A Youngsville mother is questioning Lafayette School District’s policy after she says a teacher didn’t step in to break up a fight involving her daughter.
Police say they arrested a juvenile after that fight. Police also say the incident was handled the right way. However, the mother says more could have been done to protect her daughter.
“She was hit in the face a couple of times,” the mother of the student said. “She was dragged across the cement. At one point she did get up and the group of girls approached her again. Again, she tried to back up and the very last time 4 of the 5 girls tried to pull their friend back like ‘okay stop.'”
The mother of the girl who was attacked did not want to be identified. She says she’s concerned that the teacher on duty did not break up the fight.
“Why do you have a teacher on duty, if they can’t do what they’re there to do,” the mother said. “Which basically is looking out for the kids. Make sure nothing is happening. Protect them. I know she (teacher on duty) has a job to do. I’m not faulting her, for not being able to intervene. I’m faulting the system.”
Joe Craig, chief administrative officer for the Lafayette Parish School system said, “We expect teachers to do their best in getting the kids to separate, but we don’t want the teacher to get injured.”
That’s why, Craig says, teachers are not required to separate students who are fighting.
“We asked that they call for an administrator, call for an SRO (resource officer), which we have on each campus. We don’t want a teacher getting hurt breaking up a fight. It’s a case by case scenario,” Craig says.
However, Craig says teachers must use other means to try to stop a fight.
“They are required to tell the kids to stop and the expectation is you’re very adamant about that. A lot of teachers carry a whistle to catch their attention. They have to yell stop,” Craig said.
Craig says he has spoken to the student’s mother about the incident. The mother says, she hopes the district can find a way to prevent what happened to her daughter from happening to anyone else.
“It’s only my hope that we can do something to get this fixed so we can work towards ending this problem,” the mother said.
