Commenters on the AJC Get Schooled blog shared hundreds of responses to the firing of a school police officer in South Carolina for flipping a recalcitrant student out of her chair and throwing her across the floor. The student had been texting in class and refused several orders to go to the office. Here is a sampling:
Bob: Both officer and student could have handled it better. As the adult, the officer should have done better.
4PublicEd: The officer should not have been called or been involved. This was not a law enforcement issue. If I were the teacher, I would have done a write-up, called for assistance, taken the rest of the students to the library and de-escalated the situation. If I were the administrator, I would have tried to talk to her. If she was unresponsive, I would have had someone call her parent to come get her. She was not violent, just disrespectful.
AC: Hey, if you don't behave and then don't do what the cops say, then you should be treated this way. I was raised that way. We enable kids way too much today. They need more tough love.
Alphare: What's so bad to be roughed up a little if you don't behave? It's more a humiliation than a beating, anyway.
InsideView: Did the officer handle the situation appropriately? Absolutely not. Should he have done a better job of removing her from the classroom? Absolutely. However, the student's refusal to comply with the directive of three adults — a teacher, assistant principal and, finally, the school resource officer — guaranteed the outcome. We have to do a better job of dealing with defiant and disrespectful teenagers, and they have to do a better job of respecting authority.
Acrostic: He should get a medal and the brat should be in jail. Only in America.
Ralph: He did what the teacher and principal asked him to do. Put yourself in his place and decide how you would handle a profane, unruly high school student disrupting class in a taxpayer-supported institution. The school is obviously out of control, with multiple students carrying proscribed cellphones and failing to help the teacher, principal or officer. Unfortunately, the sheriff knows his own job depends on firing this fellow. This community will inherit what it has sown: gangs, uneducated punks, guns and violence. A lesson for us all.
Susan: I'm happy he was fired. True enough, the young lady should have been respectful to the teacher and put up her cellphone when she was in class; however, the officer did not have a right to use aggressive force with her. All in all, she is still a child. I hope charges are filed against him. There were a lot of other ways he could have handled that situation.
ATLDawg: I just wish he had thrown the phone against the wall and smashed it to pieces beforehand. That would have been an awesome touch.
About the Author
