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Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > May > 21 > Entry
Parents: The new school bullies
Sarah Carr, one of the excellent reporters on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s fine education team, writes today about an increase in assaults of school staff by parents. And her accounts of the attacks are pretty shocking. Here’s a taste:
Elizabeth Morgan charged into her son’s first-grade classroom this month, authorities say, shouting to the teacher: “I am sick and tired of you picking on my son and lying about him.”
With the help of her middle-school age daughter, Morgan then cornered the Parkview Elementary School teacher, according to a criminal complaint, and struck her several times in the face and body with a closed fist in front of the first-graders.
Here’s a little more detail of the attack:
Morgan was upset after her son received a one-day suspension from his teacher, Merele Mitz, according to the complaint. Morgan pleaded not guilty at a preliminary hearing Wednesday, and her lawyer says she denies the allegations.
When Morgan showed up in the classroom to protest the suspension, Mitz tried to calm Morgan down by agreeing with her, but Morgan threatened Mitz, saying to her, “I’ll get your stinky ass,” and began hitting her, the complaint says.
Kindergarten teacher Katie Krumins, who came when she heard the disruption from the hallway, told Morgan, “Honey, you need to stop.”
But, the complaint says, Morgan turned to her, arms outstretched - pointing to her chest - and said: “Do you want a piece of this?” She threw Krumins against a cabinet and resumed hitting Mitz, the complaint says.
Two male teachers got between Morgan and Mitz, and Morgan went out into the hallway, where she encountered the school principal and a principal supervisor for the district. She pushed the supervisor, causing her to fall on top of a student, who began to cry, according to the complaint. A classroom of first-graders at Parkview Elementary School watched the entire incident from their desks. A group of kindergartners saw much of it from the hallway.
Morgan has been charged with battery to two school district employees, Mitz and Yvonne Hopgood, the principal supervisor.
Carr’s story said in Milwaukee County alone there have been seven criminal cases this year involving parents attacking school staff. The problem has overwhelmed the school district’s legal department, which has been seeking boatloads of restraining orders against parents who have been disruptive, if not violent, at schools as a pre-emptive measure.
While it seems something especially troubling is going on in Milwaukee (nowhere near this much trouble happens in Miami Valley schools), the problem of increasingly combative parents is a growing problem everywhere. (I’ve even had my own experience with a belligerent parent in my daughter’s suburban first grade classroom.)
It’s gone beyond the annoyance of parents who back their kids against the teacher no matter what. And now these safety concerns force schools to be less hospitable places where parents may not always feel welcome. And after an account like the one above, who can blame school personnel if they watch parents like a hawk, sniffing for any sign that an outside adult visitor could be a violent outburst waiting to happen?
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: My Favorite Posts, School Violence
Comments
By Ms. Cornelius
May 25, 2006 6:05 PM | Link to this
Once, when I was in college, a mother went to my old junior high, barged into a classroom, took off her boot, and handed it to her daughter and told the girl to hit another girl in the classroom with the boot— the mother believed the other girl had been “dissing” her daughter. At parent conferences one year, we had a woman show up dressed as an elf— she belonged to one of those medieval reenactment groups— and launched herself across the table at another teacher because the woman’s child had been caught throwing classsroom supplies through the window of the third floor classroom and onto the portable classrooms below.By Michael
May 24, 2006 3:46 PM | Link to this
Another bit of Mary’s ignorance: the J in a Myers Briggs profile does not refer to “judgmental.” Here is a definition of the J - P dimension that I stole from a website: “The fourth criterion defines how a person implements the information he has processed. Judging means that a person organizes all his life events and acts strictly according to his plans. Perceiving means that he is inclined to improvise and seek alternatives.” This has nothing to do with “judgmental.” Most people, including teachers, fall in the middle of the dimension and can utilize both styles depending on the situation. Stupid opinions are one thing, but stupid opinions based on inaccuracies (see previous posters for other flase statements in Mary’s post) are offensive.By Beth
May 23, 2006 7:14 PM | Link to this
Mary: yes, you missed something. The person who called the child’s mother “grandmother” was not the teacher, but the mother of another student. She had given of her time & budget to purchase & help the students make treats & a gift for their parents. She certainly did not deserve the treatment she received.By Oldprof
May 22, 2006 9:44 PM | Link to this
Mary, do you ever listen to yourself? Name one child who spends most of waking hours in a school—it’s seven hours five days a week for 180 days per year. You base your understanding of homicidal students on the analysis of a teen-ager. You portray teachers and principles as just a notch below the Marquis de Sade. I think the problem is TOO LITTLE respect for school authorities and too much parental meddling, and the evidence favor of my views is massively greater than your disturbed adolescent Columbine survivor.By Mary
May 22, 2006 8:31 PM | Link to this
I cannot ever imagine justifying assault, abuse or serial killings of teachers and classmates. I am trying to offer some explanations and understanding of student actions based on bullying or severe mental stress in the school environment where young people are spending most of their awake hours. I have read a book called “No Easy Answers” written by a student who knew the Columbine shooters. Maybe you would understand my points if you read that book and what that student had to say about the influences of teachers and the principal. There was also another recent news article I heard about on another list that pointed out gifted students might be more sensitive to bullying. At least one of the Columbine shooters was gifted. Both students had Ohio roots.By Oldprof
May 22, 2006 4:19 PM | Link to this
So, just to sum it up Mary, it’s your belief that the teachers might be at fault if students have access to firearms and have been raised to act out on their frustrations? Simply put, that you think that there are some considerations (other than gross physical abuse or sexual misconduct by a teacher) that might justify assault, abuse, or serial killings of teachers and classmates? That’s what your message here sounds like to me, and the sound is ridiculous to my ears.By Mary
May 22, 2006 9:55 AM | Link to this
Let me be clear, that when we are dealing with human beings, there are imperfections, inexcusable behavior, and anger in all places, whether it’s parents, teachers, or students. Until all the facts are in the open, do not assume who the bad guy is. I went back to the December post. Maybe I have got the Dayton and Miwaulkee stories mixed up. Regarding the parent who was called grandmother by the teacher, why after several months of schooling didn’t that teacher recognize the parent (unless I missed something). Also, did the first grade have any academics that day, or was it all sugary treats and arts and crafts. Maybe the family had a diabetes problem. In Miwaulkee, what if the teacher really had it out for the student. I seriously think that teachers can be averse to the personalities and values of students and their families. Personality wise, teachers tend to type out as “judgmental” by Myers-Briggs personality profiles. I think some teachers tend to bully or frustrate students they do not like or understand. I think many gifted students run into this problem. Bored and underchallenged students taught by teachers who do not understand or grasp the student’s intellect start to act out in the classroom. Then it develops into war in the name of classroom management. These students become alienated in the education environment, ironically because of their intellect. Some of them end up taking guns to school or commit suicide, not because of frustrations at home, but because schools and the education system become institutionalized torture.By Oldprof
May 21, 2006 10:51 PM | Link to this
Back on May 6 and May 7, Rick, in these blogs, mused that I might have had bad experiences with parents and that I ought to provide evidence of parental meddling. This article documents that there are so many parents who are assaulting teachers, that the ones who merely interfere in order to gut grading standards and curriculum are relatively benign! Mary, you’ve often written here that parents ought to have control over their children’s education—do you think THESE parents support your assertion?