A series of videos featuring middle school students fighting in the middle of a classroom while the teacher is present have led to massive backlash and calls for her to be booted from her position. The teacher’s response is probably not going to win her very many friends either. In fact, she told WSB-TV “What do you want me to do?…Those kids are bigger than me.”
“WSB published a story about the issue last week, showing cellphone videos appearing to depict students fighting each other in a Rex Mill Middle School classroom in Clayton County,” TheBlaze reported.
“The station said in one video the teacher breaks up a fight — but in another sits back at her desk. WSB said there were claims that the teacher encouraged students to fight,” the report continued.
The station then went on to add that in one of the dozen videos it was able to obtain, the teacher, the same one who made the comment up above, asks the students, “Do you know how to slapbox?” The station then pointed out that other students can be seen in the background of the video standing on chairs and desks so they can record the fisticuffs.
A Clayton County middle school teacher is coming under fire after videos surfaced that appeared to show her allowing students to fight one another as she watched.@wsbtv pic.twitter.com/MLBXIH5NxS
— Larry Spruill Jr (@LarrySReports) March 25, 2023
How many more reasons do we need to see before we decide that now is a good time to pull the plug on the public education system and make this all private and place local governments back in power? Public schools are rotten to the core. They are indoctrination centers and free daycare. That’s it.
“When a WSB reporter asked the teacher in question, Janette Bagtas, if she encouraged the fighting, Bagtas replied, ‘No, ma’am, not by any means am I encouraging,'” the report continued.
“Bagtas — a mother of two who has taught sixth through eighth grade at Rex Mill for seven years — added to the station that fighting is what students chose to play during classroom free time. She added to WSB that free time is known as incentive time in the district,” TheBlaze said.
Bagtas then said that the videos all leave out the fact she pressed the security button for help.
“We tell them to stop, we push the button,” Bagtas went on to explain to WSB, going on to add that’s all she’s required to do.
“What do you want me to do? I’m asking them. I’m asking everybody. What do you want me to do? What more can I do?” Bagtas later asked the station. “Those kids are bigger than me. I’ve been hit; I was hit in the shoulder twice.”
A parent, Tatiana Couben, spoke with WSB and said that her child is a student of the school, saying she found the videos incredibly disturbing.
“Every kid in those videos … they were African-American, young black men. That’s a double not okay. They can’t think that behavior is okay,” Couben stated.
“Reynard Walker, Clayton County Public Schools chief of police, told WSB when a teacher or staff member presses the Centegix CrisisAlert button three times, the school resource officer is alerted,” TheBlaze continued.
Walker, who also informed the station that Rex Mill Middle School only has one resource officer on campus, stated that if the system seems to not be working properly, or if the officer isn’t responding to it, the teacher can then use the classroom phone to get in contact with the front office or reach another teacher for help.
A spokesperson for the district put out a statement about the whole security button protocol that said, “Clayton County Public Schools continues to prioritize the safety of all staff and students. To this end, the district began utilizing the Centegix Alert System during the 2019-2020 School Year. While the investigation into this matter is ongoing, the district is not aware of any reports of these alert buttons not functioning as intended.”
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