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My 13 year old son's teacher smacked him.?
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My 13 year old son's teacher smacked him.?

During class, the teacher was angry at my son for playing with a little piece of plastic, he walked up from behind him and smacked my son on the side of his abdomen, while yelling at him. One of the other students told my son "He hit you hard, you should report him" We (my husband and I) decided our son and our younger children might suffer torment from teachers or principals in the future if we pursued the issue, and we live in a very small town, and didn't want to cause a huge scene. Ironically, after we did nothing, the same teacher has continued to pick on our son and is now giving him detentions for ridiculous things that are not at all worthy of detentions. We contacted the county prosecutor and were advised to file an assault report with the police. We finally did that, two days ago, and now the police will "investigate" and get back with us. Is there something else we can do to ensure justice considering the police are friends with the teachers, small town cover-ups,etc.
Additional Details
The day we found out, we certainly wanted to go beat the guy to a pulp, but knew we would be arrested also. We called the prosecutor that day and we talked to our son about it at great length. We regret not doing anything at first. The prosecutors office told us that going to the pricipal and superintendent would not help our son because those people would defend the teacher. The whole reason we did nothing at first was to protect our son and our 3 younger children (who will go to that school someday) from being treated badly by the teachers, principal, etc. We want justice for our son, and he is no longer in that man's class because it was only a 9-week course. The man actually watches our son every day in the halls and seems to enjoy intimidating him. I would love to see him punished, but am afraid this is going to get brushed under the rug by the authorities.


    




gottalot2learn
i know get a restraining order!!!!!!!!!!


Baby Raptor
Rating
likely he deserved it. Someone has to discipline your bratty kid. 13 yo is too old to still be goofing around in class.


lorraine
Rating
Hope this helps you I am speaking from my experiences with my son and his school.
13 year olds are fragile. It is a difficult age for him and you. Make sure he knows that you are in his corner, but be sure you know the truth of what is actually going on in school.

Keep a journal of all incidents with this "teacher" and your child.Make sure that you keep all comunications with the school in writing and keep copies!! BE PERSISTENT!! Speak with other parents whose children have or have had this teacher.If necessary go to the dept of education start with county and work your way up to state. Do some research on the teacher. How long has this person been working in your school system?
Do not procrastinate!!! Fortunatetly things have worked out well for my son.


Grand pa
Rating
TRy to contact as many parents of class mates Contact a lawyer


cdwjava
This may be largely a matter for the school personnel. If you cannot get some manner of satisfaction from the Principal, try the Superintendent or even the School Board.

While this may technically be a case of criminal battery, it may not be sufficient to justify an arrest or a prosecution. A "smack" on the abdomen (which could be just about anywhere on the lower torso) can be anything from a gentle nudge to gain someone's attention, to a kidney punch. Without injury, the police and the DA may not get excited about prosecuting the matter.

Your best course of action will be to take the issue up with the school authorities. If there is ongoing harassment or problems, you might consider removing the child from the school or engaging legal counsel to address the matter. However, most forms of harassment are perfectly legal. A teacher standing in the hall and scrutinizing passing students is not likely to be engaging an acts that will be considered harassment.

Speak to the Principal, the Superintendent, and then the School Board, and see where that takes you.

- Carl


evil_paul
Rating
try filing a complaint with the school board. I live in a small town too, and when it comes to somebody messing with my kids I wouldn't care about stirring up trouble.


Rhonda W
Oh My I just want to say that my thoughts are with you. When I was a child I had no one to defend me and a teacher made a pass at me and he wouldnt let up on me. I didnt have a father at home and my mother was a reclusive person, so I decided to take it on myself. I reported him to the principal and all the other students that he propositioned when I needed them to speak up their parents said not to get involved. So the principla refused to believe me in fact threatened that if I opened my mouth again about this teacher he would see to it that I never get back in that high school or any other school. I should have sued his ***. I didnt. So I would say make it public. Get the newspaper involved. The more exposure you have now the less likely they will have a chance to cover that up. My God you have the strength to do it..do it. I wish I had parents like you. Do it..and I pray you get justice..so unfair for your son.


sweetpea22306
I completely understand the small town politics side of what is going on, I would call the county prosecutor back, explain to them that you did file a police report and that you are concerned that no action might be taken. Follow up with the police department, it is your right to do so.


Isaac
I think I would have started with a discussion with the Principal instead of jumping to the legal system. It would have been fair to hear the teachers side of the story and to allow the principal the chance to facilitate a investigation, discussion/solution. This also would have created some records of the event. In turn, these records may have supported you down the road if you did need to prosecute. Following a discussion with the principal, a call to the school board would have been in order (if you felt the solution worked by the prinipal was unsatisfactory).

Now that you've gone the legal path you'll likely find barriers placed at every turn - you've forced the school to go into the defense mode instead of cooperation mode. My suggestion is to contact the Principal immediately to communicate your concern and the fact that you have contacted the county prosecuter. I'd ask about the districts policy on corporal punishment and their process for handling incidents such as this (ask for a copy). Then, offer to meet with the Principal to discuss other avenues for resolution. The Pricipal should contact the school board, and I'd encourage him/her to do so and that you'd be following up with them. Good luck.


Tim
This is why things like this happen. I'm scared that something might happen, If someone does you wrong stand up for yourself or your child. If the school starts acting stupid, document everything and get a lawyer. Large court settlements and prison time seem to help stop people from doing this again. Grow some balls and stick up for yourself and your children.
PS. striking a child while being a teacher is a Felony in most states.


He's my world
Rating
He should be reported to higher authorities...They can't touch your kid unless you give them permission. Teachers can get suspended or lose their jobs over crap like this.


luvlandon2006
Rating
I went through a similar case with a rotten cop in a small town, but I wrote a letter to the mayor saying I was filing suit and I also let him know I was also contacting the local media outlets. It was resolved quickly and quietly, and it turned out the officer had a history of mental illness and using his weapon illegally but it had been covered up until my case. You should be as public as possible, and it might be this teacher has done this before but others kept quiet. You might be a beacon!


jade
Report the teacher to the school or the school board/governors he will probably get the sack. If a teacher hit my child at school i would do something i would probably regret, I'm not saying violence is the answer but you cannot let this go, your child is looking to you for help with this and your doing nothing how do you think that makes him feel.


AMY
Rating
You need to get in contact with the parents of the other children that witnessed the teacher hit him. Have them have their children write a statement as to what they saw. Make sure you get a copy of it and hold on to it. So, if they come back and say that the other kids saw nothing, you have writen proof.


George in Texas
the lack of corporal punishment in the home and in school is the reason that we have the societal problems we have these days.

in the days of corporal punishment, there were no Columbines and the like.

remember - there are two sides to every story and just because the kid is YOUR kid doesn't mean he is telling the whole truth. sorry if that is an awkward realization, but it is the truth.


M JOHNS
Rating
I have to say that you didn't send a very good message to your son by doing nothing you in essence said "that he did a bad thing to you but you are not worth doing any thing about it" you should have done some thing about it the same day that you knew about it


babydragonspawn
you really really need to report this!
My parents sued the school for a very similar incident's that happened to my oldest brother in the 4th grade. The teacher got fired and my parents and the rest of us children never had another problem at that school or any other again.
Please for the sake of your child's mental health and the well far of other children... Tell someone!


2Beagles
When we lived in Tennessee, corporal punishment was still allowed, but if you did not wish for your child to be punished that way, you had to send in a note to the school. Keep a copy for yourself. By having this on record, the school will have to respect your decision. If they hit your child, then they will be in trouble. If that were my child, I'd have reported it immediately. Don't worry about what people think. It's possible this teacher has done this before and all it takes is one brave family to come forward and give others the courage to admit they were abused by the teacher also. Good luck.


aj1964
I'd keep hounding the police, and ask what they found out. Bug them until they do something. I'd also go visit the teacher. Let him know he's in trouble, and to back off your son.


BLOODHOUND
Rating
time too home school.........if it was my son the teacher would be missing a few teeth. we don't hit our children and i can assure a teacher is not going to hit my child.not but once any way.


everythingszenidontthinkso
Rating
heck no!

it is not her place to hit your child no matter what he does.
report this abuse take it to the school board and to the news stations, make a big thing out of it.

this is not to be tolerated in any schools in America!

fight this all the way


cloudrr79
Rating
YES get an out of town lawyer...They will know best how to dig up dirt on the teacher an dhow to get information from other children.


blazenphoenix
You need to make sure your son is actually 'innocent'. A good friend of mine from church went down to his son's school for a surprise visit because he had been getting in trouble with his teacher saying that she just didn't like him. My friend even yelled at the teacher over the phone and said that he believed what his son was telling him.

So my friend walked into the class and sat quietly in the back of the room and observed his son asleep with his head down on the desk. When the teacher told him to sit up he cussed at her and told her to leave him alone. Needless to say, my friend was extremely embarrassed and he apologized to the teacher for not believing her.

I volunteer at my kids school a lot and I know that teachers really do appreciate good kids. If your son is a perfectly good kid then why would this teacher go out of his way to target him and give him detention for nothing? I don't condone hitting but if you don't get down to the bottom of this thing your son will be singing the same song next year with a new teacher.


I know, I know!!!!
Go to the board of education, or whomever is above the school principal. I would be sure to raise a fuss over it and not just depend on your local police to handle it. Good luck to you.
The thought of a teacher hitting a child makes me furious!


sunflare63
Rating
Oh well, in my days the teacher would pull your britches down and beat you with a belt.
Times have changed, hope everything works out for the best.


b52big
Rating
Maybe the teacher did someting you should have done 5 years ago.


Thor's screwdriver
Rating
Request that he be moved from the class and put into another one. File a civil suit, call the State board of education, and get an attorney.


wrldzgr8stdad
Rating
every time that teacher harasses your son, you need to file charges. eventually, the police will get tired of getting loaded down with paperwork and will actually do something about it. i am glad to see that you have started to take some action. after all... if that teacher thinks he can get away with assault, he may eventually upgrade to homicide.


zzHoUnDzz
Teachers are not to put a hand on a child no matter what! Have him arrested!


ELAINE C
He probably deserves it.





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