DATE: Wednesday, October 22, 1997           TAG: 9710220536

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON AND DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITERS 

                                            LENGTH:  122 lines

WHERE DO TEACHERS DRAW THE LINE? EDUCATORS DEBATE HOW TO HANDLE VIOLENT BEHAVIOR

Woodrow Wilson High School students saw teachers in starkly different roles during last Tuesday's student brawl - everything from teachers flying into the middle of fights, trying to regain order, to those who retreated behind closed doors.

The scene drove home a resounding point: Teachers' roles as mediators have become critical to the safe environment of a school. But teachers often are uncertain of that role, as they weigh the physical, legal and emotional risks to intervening in student fights.

``It can be a darned-if-you-do, darned-if-you-don't situation,'' said India Meissel, a social studies teacher at Lakeland High School in Suffolk and former teacher at Wilson when it was located in the building that's now Hunt-Mapp Middle. ``If you do get into something, and you're holding back a kid, you could be sued for holding them. If you don't, and you're just standing there, you get asked why you didn't do something.''

Meissel's observations were echoed by teachers, parents and school staff throughout South Hampton Roads. Those interviewed cited three factors that fuel the fire of student violence, and hence, teacher uncertainty about their role as disciplinarians. They include:

Weak principals and assistant principals who fail to back up teachers on disciplinary actions.

Parents who either fail to get involved before their children get in trouble, or when they do, threaten lawsuits if disciplinary measures aren't withdrawn.

Students who are not forced to reckon with the consequences of their actions.

``Things like these riots happen because kids get away with murder,'' said Green Run High School teacher Jane Lauter. ``They can say whatever they want, do what they want, and get away with it. They can say things that if we said them, we'd lose our jobs. But they get away with it.''

State law banned corporal punishment in 1989, but the law allows teachers to use ``incidental, minor or reasonable physical contact'' to maintain control and ``reasonable and necessary force'' in certain situations, including to quell a disturbance, self-defense or to protect violent people from harming themselves or others.

Teachers, though, are not legally obligated to break up fights, said John Medas, director of the Education Association of Norfolk. Instead, they have a legal responsibility to try to prevent fights from occurring.

``If a fight is breaking out, they should yell, shout for help. I've even encouraged them to throw water on the students if they choose,'' Medas said. ``But in terms of endangering themselves, they are under no legal obligation to put themselves in jeopardy.''

When they do intervene, teachers fear they may be setting themselves up for legal trouble.

Marian Flickinger, president of the Norfolk Federation of Teachers, said over the years she's seen an increase in the number of teachers charged with assault by students. The group now is encouraging teachers to countersue.

``There are a lot of frivolous charges made by students, and we encourage our members to press charges against any student who threatens them or assaults them in any way,'' Flickinger said. So far, no defamation suits have been filed.

Even when they don't consider the possible legal implications of breaking up of a fight, teachers know there can be physical risks.

``I've been hit, kicked, climbed on and spit at,'' said a Wilson High School teacher, who asked not to be identified. ``It's not fun. It makes you wonder why you get up in the morning and go do it.''

Other Wilson teachers may have been asking the same question last week when a paper-throwing incident at the school escalated into a student melee that included racial slurs and scattered fights. One student was charged with inciting a riot, another with disorderly conduct. Still others may be charged.

Even before the fights in Portsmouth, the issue of school safety was a focus in Norfolk. The School Board and community have debated whether security officers should carry handcuffs and use them to restrain violent individuals. The board is expected to vote on the issue at Thursday's meeting.

But true change will not come, teachers say, until administrators get tough and follow through on discipline requests.

``The principal sets the standard for the school,'' said Gail Pittman, director of the Portsmouth and Suffolk Teacher Association. ``If follow-up consequences are meted out equitably, 180 days of the year, then a teacher has an easier time. If a disruptive student just gets sent back to the class and told to behave, the staff thinks `Why bother?' ''

One Portsmouth teacher said blame does not stop at the principal level.

``The school system, the board and the administration, none of them seem to have the will to punish these kids,'' said the teacher, who asked not to be identified. ``They seem to be afraid of losing money if they have a high drop-out rate. So 10 percent of the students are ruining things for the other 90 percent.''

Andy Hawkins, a Wilson teacher, said he will not send a student to the office any more unless he can accompany the student there. Otherwise they end up roaming the halls. ``This was a wake-up call,'' said Hawkins about last week's brawl. ``Some of the stuff that was ignored in the past was not ignored today.''

Teachers also have a responsibility to take a hard line with students in class, said Hawkins. ``You want to make sure you're doing all you can to make sure kids are learning. You don't want to send them to the office as a first line of defense.''

Raymond Hale, principal at Churchland High School, said school administrators often are caught between the parent and the teacher where discipline is concerned.

``If students can admit they were wrong and apologize, that's what I want to happen,'' Hale said. ``But in the end the teacher must feel he or she has the support of the administrators.''

Parents often complain about teachers not keeping them well enough informed of how their children are doing in school. Larry Burd, a Kempsville High School teacher, said teachers' time is so tight, between teaching classes, patrolling hallways and filling out paperwork, that it's hard to keep every parent up to speed on problem students. ``We need more time to discuss potential problems with parents before they become problems,'' he said.

Scott Pease, a parent of a Wilson High student, monitored hallways last week after the school reopened after the student brawl. He was shocked at the language he heard, and the lack of fear among students. ``When I was a kid I was always hoping the teacher wouldn't call my parents,'' Pease said. ``But these kids are like, `Touch me and I'm calling my mom. ''

A Wilson teacher interviewed questioned whether recent measures to firm up discipline policy would last: ``Some of the same kids that were walking the halls before all this happened are still roaming the halls today.''

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