Cell Phone Leads to Classroom Confrontation

CHARLOTTE, NC — We’ve seen it before. In fact, we’re seeing it way too often!

Teachers, and teaching assistants, involved in physical confrontations in the classroom. The latest took place Monday at South Meck High School, between a student and a TA.

It started over a cell phone, with a teaching assistant, subbing in a classroom at South Meck, trying to get a student to put his away. Instead, it ended up a physical confrontation.

“It’s a real quick risk-benefit analysis in deciding how to handle a situation like that,” says Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teacher Justin Parmenter.

Parmenter says building relationships with students is key to maintain order… but large class size makes it difficult to keep everything under control.

“With the size classes that we’re seeing now,” says Parmenter. “For one human to manage 40 bodies, 40 students, all at the same time; it’s physically impossible.”

“We’re not going to tolerate you attacking an employee,” says CMS board of education chair Mary McCray. “And our employees have got to know when to back down.”

Blaming “bad kids” may be too simple an approach for systematic behavior problems.

“What is happening to our students on a day-to-day basis?” asks former teacher, and Charlotte education organizer, Janeen Bryant. “And how can we respond in the ways that they need?”

CMS has been dealing with a shortage of counselors, social workers and psychologists for a decade. Bryant says it’s reaching critical mass.

“We are talking about student discipline when we see cases like this,” says Bryant. “But what we really should be talking about. We should be thinking about cultural competence. We should be making sure that our teachers are armed with necessary resources, like mental health care resources for students.”

“We have students that come to us with no coping skills, that don’t know how to deal with frustration,” says Parmenter.
“A lot of us are prepared well to teach the material, but not so well at handling behaviors, or dealing with other social issues that students may have.”

In his 2018-2019 budget request, CMS Superintendent Clayton Wilcox is asking for $4.4 million to add 33 counselors,
17 social workers and 10 school psychologists.