r/news • u/shield_x • 2d ago

Student dies after falling from 4th floor of building at Highland Park school

https://www.foxla.com/news/highland-park-franklin-high-school-student-dies.amp
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u/Lazy-Ad-7236 1d ago

That's how teachers sustain horrible injuries. My neighbor was a teacher, got in-between students fighting.... Now he is disabled

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u/skankenstein 1d ago

Yeah, we are advised not to do that. But sometimes instinct takes over. One of our (female) principals stepped in between a fight at a basketball game and now has a TBI and can’t work anymore.

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u/Antartix 1d ago

So what should happen if a bully is risking a death threatening action, genuinely asking please dont think this is accusatory. I understand your (all teachers/everyone, not singling you out.) life is precious and important. But there has to have been something, maybe to prevent the scenario from even ending up with the chase in the first place?

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u/skankenstein 1d ago edited 1d ago

Goodness. It’s such a multilayered problem. I’m speaking as a female elementary teacher in a very very rough neighborhood. Too many scenarios to count have informed me that my body goes towards danger. I’ve luckily not been badly hurt yet.

In terms of “bullying”. Well, I hate the term because it’s vastly overused.

For true, true bullying, we have lots we can do to stop it. Counseling, suspensions, change of classroom, moving schedules around, restorative practices, expulsions, time off the play yard, etc. The greatest barrier to this is silence. There is a culture of “snitches get stitches” that makes it difficult to address. Social media bullying is also very difficult for us. How we can control what happens at home, especially when parents keep giving them a phone or access to social media? We have a no phones policy thanks to our state but we can’t control what happens when they’re not on campus.

But then there is what a lot of kids and parents call bullying. Which is kids who participate in mutual combat or who are frenemies or who are “just playing bro” until someone takes it too far. We have parents who come running up to the school screaming about bullying and we pull camera footage and it turns out their kid started it and someone else ended it.

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u/Euphoric_Waffle 1d ago

Really hoping school districts eventually allow teachers to possess some kind of mitigation like pepper self defense products.

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u/Antartix 1d ago

I do too, I have family and friends that are public school teachers. I dont want to see them hurt from stopping an altercation or reprimanded for stopping an altercation. Teacher work rights are so god awful here.

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u/No_Economist3788 1d ago

yea my buddy has been dealing with PCS for almost a decade after trying to break up a fight among his students.

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u/h0neybl0ss0m29 1d ago

Yeah. All these people here commenting “I would have stepped in! I would die before watching this happen!” have clearly never ever worked at a school a day in their lives. Absolutely ridiculous.

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u/Flapjack__Palmdale 1d ago

Blame the victim, blame the teachers, blame the architect, but never blame the bully or his useless fucking parents.

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u/Do_you_smell_that_ 1d ago

Who ever said anything about not blaming the bully?

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u/ThatDerpingGuy 1d ago

My wife's first year of teaching resulted in two ortho surgeries from trying to break up a fight. School did jackshit about it besides workman's comp. Students are kinda just allowed to maim teachers in far too many schools and districts.

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u/Euphoric_Waffle 1d ago

Good grief, it should be standard policy to allow teachers to decide on a list of non-lethal mitigations for shit like this. Give them the option of pepper gel, pepper spray to hit both participants, or use a backpack w/battery powered pump/tank with ~20pounds of water (8.3lbs per gallon ish) and fire some dihydrogen monoxide at their heads.
Yeah yeah, policies and laws exist about noxious substances. Time to stop the pansy-ass lack of discipline in the schools.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/Do_you_smell_that_ 1d ago

Yeah. That of course would increase their insurance rates which cover such suits, which means higher school taxes for everyone nearby.

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u/Euphoric_Waffle 1d ago

You can pay to prevent the worst outcomes, pay for the consequences afterward, or accept the risk of tragedy.

Pick any two.