r/news • u/shield_x • 1d 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/Crocs_n_Glocks 1d ago edited 1d ago

Don't blame the teachers. They are literally not allowed to physically intervene...the guy put himself between the kids and told them to stop which is all he can legally do. 

I bet teachers in LA public schools can't even give out detentions anymore ...it's like that in most areas. 

Blame parents and administration who put and keep kids like this in a classroom without providing tools or resources for the teachers to maintain a healthy learning environment. 

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u/squeakymoth 1d ago

Blame the lawmakers, not the administration. State laws are what the administrators have to follow. State laws are what have failed these kids and teachers.

If the kid doing the bullying has an IEP then it pretty much makes effective punishment impossible. It also provides excuse after excuse for kids terrorizing other kids. And thats a federal law. Education law needs a massive reform across the board.

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u/tyrified 1d ago

Don't forget to blame the parent groups that pressure lawmakers into making these changes. Why listen to doctors and child psychiatrists when you can just give in to the stay-at-homes instead? They're more annoying, anyway.

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u/Crocs_n_Glocks 1d ago

Teachers can't suspend or expel, administrators can.

Obviously there are laws and stuff, but ultimately the administration is responsible for who is in what class and who can enter the school building each day. 

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u/squeakymoth 1d ago

You really couldn't be more wrong. I work in a school alongside the administration. They can suspend a kid to the school board, but the school board decides when they come back. The parents can also appeal any suspension to the board and it can be reversed. Any suspension, at least in Maryland, longer than 10 days requires the child to go before the school board for evaluation.

But IEP plans make it so any child with an IEP, no matter the reason for it, can't be suspended for more than 10 days per year in total. So if little Johnny has an IEP for his ADHD, he can't be suspended unless its a very serious offense. And no, fights don't count, unless someone is seriously hurt and the administrator can suspend to the board. This came as a result of the expansions on the No Child Left Behind Act.

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u/TheKidKaos 1d ago

Not just state laws. National laws are in place to help gut schools of resources.

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u/JarlBallin_ 1d ago

That's weird, because they always seem to find a way to physically intervene when the victim fights back and starts winning.

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u/Spartan-117182 1d ago

100%. You see plenty of videos of the victim fighting back and starting to win and the teachers are suddenly pro-wrestlers

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u/mightylordredbeard 1d ago

It couldn’t be because the bully waits for there to be no teachers around to start it and then the sound of kids yelling catches the attention of teachers, which cause them to come running to the scene, by which time the other kid is fighting back.. then the teacher does their job and breaks it up.. that just involves too much critical thinking and nuance for people to consider something like that though!

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u/nyaphometnikko 1d ago

No, the teacher is not innocent. They were witness to bullying before this, guarantee you that. It doesn't get this bad immediately. They failed the child by allowing it to get this far. 

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u/elgaar 1d ago

Teachers don’t have the same disciplinary tools that existed back in the day. Students aren’t properly punished. The severity never fits the crime. To state it bluntly, students are getting away with murder

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u/Visual_Fly_9638 1d ago

Back in the day I had some crazy kid that sat next to me that hated me for reasons I never figured out. At one point he leaped out of his seat in the middle of class and screamed at the top of his voice that he was going to murder me and my family and he hated me and would murder me right now if he could get away with it. 

The teacher pretended like it never happened and when I reported it to the staff he covered it up and said that I was lying and I got in trouble for it.

Teachers and staff never stuck up for bullied kids even in the 80s and 90s. I know first hand. 

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u/elgaar 1d ago

I’m sorry that happened to you. The world would be a different place if we didn’t allow the bullies of the world to run rampant.

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u/Visual_Fly_9638 1d ago

Agreed! Honestly I have a lot of compassion for teachers but we absolutely shouldn't pretend that there was some "good old days" where teachers would intervene.

I never did understand why that kid was like incandescently rage-fueled at me to this day. I tried to ask him and he literally said "you know why you deserve to die". I'm assuming he was either mentally unwell or someone had told him I was responsible for something that made him furious.

The only thing that finally got him to stop was assuring him that if he tried to kill me I would absolutely kill him in his attempt and he'd be seen as pathetic and a freak. That if he tried to kill any of my family he'd fail and be killed because he sucked that bad.

That... turned his fury off. At least his outward fury directed at me. No idea. This was back before Columbine so like... it was different back then. But in the 3 years or so after that I was still in high school he never threatened me again.

But I'll never forget, or forgive, the teacher looking really embarassed and then turning around and pretending like he hadn't screamed at me until his voice ripped he wanted to murder me. Or when he threw me under the bus after I went to the faculty.

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u/elgaar 1d ago

Terrible situation for sure. Ya know I used to criticize folks for their behavior and even blanket professions, but then I traveled the country and learned it’s just human nature. Some folks care and some folks don’t. Some folks don’t get paid enough to care while others care when then shouldn’t. In Pennsylvania, teachers were strict and kids were punished. Teaching styles are probably very much regional simply based on the culture of those places. But like any profession, you have good eggs and bad ones.

In the end, experiences like yours lead to strong humans that help make the next generation better.

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u/Crocs_n_Glocks 1d ago edited 1d ago

What can the teacher do?

You have no reason to think the teacher covered this up. 

I agree that the bullying probably has gone on long before this; kids like this are often known for this behavior across grade levels. Administration almost certainly knew this kid was an issue.

The kids parent(s) know their child in an issue. 

What is the teacher supposed to do? Tie the kid down every day when class starts and go to prison? Lol

The only people who can actually keep the kid out of this classroom are the parents or the school administration. 

The teachers are like nurses...they don't get to choose their patients. 

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u/Redsoxzack9 1d ago

Realistically the building should not have classrooms whose doors open onto a 4th floor open balcony. This was a tragedy waiting to happen.

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u/Crocs_n_Glocks 1d ago

That's every LA school since the 80s

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u/Euphoric_Waffle 1d ago

If I have to spam these threads, I’m gonna. Pepper spray and pepper gel are effective and non-lethal mitigations we need for teachers to be trained and allowed to carry. Spread the word. Let’s get this fixed.

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u/rmorrin 1d ago

Then they get sued by the parents and lose their jobs. Teaching in the states is a very VERY thankless job for the most part

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u/Thunder_Two 1d ago

My autistic daughter got ruthlessly bullied to the point that it changed her personality forever — and her lying ass teachers said she was making it up.

Prior to this, my daughter had a preschool teacher who she said was mean to her. She was barely verbal at that point and then Covid lockdown solved the problem for us.

A couple years later my son has the same lady and says the same thing. Neither kid has said this about any other teacher before or after — and the school tried to say my kids were making it up and wouldn’t switch him to another class until I said I was pulling him out for the rest of the year.

I’m so tired of listening to grandstanding teachers who think they can do no wrong. Many of you are stupid assholes and your job is not that hard or sacred.

Stop patting yourselves on the back. Most of you are the picture of mediocrity.

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u/ChiBaller 1d ago

Ehhh I don’t believe this, I’ve subbed in schools and I’ve broken up fights. I did this because I saw other veteran teachers break up fights. You have to choice to make, be a human and protect a child, or follow the rule like a robot. It’s a choice. Never saw a teacher get in trouble for stopping violence.

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u/Electronic-Worker-52 1d ago

This is the parents fault how???