Student calls police after Atherton math teacher rattles table

[Blue_Tires]

Source: Mercury News

An eighth-grade math teacher at Atherton's Selby Lane School rattled a table to get his students' attention Tuesday afternoon, police said.

He succeeded on that score.

But the demonstration landed him on paid administrative leave.

Officers went to the campus at 2:26 p.m. to check on reports of a teacher causing a disturbance in a classroom and possibly throwing objects, said Sgt. Tim Lynch of the Atherton Police Department. When officers arrived, however, they found a calm teacher with class in session and determined nothing had been thrown.

Lynch said it appears the teacher's table-rattling act startled a female student who left the class and called police from a cell phone.

"My impression by talking to her was that she was disturbed by what the teacher was doing," Lynch said.

Most of the students in the class weren't bothered by the teacher's actions, Lynch said. Though the teacher "dramatically" made his point, "it wasn't a teacher out of control," he added.



Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_17515223?nclick_check=1

---

911?! SERIOUSLY?

[Exultant Democracy]

1. Whats good for the gander. A student doing the same thing would be arrested these days.

Looks like the students learned from their teachers.

[Hissyspit]

8. Hunh?

They aren't in equivalent roles. It's not a goose/gander relationship. Student would be doing it for a completely different reason.

Good grief.

[DrDan]

11. a student shaking a table would be arrested? Where?

[Exultant Democracy]

17. check the news, plenty of stories about this issue.

a simple google search pulls this.


this one was arrested for doodling on her desk, prob would have been tazed if she had been shaking it.
http://gothamist.com/2010/02/05/junior_high_student_arrested_for_do.php

texting at her desk
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/student-arrested-classroom-texting

Arrested over and over again for being handicapped
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-02-25/news/os-8-year-old-arrested-tantrums-20110225_1_school-employee-school-property-special-education-student

[montanto]

23. non sequitur

But just for fun, you are an advocate of vandalism and destruction of public property? Wasting taxpayer time and money by allowing students to text when and where and for how ever long they wish when they are expected (by the state, by their own parents, etc.) to attend to their studies? A supporter of physically abusive students? Those who flagrantly violate school policies? You notice that your evidence is all about school policies, and not about individual teacher's classroom policies, right? You do know there are school rules, and then teachers have their own classroom rules, right? You do realize that the taxes that we pay to support these institutions goes to them with the understanding that some learning gets done in these places and that schools aren't there simply to make children comfortable in the pursuit of their own enjoyment, right?

[Exultant Democracy]

24. All I'm advocating is not being so quick to call the cops in general.

But just for fun, when was the last time you beat your wife?

[PatrynXX]

13. and thats why you have teachers in madison protesting

Poorly respected, very poorly paid and they are supposed to get a paycut??? o_O

[U4ikLefty]

20. more teacher hate nt

[Exultant Democracy]

21. not in the least. I just think that cops are being called to schools far too much.

This is just the end point of an ugly trend. The schools are the ones that set up the precedent of using police as the mediators for every piddly little incident, what did they expect?

[woodsprite]

26. In DE, we don't have to call them in anymore, they have a substation set up in the school. n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

49. Bullshit

In fact, if he was sent to the office he'd be sent back and the teacher would be reprimanded for poor classroom management.

[PoliticAverse]

2. Yeesh. It's not like he said the g-word or drew a stick figure... n/t

[CreekDog]

3. Don't mess with old money!

They will not tolerate such disrespect.

(disclosure: while in high school me and some friends stopped at the McDonalds in Atherton and left after seemingly the entire place started glaring at us.)

Now I'm sure there are some cool people in Atherton, hold on a second...

Stevie Nicks lives in SoCal now?

Nevermind they are all dbags.

[Gregorian]

31. Old money. I'd say it's new money in Atherton now.

My experience with the old money in Atherton is they have common sense. It's the new money that's buying the $10-30 million dollar houses my friends grew up in. Back then they were just nice places on an acre.

What a crock of crap that area is now. Yuck.

[Retrograde]

64. New money and entitled kids

Atherton's one of my favorite places to bike - good roads and little traffic - but over the last decade I've seen the older ranch houses being torn down and replaced by mini-palaces. I never see any kids outside during the day, even little ones. Shortly after our last election I was talking with a Republican-leaning young man who had gone to the Menlo Park/Atherton high school with Meg Whitman's kids: he said he voted for Brown because he thought anyone who raised such entitled arrogant assholes (his words) wasn't fit to be trusted with the state.

[Gregorian]

67. Yep.

I grew up in Palo Alto. I remember the dairy farms and orchards. It hurts me to this day that I can't come back. And I have a house in Palo Alto. I won't even go there. I should probably sell the thing. Talk about sad. I miss it. I miss the daily rides up Old La Honda road. It's a zoo of money grubbers now. When Olson sold their last cherry orchard, I quit my job and moved away.

[CountAllVotes]

4. spoiled brat in Atherton

Where the richest of the rich live in California!

:nopity: :argh:

[femrap]

28. Atherton....

Glad you mentioned that....exactly what I thought.

Maybe we should provide little gavels to our teachers so they can bring class 'to order?'

[WatsonT]

36. Are you serious!?!??

Give teachers hammers to discipline students? What is this, the dark ages?

A rattled table is enough to give most children I know seizures. Now you propose beating them with hammers?

:sarcasm:

Poor little snow flake probably just didn't want her texting to be interrupted.

[Blue_Tires]

63. I was wondering what kind of neighborhood this could happen

where a middle schooler makes a "teacher being a meanie" call to 911 and the police come running in like the Blues Brothers...

[CountAllVotes]

68. it is a rich person's haven

I had a doctor from there. I should have dumped him when he told me he was from Atherton. He came from a family of rich people and had siblings that were drug addicts he admitted to me. I rather wonder to this day if said "doctor" knew what he was doing.

He sure messed me up good. Probably did one too many doses of some sort of substance in the not too distant past.

UGH!!! :puke:

:kick:

[bemildred]

5. "Disturbed" seems like the right work in this case. nt

[blackspade]

6. Ridiculous

This student should have been given a tongue lashing for wasting the cops time.
If I had a dollar for every time one of my teachers dropped a book on a table or whacked a desk with a ruler I would have a decent amount of scratch.
Administrative leave was totally uncalled for.

[border_town]

7. Are you kidding me??

I could never be a teacher these days. Kids show no respect for teachers. I am shocked so many on here are actually giving this girl props.

[Taverner]

9. They used to do that all the time when I was in school

Works too, especially on wood floors with a heavy table

No one gets hurt either

[leftynyc]

10. She deserves

a day suspension for wasting the police's time. Poor baby was startled by a little noise? Spare me the drama queen.

[jkappy]

66. Not enough is known for these type of responses n/t

[Beartracks]

12. If a little table-rattling really made her fear for her safety...

... then her issues might be at home, not school.

--------------------------------

[Plucketeer]

14. THIS!!!!!!

Is an indication of what's REALLY WRONG with our education system! My wife's a teacher in a Cali high school. She's also a union rep. The CRAP that kids get away with - disrupting classes and disreputing faculty in the process - is unbelievable!

Recently, a teacher suffered serious injury when an irate student (pissed because he didn't get the grade he thought he deserved) bashed into the door the teacher had ahold of. In a stupifying turn of ridiculousness, the TEACHER ended up on the carpet over the incident. There is NOTHING that passes for discipline in public schools today. Yet Obama's idiot, Duncan is on a witch hunt to enable privatizing of our education system. Never mind teaching kids to respect authority and the rights of others to learn! :grr:

[texastoast]

30. My child would have been in huge trouble

When he got home. It's not teachers' jobs to teach civility. It's the parents' and it is unbelievable that teachers have to tolerate this kind of drama. Please tell your wife thank you. This entire country would be little without good teachers and public education.

[WatsonT]

37. Yup

the best teachers, equipment, and curriculum in the world won't make a bit of difference if there is no discipline in the classrooms.

I'm not sure the best way to correct it though. With every parent having a lawyer and speed-dial and every student with a video-camera in his/her phone*, it seems like discipline is not going to make a come-back.

*great for documenting actual abuse, no problem there. But the problem is how easy it is to lie by showing only a certain angle, or the last few seconds of a 10 minute long altercation. A good editor could make the protester in Tienanmen square seem to be the perpetrator, and the tank the victim.

[Plucketeer]

39. Believe me!

My wife tries her best to walk on eggshells in the classroom. SHE dares NOT to video ANYTHING, lest the lawsuits pour forth. Yet she could EASILY be presecuted on the strength of what some kid gets on his camera-phone. Even if it's just an honest gaff or moment of embarrassment - it cqan be on YouTube that afternoon! Those damned phones should be left at the office every morning. Safety? what the hell did kids do to survive for the 140 years before???

[Le Taz Hot]

57. You couldn't pay me enough to be a teacher today.

You have NO backing. None. And the students know it. "Back in the day" as a student, you had virtually NO backing. EVERYBODY took the teachers' side. I'm not saying this is always the right solution but today teachers are left out to twist in the wind alone.

[Xithras]

65. That teacher should have called the police.

Several years ago one of the teachers at my wifes school had a parent threaten her on a regular basis ("I'm going to beat your bitch-ass in the parking lot"). She tried to get the principal to ban him from the campus, but the administration refused and chastised her for not "working with the parent better". To be clear, this guy was a gang banger thug who was on parole for taking potshots at another drug dealer.

He finally made the mistake of pushing her in the classroom one day. She walked up to the office to report it, started to get the regular runaround, walked out, and called the police on her cell phone instead. The guy was back behind bars for violating parole within hours. He was initially charged with felony "making terrorist threats" and felony assault, but eventually plea bargained it down to misdemeanor assault. Because he was on parole, he ended up back in prison for a couple of years because of it.

The principal was apoplectic, but there was nothing he could do. When an actual crime occurs on campus, the police DO NOT need the permission of the school or any of its administrators to arrest and seek prosecution of the person who committed the crime.

If the irate student seriously injured the teacher, the teacher should have called the police and had him arrested.

[MineralMan]

15. The 911 Call

(as I imagine it)

Operator: 911. What is your emergency?
Caller: OH MY GOD! My teacher went CRAZY!
Operator: Could you describe what happened?
Caller: Well, he like slammed the table on the floor and said something and stuff.
Operator: OK, stay on the phone. We have a unit responding. Are you injured?
Caller: I'm all scared and shit like that. I was just checking my new nail job and BAM! I've never been so scared in my life.
Operator: Did the teacher fire a weapon?
Caller: It sounded all loud and, like, scary, you know.
Operator: Was anyone else injured?
Caller: Uh...I dunno...when are they going to get here. I'm all in the hall and like that.

[benld74]

16. My 6th grade math teacher threw a chalkboard eraser at some kid,,

to get him to quit talking. HIT the kid BEHIND him square in the temple!! Many tears later,,,

[Confusious]

18. I think that happened to me in high school

I got hit in the forehead. I laughed, but didn't fuck with the teacher after that.

[MedicalAdmin]

19. I used to be a teacher.

The most effective way to deal with kids who weren't paying attention and were being loud was to right this on the whiteboard and then point at it while being absolutely silent. "Shhhhhhhhh." It worked amazingly well because it was the kids telling each other to be quiet and pay attention and NOT me. It would start with one or 2 kids and then spread. I was just waiting at the front of the classroom being quiet.

It's hard and a lot of energy to fight loud with loud. That's just my 2 cents.

[AnneD]

22. I always just stopped instruction....

and did my best "Mom Glare" at the worst offender. Eventually every one but those talking stopped. When they finally shut up, I would ask them if they were finished talking. Works really well with teens.

[plumbob]

25. Or here's one that worked well on sophomores:

just quit what you're doing and sit down at your desk and begin reading. Won't take more than a couple of minutes for students to start looking around. Finally, one will ask, "Sir, are we doing anything?" I would reply, "Why would be doing anything? It's not like this is school or anything. Please don't disturb me - I'm reading." Then they get irate and demand that you teach to earn your money. Whole thing in 3 minutes - the original offenders are shushed by their peers, and everyone is now determined that I not be allowed to get away with doing nothing while being paid by their parents.

Makes me smile, even now.

:)

[reggie the dog]

34. in some schools the kids would be happy to be able

to spend the hour talking, playing cards, and shooting dice

[plumbob]

45. If they think you don't want them to, that's likely. But when it appears

that you are willing to draw a salary for doing nothing, it seems to hit a nerve. I teach on a campus 85% free or reduced lunch eligible, 78% Hispanic, 20% Special Ed, total enrollment 3700+.

And these are sophomores, not seniors, who ARE more savvy to game the system. In their case, you must use the idea of carelessly allowing them to fail and not graduate. I've been teaching 3 decades and hope to go some more. Texas will probably do away with 100,000 teachers this coming year, so we'll see if they opt for cheap new replacements. With multiple degrees, multiple certifications, online and brick responsibilities as well as mentoring student teachers, along with those 3 decades, I may be priced out.

[MedicalAdmin]

70. I couldn't have done that where I taught.

It was too street. Ignoring them would just have reinforced their earlier and current life. Chaos would have ensued.

[proud2BlibKansan]

51. I like the "Can you?" questions.

Can you stop talking?

Can you walk in the hall?

Can you keep your hands to yourself?

Can you work without bothering your neighbor?

Works well with upper elementary kids.

[MedicalAdmin]

71. I worked in High school .

Never would have worked there. But elementary, they are still forming their concept of self. So Can You is a question they are constantly asking themselves. It makes sense.

[MedicalAdmin]

69. I tried my mom glare but my beard got in the way.

I do have a pretty good marine DI stare tho'. I would use that sometimes. Always admired those marine DI's - they can curse out someone more thoroughly than anyone else I have ever met and they can do it without raising their voices or using profanity. It's really impressive.

Sound like you found something that worked for you and with your students.

[proud2BlibKansan]

50. I lower my voice when they get loud

Forces them to be quiet and listen.

Works like a champ. :)

[MedicalAdmin]

72. I love this one.

Model the behavior you want to see. -- didn't Ghandi say something very similar to this.

[texastoast]

32. My band director threw chalkboard erasers all the time

One got stuck in a tuba and we all had a good laugh. Those guys always deserved it.

[LisaM]

40. My band director crashed a bunch of music stands over

and chase the entire drum section out of the bandroom once! They never came back (to band) and he kept his job.

[texastoast]

43. Drummers

Can't have a band without a beat, and they know it! My band director slammed his baton on his podium one time in frustration and broke it. He laughed at himself and went and got another baton. LOVE LOVE wacky musicians!

[LisaM]

44. I can't remember what they even did!

It didn't do any permanent harm to anyone.

[wickerwoman]

55. Ours threw his baton a few times

mostly at trumpet players. Something about those brass sections... Luckily they always got hit with the cork end and not the pointy one. Had a few erasers thrown too- that's where playing cymbals and being in the back of the room came in handy. ;-)

[MedicalAdmin]

74. Well they don't call them Brassholes for nothing.

[MedicalAdmin]

73. Mistake.

I would never have chased my drum line out. I just would have been working them like dogs. THe problem with a lot of directors is that they don't know exactly what to do with drummers. Keep em busy and they won't have time to get any stupid ideas in their little pointy heads.

The mistake he made was likely working with a wind section while ignoring the little bastards in the back for too long. Idle hands and all that.

Every tiime I needed to work with the winds I would put one of the section leaders to work with their sections running either exercises, doing stretches, or running speed or endurance contests with prizes to be awarded by the section leaders and the wrath of god to be provided by me if I wasn't happy with the results. After I ran then all over a few times, they decided not to push the issue.

Just my 2 cents. WTFDIK?

[Jmaxfie1]

27. Very,very sad, just another reason our schools suck.

I worked with a Russian guy once who was a teacher in Russia. I asked him why he didn't teach in the US. He told me he would never do it because American students have no respect for their teachers. I tend to agree with him. Maybe the teacher shouldn't have rattled his desk, but come on.

[Celebration]

29. I don't think students are allowed to bring cell phones to schools here

Too many drug deals done with them, texting in class, etc.

[MineralMan]

33. I like the idea of a whistle. A nice loud silver one. On a shoelace

around my neck. A real attention-getter in a closed room.

I believe that teachers should be allowed, and even encouraged, to use whatever means necessary to get their students' attention and focus. Students should never be allowed to run the class. That's the teacher's job.

While some teachers can command attention through the sheer use of their personality, not all have that art. Other means may be necessary, including banishing disruptors from the classroom. Now, I've never taught school-aged kids, but I've certainly been one. In the days when I went to school, disruptive behavior in class got you sent to the principal's office instantly. I know that, because I spend a lot of time in that office in grammar school. :rofl:

[proud2BlibKansan]

52. We had a sub who was fired for that.

A whistle in a closed room can damage hearing. Not a good idea.

[snooper2]

61. Oh give me a break

And like the door being shut would make a difference either way :eyes:


Where's ICP when you need them-

Fucking Sound, how does it work :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[proud2BlibKansan]

62. Like I said, he lost his job

You can poo poo it all you want but if you need the work you need to follow the rules.

[MedicalAdmin]

75. Actually it can make a difference.

Sound pressure can be increased if there is an enclosed column of air. It depends on room size, acoustic material etc.

A whistle shouldn't be enough but... if the whistle was at or above 120dB and if it was either close to a student (inverse square rule) or if the enclosed room was small enough to have an effect of the sound duration or pressure, then yes, it could damage the hearing permanently. Here's a link about sound that I found to be pretty helpful - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_pressure#Examples_of_sound_pressure_and_sound_pressure_levels

The problem I would have with a whistle used indoors is that the person blowing it is the most likely one to suffer damage.

[Corruption Winz]

35. Everyone knows...

First it's shaking the table. Then... it's throwing children into traffic. Everyone knows this.

Honestly, this is ridiculous. The cops should have been called in to show the kids where they can go if they don't pay attention in class and mess around their entire lives.

[groundloop]

38. The cops screwed up - they should have given the student a ride to the station & called her parents

Seriously, making a false 911 call is a crime, why didn't this student at least get a little scare put in her? After they found out what was going on, that student would have freaked out when the officer said "Miss, would you come with us please". Let Daddy make a trip to the Police Station to pick up his spoiled child.

[LisaM]

41. What the hell is wrong with some of these parents?

Why does an eighth grader have a cell phone in class? Aren't there rules against this? Did she just get up and walk out? Why didn't she go to the principal's office rather than call the police? THE POLICE? Are you kidding me?

I heard a story yesterday about a middle school in Tacoma, WA where some boys had been having a fight club in the bathroom, after school, for a few weeks. One of them taped it on a phone, it was found out, and the kids were expelled.

On the news, they showed one of the kids and his father (faces and names hidden of course) blaming the teachers for this!!! Apparently the teachers are supposed to routinely patrol the bathrooms after hours. No responsibility taken by the parent or child, no mention of the other kids' parents, nothing.

It's all blame, blame, blame the teachers and I for one am heartily sick of it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

54. I teach in an elementary school and our bathrooms are locked

I find it sad but it does cut down on problems in the restroom.

[wickerwoman]

56. After the number of school shootings,

I don't have a problem with kids having cell phones at school as long as they're turned off and kept for emergencies.

And it seems very strange to me that this student was so sensitive... maybe she's abused at home or was recently mugged, raped, etc. It could be a PTSD reaction to a disturbing noise that most people would just shrug off. She might be completely mortified about it now... who knows?

Hope she gets whatever help she needs. Clearly she has problems.

[Le Taz Hot]

58. If a loud noise is so distrubing to her

that she calls the police every time she hears one, perhaps home care or institutionalization is in order until her disorder is under control to enable her to function within a normal society.

[WatsonT]

60. I'd be ok with blaming the teachers for disciplinary problems in school

if they were also given the ability to actually discipline students without immediately being sued/fired.

Right now it's a vicious catch-22: do something about the kids behavior and you're sued, fail to do something about the kids behavior and you will be sued.

[MikeW]

42. this kid deserves a suspension and the "Parent" should be fined for the 911 report

[plumbob]

46. No complaints have been lodged against the teacher in the past, Baker said.

About sums it up.

I have a simple solution when a student is talking on a cell phone which is prohibited here in class. Just ask them for it, reaching your hand out, and when you have it, ask the person calling who it is. Often, it's a parent, in which case I say, "James is in class right now attempting to work, and these types of outside distractions can cause students to fail. Shame on you for not caring about your child's education. Please don't call back during school hours. Hang up. Hand back the phone. Kid saves $15 on the pickup fee if confiscated and parent feels guilty about education or embarrassed at being caught. Either is a good reaction. VERY rare to have to do this after the 3rd week of school. Kids and parents gossip.

[Codeine]

47. God I hate most kids.

Whiny-ass delicate little flowers spoiled beyond all fucking reason.

[alp227]

48. WTF? That student is full of shhhhhhh

Teachers' job is to educate and inform and enlighten, and that requires attention. If this student feels intimidated by a harmless table-rattling that doesn't mean to physically hurt anyone, gosh, how will she ever make it in life?

I can't believe how stupid people have become for dumb events like these to become real news. And let's raise money to buy this teacher a gong.

[Jennicut]

53. Back in the day in 1990 (when I was in 8th grade) we had no cell phones.

Now kids my daughter's age (6) ask for them. Should 8th graders have cell phones? We survived. Then again, Gen X survived without a lot of supervision in general.

[LibertyLover]

59. Heck, when I was in junior high we had teachers who would

lob blackboard erasers at students who weren't paying attention. Sure as hell got their attention back where it was supposed to be. Nowadays I imagine that they would be arrested for assault. We had other teachers who would drop the heaviest book they could find on a desk or floor to get our attention. And then of course there was the girls' gym/health teacher who walked into the classroom and kicked the waste paper basket across the room and started screaming at the cheerleaders in the class because she was pissed at the cheerleading squad's poor performance in selling stickers to raise "pep" for the next football game. Let me tell you, that woke us all up. The girl who made the phone call was wrong and so were the police for not arresting her for making a false 911 call. Poor baby - the big bad noise scared her. :sarcasm: