Teacher-Beats-Student Video; Allegedly Lashed out After Student Teased Girl

HOUSTON (CBS/KHOU) When their teacher backed one of their classmates into a corner, students at a Houston-area charter school thought it was a joke - but it allegedly turned into a shocking and brutal beating that was caught on tape.

Sherri Davis, a science teacher at Jamie's House Charter School, allegedly backed 13-year-old Isaiah Johnson into a corner and began beating him while his classmates watched.

At the beginning of the video you can hear the laughter and applause from the students as Isaiah is backed into a corner by Davis after Isaiah reportedly teased a female classmate. But Janiqua Johnson, a student who shot the video on her cell phone, says Davis "snapped" and started beating the 13-year-old, according to CBS affiliate KHOU.

The teacher "just started beating him up," Janiqua Johnson told KHOU. "His behavior may have been bad but he didn't deserve that," Johnson said, referring to the teasing that preceded the alleged beating.

Davis was placed on administrative leave when school officials learned of the incident in late April, but was fired Monday when officials saw the video.

"It was horrifying," said Sue Jones, spokesperson for the school. "There's just no other word for that."

Janiqua Johnson and other witnesses told KHOU that four or five school employees were present in the classroom. The students claimed they felt intimidated by some teachers after the video became public.

The school is looking into allegations that other teachers watched the beat-down without stepping in, according to a school spokesperson, and said that it will punish any teachers found to have done that.

The Harris County Sheriff's Department is also investigating the incident, although a spokesperson declined to comment further.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_1...88-504083.html

Sometimes? The June makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. :dog:

The whole thing is awful, but, yes. I had the same impression. I really didn't see terror in the kid's face or really clear signs of him trying to get away or fight back. But, if he has a history of being abused (and the indignation of his mother means nothing in this regard), he could be inured to a situation like that.

Alright. Boots.

That video was really amazingly difficult for me to watch. I saw things I had not seen since I was a child (what I saw looked very much like the beatings my mother gave me) and the kid looked terrified.

The teachers who were in the classroom should all be fired. The teacher who did the beating should look forward to spending some quality time in prison.

Sweet and sour Jesus, I cannot believe what we are turning into as a society.

K soooooo...I have a son that age....and that video was really, really hard to watch.

In my opinion, the boy could be a rotten, obnoxious, pain in the rear who was teasing or even hitting another child.....cuz let's face it, we don't know....and the "teacher" was still totally 100% completely out of line. This boy is clearly cowering against the wall. He is not challenging anyone, hitting anyone or hurting anyone. He is cowering. I don't care what he just did....there is no excuse for her behavior. Send him to the principal, sit him in the corner, call his parents, kick him out of school....whatever. But physical violence....no. Period.

This teacher should go to jail. Any other adult in the room should be fired and prosecuted. There is a law in this country requiring that teachers and other responsible adults report child abuse, right? Well....duh....what the hell did they think they were watching?

I'm glad kids have cell phones that can take video.
And that woman better be damn glad that wasn't my kid.

I have already posted my thoughts on the video shown in the thread, however, I thought this an opportune time to bring up another subject that has been troubling me. The use of restraints/seclusion and a disciplinary and/or control tactic in our schools. I was made aware of this recently and upon further reading found that it is practiced primarily against developmentally disabled students. As the parent of a child with a disability, I find this beyond disturbing.

I am a nurse, and in order to use restraints on a patient...even if that patient is trying to harm themselves....there are strict guidelines we must follow. We also are monitored by state and federal agencies that require an inordinate amount of paperwork and documentation of behavior to justify said restraints. It boggles my mind that a teacher, or staff member of a school can use restraints at their own discretion...and that there is NO monitoring agency. I am including a link below and would like to know others' thoughts on this.

http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/20...-children.html

I have a hard time agreeing with the use of restraints or seclusion in our educational system.

Schools should not be using tactics employed by juvenile halls and/or law enforcement.

What does this mean in this economy where there is no room in the budget to implement training or hire properly trained teachers? I don't have an answer to that.

If I had a child that was not able to be in school without being a constant disruption I might crusade to find a school where they did have a place for my child or I might be forced to do home schooling.

We don't have enough resources and with more and more autistic children or children with asbergers the educational system needs to catch up. Fast. I am also VERY concerned that asbergers is being removed from the DSM and what that might mean for young ones...

My thoughts when watching this are that the kid probably wore her down and she finally snapped. She should have just walked out and quit and saved herself, but now she will end up in jail. I know this will not be a popular comment but it is what came to mind when I watched. My sister worked as a teacher in public schools for years and has horror stories. Including being punched in the face and knocked out by a student. We very rarely hear about student on teacher violence that includes punching, kicking, rape and verbal abuse.

Both my partner and I work in higher ed and the nastiness, rudeness. bullying and lying that comes from adult students is enough to turn you grey. Adult students name call, threaten, verbally abuse, lie, cheat, and harass over a grade they feel they deserve. The I deserve generation is in full swing right now and they stop at nothing to get what they want.

So yes , my first thought was this kid probably wore her down. I can't imagine how aggressive a 13 year old boy can be. I don't know anything about this woman and I don't know if she has a temper or a history of this so I could be way off. Maybe the kid was an angel and she just went nuts. No, she should not have beat him the way she did. That was wrong. She should have just walked away or quit her job if she could not handle the kids. But there is a part of me that knows what teachers deal with and how easy it is to be worn down by aggressive and belligerent students.

Rufus

I have heard lots of stuff about student to teacher violence. It is scary.

Teachers should make a hell of a lot more money than they do, and it scares me that they don't.

Still, I don't care how bad this boy was. There. Is. No. Excuse.

I got the cattle prod u got the van,seriously this socalled teacher should never have a licence to teach anything,she should be arested pronto.
This went on in my jr.high school and high school way back in the 60's,I know cause I was the one geting my ass whiped with a paddle with holes in it,weather I did what I was acused of or not..it was always look for the queer kid and give them hell,u bet they didnt pull any shots shots to make them less painful.When my kids went to the same school and they found out the kids were mine they tryed the same thing with them.The schools had the same office staff and princeaple,it was guilt by association no matter what.The first time my son James came home with bruses on his butt and legs I went to the school the next day with the police to have the whole lot of them arested,there was a hell of a mess in the news about this for months.The partys in volved were mostly fired,licences pulled ect.This went on for years after I left school nobody would buck the system but me,yes I had an ax to grind but did it the leagle way,but I bad wanted to take them out behind the barn and goive them a taste of there on medicin.
One thing more..my mom knew about most of the paddlings and did nothing to stop this cause in her world u didnt question the school or teachers,the priest,any doctor or the law cause they were the ones who were in power no mattre what they did.Im not like that..I question it all.I feel for this poor kid and what is going on.This is 2010 for christ sake,dose anything ever change?

It's not. What it IS is a sign of how f'ed up our society has become that both adults and children are so desensitized to violence that a beating was watched by adults in charge and laughed at by students.

This is extreme and awful. Of course the teacher should be charged criminally and lose her credential, if she has one. There is no excuse for that. She could have just removed the child who was being laughed at from the situation. That she thought it was OK to lay hands on a child is scary. It's not clear to me why she was coming for him.

Part of the problem is charter schools, IMO. Many are much worse than the public schools they replace. They hire young teachers, work them long hours, use corporate supervisory strategies, and basically dodge oversight. Key problem: A lot of their administrators are not educators. You hear these people saying things no regular educator would think of -- critical remarks about students, blaming them for problem behaviors.

There is a lot wrong with the culture of education, but there is some stuff right with it too. Blaming children for their problems is not a position real educators knee-jerk react to.

There are good ways to deal with serious behavior problems -- children who attack each other, children who bite themselves and bang their heads against the wall. They are positive. They involve teaching substitute behaviors. They work long term. There are padded rooms in some schools. There are teachers and aides educated in restraining kids, but they aren't used a lot. Most behavior management is positive.

WHAT?!
christ I wish I had not watched that.

: ostrich with head in sand:

My understanding is that this is going to benefit most families. If they qualified for Aspbergers, they will still get an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. More may qualify for additional services because of that since some states and agencies serve people with the latter diagnosis -- autism spectrum -- but not aspbergers. What little i know, though, is that some agencies rule out people based on functionality regardless of the diagnosis. For example, Regional Centers here in CA. But people are more likely to get services than not as a result of the change.

In general, i am told the objection to the change is more of a cultural one. Many people with Aspbergers like the term and want to retain it, but i have read that it's not that scientifically meaningful. It is not different enough from other spectrum disorders to merit a separate category. Other disorders within the spectrum are as different from one another as Aspbergers is from people with less severe forms of Autism Spectrum Disorder. The change will also affect people with pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, but there really isn't a backlash there. i think a lot of people with Aspbergers understand themselves in terms of the diagnosis. It's like an ID. It's part of how they have found themselves and found ways of coping. There are support groups and chat rooms etc. They don't want to lose that, which is understandable. That's my sense of the debate based on NYTimes article i read this year .

Abso-freakin-lutly Outraged!!!
 

Now from my understanding there are SPECIFIC guidlines to RESTRAIN and DETAIN children in charter schools who have behavioural issues.Now i dont care what that child has done you follow those guidline to a f***** T!!!Abuse of a child is not in ANY case acceptable!!I hope that momma and child gets the justice they deserve and that (hell I cant even call her a woman) gets what she's got coming to her along with the others that stood by and watched.Discusting just doesn't cover or describe what i witnessed.

Quote:
Originally Posted by femmedyke
I saw this clip last night on the news. Suffice to say I did much tossing and turning all night. I was (and am) absolutely horrified by this incident. The teacher acted so vicious and aggressive and that poor darling child looks utterly terrified.

I am so angry that this was even able to happen and furious the authorities haven't locked this heinous person (and those watching) up. I have half a mind to strap on my boots and go and do it myself.







I got some boots myself and would be more than happy to accompany you and SuperFemme.Pick me up on the way would you please?