Arrested for chest bumping a teacher? Good!
Did a Miramar teacher overreact this morning when he had a 17-year-old student arrested for chest bumping him?
According to our article by Macollvie Jean-François, the teacher ordered the male student to go to class, and the student ignored the instruction. The teacher repeated his instruction and approached the teen, and the student responded with the chest bump heard ‘round the county.
Now the teen is charged with one count of battery.
Good.
I say this, admittedly, not knowing the full details of what happened. I can imagine a scenario in which the teen felt threatened by the teacher’s behavior and responded in a self-defensive posture. So yes, I can imagine the teacher possibly being in the wrong here. Then again, I have quite an imagination.
Easier to picture is a teacher giving a simple instruction and being ignored by a rude teen with an obnoxious sense of entitlement who thinks it’s okay to try to intimidate an authority figure whose only job is to make sure the kid has a decent shot at a better life. It shouldn’t take courage to tell a kid in a school to go to class.
I agree with the notion that chest bumping is not the same as taking a swing at someone, but it’s not as innocuous as responding with a nasty attitude either. I call it an act of pre-violent defiance. A kid willing to bump your chest is ready to do worse, and he should be dealt with accordingly. At first glance, I commend this teacher for responding with restraint and having the presence of mind to call school officials and the police rather than react in a way that would get the teacher arrested!
The teenager has been suspended, and police and school officials are reviewing surveillance tape of the confrontation. It’s a shame they have to, but it’s a good thing they can - for everyone's sake (including the accused student's). In the meantime, my gut as a parent is to stand with the teacher on this one. We should be teaching our teens to respect their teachers, not to threaten them with words or other means of intimidation.
Gretchen Day-Bryant has a son in high school and a daughter in middle school. She’s lived to tell about the struggles of juggling little kids and work.
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Georgia East is the parent of a five-year-old girl, who came into the world weighing 1 pound, 13 ounces.
Brittany Wallman is the mother of Creed, 15, and Lily, 7, and is married to a journalist, Bob Norman. She covers Broward County government, which is filled with almost as much drama as the Norman household. Almost.
Chris Tiedje is the Social Media Coordinator and the father of a 7-year-old girl, and two boys ages 4 and 3.
Kyara Lomer Camarena has a 2-year-old son, Copelan, and a brand new baby. 
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