Former teachers at a North Carolina high school where a student slapped his teacher multiple times in a viral, profanity-laced classroom attack say they were not surprised because violence has long run rampant in the school.
“I did see it coming,” Kisha Wall-Freeman told WFMY News 2 of the shocking assault Tuesday in her former place of work, Parkland High School in Winston-Salem
“That’s the way things have been progressing for quite some time now.”
An unidentified minor was charged Tuesday over the attack in which a teacher was slapped multiple times and cursed out in front of the class, with other pupils laughing.
Kayleigh Connell told WFMY that it was a painful reminder of an attack she suffered at another local school, Triad elementary, the final straw forcing her to switch career paths after 11 years as a teacher.
“I ended up in urgent care with a concussion because a student got upset and lashed out,” Connell said.
“At the worst point for me. I would say 80% of my day, on average, was spent trying to manage behaviors.”
Wall-Freeman says when she first started working at Parkland High in 2012 she didn’t fear her students, but that changed during her seven-year career in teaching.
That rising fear coincided with a change in how students were disciplined, she said, allowing more behavioral problems to slip through the cracks.
“They hear the cussing and the bad language from their parents as well,” she told the local outlet.
“I have seen that get progressively worse, even just going through the stores or in the malls. I hear it, I see it, and it wasn’t like that not even 10 years ago it wasn’t like that.”
Connell, meanwhile, told the station she felt poor behaviors were exacerbated by kids forced to learn remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We noticed a lot of like, kids didn’t necessarily have the tools to problem solve when there was an issue between their friends or when they disagreed with a teacher,” Connell said.
Connell said parents should teach their children that their educator is “not the enemy.”
“They love your kids as much as you do. We see your kids all day long. When we call and they want to discuss behaviors with you or let you know there’s an issue, it is not them trying to tell you it’s a reflection on your parenting, it is not them trying to belittle your child, trying to get them in trouble, or not trying to support them. They’re doing it because they care.”
The school district condemned the student seen in the viral clip for putting his hands on his teacher.
“This behavior will not be tolerated. At no time is it acceptable for students to put their hands on a teacher in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools,” Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Superintendent Tricia McManus said in a statement.
“My focus now is on making sure that our teacher is taken care of and has the support needed to navigate through the lasting effects of this incident.”
On Tuesday, a secure custody order was issued for three misdemeanor charges against the student for assault on a government official.
He was charged with one count of communicating threats and two counts of misdemeanor assault, the Forsyth Sheriff’s Office announced.