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Re: Hitting Back

I was subbing at a middle-school one afternoon. There was a firedrill during my down-period, so I did not have to deal with herding kids and was standing on the field observing things when I noticed two girls aged 13-14 get into a brawl. One was realLy beating the crap out of the other.

I immediately headed towards the fight to stop it. A teacher near me looked at me and said "don't even think about it - leave it alone..." I stopped momentarily trying to think if she was warning of some prosecutable offense I was about to commit that I missed in my sub's handbook. I could think of none and decided to go stop the fight.

By this time everyone, teachers included, were looking. But I was the only one moving, which I thought was very strange. When I got there I could not sepparate them as they were rolling around on the ground with fist-fulls of each others hair (and I did not want to inadvertently grab some body part that would get me prosecuted for molestation). Finally, two other teachers came to help me (shamed into action no doubt). During the struggle, the aggressor aimed a heel at my face with the intention (she admitted) of loosening my teeth or breaking my nose. I saw it coming and moved enough to catch the kick on the side of my jaw instead of my teeth.

As she was being escorted away to the office by the vice-principal, she broke away and started charging back accross the field towards the other girl, who was being looked over and helped by another teacher. I was between them and told the girl to stop while took a tackling stance. She stopped in front of me and proceeded to tell me how I couldn't touch her. I said I'd throw her over my shoulder or drag her to the office by her heel if she took another step. By that time though, the VP had caught up with her and took her in tow to the office with me following a few feet behind.

I ended up testifying at her expulsion hearing (not so much because of the fight, but because she had deliberately kicked me in the face while I tried to sepparate her from the other girl). When they went over the long list of this girls previous offenses and victims, I could not help but wonder why she wasn't already in juvenile detention. A 14-YEAR OLD GIRL!