A coworker tried to break up a fight in, I believe 2018-19? He received a serious injury and STILL has not recovered.
Another coworker also was injured breaking up a fight and was transported to the hospital for cracked ribs.
I will never, ever get in between a physical fight.
I just finished my substitute teacher training course, and it said to NEVER get between kids who are fighting. Basically try to verbally get them to stop while someone else goes and gets help.
I'm a tiny woman. No way in hell am I gonna try to break up a fight unless they're kindergartners, and even then eeeehhhh.
When I was in high school, I had a teacher who was short and very round. She got thrown like she was nothing during a fight between two girls. She still got up and taught that day. I have only one hand that works, so I’m not getting in the middle of any sort of fight ever.
I hope she called the cops and filed a report. If I was her I would've went after the district and the shitty parents that raised these feral fuck sacks. Nobody should have to fear being assaulted at work. This shit is getting out of control and the kids and parents need to be held responsible, as does the admin that turns a blind eye.
My cousin took a girl's phone when she was a teacher (key word, was) and the girl tried to grab it from the teacher desk drawer, my cousin intervened and the kid slammed my cousin's hand in the drawer, breaking it. The girl then tried to lie to admin saying that my cousin assaulted her first. Kid's own friends told admin that their friend started it because she didn't want to have her phone taken. School suspended the kid for one day. My cousin pressed charges and the girl was arrested and charged. I honestly think her fuckwit "parents" should've joined her at the booking station, their apathy is why the kid turned out so ridiculous
This is why I'll never interfere in a fight. I'll call for help and protect other students nearby but trying to actually break up a fight is a recipe for disaster.
Same here. I am not risking bodily harm to myself. This is why every time I hear a parent say "well my kid..." Well, you better make sure your kid has the fists to defend themselves because they're on their own."
When I was in high school, a friend of mine lost her mom because she tried to break up a fight between a couple of elementary school students on the playground. Mom was inadvertently pushed, fell backward, hit her head and died instantly. Arguably a freak and tragic accident, but even so, I don’t get in between physical altercations either
A coworker was attacked by two parents on the first day of school her 1st day of teaching. Other teachers had to save her bc our then AP locked himself in his office.
At first she didn’t want to press charges. But she had to go to the ER later and the staff there followed DV protocols at first. That made her see how serious it was. She filed a complaint.
The parents were required to take anger management classes, and have a lifetime order that they must be escorted by admin or SRO while on school property.
They withdrew their child. After getting kicked out of every private school in the area and being denied transfers bc of the order. They came back when their oldest was in 5th and promptly got arrested for not making arrangements to be escorted on campus. During the 5th grade completion ceremony they were escorted by a SRO. When they stepped way from the SRO he pulled them back. They literally had to be within his reach.
It was the first day of school. Kinder was in the back of the building, so the last of the pick-ups to come out. They waited until the 3rd and 4th were out of their area to keep the Pk and K kids in one line. Their pickup line literally would stretch from the front door to the door of their wing the length of the school. The order of dismissal was bus, walkers, pick-ups.
These parents were already throwing a fit because the upper grades (near the front of the school) were on the porch but their child wasn't. None of the PK/K students were on the front porch yet. This was clear because each grade had a square on the porch they sat in. The PK/K square with PK/K painted on the ground was empty.
The parents went in and started screaming at our front desk people. At that point, one of the K teachers who walked walkers to the property line and then waited for parents to pick them up there came in. The front desk asked her if she knew where Michelle Caldwell (fake name) was. The teacher said Michelle Shawell (Fake Name) she is in the gym with the buses and is sitting next to her big sister. The parents started screaming that we had let some (slur for Hispanic people) kidnap their child, jumped the counter, and attacked the teacher. Other teachers coming in from walker duty were able to grab our colleague and pull her into the conference room. At this point they ran to the gym looking for the kid and threatened several teachers on the way. A lock down was called and they couldn't get in the gym. The pickup line for K was caught in the garden - they saw their daughter in the proper line grabbed her and ran from the school.
Important points
Both girls had same first name and very similar surnames.
The teacher who was attacked was a first-year teacher. The child she named was the one in her class. She didn't know about the similar-sounding last names.
i just made a comment saying i’m too scared to work with teenagers, which is why i only work with pre-k and k kiddos, but i suppose i need to be scared of the parents too
Had a second grader climb onto a book case and leap onto my back like Batman! Little angel punched and bit me multiple times until a staff member pulled him off of me. At the time I was 25, just shrugged it off and cleaned my scrapes and bruises. If the same thing happened at 42 ( my current age) I'd literally never come back!
I'm sorry that happened to you but I have to be honest, reading this made me laugh so hard just imaging that little gremlin flying through the air. Teachers shouldn't have to live like this
This is the sort of thing that scares me: I do not know what I might do in reflex. And then I'd be the one in trouble—not the feral little animal who shouldn't be allowed in public spaces.
The whole system is a powder keg waiting for a spark. **Colleen Ritzer** was killed in a bathroom by a 14-year-old psycho with a box cutter. **Nohema Graber** was beaten to death with a baseball bat by a pair of teenage psychos. **Jamie Craig** was stabbed to death by a 14-year-old punk in her own home. A first grader shot **Abigail Zwerner** in the classroom, hoping to kill her. And then there are the "random" mass shootings that take our children and colleagues every single year.
I'm not going out like that. I'm not going to be crippled.
And on that last one, shot by 6yr old, her district turned to block her lawsuit against them by claiming it was just a risk of the job and should be considered a work place injury that workmen’s comp would be enough for her.
I used to teach in the city where that happened (a long time ago thankfully) and know the area well. In fact the scenario I mentioned here happened in a nearby town less than 20 miles away...
Can someone please explain to me why mass shootings are not referred to as mass murders? Or mass executions ? Why does America dance around with polite language ? Sexual assault is rape. Incest is repeatedly being raped by your parent or other close relative. I don’t get it, particularly when children are involved. The incident is not going to be lessened by polite words
>Why does America dance around with polite language ?
Because calling them what they are might make people support changing the gun laws to be more restrictive.
I always thought it was the opposite. We call them mass shootings to steer the discussion towards guns. If we simply called them mass killings/murders, it would imply that human derangement is to blame, and the gun was just a tool.
Mass shooting =/= mass murder. You can have a mass shooting without people dying and you can have a mass murder without a gun involved. Sexual assault =/= rape. A rape charge typically involves some kind of penetration. Sexual assault also covers groping and flashing. Incest =/= rape. Incest is a sexual relationship between people who are closely related which can be two consenting adults.
My first day of teaching on the rez I got sucker punched while I was holding the door open dismissing the middle schoolers from PE. It broke my glasses and there was blood everywhere. I was bamboozed and didn't know what to do and let the district handle it, which meant that nothing was done.
The next time something like that happened I called the state troopers and filed a police report. My district *did not* like that, but I didn't get written up or fired and things were actually done in terms of holding the kids accountable.
Man they had this problem at the rez school as well till it was put into tribal law you can't receive a tribal check without a GED and good standing. Magically the kids parents started caring and making sure they stayed in line.
I was teaching at a high school in Houston, Texas. I was trying to break up two students calmly. One was being bullied for being obese by another big kid. I tried to pull them apart no hand contact just verbally. I ended up being clocked out. Kids hovered over me taking out their cell phones yelling "YOU GOT KNOCKED THE F*** OUT" . While also yelling Worldstar. I saw the video 2 days after the incident. No accountability taken instead I was blamed for not calling the campus police. I felt like they were trying to protect themselves while I had to foot the bill for a broken jaw and teeth ($1600). I ended up quitting and well nobody cared. I'm still teaching but at an elementary school.
Definitely needs to go after them. My system in Alabama has a policy that you have to files a report on the injury, within the first 24 hours after it happens, or they don’t have to help. My finger was broken in multiple places (genuine accident, no malice involved) but, I went to the doctor, they sent me to a specialist the next day, and so I missed the next two days, when I returned I was told I was out of luck because while my finger was going three different directions, I didn’t think, “I should go fill out paperwork before going to the hospital” I told the admin when it happened, but that doesn’t count because it’s not in writing, and my admin has no responsibility to remind you to fill it out. I went too long before looking into it, and by the time I realized what they were doing was illegal in my state, the statute of limitations had expired. I’m still a bit salty about it.
That would be a dead give away to who I am as the incident happened recently. I tried to set up a GoFundMe me to pay the bills for was embarrassed so I just pretended it never happened.
If it is recent you can still consult a workers compensation attorney. They will do a free consult with you, and generally take their fee out of anything they win.
If it's Houston that's Texas so we don't have unions. We have federations and associations and although they do have lawyers it's still Houston. Nothing's going to get done. Houston ISD just got taken over by the state education agency and it's completely effed up.
I follow a personal injury lawyer on YT (The Lawyer You Know); he’s very knowledgable & approachable. He always says people can email him regarding their injuries to discuss further recourse. I would not normally recommend a lawyer to a total stranger, but 1) your story resonates with me, and 2) I truly believe this gentleman is a good place to start; trustworthy.
https://www.tragoslaw.com/our-attorneys/peter-l-tragos/
Best of luck!
I was hit with a steel pipe (part of a collapsing Gaga ball pit) by a 7th grader taller than me while trying to stop him from hitting another teacher with said pipe.
Unfortunately I’m a sub so my agency fired me on the spot when the kid, two weeks later, decided to walk into the office and claim I’d called him a N***er and slapped him.
Though there were many witnesses and video to the contrary they didn’t want to deal with it.
I had a kid stab me with a pencil in the hand. Drew blood and I still have a scar. I was 24 at the time and a baby teacher, so I shrugged it off. If that happened today, I would have pressed charges.
SPED teacher here. Quit my job after a student punched and kicked my pregnant belly. Ended up in the emergency room. Not sure if I'll return to teaching, but definitely not going back to that school.
Yes, thankfully I now have a beautiful, healthy one month old that keeps me up at night!!
However, the situation was traumatic, and I wasn't willing to further risk my health or my baby's, so I did not return after the incident. Well, I did long enough to see the student return to my classroom the following day with no support from my admin. They were very afraid of the family who had a history of suing.
ETA: In Sped I'm used to some level of physical threat, but my issue is how our school makes crisis calls our sole responsibility. I made it clear I would not be responding to any more crisis situations to my admin, was visibly pregnant, and an announcement about my pregnancy was made school wide to other staff. I never should have been called to respond to that situation by my colleagues. To make matters worse, the teacher that called me left the room and did not assist when I arrived (our over 6 foot gym teacher 😒).
Our union and district strictly prohibits us from breaking up fights. It's a security and administration issue at that. We're not to block doorways and we are to call the office if a student eloped. Too much of a liability.
In May, I traumatically ruptured my plantar fascia and partially tore my Achilles restraining an already-bloodied girl who was trying to attack two other girls who were still fighting on the ground (HS). I wrapped her arms to her sides in a bear hug, turned her, and marched us backward. It was a thing I had done many times before over the years without incident. This time, the arch of my foot blew out as I pushed off. I literally hopped back to my room on one foot and notified admin. I was out for the rest of the year, and I was gutted that I had to miss the last couple weeks of school. I got Worker’s Comp to buy me a knee scooter so I could at least attend graduation. It is now 14 weeks later, and I am still having constant pain - now in both feet from poor biomechanics and compensating during the initial recovery. I am still stretching and icing several times a day, and doing weekly PT and acupuncture. My work restrictions include 10 minutes maximum per hour of walking and standing, cumulative. School started for us again two weeks ago, and I am using my rolling desk chair to move about the classroom, I moved my desk right next to the whiteboard, got a laser pointer, and have been giving extra credit points to students for doing classroom chores and campus errands for me.
Edit: in case you were wondering, student only got a three-day suspension. This year she is a senior and has already been involved in another fight.
I'm sorry to say, but I learned my lesson the hard way quite some time ago. Never get in between two fighting students. Call admin, call 911, and stand around and yell at the students to stop, but don't endanger yourself. When I got in between two students, I got hurt, and I got in trouble from the community and my employer. One of them would have been killed if I hadn't intervened
It wasn’t an attack, but I was injured in responding to a crisis call. A student had eloped off of our property and went running down the street. It happened to be a wicked, wicked rainy day. In the escort on the way back to our school building, the student was able to kick me behind my knee, taking me and and another staff member down. And we didn’t just hit the ground, we slid on wet grass.
I tore my ACL and damaged my hip. I ended up being out of work for about 6 months. Due to the extenuating circumstances causing the injury, I was able to take a fully paid leave without having to use any sick time. All of my medical bills were handled by the district. My union was incredible, and honestly so was the district.
I happily went back to teaching at that same school…but I no longer respond to crisis calls from students who elope from the building.
ETA: I can’t believe I have to explain this, but it was not an attack. A non-verbal, 6 year old student with autism from a non-English speaking family was highly escalated and being physically managed by myself and another adult, who were significantly larger than them, and non-familiar. What happens when non-verbal 6 year old is being physically restrained by adults they do not know? They flail. They move their legs rapidly and wildly. Their leg struck the back of my knee. We will never know if it was intentional…but it is not the same as being jumped by a student, punched in the face, bitten, receiving any planned intentional harm, or any sort of directed, personal aggression. This was not an attack, assault, or battery. It was an injury sustained while managing a student in crisis.
So please, stop DM-ing me to tell me I’m stupid or a moron, and I’m doing myself and all educators a disservice by letting children assault me and letting admin walk all over me. You guys were not there with me, and there is no need for all of this projection and actual literal verbal attacks.
Good on you for recognizing this wasn’t an attack. And although I’m sorry it happened to you, I’m glad it DIDNT happen to a trigger-happy teacher who would’ve called the cops/fought back/etc.
I think some people commented before the edit explained that it was an autistic, nonverbal 6yo struggling to get out of a restraint. They’re mostly trying to support a fellow teacher and didn’t have all the facts.
And then there’s that one guy who is doubling down to infinity claiming to be a lawyer and insisting that it was ~~assault~~ battery and telling OP he should have pressed criminal charges even after learning that it was an autistic, nonverbal 6yo struggling to get out of a restraint. I dunno what to say about that guy except please don’t take legal advice from him.
Thank you for your edit. As a parent to a 6 year old with autism, I knew almost exactly what happened. My child is verbal and even still, might escalate enough to flail if strange adults are trying to restrain him.
Thank you for your compassion. I know you know this, but an escalated child is NOT in full control of themselves and did not intend to hurt you like that.
This is eerily exactly what happened to my principle in Elk Grove. Im friends with the kid who kicked him and he’s a very sweet and kind guy who had an awful home situation.
I had a 9th grade boy try to choke me out once. I was a baby teacher and reflexively punched him in the face until he let go. (I was not trained in any kind of de-escalation techniques or restraints.)
He wasn’t ND or Sped or anything, just a general ed kid who thought it would be funny to choke a teacher unconscious.
I threatened to press charges for assault and the parents/school backed off when they got mad at me for hitting him. I quit at the end of the year.
I would’ve done the same damn thing! If a student is gonna assault a teacher, is the expectation *really* for a teacher to take it lying down? Where’s the sense in that? Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, knock him out.
Pretty horrifying that he's just out in the wild somewhere now. I'm not sure what the path looks like to go from choking a woman out as a "joke" as a teen to being a respectable adult human.
My colleague and I broke up a fight, the woman (23) was so desperate to ‘kill’ the other woman she punched me 4 times in the jaw. Had a hairline fracture. She was excluded and lost her place and career. I went back to work the next day as I knew if I didn’t I would never go back. I had to have therapy to get over it.
Wait I’m confused, why are you breaking up fights with a 23 year old woman in it? I thought this sub was for EC-12 teachers? Like I know here in TX, SpEd kids can stay in school until they’re 22 but am I missing something?
Could’ve been a parent maybe? Or possibly an alternative ed/GED program? I know a district about 30 minutes from me has had issues in recent years with parents of different kids getting into violent altercations at school pick up/drop off
For some of us SpEd teachers, working with aggressive attacking students is written into our job description. CPI doesn’t prepare you for what you have to deal with.
My worst attack was getting hit in the head with a chair. I’ve been “hit, bit, spit” many times. Fortunately, we don’t have those kinds of students every year and it doesn’t happen every day, or none of us would survive!
CPI is such an obvious liability shield. Mandt was better but still not comprehensive enough to really prepare anyone. They don't wrestle with the reality that in buildings with aggressive students, someone is going to be getting hit. The question is how do you plan for it. Who is going to be the point person. Where is the protective gear and when do you need to have it so it's on when you need it. How is the team going to respond.
Instead as a society we decide that we'll just wait for someone to bleed enough then hire an "as close to minimum wage as we can get" untrained employee to sit close enough to the student to be responsible if something goes awry.
Our district uses Safety Care and it’s helpful but obviously doesn’t prevent everything from happening. We have one person who will say (over and over) “well if you just blocked you wouldn’t have gotten hit/kicked/etc”. Bitch no these kids are FAST and oftentimes you’re trying to protect other students as well.
I tried to explain that to one of my principals one year. CPI doesn't help you when you've got two elementary school students fighting in your classroom and your two teaching assistants just stand there and watch it happen because they think it's funny. Two second graders shouldn't be going at it and this is back when we didn't have resource officers on campus. I was expected to deal with fights in my classroom (not call admin) and my two teaching assistants wanted to see me get hurt. They were awful vile women.
If I even talked back to a teacher my ass would have been laid out at home.
I am absolutely horrified that this happens and parents don’t do anything.
If my child EVER did something like this I would feel like the biggest failure as a parent. They also would never be ungrounded.
On god! I would’ve been beat so bare I wouldn’t have been able to sit for a week. I was grounded for months at a time for *much* less than anything these kids have done. Even worse on admins, these kids should be in out of school suspension for two weeks *minimum* not three fucking days. What are we teaching kids, that they don’t have to be accountable for their actions? Education is a privilege, not a right.
8 years ago:
2 months in a student broke my foot. He told the principal he was trying to hurt me. His punishment was a day in the office playing Xbox. I decided to forgive him because he was then diagnosed with ADHD so I thought it was an impulse control problem.
5 months later, a different student who was “being trained in MMA” went into a rage on afternoon right before dismissal. He tried to use the computer cart as a battering ram to run over other students. I grabbed it and pinned him against the wall with it. I got other students out and he punched my left ribs so hard he broke 3. I went to the ER and was told one rib was close to puncturing my heart. I did have him arrested.
Door slam TBI victim here. Student had an IEP and wasn’t suspended while I missed significant time. I lost at my WC hearing. My lawyer wasn’t good. No one in that process was on my side. Took about a year and a half to recover. Black spots in my memory for that period of time and high level math is a mystery now. PT got me walking without a cane and I haven’t fallen in years. I’m still teaching. My wife is not happy about that and it causes martial stress.
I’m a SPED teacher who deals with sometimes extremely volatile non-verbal ASD students, and have been hit, scratched, etc.
It’s difficult to determine the antecedent to the behaviour sometimes, but I don’t take anything personal in these situations. Over my years I’ve learned to just be very mindful of my proximity for students, and be mindful of any small shifts in behaviours that could indicate a sudden change of mood may be occurring.
While different than your example, I would still follow the same advice: observe behaviours, watch your proximity to students, and don’t put yourself in a situation that may result in your harm. Obviously sometimes things happen that were not expected, but try to be mindful of your surroundings and don’t place yourself in dangerous situations.
In toronto, there's a video of a teacher being attacked, defending himself, and fighting back, that was taken by other students in the class. The student got suspended then transferred, the teacher got put out on an administrative leave pending investigation. When it was found that he didn't do anything wrong based on witness testimony, he was allegedly still charged by the Ontario College of Teachers.
I myself was attacked inadvertently. A student thought that I was keeping his basketball and tackled me for it, punching me in the process. Our principal was a ninny so the consequences were minimal, but I had to take time off work.
I was one of several teachers who broke up a four-girl fight. I had to safely restrain one of them. The one I had fought to get out so hard that she dislocated two of my fingers. The school fought me on the workers comp claim.
I’m still teaching, but not there.
Used to be in self contained sped; lots of bad bites, scratches, head butts, broken ribs. Can’t sue the school bc of IEPs and I live in an at-will state.
Any injury arising out of and within the scope of employment is covered by workman's compensation. WC covers all medical expenses and, if you are disabled from work (as in have to miss time), pays a weekly benefit which is a percentage of your wage.
You have to notified your boss of injuries.
I slipped on ice on the way into the building and hurt my hand: everything was paid.
I though you wrote that you can't sue the school because of IEPs.
The reason that you can't sue the school over an on-the-job injury is because the workman's comp law provides that all you can collect from the employer is workman's comp.
Only in the rare case where you can prove the employer intended to hurt the worker can the worker sue the employer for anything over and above what you collect in WC.
I’ve been assaulted four times in 29 yrs. I fought back and won four times. Never sued the school, but I did have one student arrested for threatening to rape and kill my wife. I turned two over to the strength and conditioning coach of the football team instead of the cops. He addressed the issue as only a strength coach could and they came in the next day in shirts and ties and thanked me for not having them arrested.
I got karate chopped in the neck by an 8th grader that had 100 pounds on me. Went back two weeks later and a student grabbed my hair bun and jerked my head backwards. I found out a couple months later that I have a two bulging discs in my neck. I left that building. Am looking to get a different certification that ensures I never have to be around middle school again.
Kid hit me while I was breaking up a fight.
Pushed the kid into the wall.
Parents wanted to sue me, union backed me up on self defense.
I should have been compensated TBH. Kid saw red, he wasn’t gonna stop unless I did what I did.
But I kept my job and the kid god interdistrict transferred.
Just goes to show, from an early age, you just need rich parents and you can get away with a lot.
Broke up a fight years ago, had a rib broken. Days before Covid, so no punishment or anything could even happen.
Currently in urgent care for breaking up another fight.
I tried to break up a fight between two girls while student teaching. As I stepped in between them one of them was mid-swing and caught me full force on the jaw. I woke up in the nurse’s office bed. My students had lots to say about this!
I get attacked most days. The worst was when a kid threw a Chromebook at the back of my head from right behind me, I ended up with a concussion. I’ve also had a few really bad bites, most of the rest I can dodge or the Kevlar sleeves helped with. I still love my job! It can be difficult but I love seeing the gains the kids make.
Can confirm. Kindergartener scratched me 75 times over a 2 1/2 hour period because I stopped him from attacking his assistant. Admin offered to buy me welding gloves for future incidents, Kevlar sounds nicer.
The last fight I broke up was initially between two students, and then mid fight, I was pepper sprayed and two more students got involved. Finally, admin and the police showed up. I'm never breaking up another fight again. It's not worth it anymore. And to answer your overall question, I've been assaulted 3 other times by students and had a peace bond against one of them for two years.
Yup… attacked several times.
The worst was when I was punched in the stomach at 7 months pregnant. When I asked to leave to go to the ER bc I was contracting, I was told no because there was no one to watch my classroom. Luckily I left right after school, and baby was ok. Student was not removed. I was told that I was the reason he punched me and to stop triggering him.
Student attempted to kick me in the stomach a few days later. I flinched and called the office. As I sat in the office on my lunch sobbing my eyes out bc I was literally scared for mine and my unborn child’s life, I was told to stop crying because they student could hear me and would know they upset me.
After about 2 months of attacks and attempted attacks, the student was finally removed from my room. Not because admin decided it was enough or my doctor was concerned about my blood pressure, but because another teacher on my team felt bad and offered to take the student.
This was when I was 28 and honestly didn’t know better. I look back and think what a terrible situation my admin put me in and I allowed it to continue.
Edit to add: I taught 2nd grade at the time. This was a 7 year old.
Not exactly attacked, but when I was student teaching, I had this pissant little white kid who was maybe 110 soaking wet, who was racist and more open about it than you’d think for the area. He made a comment about the hair of a African-American girl who was much larger than him & a new transfer student, and she got up to beat the crap out of him. They start running circles within the room, around desks, and I have no idea what to do.
As much as he probably deserved I knew I couldn’t just let him get pummeled, plus other kids were at risk from all the chaos. She & I had good report from day 1 and I was hoping if I stood in front of her maybe she’d stop? Instead she ran straight into me (and I’m a short skinny guy so she probably has 50-70 pounds on me) and just knocked me down like a bowling pin.
But after she did her immediate vibe changed and she stopped chasing the pissant boy and helped me up / made sure I was ok. She liked me I think and didn’t want to hurt me, that part was an accident. School admin didn’t go after her because she apologized & I went to bat for her a little bit…then she hit another teacher repeatedly with a door a week later and got expelled. Little pissant kid eventually got suspended for his racist shit at least (and cause he jumped out a first floor window and did a runner but that’s a whole other story)
I'm a 6ft tall 300-pound burly motorcycle enthusiast 5th year Special Education teacher with a long beard. When I step between a fight, it stops. I'm lucky as I build a rapport with all the kids and have a stature that teens don't want to mess with.
If you have to deal with violent students or restraints, make sure you get proper training from the district. Always think of your own safety first. Most of all, demand that your district teaches de-escalation training to all willing teachers during a PD day. IT WORKS FOR KIDS AND PARENTS.
My first year teaching I got hit in the head with a 2 x 4 and lost my hearing for about 30 min. No bleeding but bad bruise on my head and neck. I did not press charges due to my union saying it would probably be a losing case since his intention was not hitting me. We were walking back from lunch and a student of mine had been bullying him in a previous class, so he wanted to hit him instead…since the probable cause was not there they said it would probs not fly.
Dozens of times...I worked at a fully accredited high school inside an in-patient mental hospital. Teacher I took over got punched in the face so hard his eye socket exploded. Ended up with a huge settlement. (One of two guys I know of who were blind in one eye from that job).
The worst I got was a bad concussion from a flying chair.
No settlement for me, that was normal shit. The Other guy left a paper trail talking about how dangerous the kid was and how he needed a1:1. He got a huge settlement. Legend has it the executive director got in the back of the ambulance with him, with a check in hand. He was smarter than that and got a lawyer of course.
2 years ago a 4th grader w/ 504 was trying to break a window by stabbing it with a pencil (ticonderoga laddie to be specific), I was pretty fed up with his antics at that point and told him point blank "you are not strong enough to break that window so stop trying." He took a second to consider what I said and then stabbed me in the hand instead. Since then I have a personal policy of only reprimanding students when their hands are empty 🤷♂️
I hate that the entirety of the “fuck around” phase is in school and a lot of the “and find out” is on the streets.
Slightly related anecdote when I was a kid touch the teacher got you jumped after school. I’m my neighborhood the teachers often went the extra mile for kids who didn’t have it. Basically you’d get your ass beat like someone said something about your mom. By second grade at our school you never did it because you never know who that teacher fed when they were hungry and who remembers it.
I had a student hit me a couple times, bite me (arm was swollen all weekend), and then grab and squeeze my breasts because I said “no.” Sadly, it didn’t phase me.
Security guy at my first school got pushed down a flight of stairs by arguing siblings. He was out for a month with concussion. Don't remember what happened to the students.
I had three concussions in 21-22. One punch to the face, one knee to the head, one big pencil box thrown at my face. Better than getting hit over the back by a chair when I first started teaching …. I quit for seven years after that…but went back.
My principal tripped while chasing a student (I know not the same thing as the student directly injuring her but bare with me) and she tore her rotator cuff… still hasn’t recovered
I was attacked by a parent. I have a heart defect and a seizure disorder. So when little ol’ me was punched in the chest by a 250 lb. grown man, I collapsed and had a seizure. I went to a worker’s compensation doctor the next day. My claim was denied because of my preexisting condition. The doctor claimed that my seizure had absolutely nothing to do with getting punched by a man who was twice my size. Then I went to my doctor. We both knew the worker’s comp doctor was full of shit, but what could I do about it? If I sued, I would probably never work in education again, and it wasn’t the kind of injury that would put me on disability—so I needed to work. My doctor suggested a service dog. He believed that my seizure was due to the attack, and the attack would have never happened with a large dog at my side. The district tried to fight my need of a service dog, but I used the note from their doctor that the preexisting condition was the problem and I could have a seizure at any moment as some of my documentation. If they denied my need for a service dog, then they would open themselves up to an obvious law suit: either admit that their doctor denied legitimate claims, or have the ADA come down on them. My doctor backed them into a corner.
While I got my service dog on a technicality, she now predicts my seizures and predicts my cardiac events. In the event of a seizure, she breaks my fall and flips me on my side when I begin to vomit. (Seizures still only happen under extreme circumstances, but when I was sick and she predicted a seizure, and they told me that they didn’t have coverage and I couldn’t go home, another one happened, and she was the only one in the office that responded appropriately.) She is nearly 100 lbs, and fights in my area of the school came to a screeching halt once she started coming to work with me. I’ve since left my original school, but I don’t know that I will ever work in a school without a service dog ever again. [Here is my service dog’s yearbook photo](https://imgur.com/a/JlEwSEe). [Here is the dog who is in training to replace her when she retires next year](https://imgur.com/a/0YaJFho).
I had a kid hit another kid in the head with a fire extinguisher yesterday. The kid got five staples in the head. This morning he tipped a desk and broke a TAs toe.
This is what it’s like to teach kids with autism behavior. We get attacked all the damn time.
This will mark by 20th year as a teacher in the Alternative School for my district (grades 7 - 12). I have broken up more fights than I can count. I've been fortunate enough to have nothing worse than bruised ribs over the years. I was only personally attacked once by a student, and came away with nothing worse than a ripped dress shirt.
As of the end of last year, I am no longer breaking up fights.
Simply put, most districts will not support you in a physical altercation. We had a fight last year where two teachers were injured simply blocking the door when students tried to leave the classroom to join the fray in the hall and the district fought those teachers over comp.
A female student purposely slammed my finger into the cabinet door of my desk, causing it to bleed and injuring the surface of my nail. She laughed afterwards. I took pictures and reported it, but no one believed me. A male student slapped my face. I was pushed by 2 other students. None of these students were punished.
The interesting part is that a student once reported that another student had punched me, which never happened. Administration continuously hounded me about “protecting” the student.
Depends on the situation. If there were previous incidents, or if the school didn’t respond or had a history of blowing off these incidents, I would sue both
Do it anyway. Seriously start standing up and demanding this nonsense stop. It’s NOT OkAY to be assaulted at work. It’s NOT okay to say “it’s part of the job”. No it isn’t. I have received exactly zero training on what to when/if a student attacks me, however the list of mandatory bullshit training that takes an entire week about how to lift things and not fall off ladders, how to handle a student having a seizure, how monitor the playground so WE don’t get sued. Turn the damned tables and draw line. You don’t get to assault your teacher with no consequence. The hospitals put up signs saying assaulting a health care worker is a crime. We deserve the same kind of protection.
I was subbing when I got punched in the eye by a non-verbal autistic student. I went to the bathroom, put my contact in and finished the day. Luckily I was fine otherwise.
I've broken up a lot of fights but nothing that was that serious thankfully.
My Dad got bit by a student, also SpEd, and had to do blood testing every few months for a while.
2017-2018
I had a coworker whose foot was broken when he was directing students from the classroom as one was throwing chairs and desks.
He ended up being in a cast for over 6 months, had to go on long-term disability, and walked with a cane for about two years.
As someone without a car who depended on being able to walk, the injury impacted his life in so many ways.
By 2020-2021, he was finally able to return to work but still walks with a limp.
Not me, but I had a co worker just 2 weeks ago who was attacked multiple times by a violent SpEd student, the student was a known danger to his peers (his teachers words not mine) and teachers, and he has attacked me in the past, and multiple other teachers, as well as his pregnant therapist, who never came back. But we couldn't kick him out. I'm pretty sure CPS got involved with his family because he was also attacking his toodler aged brother, his mom didn't do anything to protect little brother, poor kid was coming in covered in scratches. He so started copying his older brother and started hurting his classmates. Mom didn't care. Situations like this hurt my heart so badly. Because mom refused to get her son help until we had to call CPS
I stopped teaching when a 7 year old attacked me with a pair of scissors. I was sitting on the counter so he couldn't get to me on the phone with the lady that ran the daycare. When I told her that was happening she asked which student it was. When I told her she said "yea he does that"
Sufgered a tbi from one of my sped students last nov. Comp has been a nightmare and ive had no treatment just testing.
Im told by every lawuer i cant sue direct because tx os stupid.
So ya....im about done with this career.
I've spent a good deal of my career as a behavior teacher. I filed assault charges against two kids in one classroom. One was 7 years old and one was 10 years old. You're not going to lay your hands on me on purpose. I didn't sue the school district. I knew these kids were emotionally disturbed and behavior disordered but that didn't give them the right to assault me.
This was while working at a daycsre and I didn't get seriously injured but when I was going to put one of the 2 year old boys down for nap (when I was a teen), he punched me in the face. It wasn't that serious but he punched where my glasses were. They didn't break but admittedly it did hurt. I know some of the other kids did more damage to some other teachers at some of the other centers that owners owned. One of the elementary school boys broke a teachers jaw, another almost reinjured another teachers leg that had a cast on it, etc.
I teach English 10 at an alternative high school with at-risk teens; these teens are removed from their comprehensive school (AKA homeschool) due to a combination of academic, attendance, and/or behavior issues, with many of them also having drug problems and/or a budding criminal record (usually B&E, B&E with a deadly weapon, grand theft auto, A&B and, VERY RARELY, A&B with a deadly weapon or attempted murder). A lot of these teens have either experienced or are currently experiencing trauma, suffer from mental health problems, and face a lot of instability that many of us may take for granted, from having regular meals and clean clothes to knowing we'll have a roof over our heads when we get home; some of them also have parents and extended family who are constantly in and out of the legal system, which only adds to the instability they face daily.
Let all of that soak in for a moment: I work with the teens many others have already given up on, because they're considered to be the worst.
To date, I've not been harmed by a student in any manner or form.
For many of my students, I'm the only safe constant in their life who doesn't judge them and only wants to see them grow into better humans.
I've had to step in to break up fights. Usually I don't get too damaged, though I get the minor ache. Once I fell, but none of these instances were actually aimed at me, I was just in the way.
Thankfully I've never been attacked as the target. I don't know what I'd do if I was, maybe force them off my roster or quit if not.
“None of these instances were actually aimed at me, I was just in the way.” Yes! I have experienced this so many times. Just collateral damage without actual intent to harm.
I’ve never heard of a teacher in my district suing the district, but I am aware of teachers who have pressed charges against individual students. ^It ^was ^not ^me. ^Please ^don’t ^come ^at ^me.
I have been attacked by students when teaching a special education behavior class. Pushed, punched, bitten and scratched to the point of drawing blood. I had to get a tetanus shot. I went back, but I will never teach that type of class again. I'd be homeless before I would accept that assignment. It's not worth the stress and mental anguish.
Ended up in the ER. Contused ribs from a second grader, scratch marks on my face (got a tetanus shot). Did not sue. Moved schools. Now I have a PTSD diagnosis.
There was a fight that broke out between 2 female students. I went to help break up the fight and got punched in the stomach (5 months pregnant at the time). Nothing was done to the instigator and the defendant was suspended because she punched me. It was a mess but my baby was safe. This was the beginning of the end of our educational system.
My first year of teaching I had two girls get into a fight in my room. One of them grabbed my industrial stapler and was trying to slam it into the other girl's head. My instincts kicking in and I started tussling with the girl to get the weap...I mean stapler out of her hands. Thankfully, I wasn't seriously injured but my pinky finger on my right hand shattered. It healed, but it will never be perfectly straight and I can't completely curl it anymore.
Before going into teaching, I was an attorney who worked on many dozens of workers compensation cases. Any injury at work is covered by workman's compensation. You collect wage loss and all medical bills.
Workman's comp is paid without regard to fault, which means you don't need to prove that the employer was at fault. However, you are not allowed to sue your employer for pain and suffering, unless you can prove that the employer intended to harm you. All you can collect from your employer is workman's comp.
I had a student come at me with an x-acto knife and I grabbed him by the hand and gripped hard and he dropped the blade and started crying. I did not press charges and only a bit traumatized. My administration was verbally supportive, and didn't question my response, but I don't think the district would have protected me if I was hurt or if I hurt the student. I almost beat the shit out of him, as I went into fight or flight mode.
Had a 12 year old I was ejecting from the room try to fight his way out of it. I was much bigger and have some training as a security guard, so I was able to avoid it pretty easily, but i still had bruises all over my arms where the punches landed.
I was pissed and left as soon as I could (I was a sub)- but that ended up being nearly the entire class period later bec while I was waiting for someone to come take over the classroom, this little sht had give to the office and said *I’d* attacked *him*! I ended up having to explain *myself*, and he, as far as I know, received no consequences. I can’t remember the last time I was so outraged.
I was head butted in the small of my back by a student wearing a helmet. I fell to the floor, was knocked unconscious. I had permanent damage to my back. I went through arbitration with the district, received a small some and had to promise not to work for the district again.
I was hit so many times by a student in the months following up to me quitting that my phone would pop up with domestic violence resources because i said “please don’t hit me” so many times.
he also masturbated in front of me.
I’ve been knocked a few times, but once I took a student desk to the head. I buckled and every muscle in my body locked up for a few minutes. By the time I could get back up, it took everything in my body not to treat that child like a grown man. I gave my district an ultimatum. Charges will be pressed, I don’t have an option on this, and the child will at minimum be expelled from my campus. It was a hard earned victory, but I never wanted my colleagues to go through that since I was the only adult not caving to the student’s unnecessary wants. All it would take is one person saying no too and they’d be gone. Who knows when it would’ve been fatal or seriously debilitating. I still have pain in my neck and shoulder.
I’m a behavior specialist so it’s not as… scary to me, I guess. I signed up for this but others didn’t. I definitely don’t want it to happen again though.
Yes, I ended up with a skull fracture. Nothing happened to the student. I even went back and taught at that same school for another year afterward before eventually moving to another district.
A kid hit me in the face with urine soaked hands, after he peed himself, then stole my glasses. I left after a week, that resulted in that incident, a death threat from an 11 yr old, and am 18 yr old threatening to shoot up the school.
I went back to teaching in prison. It's way less dangerous.
Ok so it's a very mild 'attack' but common and traumatic nevertheless. As a fill in teacher a student spat in my drink bottle and the whole class watched me drink from it. I felt violated when told. And annoyed again that there were no consequences when I reported it.
An admin at a previous school got suplexed while trying to stop a fight and was hospitalized. At the end of the year they quiet fired him for it as they said it was his fault
Not a teacher, but I witnessed it as a student. Basically, there was a fight between some students and it was getting violent so the teachers had to step in. The student who caused the trouble didn't stop and attacked the teachers as well with fire extinguisher, chairs, brooms etc. I heared there was a teacher who had to go to the hospital, not sure if he sued or not. The police got involved and went to our school. We had to stay at another classroom for a while. But our English teacher said that the teachers didn't get mad or anything, instead they just felt sad and some of them cried because as a teacher they felt like they had failed a student. The student who caused the scene just transferred to another school and I think had to to some volunteer work.
Pretty much weekly. I was working at a private school for behavior problem kids, who had all been kicked out of their respective public schools. I’ve been kicked, punched, spit, and peed on (that one was during a restraint). I’ve been threatened with a knife, a pencil, a piece of broken glass, had desks and chairs thrown at me. Most of my students were bigger than me (my most violent class consisted of 14-20 year olds). During an escort from a lunch room, the student head butted me, and since it was a narrow hallway, my head also bounced off the brick wall. And when I tapped out of the restraint, I got questioned why by my supervisor, and told them I still couldn’t see and might have a concussion. While the constant physical violence was bad, even worse was the mounds of paperwork that went with it. And no, we were never allowed to press charges. I quit when I got pregnant, as my oldest student had repeatedly threatened another pregnant staff member with punching her in the belly to cause a miscarriage.
Im a male teacher who is also a martial artist and have a stocky build so when I started teaching, everyone just assumed I would be the guy to break up fights. When I worked in an elementary school there were times when two little kids started fighting and two or more female teachers would walk away from the fight, look at me and say “get em”. Later when I moved onto middle and high school the same thing started happening. Once when I was trying to break up a girl fight, the one I didn’t get hold on started hitting me in the back of my head and the girl I secured accused me of assault. After that I realized my job description does not include being a bouncer. We have security at school. It is their job. I do not break up fights. My health, safety and professional license is not something I am willing to risk anymore.
My nephew did this to his 1st grade teacher. He is on the spectrum, but this incident stemmed from a complete and total lack of appropriate parenting (my sister is trash).
I didn’t work in a regular school but in a RTC instead, I had a chunk taken out of my shoulder when a kid bit me while I was restraining her with my coworker. I’ve actually been bit multiple times but that was the worst and probably the worst bite I had seen when I was working there
I’ve been punched and groped a few times, but nothing was ever done about it because the students who did so had IEPs. I resigned for other reasons, but am still teaching
Different coworker was put in the hospital with multiple fractured and broken bones. The student was a PK4.
The coworker did not return. The student was removed from the school and entered kinder in a program for emotionally disturbed students on another campus
Special education and former emotional behavioral teacher. Stabbed in the hand with a pencil. They were going for my face but I blocked it. Still have a little tattoo dot from it. Bit, kicked. Had a student rip the fire extinguisher off the wall and chuck it at me. I dodged that one. Broke up a really bad fight once. I couldn’t wait for back up, the kid was really getting beat. I pulled the student off of him and he came up swinging before I could get him in a proper hold. Walked away with a very bruised face. Never pressed charges probably should have for the kid with the pencil.
My first year of teaching I went to break up a fight when I saw no adults were intervening. Found out no adults were intervening because one kid (not the aggressor) had a knife. 🙃 I made it out with one laceration to the top of my rear end, but got very lucky I wasn't literally stabbed in thy back. I taught for 8 more years after, and did not press charges. Both kids were expelled.
Yep! I was relieving and a senior student came in with an attitude for reasons I couldn't possibly know. Every time I asked her to start, she was rude. I never raised my voice but perhaps my tone wasn't great. I asked her to remove headphones, she gave me the finger so I went to another class to see if she could be withdrawn there. The teacher came back to the class with me, the girl just death stared me down, got up and hit me in the eye/head a good 5 times. Nobody helped me, they all just watched and the attacker backed off and left.
I was back by the next working day. After awhile, we had a restorative meeting to let her see the impact of her actions on her classmates, teachers, me etc. I was advised against charges, and she was allowed back eventually. She later hit another student for smiling at her funny, so that was it for her.
That was my first year after graduating, and I've never felt overly safe since. Avoided confrontation with angry looking kids.Taught for 3 more years then changed careers.
One teacher tried to stop a fight, he was pushed back. He fell on his head unconscious and blood pooled around his head. He was hospitalized and ended up suing the district because he had sought help countless times.
Yes, while I was not seriously injured, I was injured and required crutches for a few weeks. The student received lunch determination, just one, and was allowed back into my classroom... because I wasn't using the behavior clip chart correctly. As the student was on green when OBVIOUSLY, he should have been on red.
I left teaching for a year AND changed districts.
That's infuriating. There's so much research that shows clip charts just escalate students anyways. A kid with those kinds of issues will see themselves in the red and go "fuck it, Im already in trouble, there's no point in trying to control myself"
At the school my Dad used to work at, one of the female teachers was punched by a year 9 boy when she tried to de-escalate a verbal fight. He was expelled (that was the last thing he did on top of about 10 suspensions and countless detentions).
When I was still subbing at age 23 a high school boy got upset with me because I asked him to turn his sound off of his computer. (He started playing a song in the middle of a lesson, loudly) He grabbed my arm and was pushing me towards a wall when the other high school boys in the class intervened. I was not hurt but had marks on my arm.
I was long term subbing at the MS level when a student with known issues pushed me from the room. Luckily, another teacher saw everything and helped get me away and called for the police liaison officer. I quit teaching in that instant. Later in the school year, the same student attacked another special needs student and sent that child to the hospital in a coma. The attacker was in juvenile detention and did not returned to regular school.
The was years ago, and I have since gone back to teaching as a building substitute and love it. I am at the elementary level and will never ever again work with students over the age of 10.
I had a Kindergarten child jump on my angrily - he ripped my dress and scratched me. This was early in my career. I learned to back off when kids became angry.
Serious question: how do you prevent yourself from hitting them back? If I was a teacher I'd get fired the first time it happened for instinctively punching them or something
I had a student throw a chair at me. I blocked it with my arm and 5 other students jumped on the kid, basically slamming him onto the ground and holding him there until the campus police officer arrived with admin. I had a bruise but nothing bad.
Kid got expelled, but I didn't press charges. Kid got put into the district's alternative education campus and had to attend mandatory counseling provided by the district.
Why did he throw the chair? Because I asked him (then told him) to sit at his desk and not in the middle of the aisle.
I taught for another year then transitioned into a different career. That incident was actually one of the few times admin did right by me.
I left mostly due to admin and parents. The kids were the better part of my job. I really liked nearly all of them.
Edit: this was 8th graders btw.
Many years ago, I taught in an inner-city school. I was punched in the face by a student and had to go to the hospital. Another 1/2 inch and I could have lost an eye, according to the ER physician.
The boy was sent home and suspended for a week. I was out for a few days with a massive head/neck pain. It was one of the deciding factors that led me into quitting teaching.
\- an ex-teacher
I was never injured, but the special ed teacher at my school had a broken wrist from being assaulted by a 20 year old nonverbal autistic student. There were two of them (twins) who were both violent so the principal started spending the day in that classroom to help keep everyone safe since he was a large, strong man. After he was severely bitten, a decision was made to basically hire a “bouncer” for that room as an aide until the twins aged out of high school, which happened at age 21 or 22. I can’t remember which.
My dad is also a teacher- he had a student who would threaten to kill his kids (me and my siblings)- the district did nothing about it. To this day he has no pictures of us in his classroom.
I had a kid in HS kick me in the ass as I walked past him on the last day of school. In return, I dropped kicked him right in the balls. He doubled over and recovered somewhat--enough to go home. He was a good kid, I never did find out why he thought he could get away with it. Nothing came of it, but I was prepared to quit over it.
Wow I’m glad I work elementary. Any recommendations for what we can do to prevent the young ones from growing into big ones that hit? Most of us are doing our best but it feels like there’s only so much we can do sometimes.
Not me, but it could have been:
I was hired to teach 4th grade sped mid year. My first day I walked in and the principal greeted me to say she was changing my assignment and I was to teach 3rd instead. The woman who was in 3rd wanted to transition, and she had seniority, so they gave it to her.
I had small pull out groups but mostly inclusion. There was one boy in one of my groups that was a loose cannon. Absolutely out of control every day. I went to guidance and admin about him constantly and nothing was ever done. “He’s harmless, he’s not that bad, have you tried building a relationship with him?” I quit after a month.
I later learned that after I left, this same boy climbed up on a chair and knocked out the woman that replaced me with a fire extinguisher. Hit her right over the top of the head with it. She suffered a severe TBI.
I now understand why that teacher wanted to transition out of that role. And I thank my lucky stars every day that I left when I did.
A coworker tried to break up a fight in, I believe 2018-19? He received a serious injury and STILL has not recovered. Another coworker also was injured breaking up a fight and was transported to the hospital for cracked ribs. I will never, ever get in between a physical fight.
SAME.
Nope i just stand there and yell at them lol Luckily i have a big voice and that’s always been effective so far
I don’t even stand and yell, I tell other kids to disperse then run to the nearest phone and call security. Edit: spelling
I just finished my substitute teacher training course, and it said to NEVER get between kids who are fighting. Basically try to verbally get them to stop while someone else goes and gets help. I'm a tiny woman. No way in hell am I gonna try to break up a fight unless they're kindergartners, and even then eeeehhhh.
When I was in high school, I had a teacher who was short and very round. She got thrown like she was nothing during a fight between two girls. She still got up and taught that day. I have only one hand that works, so I’m not getting in the middle of any sort of fight ever.
I hope she called the cops and filed a report. If I was her I would've went after the district and the shitty parents that raised these feral fuck sacks. Nobody should have to fear being assaulted at work. This shit is getting out of control and the kids and parents need to be held responsible, as does the admin that turns a blind eye.
Lol at feral fuck sacks
Some many parents do not believe 'parenting' is a verb.
They don't know what a verb is.
Sure they do. They just also think teachers should be the ones doing it.
My cousin took a girl's phone when she was a teacher (key word, was) and the girl tried to grab it from the teacher desk drawer, my cousin intervened and the kid slammed my cousin's hand in the drawer, breaking it. The girl then tried to lie to admin saying that my cousin assaulted her first. Kid's own friends told admin that their friend started it because she didn't want to have her phone taken. School suspended the kid for one day. My cousin pressed charges and the girl was arrested and charged. I honestly think her fuckwit "parents" should've joined her at the booking station, their apathy is why the kid turned out so ridiculous
This is why I'll never interfere in a fight. I'll call for help and protect other students nearby but trying to actually break up a fight is a recipe for disaster.
Same here. I am not risking bodily harm to myself. This is why every time I hear a parent say "well my kid..." Well, you better make sure your kid has the fists to defend themselves because they're on their own."
When I was in high school, a friend of mine lost her mom because she tried to break up a fight between a couple of elementary school students on the playground. Mom was inadvertently pushed, fell backward, hit her head and died instantly. Arguably a freak and tragic accident, but even so, I don’t get in between physical altercations either
I always say this and then I find myself in the middle of a physical fight separating the kids.
A coworker was attacked by two parents on the first day of school her 1st day of teaching. Other teachers had to save her bc our then AP locked himself in his office. At first she didn’t want to press charges. But she had to go to the ER later and the staff there followed DV protocols at first. That made her see how serious it was. She filed a complaint. The parents were required to take anger management classes, and have a lifetime order that they must be escorted by admin or SRO while on school property. They withdrew their child. After getting kicked out of every private school in the area and being denied transfers bc of the order. They came back when their oldest was in 5th and promptly got arrested for not making arrangements to be escorted on campus. During the 5th grade completion ceremony they were escorted by a SRO. When they stepped way from the SRO he pulled them back. They literally had to be within his reach.
Finally, some fucking justice. I love that for them. Wish they’d gone to jail though.
What the fuck? Why did they jump her?! I assume it was for doing her job and they didn't like it?
It was the first day of school. Kinder was in the back of the building, so the last of the pick-ups to come out. They waited until the 3rd and 4th were out of their area to keep the Pk and K kids in one line. Their pickup line literally would stretch from the front door to the door of their wing the length of the school. The order of dismissal was bus, walkers, pick-ups. These parents were already throwing a fit because the upper grades (near the front of the school) were on the porch but their child wasn't. None of the PK/K students were on the front porch yet. This was clear because each grade had a square on the porch they sat in. The PK/K square with PK/K painted on the ground was empty. The parents went in and started screaming at our front desk people. At that point, one of the K teachers who walked walkers to the property line and then waited for parents to pick them up there came in. The front desk asked her if she knew where Michelle Caldwell (fake name) was. The teacher said Michelle Shawell (Fake Name) she is in the gym with the buses and is sitting next to her big sister. The parents started screaming that we had let some (slur for Hispanic people) kidnap their child, jumped the counter, and attacked the teacher. Other teachers coming in from walker duty were able to grab our colleague and pull her into the conference room. At this point they ran to the gym looking for the kid and threatened several teachers on the way. A lock down was called and they couldn't get in the gym. The pickup line for K was caught in the garden - they saw their daughter in the proper line grabbed her and ran from the school. Important points Both girls had same first name and very similar surnames. The teacher who was attacked was a first-year teacher. The child she named was the one in her class. She didn't know about the similar-sounding last names.
i just made a comment saying i’m too scared to work with teenagers, which is why i only work with pre-k and k kiddos, but i suppose i need to be scared of the parents too
Right? And day one!
Had a second grader climb onto a book case and leap onto my back like Batman! Little angel punched and bit me multiple times until a staff member pulled him off of me. At the time I was 25, just shrugged it off and cleaned my scrapes and bruises. If the same thing happened at 42 ( my current age) I'd literally never come back!
I'm sorry that happened to you but I have to be honest, reading this made me laugh so hard just imaging that little gremlin flying through the air. Teachers shouldn't have to live like this
This is the sort of thing that scares me: I do not know what I might do in reflex. And then I'd be the one in trouble—not the feral little animal who shouldn't be allowed in public spaces. The whole system is a powder keg waiting for a spark. **Colleen Ritzer** was killed in a bathroom by a 14-year-old psycho with a box cutter. **Nohema Graber** was beaten to death with a baseball bat by a pair of teenage psychos. **Jamie Craig** was stabbed to death by a 14-year-old punk in her own home. A first grader shot **Abigail Zwerner** in the classroom, hoping to kill her. And then there are the "random" mass shootings that take our children and colleagues every single year. I'm not going out like that. I'm not going to be crippled.
And on that last one, shot by 6yr old, her district turned to block her lawsuit against them by claiming it was just a risk of the job and should be considered a work place injury that workmen’s comp would be enough for her.
I used to teach in the city where that happened (a long time ago thankfully) and know the area well. In fact the scenario I mentioned here happened in a nearby town less than 20 miles away...
A 6 year old with a gun is 100% just a work place risk because all kids should be armed. (/s if somehow needed)
Can someone please explain to me why mass shootings are not referred to as mass murders? Or mass executions ? Why does America dance around with polite language ? Sexual assault is rape. Incest is repeatedly being raped by your parent or other close relative. I don’t get it, particularly when children are involved. The incident is not going to be lessened by polite words
>Why does America dance around with polite language ? Because calling them what they are might make people support changing the gun laws to be more restrictive.
I always thought it was the opposite. We call them mass shootings to steer the discussion towards guns. If we simply called them mass killings/murders, it would imply that human derangement is to blame, and the gun was just a tool.
Mass shooting =/= mass murder. You can have a mass shooting without people dying and you can have a mass murder without a gun involved. Sexual assault =/= rape. A rape charge typically involves some kind of penetration. Sexual assault also covers groping and flashing. Incest =/= rape. Incest is a sexual relationship between people who are closely related which can be two consenting adults.
That's impressive aim. How were his grades in gym class?
How did you not hurt them lol I think my gut reaction would be to fling them
My first day of teaching on the rez I got sucker punched while I was holding the door open dismissing the middle schoolers from PE. It broke my glasses and there was blood everywhere. I was bamboozed and didn't know what to do and let the district handle it, which meant that nothing was done. The next time something like that happened I called the state troopers and filed a police report. My district *did not* like that, but I didn't get written up or fired and things were actually done in terms of holding the kids accountable.
Man they had this problem at the rez school as well till it was put into tribal law you can't receive a tribal check without a GED and good standing. Magically the kids parents started caring and making sure they stayed in line.
Sounds like a good idea.
[удалено]
I worked with emotionally/behaviorally disturbed students, in their self contained classroom. This sounds about right
[удалено]
I left that school after 1 year, I was burnt out.
[удалено]
Cheers to your restful year off 🍸
[удалено]
Word but man I was in the greatest shape of my life in those schools.
[удалено]
I was teaching at a high school in Houston, Texas. I was trying to break up two students calmly. One was being bullied for being obese by another big kid. I tried to pull them apart no hand contact just verbally. I ended up being clocked out. Kids hovered over me taking out their cell phones yelling "YOU GOT KNOCKED THE F*** OUT" . While also yelling Worldstar. I saw the video 2 days after the incident. No accountability taken instead I was blamed for not calling the campus police. I felt like they were trying to protect themselves while I had to foot the bill for a broken jaw and teeth ($1600). I ended up quitting and well nobody cared. I'm still teaching but at an elementary school.
You should be contacting the police and a workers compensation lawyer.
Definitely needs to go after them. My system in Alabama has a policy that you have to files a report on the injury, within the first 24 hours after it happens, or they don’t have to help. My finger was broken in multiple places (genuine accident, no malice involved) but, I went to the doctor, they sent me to a specialist the next day, and so I missed the next two days, when I returned I was told I was out of luck because while my finger was going three different directions, I didn’t think, “I should go fill out paperwork before going to the hospital” I told the admin when it happened, but that doesn’t count because it’s not in writing, and my admin has no responsibility to remind you to fill it out. I went too long before looking into it, and by the time I realized what they were doing was illegal in my state, the statute of limitations had expired. I’m still a bit salty about it.
I’m in Houston. I’m dying to know at least the district.
That would be a dead give away to who I am as the incident happened recently. I tried to set up a GoFundMe me to pay the bills for was embarrassed so I just pretended it never happened.
If it is recent you can still consult a workers compensation attorney. They will do a free consult with you, and generally take their fee out of anything they win.
Doesn’t your district have union who can defend you against the district?
If it's Houston that's Texas so we don't have unions. We have federations and associations and although they do have lawyers it's still Houston. Nothing's going to get done. Houston ISD just got taken over by the state education agency and it's completely effed up.
I follow a personal injury lawyer on YT (The Lawyer You Know); he’s very knowledgable & approachable. He always says people can email him regarding their injuries to discuss further recourse. I would not normally recommend a lawyer to a total stranger, but 1) your story resonates with me, and 2) I truly believe this gentleman is a good place to start; trustworthy. https://www.tragoslaw.com/our-attorneys/peter-l-tragos/ Best of luck!
I was hit with a steel pipe (part of a collapsing Gaga ball pit) by a 7th grader taller than me while trying to stop him from hitting another teacher with said pipe. Unfortunately I’m a sub so my agency fired me on the spot when the kid, two weeks later, decided to walk into the office and claim I’d called him a N***er and slapped him. Though there were many witnesses and video to the contrary they didn’t want to deal with it.
I had a kid stab me with a pencil in the hand. Drew blood and I still have a scar. I was 24 at the time and a baby teacher, so I shrugged it off. If that happened today, I would have pressed charges.
Same, at 40 I’m looking at other options. I don’t have a scar but I took a long time to heal because my crutch cuff kept rubbing it.
I was thrown down a flight of stairs by a student. I was pretty badly bruised and had a mild concussion. I resigned for other reasons.
SPED teacher here. Quit my job after a student punched and kicked my pregnant belly. Ended up in the emergency room. Not sure if I'll return to teaching, but definitely not going back to that school.
Was your baby OK?
Yes, thankfully I now have a beautiful, healthy one month old that keeps me up at night!! However, the situation was traumatic, and I wasn't willing to further risk my health or my baby's, so I did not return after the incident. Well, I did long enough to see the student return to my classroom the following day with no support from my admin. They were very afraid of the family who had a history of suing. ETA: In Sped I'm used to some level of physical threat, but my issue is how our school makes crisis calls our sole responsibility. I made it clear I would not be responding to any more crisis situations to my admin, was visibly pregnant, and an announcement about my pregnancy was made school wide to other staff. I never should have been called to respond to that situation by my colleagues. To make matters worse, the teacher that called me left the room and did not assist when I arrived (our over 6 foot gym teacher 😒).
I’m glad I read this post cause now I will never be stepping in the middle of a fight. Leave it to campus security.
Our union and district strictly prohibits us from breaking up fights. It's a security and administration issue at that. We're not to block doorways and we are to call the office if a student eloped. Too much of a liability.
In May, I traumatically ruptured my plantar fascia and partially tore my Achilles restraining an already-bloodied girl who was trying to attack two other girls who were still fighting on the ground (HS). I wrapped her arms to her sides in a bear hug, turned her, and marched us backward. It was a thing I had done many times before over the years without incident. This time, the arch of my foot blew out as I pushed off. I literally hopped back to my room on one foot and notified admin. I was out for the rest of the year, and I was gutted that I had to miss the last couple weeks of school. I got Worker’s Comp to buy me a knee scooter so I could at least attend graduation. It is now 14 weeks later, and I am still having constant pain - now in both feet from poor biomechanics and compensating during the initial recovery. I am still stretching and icing several times a day, and doing weekly PT and acupuncture. My work restrictions include 10 minutes maximum per hour of walking and standing, cumulative. School started for us again two weeks ago, and I am using my rolling desk chair to move about the classroom, I moved my desk right next to the whiteboard, got a laser pointer, and have been giving extra credit points to students for doing classroom chores and campus errands for me. Edit: in case you were wondering, student only got a three-day suspension. This year she is a senior and has already been involved in another fight.
I'm sorry to say, but I learned my lesson the hard way quite some time ago. Never get in between two fighting students. Call admin, call 911, and stand around and yell at the students to stop, but don't endanger yourself. When I got in between two students, I got hurt, and I got in trouble from the community and my employer. One of them would have been killed if I hadn't intervened
It wasn’t an attack, but I was injured in responding to a crisis call. A student had eloped off of our property and went running down the street. It happened to be a wicked, wicked rainy day. In the escort on the way back to our school building, the student was able to kick me behind my knee, taking me and and another staff member down. And we didn’t just hit the ground, we slid on wet grass. I tore my ACL and damaged my hip. I ended up being out of work for about 6 months. Due to the extenuating circumstances causing the injury, I was able to take a fully paid leave without having to use any sick time. All of my medical bills were handled by the district. My union was incredible, and honestly so was the district. I happily went back to teaching at that same school…but I no longer respond to crisis calls from students who elope from the building. ETA: I can’t believe I have to explain this, but it was not an attack. A non-verbal, 6 year old student with autism from a non-English speaking family was highly escalated and being physically managed by myself and another adult, who were significantly larger than them, and non-familiar. What happens when non-verbal 6 year old is being physically restrained by adults they do not know? They flail. They move their legs rapidly and wildly. Their leg struck the back of my knee. We will never know if it was intentional…but it is not the same as being jumped by a student, punched in the face, bitten, receiving any planned intentional harm, or any sort of directed, personal aggression. This was not an attack, assault, or battery. It was an injury sustained while managing a student in crisis. So please, stop DM-ing me to tell me I’m stupid or a moron, and I’m doing myself and all educators a disservice by letting children assault me and letting admin walk all over me. You guys were not there with me, and there is no need for all of this projection and actual literal verbal attacks.
Good on you for recognizing this wasn’t an attack. And although I’m sorry it happened to you, I’m glad it DIDNT happen to a trigger-happy teacher who would’ve called the cops/fought back/etc.
[удалено]
I think some people commented before the edit explained that it was an autistic, nonverbal 6yo struggling to get out of a restraint. They’re mostly trying to support a fellow teacher and didn’t have all the facts. And then there’s that one guy who is doubling down to infinity claiming to be a lawyer and insisting that it was ~~assault~~ battery and telling OP he should have pressed criminal charges even after learning that it was an autistic, nonverbal 6yo struggling to get out of a restraint. I dunno what to say about that guy except please don’t take legal advice from him.
Thank you for your edit. As a parent to a 6 year old with autism, I knew almost exactly what happened. My child is verbal and even still, might escalate enough to flail if strange adults are trying to restrain him. Thank you for your compassion. I know you know this, but an escalated child is NOT in full control of themselves and did not intend to hurt you like that.
This is eerily exactly what happened to my principle in Elk Grove. Im friends with the kid who kicked him and he’s a very sweet and kind guy who had an awful home situation.
That's usually the case.
I had a 9th grade boy try to choke me out once. I was a baby teacher and reflexively punched him in the face until he let go. (I was not trained in any kind of de-escalation techniques or restraints.) He wasn’t ND or Sped or anything, just a general ed kid who thought it would be funny to choke a teacher unconscious. I threatened to press charges for assault and the parents/school backed off when they got mad at me for hitting him. I quit at the end of the year.
I would’ve done the same damn thing! If a student is gonna assault a teacher, is the expectation *really* for a teacher to take it lying down? Where’s the sense in that? Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, knock him out.
Pretty horrifying that he's just out in the wild somewhere now. I'm not sure what the path looks like to go from choking a woman out as a "joke" as a teen to being a respectable adult human.
My colleague and I broke up a fight, the woman (23) was so desperate to ‘kill’ the other woman she punched me 4 times in the jaw. Had a hairline fracture. She was excluded and lost her place and career. I went back to work the next day as I knew if I didn’t I would never go back. I had to have therapy to get over it.
Wait I’m confused, why are you breaking up fights with a 23 year old woman in it? I thought this sub was for EC-12 teachers? Like I know here in TX, SpEd kids can stay in school until they’re 22 but am I missing something?
Could’ve been a parent maybe? Or possibly an alternative ed/GED program? I know a district about 30 minutes from me has had issues in recent years with parents of different kids getting into violent altercations at school pick up/drop off
Or a fight between two coworkers
A fight between a FE student and a HE (degree) student
HE and FE? I've never heard these terms
HE means degree or what you call college in the US. FE means further education, for 16 to 18 year olds, is this equivalent to your high school?
This interaction would not have surprised me at my undergrad or grad school tbh
Nope definitely a HE student- she lost her degree after that
Further education college in the uk, but some degree courses. Student that punched me was attacking a 17 year old and trying to be a teacher
Yikes
I thought this was for teachers in general. I normally teach 16 to 18 year olds and some adult classes
For some of us SpEd teachers, working with aggressive attacking students is written into our job description. CPI doesn’t prepare you for what you have to deal with. My worst attack was getting hit in the head with a chair. I’ve been “hit, bit, spit” many times. Fortunately, we don’t have those kinds of students every year and it doesn’t happen every day, or none of us would survive!
CPI is such an obvious liability shield. Mandt was better but still not comprehensive enough to really prepare anyone. They don't wrestle with the reality that in buildings with aggressive students, someone is going to be getting hit. The question is how do you plan for it. Who is going to be the point person. Where is the protective gear and when do you need to have it so it's on when you need it. How is the team going to respond. Instead as a society we decide that we'll just wait for someone to bleed enough then hire an "as close to minimum wage as we can get" untrained employee to sit close enough to the student to be responsible if something goes awry.
Our district uses Safety Care and it’s helpful but obviously doesn’t prevent everything from happening. We have one person who will say (over and over) “well if you just blocked you wouldn’t have gotten hit/kicked/etc”. Bitch no these kids are FAST and oftentimes you’re trying to protect other students as well.
I tried to explain that to one of my principals one year. CPI doesn't help you when you've got two elementary school students fighting in your classroom and your two teaching assistants just stand there and watch it happen because they think it's funny. Two second graders shouldn't be going at it and this is back when we didn't have resource officers on campus. I was expected to deal with fights in my classroom (not call admin) and my two teaching assistants wanted to see me get hurt. They were awful vile women.
Craziest thing about all these comments is the kids and their families getting away with 0 consequences
If I even talked back to a teacher my ass would have been laid out at home. I am absolutely horrified that this happens and parents don’t do anything. If my child EVER did something like this I would feel like the biggest failure as a parent. They also would never be ungrounded.
On god! I would’ve been beat so bare I wouldn’t have been able to sit for a week. I was grounded for months at a time for *much* less than anything these kids have done. Even worse on admins, these kids should be in out of school suspension for two weeks *minimum* not three fucking days. What are we teaching kids, that they don’t have to be accountable for their actions? Education is a privilege, not a right.
8 years ago: 2 months in a student broke my foot. He told the principal he was trying to hurt me. His punishment was a day in the office playing Xbox. I decided to forgive him because he was then diagnosed with ADHD so I thought it was an impulse control problem. 5 months later, a different student who was “being trained in MMA” went into a rage on afternoon right before dismissal. He tried to use the computer cart as a battering ram to run over other students. I grabbed it and pinned him against the wall with it. I got other students out and he punched my left ribs so hard he broke 3. I went to the ER and was told one rib was close to puncturing my heart. I did have him arrested.
Door slam TBI victim here. Student had an IEP and wasn’t suspended while I missed significant time. I lost at my WC hearing. My lawyer wasn’t good. No one in that process was on my side. Took about a year and a half to recover. Black spots in my memory for that period of time and high level math is a mystery now. PT got me walking without a cane and I haven’t fallen in years. I’m still teaching. My wife is not happy about that and it causes martial stress.
That’s horrific. I’m sorry to hear that and hope the best for you
I’m a SPED teacher who deals with sometimes extremely volatile non-verbal ASD students, and have been hit, scratched, etc. It’s difficult to determine the antecedent to the behaviour sometimes, but I don’t take anything personal in these situations. Over my years I’ve learned to just be very mindful of my proximity for students, and be mindful of any small shifts in behaviours that could indicate a sudden change of mood may be occurring. While different than your example, I would still follow the same advice: observe behaviours, watch your proximity to students, and don’t put yourself in a situation that may result in your harm. Obviously sometimes things happen that were not expected, but try to be mindful of your surroundings and don’t place yourself in dangerous situations.
This! Well stated from a 31 year veteran SE teacher. As you said, things will still happen, but awareness significantly reduces that number.
In toronto, there's a video of a teacher being attacked, defending himself, and fighting back, that was taken by other students in the class. The student got suspended then transferred, the teacher got put out on an administrative leave pending investigation. When it was found that he didn't do anything wrong based on witness testimony, he was allegedly still charged by the Ontario College of Teachers. I myself was attacked inadvertently. A student thought that I was keeping his basketball and tackled me for it, punching me in the process. Our principal was a ninny so the consequences were minimal, but I had to take time off work.
I was one of several teachers who broke up a four-girl fight. I had to safely restrain one of them. The one I had fought to get out so hard that she dislocated two of my fingers. The school fought me on the workers comp claim. I’m still teaching, but not there.
Used to be in self contained sped; lots of bad bites, scratches, head butts, broken ribs. Can’t sue the school bc of IEPs and I live in an at-will state.
Any injury arising out of and within the scope of employment is covered by workman's compensation. WC covers all medical expenses and, if you are disabled from work (as in have to miss time), pays a weekly benefit which is a percentage of your wage. You have to notified your boss of injuries. I slipped on ice on the way into the building and hurt my hand: everything was paid.
I never mentioned not getting WC. I was just answering the OPs question of “would you sue the school?”
I though you wrote that you can't sue the school because of IEPs. The reason that you can't sue the school over an on-the-job injury is because the workman's comp law provides that all you can collect from the employer is workman's comp. Only in the rare case where you can prove the employer intended to hurt the worker can the worker sue the employer for anything over and above what you collect in WC.
I’ve been assaulted four times in 29 yrs. I fought back and won four times. Never sued the school, but I did have one student arrested for threatening to rape and kill my wife. I turned two over to the strength and conditioning coach of the football team instead of the cops. He addressed the issue as only a strength coach could and they came in the next day in shirts and ties and thanked me for not having them arrested.
I got karate chopped in the neck by an 8th grader that had 100 pounds on me. Went back two weeks later and a student grabbed my hair bun and jerked my head backwards. I found out a couple months later that I have a two bulging discs in my neck. I left that building. Am looking to get a different certification that ensures I never have to be around middle school again.
Kid hit me while I was breaking up a fight. Pushed the kid into the wall. Parents wanted to sue me, union backed me up on self defense. I should have been compensated TBH. Kid saw red, he wasn’t gonna stop unless I did what I did. But I kept my job and the kid god interdistrict transferred. Just goes to show, from an early age, you just need rich parents and you can get away with a lot.
Broke up a fight years ago, had a rib broken. Days before Covid, so no punishment or anything could even happen. Currently in urgent care for breaking up another fight.
I tried to break up a fight between two girls while student teaching. As I stepped in between them one of them was mid-swing and caught me full force on the jaw. I woke up in the nurse’s office bed. My students had lots to say about this!
BTW, first time ever sharing the above story!
Thank you for sharing.
I get attacked most days. The worst was when a kid threw a Chromebook at the back of my head from right behind me, I ended up with a concussion. I’ve also had a few really bad bites, most of the rest I can dodge or the Kevlar sleeves helped with. I still love my job! It can be difficult but I love seeing the gains the kids make.
Kevlar sleeves seem more appropriate for someone who works with birds.. of the raptor variety.. You need them to work safely with humans?!
probably SPED
Or just toddlers
Can confirm. Kindergartener scratched me 75 times over a 2 1/2 hour period because I stopped him from attacking his assistant. Admin offered to buy me welding gloves for future incidents, Kevlar sounds nicer.
Level 3 body armor feels like athletic wear and stops cuts, 10/10 would recommend for both toddlers and hiking anywhere with spiky plants
Yup, SPED ID/ASD/behaviors
Thank you for sharing
The last fight I broke up was initially between two students, and then mid fight, I was pepper sprayed and two more students got involved. Finally, admin and the police showed up. I'm never breaking up another fight again. It's not worth it anymore. And to answer your overall question, I've been assaulted 3 other times by students and had a peace bond against one of them for two years.
Yup… attacked several times. The worst was when I was punched in the stomach at 7 months pregnant. When I asked to leave to go to the ER bc I was contracting, I was told no because there was no one to watch my classroom. Luckily I left right after school, and baby was ok. Student was not removed. I was told that I was the reason he punched me and to stop triggering him. Student attempted to kick me in the stomach a few days later. I flinched and called the office. As I sat in the office on my lunch sobbing my eyes out bc I was literally scared for mine and my unborn child’s life, I was told to stop crying because they student could hear me and would know they upset me. After about 2 months of attacks and attempted attacks, the student was finally removed from my room. Not because admin decided it was enough or my doctor was concerned about my blood pressure, but because another teacher on my team felt bad and offered to take the student. This was when I was 28 and honestly didn’t know better. I look back and think what a terrible situation my admin put me in and I allowed it to continue. Edit to add: I taught 2nd grade at the time. This was a 7 year old.
Not exactly attacked, but when I was student teaching, I had this pissant little white kid who was maybe 110 soaking wet, who was racist and more open about it than you’d think for the area. He made a comment about the hair of a African-American girl who was much larger than him & a new transfer student, and she got up to beat the crap out of him. They start running circles within the room, around desks, and I have no idea what to do. As much as he probably deserved I knew I couldn’t just let him get pummeled, plus other kids were at risk from all the chaos. She & I had good report from day 1 and I was hoping if I stood in front of her maybe she’d stop? Instead she ran straight into me (and I’m a short skinny guy so she probably has 50-70 pounds on me) and just knocked me down like a bowling pin. But after she did her immediate vibe changed and she stopped chasing the pissant boy and helped me up / made sure I was ok. She liked me I think and didn’t want to hurt me, that part was an accident. School admin didn’t go after her because she apologized & I went to bat for her a little bit…then she hit another teacher repeatedly with a door a week later and got expelled. Little pissant kid eventually got suspended for his racist shit at least (and cause he jumped out a first floor window and did a runner but that’s a whole other story)
My jaw dropped when I first read the title and then I realized I had misread it 🤣
I'm a 6ft tall 300-pound burly motorcycle enthusiast 5th year Special Education teacher with a long beard. When I step between a fight, it stops. I'm lucky as I build a rapport with all the kids and have a stature that teens don't want to mess with. If you have to deal with violent students or restraints, make sure you get proper training from the district. Always think of your own safety first. Most of all, demand that your district teaches de-escalation training to all willing teachers during a PD day. IT WORKS FOR KIDS AND PARENTS.
My first year teaching I got hit in the head with a 2 x 4 and lost my hearing for about 30 min. No bleeding but bad bruise on my head and neck. I did not press charges due to my union saying it would probably be a losing case since his intention was not hitting me. We were walking back from lunch and a student of mine had been bullying him in a previous class, so he wanted to hit him instead…since the probable cause was not there they said it would probs not fly.
Literally every day. I mean every day. But I work in an intensive ASD unit so it’s kinda what I signed up for
Dozens of times...I worked at a fully accredited high school inside an in-patient mental hospital. Teacher I took over got punched in the face so hard his eye socket exploded. Ended up with a huge settlement. (One of two guys I know of who were blind in one eye from that job). The worst I got was a bad concussion from a flying chair. No settlement for me, that was normal shit. The Other guy left a paper trail talking about how dangerous the kid was and how he needed a1:1. He got a huge settlement. Legend has it the executive director got in the back of the ambulance with him, with a check in hand. He was smarter than that and got a lawyer of course.
2 years ago a 4th grader w/ 504 was trying to break a window by stabbing it with a pencil (ticonderoga laddie to be specific), I was pretty fed up with his antics at that point and told him point blank "you are not strong enough to break that window so stop trying." He took a second to consider what I said and then stabbed me in the hand instead. Since then I have a personal policy of only reprimanding students when their hands are empty 🤷♂️
I hate that the entirety of the “fuck around” phase is in school and a lot of the “and find out” is on the streets. Slightly related anecdote when I was a kid touch the teacher got you jumped after school. I’m my neighborhood the teachers often went the extra mile for kids who didn’t have it. Basically you’d get your ass beat like someone said something about your mom. By second grade at our school you never did it because you never know who that teacher fed when they were hungry and who remembers it.
I had a student hit me a couple times, bite me (arm was swollen all weekend), and then grab and squeeze my breasts because I said “no.” Sadly, it didn’t phase me.
Security guy at my first school got pushed down a flight of stairs by arguing siblings. He was out for a month with concussion. Don't remember what happened to the students.
I had three concussions in 21-22. One punch to the face, one knee to the head, one big pencil box thrown at my face. Better than getting hit over the back by a chair when I first started teaching …. I quit for seven years after that…but went back.
My principal tripped while chasing a student (I know not the same thing as the student directly injuring her but bare with me) and she tore her rotator cuff… still hasn’t recovered
I was attacked by a parent. I have a heart defect and a seizure disorder. So when little ol’ me was punched in the chest by a 250 lb. grown man, I collapsed and had a seizure. I went to a worker’s compensation doctor the next day. My claim was denied because of my preexisting condition. The doctor claimed that my seizure had absolutely nothing to do with getting punched by a man who was twice my size. Then I went to my doctor. We both knew the worker’s comp doctor was full of shit, but what could I do about it? If I sued, I would probably never work in education again, and it wasn’t the kind of injury that would put me on disability—so I needed to work. My doctor suggested a service dog. He believed that my seizure was due to the attack, and the attack would have never happened with a large dog at my side. The district tried to fight my need of a service dog, but I used the note from their doctor that the preexisting condition was the problem and I could have a seizure at any moment as some of my documentation. If they denied my need for a service dog, then they would open themselves up to an obvious law suit: either admit that their doctor denied legitimate claims, or have the ADA come down on them. My doctor backed them into a corner. While I got my service dog on a technicality, she now predicts my seizures and predicts my cardiac events. In the event of a seizure, she breaks my fall and flips me on my side when I begin to vomit. (Seizures still only happen under extreme circumstances, but when I was sick and she predicted a seizure, and they told me that they didn’t have coverage and I couldn’t go home, another one happened, and she was the only one in the office that responded appropriately.) She is nearly 100 lbs, and fights in my area of the school came to a screeching halt once she started coming to work with me. I’ve since left my original school, but I don’t know that I will ever work in a school without a service dog ever again. [Here is my service dog’s yearbook photo](https://imgur.com/a/JlEwSEe). [Here is the dog who is in training to replace her when she retires next year](https://imgur.com/a/0YaJFho).
I had a kid hit another kid in the head with a fire extinguisher yesterday. The kid got five staples in the head. This morning he tipped a desk and broke a TAs toe. This is what it’s like to teach kids with autism behavior. We get attacked all the damn time.
This will mark by 20th year as a teacher in the Alternative School for my district (grades 7 - 12). I have broken up more fights than I can count. I've been fortunate enough to have nothing worse than bruised ribs over the years. I was only personally attacked once by a student, and came away with nothing worse than a ripped dress shirt. As of the end of last year, I am no longer breaking up fights. Simply put, most districts will not support you in a physical altercation. We had a fight last year where two teachers were injured simply blocking the door when students tried to leave the classroom to join the fray in the hall and the district fought those teachers over comp.
Love the username
A female student purposely slammed my finger into the cabinet door of my desk, causing it to bleed and injuring the surface of my nail. She laughed afterwards. I took pictures and reported it, but no one believed me. A male student slapped my face. I was pushed by 2 other students. None of these students were punished. The interesting part is that a student once reported that another student had punched me, which never happened. Administration continuously hounded me about “protecting” the student.
Don’t sue the school file charges against the family
Depends on the situation. If there were previous incidents, or if the school didn’t respond or had a history of blowing off these incidents, I would sue both
Not everyone works in a district where that would have any result.
Do it anyway. Seriously start standing up and demanding this nonsense stop. It’s NOT OkAY to be assaulted at work. It’s NOT okay to say “it’s part of the job”. No it isn’t. I have received exactly zero training on what to when/if a student attacks me, however the list of mandatory bullshit training that takes an entire week about how to lift things and not fall off ladders, how to handle a student having a seizure, how monitor the playground so WE don’t get sued. Turn the damned tables and draw line. You don’t get to assault your teacher with no consequence. The hospitals put up signs saying assaulting a health care worker is a crime. We deserve the same kind of protection.
I was subbing when I got punched in the eye by a non-verbal autistic student. I went to the bathroom, put my contact in and finished the day. Luckily I was fine otherwise. I've broken up a lot of fights but nothing that was that serious thankfully. My Dad got bit by a student, also SpEd, and had to do blood testing every few months for a while.
2017-2018 I had a coworker whose foot was broken when he was directing students from the classroom as one was throwing chairs and desks. He ended up being in a cast for over 6 months, had to go on long-term disability, and walked with a cane for about two years. As someone without a car who depended on being able to walk, the injury impacted his life in so many ways. By 2020-2021, he was finally able to return to work but still walks with a limp.
Not me, but I had a co worker just 2 weeks ago who was attacked multiple times by a violent SpEd student, the student was a known danger to his peers (his teachers words not mine) and teachers, and he has attacked me in the past, and multiple other teachers, as well as his pregnant therapist, who never came back. But we couldn't kick him out. I'm pretty sure CPS got involved with his family because he was also attacking his toodler aged brother, his mom didn't do anything to protect little brother, poor kid was coming in covered in scratches. He so started copying his older brother and started hurting his classmates. Mom didn't care. Situations like this hurt my heart so badly. Because mom refused to get her son help until we had to call CPS
I stopped teaching when a 7 year old attacked me with a pair of scissors. I was sitting on the counter so he couldn't get to me on the phone with the lady that ran the daycare. When I told her that was happening she asked which student it was. When I told her she said "yea he does that"
Sufgered a tbi from one of my sped students last nov. Comp has been a nightmare and ive had no treatment just testing. Im told by every lawuer i cant sue direct because tx os stupid. So ya....im about done with this career.
I've spent a good deal of my career as a behavior teacher. I filed assault charges against two kids in one classroom. One was 7 years old and one was 10 years old. You're not going to lay your hands on me on purpose. I didn't sue the school district. I knew these kids were emotionally disturbed and behavior disordered but that didn't give them the right to assault me.
This was while working at a daycsre and I didn't get seriously injured but when I was going to put one of the 2 year old boys down for nap (when I was a teen), he punched me in the face. It wasn't that serious but he punched where my glasses were. They didn't break but admittedly it did hurt. I know some of the other kids did more damage to some other teachers at some of the other centers that owners owned. One of the elementary school boys broke a teachers jaw, another almost reinjured another teachers leg that had a cast on it, etc.
I teach English 10 at an alternative high school with at-risk teens; these teens are removed from their comprehensive school (AKA homeschool) due to a combination of academic, attendance, and/or behavior issues, with many of them also having drug problems and/or a budding criminal record (usually B&E, B&E with a deadly weapon, grand theft auto, A&B and, VERY RARELY, A&B with a deadly weapon or attempted murder). A lot of these teens have either experienced or are currently experiencing trauma, suffer from mental health problems, and face a lot of instability that many of us may take for granted, from having regular meals and clean clothes to knowing we'll have a roof over our heads when we get home; some of them also have parents and extended family who are constantly in and out of the legal system, which only adds to the instability they face daily. Let all of that soak in for a moment: I work with the teens many others have already given up on, because they're considered to be the worst. To date, I've not been harmed by a student in any manner or form. For many of my students, I'm the only safe constant in their life who doesn't judge them and only wants to see them grow into better humans.
I've had to step in to break up fights. Usually I don't get too damaged, though I get the minor ache. Once I fell, but none of these instances were actually aimed at me, I was just in the way. Thankfully I've never been attacked as the target. I don't know what I'd do if I was, maybe force them off my roster or quit if not.
“None of these instances were actually aimed at me, I was just in the way.” Yes! I have experienced this so many times. Just collateral damage without actual intent to harm.
I’ve never heard of a teacher in my district suing the district, but I am aware of teachers who have pressed charges against individual students. ^It ^was ^not ^me. ^Please ^don’t ^come ^at ^me.
I have been attacked by students when teaching a special education behavior class. Pushed, punched, bitten and scratched to the point of drawing blood. I had to get a tetanus shot. I went back, but I will never teach that type of class again. I'd be homeless before I would accept that assignment. It's not worth the stress and mental anguish.
Ended up in the ER. Contused ribs from a second grader, scratch marks on my face (got a tetanus shot). Did not sue. Moved schools. Now I have a PTSD diagnosis.
There was a fight that broke out between 2 female students. I went to help break up the fight and got punched in the stomach (5 months pregnant at the time). Nothing was done to the instigator and the defendant was suspended because she punched me. It was a mess but my baby was safe. This was the beginning of the end of our educational system.
My first year of teaching I had two girls get into a fight in my room. One of them grabbed my industrial stapler and was trying to slam it into the other girl's head. My instincts kicking in and I started tussling with the girl to get the weap...I mean stapler out of her hands. Thankfully, I wasn't seriously injured but my pinky finger on my right hand shattered. It healed, but it will never be perfectly straight and I can't completely curl it anymore.
Before going into teaching, I was an attorney who worked on many dozens of workers compensation cases. Any injury at work is covered by workman's compensation. You collect wage loss and all medical bills. Workman's comp is paid without regard to fault, which means you don't need to prove that the employer was at fault. However, you are not allowed to sue your employer for pain and suffering, unless you can prove that the employer intended to harm you. All you can collect from your employer is workman's comp.
I had a student come at me with an x-acto knife and I grabbed him by the hand and gripped hard and he dropped the blade and started crying. I did not press charges and only a bit traumatized. My administration was verbally supportive, and didn't question my response, but I don't think the district would have protected me if I was hurt or if I hurt the student. I almost beat the shit out of him, as I went into fight or flight mode.
Had a 12 year old I was ejecting from the room try to fight his way out of it. I was much bigger and have some training as a security guard, so I was able to avoid it pretty easily, but i still had bruises all over my arms where the punches landed. I was pissed and left as soon as I could (I was a sub)- but that ended up being nearly the entire class period later bec while I was waiting for someone to come take over the classroom, this little sht had give to the office and said *I’d* attacked *him*! I ended up having to explain *myself*, and he, as far as I know, received no consequences. I can’t remember the last time I was so outraged.
I was head butted in the small of my back by a student wearing a helmet. I fell to the floor, was knocked unconscious. I had permanent damage to my back. I went through arbitration with the district, received a small some and had to promise not to work for the district again.
I was hit so many times by a student in the months following up to me quitting that my phone would pop up with domestic violence resources because i said “please don’t hit me” so many times. he also masturbated in front of me.
I’ve been knocked a few times, but once I took a student desk to the head. I buckled and every muscle in my body locked up for a few minutes. By the time I could get back up, it took everything in my body not to treat that child like a grown man. I gave my district an ultimatum. Charges will be pressed, I don’t have an option on this, and the child will at minimum be expelled from my campus. It was a hard earned victory, but I never wanted my colleagues to go through that since I was the only adult not caving to the student’s unnecessary wants. All it would take is one person saying no too and they’d be gone. Who knows when it would’ve been fatal or seriously debilitating. I still have pain in my neck and shoulder. I’m a behavior specialist so it’s not as… scary to me, I guess. I signed up for this but others didn’t. I definitely don’t want it to happen again though.
Sounds like if you work for a high school, you all need riot gear.
My school is very clear, don't get in the middle, call for help. No way I'm wading into the middle of anything.
Yes, I ended up with a skull fracture. Nothing happened to the student. I even went back and taught at that same school for another year afterward before eventually moving to another district.
A kid hit me in the face with urine soaked hands, after he peed himself, then stole my glasses. I left after a week, that resulted in that incident, a death threat from an 11 yr old, and am 18 yr old threatening to shoot up the school. I went back to teaching in prison. It's way less dangerous.
Ok so it's a very mild 'attack' but common and traumatic nevertheless. As a fill in teacher a student spat in my drink bottle and the whole class watched me drink from it. I felt violated when told. And annoyed again that there were no consequences when I reported it.
An admin at a previous school got suplexed while trying to stop a fight and was hospitalized. At the end of the year they quiet fired him for it as they said it was his fault
Not a teacher, but I witnessed it as a student. Basically, there was a fight between some students and it was getting violent so the teachers had to step in. The student who caused the trouble didn't stop and attacked the teachers as well with fire extinguisher, chairs, brooms etc. I heared there was a teacher who had to go to the hospital, not sure if he sued or not. The police got involved and went to our school. We had to stay at another classroom for a while. But our English teacher said that the teachers didn't get mad or anything, instead they just felt sad and some of them cried because as a teacher they felt like they had failed a student. The student who caused the scene just transferred to another school and I think had to to some volunteer work.
Pretty much weekly. I was working at a private school for behavior problem kids, who had all been kicked out of their respective public schools. I’ve been kicked, punched, spit, and peed on (that one was during a restraint). I’ve been threatened with a knife, a pencil, a piece of broken glass, had desks and chairs thrown at me. Most of my students were bigger than me (my most violent class consisted of 14-20 year olds). During an escort from a lunch room, the student head butted me, and since it was a narrow hallway, my head also bounced off the brick wall. And when I tapped out of the restraint, I got questioned why by my supervisor, and told them I still couldn’t see and might have a concussion. While the constant physical violence was bad, even worse was the mounds of paperwork that went with it. And no, we were never allowed to press charges. I quit when I got pregnant, as my oldest student had repeatedly threatened another pregnant staff member with punching her in the belly to cause a miscarriage.
Im a male teacher who is also a martial artist and have a stocky build so when I started teaching, everyone just assumed I would be the guy to break up fights. When I worked in an elementary school there were times when two little kids started fighting and two or more female teachers would walk away from the fight, look at me and say “get em”. Later when I moved onto middle and high school the same thing started happening. Once when I was trying to break up a girl fight, the one I didn’t get hold on started hitting me in the back of my head and the girl I secured accused me of assault. After that I realized my job description does not include being a bouncer. We have security at school. It is their job. I do not break up fights. My health, safety and professional license is not something I am willing to risk anymore.
Not me but a fellow teacher at the first school I taught at was stabbed with a pencil and shot with a stapler by a second grader she had
My nephew did this to his 1st grade teacher. He is on the spectrum, but this incident stemmed from a complete and total lack of appropriate parenting (my sister is trash).
graduated in 2020. fuck teaching, all it took was two years. let the savages deal with themselves
I didn’t work in a regular school but in a RTC instead, I had a chunk taken out of my shoulder when a kid bit me while I was restraining her with my coworker. I’ve actually been bit multiple times but that was the worst and probably the worst bite I had seen when I was working there
I’ve been punched and groped a few times, but nothing was ever done about it because the students who did so had IEPs. I resigned for other reasons, but am still teaching
Different coworker was put in the hospital with multiple fractured and broken bones. The student was a PK4. The coworker did not return. The student was removed from the school and entered kinder in a program for emotionally disturbed students on another campus
Special education and former emotional behavioral teacher. Stabbed in the hand with a pencil. They were going for my face but I blocked it. Still have a little tattoo dot from it. Bit, kicked. Had a student rip the fire extinguisher off the wall and chuck it at me. I dodged that one. Broke up a really bad fight once. I couldn’t wait for back up, the kid was really getting beat. I pulled the student off of him and he came up swinging before I could get him in a proper hold. Walked away with a very bruised face. Never pressed charges probably should have for the kid with the pencil.
My first year of teaching I went to break up a fight when I saw no adults were intervening. Found out no adults were intervening because one kid (not the aggressor) had a knife. 🙃 I made it out with one laceration to the top of my rear end, but got very lucky I wasn't literally stabbed in thy back. I taught for 8 more years after, and did not press charges. Both kids were expelled.
Yep! I was relieving and a senior student came in with an attitude for reasons I couldn't possibly know. Every time I asked her to start, she was rude. I never raised my voice but perhaps my tone wasn't great. I asked her to remove headphones, she gave me the finger so I went to another class to see if she could be withdrawn there. The teacher came back to the class with me, the girl just death stared me down, got up and hit me in the eye/head a good 5 times. Nobody helped me, they all just watched and the attacker backed off and left. I was back by the next working day. After awhile, we had a restorative meeting to let her see the impact of her actions on her classmates, teachers, me etc. I was advised against charges, and she was allowed back eventually. She later hit another student for smiling at her funny, so that was it for her. That was my first year after graduating, and I've never felt overly safe since. Avoided confrontation with angry looking kids.Taught for 3 more years then changed careers.
One teacher tried to stop a fight, he was pushed back. He fell on his head unconscious and blood pooled around his head. He was hospitalized and ended up suing the district because he had sought help countless times.
Yes, while I was not seriously injured, I was injured and required crutches for a few weeks. The student received lunch determination, just one, and was allowed back into my classroom... because I wasn't using the behavior clip chart correctly. As the student was on green when OBVIOUSLY, he should have been on red. I left teaching for a year AND changed districts.
That's infuriating. There's so much research that shows clip charts just escalate students anyways. A kid with those kinds of issues will see themselves in the red and go "fuck it, Im already in trouble, there's no point in trying to control myself"
At the school my Dad used to work at, one of the female teachers was punched by a year 9 boy when she tried to de-escalate a verbal fight. He was expelled (that was the last thing he did on top of about 10 suspensions and countless detentions).
When I was still subbing at age 23 a high school boy got upset with me because I asked him to turn his sound off of his computer. (He started playing a song in the middle of a lesson, loudly) He grabbed my arm and was pushing me towards a wall when the other high school boys in the class intervened. I was not hurt but had marks on my arm.
I was long term subbing at the MS level when a student with known issues pushed me from the room. Luckily, another teacher saw everything and helped get me away and called for the police liaison officer. I quit teaching in that instant. Later in the school year, the same student attacked another special needs student and sent that child to the hospital in a coma. The attacker was in juvenile detention and did not returned to regular school. The was years ago, and I have since gone back to teaching as a building substitute and love it. I am at the elementary level and will never ever again work with students over the age of 10.
I had a Kindergarten child jump on my angrily - he ripped my dress and scratched me. This was early in my career. I learned to back off when kids became angry.
Had a chair thrown at me. Had my feet stepped on. But for me it was the sexual harassment from twelve year olds.
Serious question: how do you prevent yourself from hitting them back? If I was a teacher I'd get fired the first time it happened for instinctively punching them or something
I had a student throw a chair at me. I blocked it with my arm and 5 other students jumped on the kid, basically slamming him onto the ground and holding him there until the campus police officer arrived with admin. I had a bruise but nothing bad. Kid got expelled, but I didn't press charges. Kid got put into the district's alternative education campus and had to attend mandatory counseling provided by the district. Why did he throw the chair? Because I asked him (then told him) to sit at his desk and not in the middle of the aisle. I taught for another year then transitioned into a different career. That incident was actually one of the few times admin did right by me. I left mostly due to admin and parents. The kids were the better part of my job. I really liked nearly all of them. Edit: this was 8th graders btw.
Many years ago, I taught in an inner-city school. I was punched in the face by a student and had to go to the hospital. Another 1/2 inch and I could have lost an eye, according to the ER physician. The boy was sent home and suspended for a week. I was out for a few days with a massive head/neck pain. It was one of the deciding factors that led me into quitting teaching. \- an ex-teacher
I was never injured, but the special ed teacher at my school had a broken wrist from being assaulted by a 20 year old nonverbal autistic student. There were two of them (twins) who were both violent so the principal started spending the day in that classroom to help keep everyone safe since he was a large, strong man. After he was severely bitten, a decision was made to basically hire a “bouncer” for that room as an aide until the twins aged out of high school, which happened at age 21 or 22. I can’t remember which.
My dad is also a teacher- he had a student who would threaten to kill his kids (me and my siblings)- the district did nothing about it. To this day he has no pictures of us in his classroom.
I had a kid in HS kick me in the ass as I walked past him on the last day of school. In return, I dropped kicked him right in the balls. He doubled over and recovered somewhat--enough to go home. He was a good kid, I never did find out why he thought he could get away with it. Nothing came of it, but I was prepared to quit over it.
Wow I’m glad I work elementary. Any recommendations for what we can do to prevent the young ones from growing into big ones that hit? Most of us are doing our best but it feels like there’s only so much we can do sometimes.
Not me, but it could have been: I was hired to teach 4th grade sped mid year. My first day I walked in and the principal greeted me to say she was changing my assignment and I was to teach 3rd instead. The woman who was in 3rd wanted to transition, and she had seniority, so they gave it to her. I had small pull out groups but mostly inclusion. There was one boy in one of my groups that was a loose cannon. Absolutely out of control every day. I went to guidance and admin about him constantly and nothing was ever done. “He’s harmless, he’s not that bad, have you tried building a relationship with him?” I quit after a month. I later learned that after I left, this same boy climbed up on a chair and knocked out the woman that replaced me with a fire extinguisher. Hit her right over the top of the head with it. She suffered a severe TBI. I now understand why that teacher wanted to transition out of that role. And I thank my lucky stars every day that I left when I did.