Teacher makes kids fight to solve problem

[MM27]

Saw this on the local news tonight Two adults in the room and neither one of them realized this was a bad idea.
http://gothamist.com/2010/02/02/fourth_grade_fight_club_gets_teache.php

Fourth Grade Fight Club Gets Teachers in Trouble

A fourth grade teacher and a teacher's aide at PS 65 in Ozone Park allegedly turned their classroom into an impromptu fight club on Thursday. Instructor Joseph Gullotta, 29, from Long Island, was simply trying to teach his students how to settle their differences—through brute force on random victims—but apparently that macho approach is frowned upon by the DOE. The incident reportedly started when 10-year-old Tomas Rivera got into an argument with a classmate, and Gullotta suggested that instead of taking out his anger on his adversary, Rivera should wrestle a younger classmate, 9-year-old Justin Stokel. Makes perfect sense.

Gullotta allegedly told one student to shut the classroom door, and then instructed everyone to stand back to give the combatants room to wrestle. During the battle, Rivera head-butted Stokel, resulting in a laceration and bleeding to Stokel’s lower lip and swelling and bruising to the top and back of Rivera’s head. "Everybody in my class was laughing," Jonathan Michael, a fourth-grader, tells the Daily News. "They were fighting over some pencils, and they were bleeding."

43-year-old teacher's aide Abraham Fox was in the classroom the entire time and did nothing to stop the fight, according to the Queens DA's press release [pdf]. But after the combat, Fox warned Gullotta that Stokel might need stitches, yet both men barred the boys from going to the nurse for almost two hours. Finally, Gullotta sent Stokel to the nurse with a cover story: someone had dropped a pencil and Rivera’s head accidentally collided with his (Stokel’s) mouth when they both bent down to pick up the pencil.

Rivera was also called to the nurse's office, and kept to the story. But the first rule of fight club was later violated when the parent of one of the students involved in the incident overheard them talking about it. Gullotta and Fox are charged with two counts each of "acting in a manner injurious to a child under 17" and could face up to a year in jail if convicted. Fox was suspended without pay, while Gullotta—here's the kicker—has been sent to the infamous Rubber Room, where he'll continue to collect a paycheck to do nothing, or perhaps become a millionaire with a little side business!

 

[Mermaid02]

I don't even know what to say to that...........

 

[agnes!]

Words don't often fail me, but in this case...

agnes!

 

[MM27]

and the worst part is the teacher will continue to collect a salary. There have been stories about the infamous NY public schools "rubber room" where teachers sit for years collecting money but do no work because the BOE doesn't want them back in the classroom but they can't fire them yet because of ongoing trials or investigations.

 

[happygirl]

Those poor kids, How do fruitcakes like this get a teaching job

 

[XYSRUS]

and the worst part is the teacher will continue to collect a salary. There have been stories about the infamous NY public schools "rubber room" where teachers sit for years collecting money but do no work because the BOE doesn't want them back in the classroom but they can't fire them yet because of ongoing trials or investigations.

This is what I first thought of too. Worse still I bet you they both keep their jobs and continue to "teach"...pathetic losers.

 

[SCHBR'smom]

Frightening.... and very, very sad

 

[nuke]

Two children left behind.

 

[Plannin'Shannon]

Unbelievable.

 

[toddlers_mom]

Seriously?!

 

[SereneOne]

WOW

 

[cinmell]

 

[LuvOrlando]

That's just peachy. This is where my SIL & BIL live and where my niece is in kindergarten

 

[Disney Ella]

Great way to teach kids how to solve problems. When I was in high school, there was a teacher near retirement age who used to brag about how they would solve problems with boys who had a disagreement back in his day. They would take them to the gym and put boxing gloves on them and make them box. I always pictured some poor scrawny boy being picked on by some big obnoxious jerk and then being forced to box the big jerk.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

"The incident reportedly started when 10-year-old Tomas Rivera got into an argument with a classmate, and Gullotta suggested that instead of taking out his anger on his adversary, Rivera should wrestle a younger classmate, 9-year-old Justin Stokel. Makes perfect sense. "


Although this entire story baffles me, I really don't understand this part.

 

[Robinrs]

Funny how I immediately thought that this was in the boroughs of NY because that's exactly how I was raised...

I'm shocked it's still going on in this day and age but seriously, it brought me back.

 

[luvsJack]

Great way to teach kids how to solve problems. When I was in high school, there was a teacher near retirement age who used to brag about how they would solve problems with boys who had a disagreement back in his day. They would take them to the gym and put boxing gloves on them and make them box. I always pictured some poor scrawny boy being picked on by some big obnoxious jerk and then being forced to box the big jerk.

When my husband was in junior high, their principal had the boxing gloves. He did, at least, have sense enough not to give them to the boys if they were too unmatched. Dh says he doesn't remember any ever getting hurt, but now he realizes it wasn't exactly the way to get them to solve their problems.



But for the teacher in the OP to not even let the boy go see if he needed stitches for two hours!! That alone should be enough to take his job.

 

[Heidict]

Yeah, he's teacher of the year. What is even more pathetic is that he doesn't even get punished for this. Just sits around doing nothing and collects his full pay. Great use of the tax dollars.

I'm a bit confused though. Were the kids that were fighting the ones who orginally had a beef with each other or did the teacher have one of them fight some other innocent student?

My DH was raised this way. My MIL and Aunt in law (is that even a word?) took chairs outside and sat and watched while my SIL fought a girl. She didn't want to, but they drug her out there and made her. You didn't run from a fight, you stood your ground.