http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43294291/ns/today-today_people/t/teacher-who-punched-student-i-had-defend-myself/

Quote :

Teacher who punched student: ‘I had to defend myself’
School has placed veteran teacher on leave, but she hopes to get her job back




By Scott Stump
TODAY.com contributor TODAY.com contributor
updated 6/6/2011 10:31:02 AM ET


A Florida teacher who faces an uncertain job future after being caught on video punching a student last month told TODAY’s Matt Lauer in an exclusive interview Monday that she had no choice but to protect herself during the incident.

“I can’t say I regret what happened,’’ said Sandra Hadsock, 64. “I’m really sorry that I was put in a situation where that’s what I felt like I had to do. I had to defend myself from this violent person.’’

Part of the incident in question was caught on another student’s cellphone video camera last month at Central High School in Brooksville, Fla. The short, shaky clip shows the veteran art teacher punching a taller student, cutting his lip. What the clip doesn’t show, say Hadsock and other witnesses, is the student calling Hadsock vulgar names and backing her against a wall.

“The tape only captured a small portion of the whole incident,” which lasted about a minute, Hadsock told Lauer. “That’s the second time he comes at me. The first time, he made physical contact and it was pretty frightening.’’

The student has not been identified and has not made any public statement about the incident. Hadsock said she had not had any prior run-ins with that student but the situation quickly escalated.

“He was clearly dangerous, but I had not had encounters like this before with him,’’ she said. “I was afraid because of the look in his face. It was very vicious and violent-looking, but I’ve been teaching all these years, [and] I never assumed that he would attack me. But he just came on and chest-bumped me.’’

Hadsock was taken to the principal’s office while the authorities were called. She was put in a police car, handcuffed, and taken to the local precinct to have a mug shot taken. She was initially charged with felony child abuse, but the charge was recently dropped when the state attorney’s office determined she had acted in self-defense.

The school placed her on leave immediately after the incident and did not let her attend its graduation on Friday night, marking the first time she has been disciplined in her 23 years in the district.

While any legal charges against her have been dropped, her future as a teacher at Central High School is uncertain.

“Certainly our evaluation and our determination is based on what’s best in the interest of the students in this school district,’’ Hernando County Schools Superintendent Bryan Blavatt told NBC News about Hadsock’s future.

Hadsock, who was voted “Teacher of the Year’’ last year by the students, said she still would like to continue teaching at Central.

“I do want my job back because of the large percentage of students that are wonderful human beings, that are going to grow up to be productive, healthy, happy citizens and love art,’’ she said. “[They] love me, and I love them in return. It’s a small faction of students that’s making it so bad all across the nation.’’

She still wants to return despite feeling that she did not get support from the school administration in the immediate aftermath of the incident, in which she was cuffed and put in a squad car.

“I don’t know what position they considered themselves in, but I felt really strung out there except for my union representative,’’ she said.

Vote and discuss: Should teacher who punched student get her job back?

By watching the video, it also seemed like she did not have the support of the class during the incident, but she said that is misleading. One student can be heard in the background saying, “He didn’t do anything. You can’t punch him in the face. You can’t even call him stupid.’’

“That one person was very vocal, but she was not in a position to see that he had made contact,’’ Hadsock said. “Students who were over to the side who saw it, wrote that in their statements, which is why the state’s attorney looked at their statements, the ones who could see, and looked at the video and determined that this could be self-defense.’’

The hope in the end for Hadsock is that the school administration reaches the same conclusion as the state attorney’s office and allows her to return to her job.

“We’re hoping that the school district recognizes the Teacher of the Year ... and recognizes that she has a right to defend herself,’’ said Hadsock’s attorney, Ty Tison, who appeared with her on TODAY.

Tison feels the incident is a reflection of a growing trend of insubordination against teachers nationwide.

“I’m hoping that the school district realizes that you don’t lose your God-given and your statutory right to defend yourself just because of the status of your life of being a teacher,’’ said Tison. “This is a profession that was honored at one time, and now we’re really losing control in the schools.’’

Quite a hairy situation. But if somebody's coming at you, I think you have the right to defend yourself. I side with this lady. Under what circumstance do you ever charge at your teacher. Like, what the Hell.

It sounds like her other students are on her side as well.

She did what she had to do. Bet it surprised the hell outta that little punk. Love the way his head flew back on the second one.

She should have given him another and knocked him out. I am on her side.

I do not side with the teacher at all. An adult has no right to hit a child, period. He may have been an unruly kid, obnoxious, etc., but that's not what a responsible teacher does in these situations. If that school district is smart, then they will not let her teach there again. You can't assault someone and that's as simple as it gets.

The teacher had a right to defend herself.

She didn't punch a child. She punched a student in self-defense.

MandyPerfumeGirl wrote:

I do not side with the teacher at all. An adult has no right to hit a child, period. He may have been an unruly kid, obnoxious, etc., but that's not what a responsible teacher does in these situations. If that school district is smart, then they will not let her teach there again. You can't assault someone and that's as simple as it gets.

"...She was initially charged with felony child abuse, but the charge was recently dropped when the state attorney’s office determined she had acted in self-defense."

Well, it is good that the state attorney's office looks at the facts instead of relying on perceptions of an "unruly kid."

It is easy to say such standard things as “An adult has no right to hit a child, period,” when you were not there as a 64-year-old woman with a violent “child” taller than yourself attacking you. Did you read the article?

“I can’t say I regret what happened,’’ said Sandra Hadsock, 64. “I’m really sorry that I was put in a situation where that’s what I felt like I had to do. I had to defend myself from this violent person.’’

There was a seen in Chariots of Fire where one of the characters was asked if he had regrets over making a difficult choice. He said something like, "Regrets but no doubts."

After the day I had, I really don't blame this teacher for doing what she did. That the admin is not backing her is no surprise. I'm getting quite used to that happening. If this had happened on the streets the student would be up on charges. School staff are left with very little they can do.

Today a student verbally assaulted me, but little was done. It's common for this student but he gets away with it all the time because he hides behind his mental illness excuse, though it has nothing to do with his verbal assaults on anyone who dares to say anything he doesn't like. He's allowed to get away with whatever he wants, and always has been, because they don't want him to explode. Today I was his target because I asked him to remove his hood and the t-shrt that was COMPLETLETY covering his entire face. We haved a no hat/no hood policy when you're in the building and you're also not allowed to completely cover your face. He was skulking around the halls, poking his head around a wall, trying to engage other students. I asked him politely the first time and he was completely non-compliant. I asked him again and again he refused. I raised my voice the third time and he tore it off and then went pounding to his classroom to whine to the resource teaching about how he'd been made to comply with school rules. When I came in, he was telling another assitant his untrue version of what happened - that he was about to remove it and I'd yelled at him for no reason. I'd watched him play his little game for a minute or so before I headed down the corridor to supervise the students coming in. He continued to skulk around the corridor, popping out at students and trying to scare them. e called me a bitch several times and when he was asked to leave the room, he said "I'm not leaving until Asshole does", because he knew that I'd let the assistant know what really happened. With the way his face was covered, I actually thought he was another student who had the same hoody, or I'd have just ignored him.

So yeah - verbal assault is part of the regular life of those who work in schools. I don't blame this teacher one bit for what she did. She was defending herself.