Texas Teacher Loses Job After She Has Kids Hit 6-Year-Old Class “Bully”
Guest entry by Amanda Dove
Please visit Stop Bullying for more information about bullying and some measures you can use to help prevent it. Please contact the Maryland assault lawyers and Virginia assault lawyers of Price Benowitz LLP for more information.
In many superhero films, villains seem to share a lot of similar characteristics: a sinister appearance, an evil laugh, and the insatiable desire to take over the world. The line between good and evil is always clearly drawn in these films, making it hard to confuse the two, but unfortunately, reality rarely works in this way. Sometimes, the people that you are meant to trust in and to look up to are the ones that turn out being the most fearsome.
Two teachers from Texas prove that bullies can come in all shapes and sizes. When a kindergarten teacher caught one of her students, Aiden Neely, acting up in line, she went to her experienced coworker and asked for advice in dealing with classroom bullies. Instead of suggesting that she contact his parents or follow school procedures, the second teacher allegedly took the six-year-old into her classroom, sat him down, and told her twenty-four students to hit him one by one. She even encouraged her students to “hit him harder” in order to demonstrate why “bullying is bad”. It wasn’t until after Aiden was hit especially hard on the back that his teacher stopped the exercise.
When Aiden’s teacher came forward two weeks later, the district placed both teachers under paid administrative leave. Neither teacher has been identified, but the school says the one who organized the incident will not return next year, while the other will be eligible to come back in the fall after re-training. Salinas Elementary School also stated that they do not condone actions like this against their students.
Corporal punishment is not legal in all states, but when it is, the teacher must take appropriate disciplinary actions, not students. Usually, state laws will also contain requirements as to how physical punishments should be carried out and what offenses it can apply to.
Aiden’s mother, Amy Neely, is furious. She says, “twenty-four of those kids hit him and he said that most of them hit him twice.” She claims that this is the first time she has heard of her son having behavioral problems since the teacher never contacted her about the issue or sent her son to the principal’s office. Neely also adds that some of Aiden’s friends in the classroom told him that they didn’t want to participate, but they were too afraid to say no. She has already filed an official oppression complaint against the educators with the district police and is now working to ensure that the teacher who orchestrated the hitting never steps foot into another classroom.
The worst part of this ordeal is that none of the kids learned anything about bullying. If their classmate was perceived as a bully, the teacher should have helped him to take responsibility for his actions. Instead, she encouraged the students to believe that “two wrongs make a right”. Physical punishment is only a temporary solution to bullying problems. It is important for children to understand that if they are caught bullying, then they will be held accountable and may face serious repercussions like their educators.
For more information about this story visit USAToday.