According to David Cozart, principal of operations at the John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, New Jersey, in an effort to force the teacher to return his phone, the student attacked the teacher during a physics class at about 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 20, and slammed him to the floor in front of other students.
Cozart explained that the teacher had confiscated the cellphone from another student. But it actually belonged to the student who attacked the teacher. He said that while students were allowed to use cellphones in school, teachers may confiscate a student’s phone if they believed it was distracting the student in class. But teachers were expected to return the phone to the student later.
A 23-second video of the incident taken by another student in the class was uploaded to YouTube on Jan. 21, 2015. It corroborates the claim by the school authorities that the 16-year-old attacked the teacher during a physics class.
The video shows the student with his arms wrapped around his teacher’s waist. The teacher strangely tries to ignore the attacker as he continues with class instructions. But the boy proceeds to push the teacher against a desk.
Other students who had simply looked on now begin to express concern about the developing situation. Some of the students call to their classmate to “chill,” although no one intervenes physically to stop him. When the student tries to wrestle the passive teacher to the ground, other students move away. One of the students says “I’m out,” while another shouts “someone help him!”
As the boy pushes the teacher to a corner and slams him to the ground, someone calls for security.
The video then shows the boy standing over his teacher and reaching down. He snatches something, presumably the phone, from the teacher. He then moves away as another student walks up and tries to calm him down.
District authorities have not released the names of the teacher and the student. But school authorities said the student has been suspended from school. Police also said the student was arrested on Friday and criminal charges of third-degree aggravated assault were filed against him.
A police officer told NorthJersey.com, “We took a statement from the teacher today. After that, we went out and found the juvenile and arrested him.”
District spokeswoman Terry Corallo, said the student would receive instructions while on suspension and the authorities will take a decision on an “an appropriate, educational placement” for him.
“Let me say that this is a very upsetting incident and certainly one that we take seriously as the safety of our students and staff is our top priority,” Corallo said.
Commenting on the incident in an interview with NorthJersey.com, a retired JFK High School teacher, Lee McNulty, said, “What strikes me is that the teacher never even defended himself. That just shows how much teachers are afraid of losing their job.”
McNulty had complained in an interview last year that fights were common at JFK High School. But he said the authorities were making efforts to improve conditions at the school.
An official of the Paterson Education Association, Peter Tirri, expressed disappointment that the other students failed to help the teacher. He said, “Maybe they were afraid. I don’t know.”
Jonathan Hodges, member of the school board, said, “It’s troubling that in our society today students think that inside a school they can put their hands on each other and teachers as well. I went online trying to find this video and I found numerous videos of teachers being attacked by their students.”
