A public high schoolteacher in New Bedford, Mass. is facing possible termination after an angry student threw a chair at her because, school officials say, she failed to fill out the right paperwork in reporting the incident.
The Daily Caller is not making this up.
The chair-throwing incident occurred at New Bedford High School on March 24, reports SouthCoastToday.com. The video below showing the fracas has since gone viral on YouTube.
The teacher, Joanne Maura, angered student Kemar Roselus because she confiscated his phone per her classroom policy banning phones. Roselus, 18, had been attempting to charge the phone.
After a verbal squabble that escalated fairly quickly (and included students laughing and encouraging Roselus), the student grabbed a chair and violently hurled it in Maura’s direction.
Other teachers, a school administrator and the school resource officer (the school cop) dashed into the classroom immediately after the altercation. All of them were obviously aware of what happened and the incident was likely the subject of a decent level of school gossip.
About a week later, after the YouTube video went viral, school officials suggested that they had no idea what happened, according to Boston.com.
New Bedford High’s principal, Andrew Kulak (who likes to fancy himself the “headmaster”) hand-delivered a letter to Maura stating that she could now be sacked.
“You failed to perform your responsibilities as a teacher at New Bedford High School and properly inform administration of the nature, details and severity of the incident, or provide a conduct referral or report for the incident in a timely fashion,” the letter said, according to South Coast.
Maura has been ordered to attend an “investigatory meeting” next week with Kulak and others.
“As part of the ongoing investigation, all staff involved will be meeting with the headmaster next week,” a school district spokeswoman said in a statement released this week. She added that the superintendent doesn’t comment on personnel issues.
Not surprisingly, Maura isn’t happy about the disciplinary proceeding she now faces.
“I feel like I’ve been assaulted again,” she told Boston ABC affiliate WCVB-TV.
Meanwhile, Roselus has been suspended from school and could face criminal charges for his chair-hurling.
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