NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A Lake Taylor High School teacher is on administrative leave after a video shows her involved in a brawl inside a classroom.
The teacher, who WAVY-TV 10 is choosing not to identify as she has not been charged with any crime, is a career and technical education teacher, according to Kathy O’Hara, a spokesperson with Norfolk Public Schools. The incident happened on Feb. 11.
O’Hara wouldn’t elaborate more on the incident, but said Adult Protective Services was notified. It is not known if there were any injuries to students of staff.
A video submitted to 10 On Your Side, only shows roughly five seconds of the incident, in which a woman appears to grab a student being pushed away by another adult.
With the teacher’s hands on the student, the student’s body hits a desk. The student is then promptly ushered out of classroom.
“Excuse me? I was like ‘That’s a teacher swung a student up against the desk?’ So I felt a certain type of way about that,” one parent, who didn’t wish to be identified, told 10 On Your Side.
Her son is an 11th-grader who attends Lake Taylor. She was told the teacher was attempting to break up the fight between students.
10 On Your Side contacted the teacher for comment. She did not wish to speak.
“They need more officers in the school, they need more security, they need better things going on to help these kids and address these situations because that was a dangerous situation the teacher put herself in and another student,” the parent said.
Newly-appointed Superintendent Dr. Sharon Brydsong’s proposed FY 2021 budget includes 30 additional positions for full time security officers. All but two, however, will be assigned to the city’s elementary schools.
The budget also calls for five behavior specialists to provide additional behavioral intervention supports for schools.
CORRECTION: In the on-air broadcasts of WAVY News 10 at 10 on FOX43 and WAVY News 10 at 11 it was incorrectly stated that Child Protective Services was notified of the incident, not Adult Protective Services. In addition, it was incorrectly stated that only two security guards would be added to the school system under the superintendent’s proposed 2021 budget. WAVY regrets the errors.