When a school calls a parent saying their kid punched a teacher, most people’s first instinct is panic. But what happens when that headline version of the story starts to fall apart, and no one at the school seems eager to explain why? This dad didn’t lose it because he’s combative.
He pushed back because the people in charge were trying to skip over the part where a grown adult deliberately startled a child and got hit as a result.
This man has a 15-year-old son, Adam, and at the beginning of this week, his son’s school called him and his wife and demanded that they rush over, as Adam had hit his math teacher.
He and his wife were appalled, as they had never once encountered an issue with their son, and he thinks they’ve done a phenomenal job of raising the teen so far.
Actually, their school constantly praises him and his wife, since Adam is doing amazingly well in school. He’s popular, sweet, and always cool as a cucumber.
“Meanwhile, on Monday, the moment we entered school, things were strange. First, as soon as we saw Adam and wanted to talk to him, his other teacher pulled us away and immediately ordered us into the principal’s office. We weren’t allowed to exchange a single word,” he explained.
“Then they immediately started telling us about the suspension, that the math teacher was at the nurse’s office, and that it was unclear what other consequences would be, etc. It just seemed really strange to me; no one gave us any context, any timeline of events, etc. So I started asking questions.”
“What happened? Why? When? The answers were still unclear. ‘During class,’ ‘he hit the teacher,’ ‘there was blood.’ They didn’t want to say why or what started the whole incident, so… I told them I wanted to see the recording of the entire incident (classes are monitored), and I wanted to talk to my son, and without these things, I would not sign anything or get involved any further.”
Making it all the more bizarre, the teacher and principal treated him like they were not anticipating that he would defend Adam like that.
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The teacher and principal also insisted he had to sign the agreement allowing them to suspend Adam before leaving their office, and asking Adam for his side of the story.
His wife pleaded with him to remain calm, but he wouldn’t let up, and eventually, the teacher and the principal told him the truth.
What actually happened is that Adam got distracted during class, looking out the window. Adam’s teacher thought it would be a great idea to creep up on him and try to scare him.
“He got scared, screamed, and punched her in the face. The teacher immediately left the classroom and called another teacher, and then my wife and I were called. That’s it. There were no arguments, no fights, no anger,” he added.
“I said my son should definitely apologize for this, but if they really suspend him for this, I’ll make sure the school faces consequences. The principal once again tried to stop me from seeing my son, so I started asking her what specific law prevented me from doing so and whether the school’s status was really okay with withholding information from a parent about what the child had done, etc.”
“The principal ended up giving up and letting us go, but she said that ‘we still don’t know what consequences the teacher will draw.'”
Adam’s teacher has been absent all week, and they have yet to be informed about what the next steps will be. He believes it was right to stand up for his son, but his wife feels he was wrong and should have signed what the school wanted them to, considering the suspension would only last for three weeks.
His wife is adamant that he created a larger mess and didn’t correctly read the room.
I think it’s wrong that the teacher thought it was cool to provoke Adam like that, and you can’t predict what someone will do when startled.
He should keep fighting to hold the teacher and the principal accountable for trying to cover it all up and incorrectly punishing Adam.
Do you think that what he did was wrong?
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By Bre Avery Zacharski
Hi, I'm Bre, Chip Chick's CEO! I have a degree in Textile/Surface Design from The Fashion Institute of Technology, and... More about Bre Avery Zacharski
