Posted on 01/24/2015 7:48:15 PM PST by EinNYC
PATERSON, N.J. (PIX11) — A ninth grader at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, N.J. was arrested Friday after police say he attacked his teacher and slammed him to the floor in the classroom.
All because of a cell phone.
The attack, captured on video, shows the teen slamming the 62-year-old teacher to the floor in front of other students in an effort to get his cell phone back on Thursday.
David Cozart, principal of operations at JFK, said the incident began when the teacher confiscated the phone from the student.
The 23-second video shows the 16-year-old with his arms wrapped around the teacher, knocking him into an empty desk. The student then wrestles the teacher across the front of the classroom before slamming him to the floor.
The teen then reaches down and takes something from the teacher before breaking away when someone in the classroom yelled, “Security!”
City school officials confirmed to New Jersey.com that criminal charges have been filed against the student, who has been suspended from school.
The student is charged with assaulting a teacher in a classroom.
District officials have not revealed the name of the teacher or student.
The student has been suspended and will receive home instruction for now.
“What strikes me is that the teacher never even defended himself,” said Lee McNulty, a retired JFK teacher who has been vocal recently with criticism about violence and disorder in the high school. “That just shows how much teachers are afraid of losing their job.”
Important information is missing.....was the public school teacher a registered Democrat or a decent person...was he a union scumbag? Ill not pass judgement just yet....
I just gave my “teens are addicted to cell phones” speech to my new classes for the Spring semester. Indeed, they are addicted. Heck, you might be, too. These little devices are now full-fledged appendages which are rarely unseen as the students pass from class to class. My speech laced with the appropriate humorous tone, where I pose as the “addicted” teen suffering from cellphone withdrawal, rubbing and scratching my arm, wiping my nose, trying to get a “fix” off of one of the students in class The little play is to help them to see just how addicted they are and how they interfere with the process of learning (I use doing a research paper to help make my point, where the student is unable to sit in a room sans cell phone for very long without “wondering” if that next text has arrived). Most of my students laugh. I can tell some are genuinely thinking about the matter, as well.
The fact is that cell phones and computers in the classroom are largely toys that distract and interfere with education (and what passes for education) today. What students “know” is a mile wide and an inch deep. They are, for the most part, snarky and not smart. They can be flippant but cannot tolerate flipping through the pages of a book for very long. In short, their collective attention spans are capable of crossing an idea that is a mere inch wide, and find the rest of the vast gulf unnecessary, as it cannot be accommodated by Twitter.
In my book, this teacher is a hero...and a fool. Hero because he was willing to attempt to “detox” a young skull full of mush (maybe full of lesser stuff than that) and, in so doing, showing the kind of civic concern that might serve to further shape his students into worthy citizens (dreaming here). A fool because, well, you don’t try to take the smack from a junkie; you don’t try to slap the drink out of the hand of a sot at the bar; you don’t try to wrest the TV away from the hands of a fleeing looter in Ferguson without expecting trouble.
Door number 3 please.
Your children must feel very empowered knowing that you’ll never take anything from them, nor approve of any adult charged with there care, taking anything from them.
How about a $500 fine for the parents then, since you feel queasy with allowing a teacher any judicial leeway in petty matters.
I knew from the headline what this was about. Sure enough.
There are two government-certified victim groups that react with anger and violence at any slight, or perceived slight.
These two groups don’t know how to resolve differences in a civilized manner, because the culture of their group is self-indulgent, highly-privileged, blame-people-outside-the-group, violence-is-the-answer-to-everything.
For real? The phones are confiscated and returned- they are not to be used in the classroom as they disrupt the whole class.
What about a gun?
“.. often have very personal and sensitive information on them”.
Which is why most teens use a password on their phones. Our HS does confiscate them after a verbal warning to put them away. The main office holds them and will give them to a parent or guardian at the end of the school day. During final exams and midterms, if a phone isn’t in a backpack and away from the student, the test is given a 0. TBH, most teachers know the students have them but simply request they not be taken out during instruction and testing.
My kids got phones because they mow lawns, clean pools and teach computers and tutor kids.
In 9th grade I was 12 years old. When I was 16, I was a senior. Graduated when I was 17.
“What about a gun?”
Your being silly... A cop should confiscate a gun. A teacher should not even try unless there is a threat involved.
In any case, for something like a phone, a student should be given the option of leaving with it or voluntarily turning it over.
You are the one being silly. You spoke in absolutes without any regards to the entire gambit of human actions and the surrounding events. Even a common pencil can be used as weapon.
"What strikes me is that the teacher never even defended himself," said Lee McNulty, a retired JFK teacher who has been vocal recently with criticism about violence and disorder in the high school. "That just shows how much teachers are afraid of losing their job."
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