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

Question

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.

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.

Answer 1

He probably deserves it.

Answer 2

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

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

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.

Answer 5

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.

Answer 6

you can call the police on the teacher so he or she can get arrested for doing that .because I have been abused in middle school at 13 when i got hit by my teacher then I went home and told my parents, my grandma and the school principal, administrative about what happened and have told her that I was gonna pull a gun on her because I was so mad and she was so abusive and I told her that she is gonna go to jail for not doing things right and even when the boys are hitting me I told her about it too and she started yelling at them and plus I have this by yelling at her real good and it makes me want to smack her maybe that is what should you do for child is go out there and fuss and yell,cuss the teacher out so she or he can get yelled at and fussed at alot ,then bust the teachers head and neck open or take your kid to see a psychiatrist about this to help him or her plus my mom and dad have told me that fussing is not going to do any good and all it's gonna do is make the teacher mad and upset and I'm not trying to tell you do violent stuff like that because you can go to jail for doing that which is called assault & battery or malicious wounding for fighting, hitting and disorderly conduct for yelling, screaming at them. I think he need some counseling like a psychiatrist. and have your son have his cellphone to video this stuff that teacher is doing ,tell the teacher next time she or he does that again you are gonna video it and post,send it or show it to the police online to youtube or so the whole world can see how she or he is acting,doing this stuff{crap} to you or just take him out the school and that's my parents did to me in the 8th grade because there is nothing they can do about it. I left the public school system because of the grade level that they were not putting me on as the same grade that I am and i called some of them liars, an idiot and they didn't like it and two of my teachers that i called an idiot is the English teacher and math teacher because how the way they yell and they didn't do nothing when I said that

Answer 7

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.

Answer 8

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!

Answer 9

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.

Answer 10

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.

Answer 11

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.