teacher "snap" and assault one of my fellow students, she was totally of the petty dictator persuasion, and the student she assaulted was merely guilty of talking back, she wasn't breaking the rules or disrupting the class.
11
I really don't see the problem here.
At least I only have one more class to teach next year. Then I'm home free...
At least I only have one more class to teach next year. Then I'm home free...
12
I teach second grade at a title 1 school. Yesterday in my class, one eight year-old told me that I'm a faggot and an idiot and that he hates dumb teachers. Another eight year-old told me that he goes to stores and takes toys out of boxes and leaves the boxes back on the shelf and that it's easy and that sometimes he steals from other kids. A third eight year-old threatened to choke and kill another kid tomorrow. Three kids destroyed property in my class and there were two fist fights.
Although I'm usually pretty calm, yesterday I almost snapped.Teachers make a thousand choices a day. When one of those choices is poor or unusually harsh, it makes the news. When almost all of those choices are good, we get the government cutting our pay or health care, parents and administration who question what we do, and mostly wonderful kids who try to learn despite the challenges presented to them. I'm not condoning what this guy did, but I definitely think that as a society we need to stop pointing fingers at teachers and start making families, governments, tax payers, rich people, communities, and kids accountable for their actions (and their silence), too.
Although I'm usually pretty calm, yesterday I almost snapped.Teachers make a thousand choices a day. When one of those choices is poor or unusually harsh, it makes the news. When almost all of those choices are good, we get the government cutting our pay or health care, parents and administration who question what we do, and mostly wonderful kids who try to learn despite the challenges presented to them. I'm not condoning what this guy did, but I definitely think that as a society we need to stop pointing fingers at teachers and start making families, governments, tax payers, rich people, communities, and kids accountable for their actions (and their silence), too.
13
There were plenty of shitheads in my school too, but no teacher ever had to resort to physical violence to deal with them. This teacher has no one to blame for his predicament but himself.
15
Very sad story. Southlake HS is an alternative school. it is the last stop and last chance for kids who have been expelled from their regular HS to keep them from dropping out. girls who get pregnant and just had a kid get sent there where there is a day care center. i've subbed there before and there are some rough kids in and out of there. i can understand how a teacher could want to snap if they're having a bad day. i almost did it about 12 years ago when someone in my 8th grade class threw a marble size piece of wax that glanced off of my new eyeglasses and dented the window behind me. i yelled and swore every 4-letter word in the book at them for about a minute as i was really pissed. luckily i can say that in my 27 years of teaching, that is probably the only time i may have snapped and hit someone had i knew who did it. i love kids and love teaching and have learned how to listen and be patient with the unruly ones and most of all how to recognize a problem when it starts to fester and diffuse it before it gets going. its all about discipline standards with admin that keeps kids in check.
RuJa
RuJa
16
Things have really changed. When I was in junior high, the vice principal proudly displayed the paddle he used to deliver "hacks" to kids on his office wall.
This was no toy, but a slab of perforated hardwood that would look at home at a hardcore BDSM scene. And it wasn't for looks, he used it with some regularity. We all feared and respected that son of a bitch, which was not always a bad thing.
This was no toy, but a slab of perforated hardwood that would look at home at a hardcore BDSM scene. And it wasn't for looks, he used it with some regularity. We all feared and respected that son of a bitch, which was not always a bad thing.
17
Yes, violence against students is "BLAH, BLAH, BLAH." Why? Because he's a teacher?
Like cops and soldiers are to some on the right, teachers are to some on the left such innate heroes, that even when they abuse their power, there's always a "but."
I taught special ed for years in non-profit schools where public schools would send students who were too violent to be in public school. We were screamed at, spat on, attacked with furniture and scissors. We never had to choke a student to safely restrain them.
Cienna, when an adult in a position of power, whether it's a cop, soldier, a teacher, or a parent physically assaults a teenager, don't say, "Yeah, but..." It's a really terrible attitude.
Like cops and soldiers are to some on the right, teachers are to some on the left such innate heroes, that even when they abuse their power, there's always a "but."
I taught special ed for years in non-profit schools where public schools would send students who were too violent to be in public school. We were screamed at, spat on, attacked with furniture and scissors. We never had to choke a student to safely restrain them.
Cienna, when an adult in a position of power, whether it's a cop, soldier, a teacher, or a parent physically assaults a teenager, don't say, "Yeah, but..." It's a really terrible attitude.
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