BAKER, La. (AP) - How far can a teacher go to maintain discipline as an effective educator?
Baker School Board President Dana Carpenter said that question is at the heart of Thursday’s arrest of Baker Middle School teacher accused of grabbing an eighth-grade student by his shirt and yanking him out of her classroom.
Carpenter said Friday the Baker Police Department’s decision to arrest and jail 47-year-old teacher Deborah Anderson was too aggressive.
Baker Police Chief Mike Knaps has defended the Police Department’s decision to book Anderson by citing Police Department protocol.
“Our normal protocol is to book an adult on battery charges when the victim is a juvenile. The purpose for this is to allow a cool-down period,” Knaps wrote in an email to The Advocate on Friday when asked about the reason for the misdemeanor arrest.
However, Steve Monaghan, president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers union, tells The Advocate (https://bit.ly/OnL5ya ) Anderson’s arrest sends a bad message to educators in Baker and teachers statewide.
“This sends a message to teachers that if the protocol is so stark and clear, you could find yourself arrested and taken to jail if you put your hands on someone. These teachers have to uphold order and take reasonable action, and it seems like, in this case, the teacher’s actions were reasonable,” Monaghan said.
Both Carpenter and Baker School Superintendent Ulysses Joseph have said issuing a misdemeanor summons to Anderson would have been a more appropriate way to handle the incident.
“She (Anderson) was just trying to discipline the kid. This is the kind of thing that can render a teacher ineffective,” Joseph said Friday.
Knaps said Friday that the department was not called by anyone at the school or by anyone with the School Board. Knaps said the department was called by the student’s mother.
Anderson is on paid administrative leave.
She is due to appear in Baker City Court on April 29.
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Information from: The Advocate, https://theadvocate.com
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