It’s too bad it came to this.
It’s too bad it came to this. A Gilroy High School special ed teacher, during a confrontation with a student who was likely being disruptive, allegedly called the student an idiot and threatened to shoot him.
Although many of the details of the incident are not known and the district attorney has decided not to prosecute, it seems clear that the episode should be a wake-up call for GHS leaders.
Principal Bob Bravo and Gilroy Unified School District Superintendent Edwin Diaz need to take a close look at GHS and ensure that it is a respectful, kind environment in which to learn. That means finding a way to abolish the atmosphere that allowed the sort of vandalism that destroyed the school’s restrooms to flourish. It also means enforcing the rules for staff and students. Unenforced rules breed disrespect for all rules.
GHS and district officials may need to provide teachers with a refresher course of disciplinary procedures. No teacher should have to come to the boiling point with a disruptive student. All instructors should know what steps to take when a student is preventing others from learning. A similar reminder outlining behavior expectations and consequences – perhaps on a regularly scheduled basis – may be in order for students as well.
As far as this episode is concerned, if the teacher did threaten or insult a student, he should at least be transferred from the special ed classroom and very likely terminated.
Discipline problems and difficult students are more common in special ed classrooms and a teacher must be prepared to deal with them. A teacher who can lose his temper to the point that he could insult or threaten a student has no place in a special ed, or any, classroom. If the allegations prove true in this case, the teacher should face at least as serious consequences as a student who commits similar offenses.
The parents of the boy involved in the incident also bear responsibility. In the same breath that she mentioned that she pays taxes for her son’s education, his mother acknowledged that her son is “not an angel.” The parents of that boy’s classmates also pay taxes, and their kids deserve an education undisturbed by any child’s disruptive conduct. He should be punished at home and at school for whatever part he played in the incident.
But the bottom line is that the special ed teacher was the adult in this situation, and the duty was his to maintain his composure, even in the face of disruptive behavior by students.
Let’s hope GHS and GUSD leaders take this opportunity to review the school’s discipline policies and learning atmosphere. If they look with open eyes and minds, we bet they’ll find room for improvement.
