People said I got hit. I didn't. Our campus monitor watched many videos on social media and she said one kid (he was huge, btw) threw a punch at me and I dodged it, but I honestly have no memory of that. I was just trying to restrain him at times, and hold him back at other times.
Did I mention this kid was big? I was thinking the whole time,
"Darren, if this kid hits you, you have to take him out. You can't let a
kid get away with hitting you, you'd lose too much credibility." I was
running over my West Point unarmed combat training in my head the whole
time I was involved. I'm thankful I didn't have to use it. Could you
imagine, having to physically harm a kid in order to protect myself or
protect the kid he was trying to fight?
I wouldn't worry much about a lawsuit. California Ed Code gives me very wide latitude to do what I think is *reasonable* to protect myself *or* others. Also, I have a very large liability insurance policy in my own name (*not* the crap the offered by the CTA to its members). No, I wasn't concerned about legal repercussions if I had to hit back, I was only concerned with taking the kid down quickly without doing too much damage. I'm glad it didn't come to that.
I was breathing very rapidly 10 min after the event. It couldn't have winded me that much, could it? No, that was the adrenaline still coursing through my system. I was still fired up, I was still on a hair trigger, I was still in "aggression mode". It's definitely a rush.
I have no interest in watching the videos. I'm afraid I might discover that I was in more danger than I considered at the time!
I wouldn't worry much about a lawsuit. California Ed Code gives me very wide latitude to do what I think is *reasonable* to protect myself *or* others. Also, I have a very large liability insurance policy in my own name (*not* the crap the offered by the CTA to its members). No, I wasn't concerned about legal repercussions if I had to hit back, I was only concerned with taking the kid down quickly without doing too much damage. I'm glad it didn't come to that.
I was breathing very rapidly 10 min after the event. It couldn't have winded me that much, could it? No, that was the adrenaline still coursing through my system. I was still fired up, I was still on a hair trigger, I was still in "aggression mode". It's definitely a rush.
I have no interest in watching the videos. I'm afraid I might discover that I was in more danger than I considered at the time!
"I have no interest in watching the videos."
ReplyDeleteAlso, you look awful silly.
I hope you're not confusing me with one of the other teachers on the scene :)
ReplyDeleteYou are very lucky. I had an acquaintance who retired at 55 and started subbing to make ends meet. She was a substitute teacher in a classroom in McKinney when a girl, who outweighed her by thirty pounds, knocked her down and broke her arm. You would think the school would have some liability to help the sub out. But a local black radio station (did I mention the student was black?) took this up as a cause celebre, picketed the school administration who FIRED the sub, who was a single woman with only her sad teaching pension to pay the bills. What is more some self-righteous lawyer took up the girl's "case" into civil court and tried to extort a huge settlement against the substitute. The student had been a regular visitor to alternative school and up until this incident, the sub had never even had a bad observation. This happened six years ago before BLM was such a pop culture force. I wrote this blog earlier-I think it explains what we're facing. http://sumofallthingsaccording2me.blogspot.com/2016/01/i-am-not-teacheri-am-person-who-teaches.html
ReplyDeleteWow--y'all stay safe out there!
ReplyDeleteAs a 10yr sub, I've only had to break up two elementary school fights.
ReplyDeleteOne I blocked a fist blow to the other kid with my arm and that ended the fight pretty quick. The other I was able grab a handful of shirt to pull one kid off the other.
Fortunately I experienced no negative district repercussions...