School Yard Tussle Leads to Street Side Protest
From a school yard fight to teachers protesting policy, Ponchatoula Junior High School has faced it all in the past three months.
A teacher threatening to assault a student and a public outcry from school faculty for the lack of policy with school yard tussles has transpired at Ponchatoula Junior High School causing the spotlight to shine brightly on the school and school system.
After a school yard fight broke out in late March, two male teachers held down and restrained a female student — dragging her by her legs on concrete, and threatening to “thump her ass into the concrete” if she did not comply with them. The incident was videoed and quickly spread across the internet sparking the debate on how far are school faculty allowed to go on intervening in school yard fights.
Many opinions on the video flew across social media with the family of the girl claiming that the school should have done more to protect the students and that the teachers handled the situation completely wrong.
After the investigation and the heat of public opinion, it was the decision of Tangipahoa Parish School Board Superintendent Melissa Stilley that the two teachers involved in the incident were terminated.
Stilley claimed that the incident was disturbing and that an investigation was sure to follow after the video surfaced. “This video is very disturbing to me on many levels. While I realize this video is part of the story, it breaks my heart to watch,” stated Stilley.
Parents started to look toward the school for answers. They want to know that their children are safe around the people that are employed at the institution.
School Principal, Mary Beth Crevetto commented, “this behavior does not represent the expectations we have for the adults and students on our campus.”
While parents worried what was going on within the walls of the school, teachers took to the streets on May 9th in protest of the decision by Stilley to terminate the two teachers — Arthur “Rusty” Barrilleaux and Brett Chatelain.
Barrilleaux’s attorney, Rusty Clayton, has been very blunt with his opinion about the situation. Clayton claims, “My client got fired because he happened to be a white teacher breaking up a fight between two black kids. Period.”
Barrilleaux fears for the safety of his family after receiving threats, so he decided to move his family to an undisclosed location.
The fellow teachers at the school are outraged by the decision to terminate the teachers. The teachers staged a walkout on May 9th demanding better and clearer policies on how to handle fights on campus.
Dina Esquinance, president of the Tangipahoa Federation of Teachers, gave insight to what the teachers want from the school system.
“They want a policy that states what they should and shouldn’t do. They want training to do it because they don’t want to lose their jobs,” said Esquinance.
With no clear line, teachers are no longer willing to physically intervene because of the fear of being the next ones to be terminated. The spotlight is now shining on the school board on what they will do next in regards to student safety and staff policies.
Efforts to reach Barrilleaux and the student’s family for comments were unsuccessful.
