A substitute teacher in Mesquite, Texas, was terminated from her position with the Mesquite Independent School District (MISD) after an investigation revealed she encouraged students to engage in physical altercations during class at Kimbrough Middle School. The district discovered the incident took place on Wednesday and condemned the teacher's actions as "appalling and intolerable."
Beatriz Martinez, a parent of one of the students involved, provided video evidence showing that fights were rough enough to cause some students to leave the classroom bleeding. According to Martinez's information, two separate fights were captured on video and audio.
The substitute teacher allegedly went beyond merely encouraging violence by outlining rules for students to follow during these altercations and assigning a student lookout who monitored the door while fights occurred.
Ted Tatum, Superintendent of MISD said: “Such behavior is completely unacceptable from any adult working in our schools." He added that they have referred this matter to Mesquite Police Department for further investigation into possible criminal charges against the former substitute teacher.
Martinez expressed her devastation over this unfortunate event involving her daughter who recorded one of these violent incidents. Since reporting it, both she and her daughter have been receiving threats from other students connected with those involved in these altercations.
"I never thought something like this would happen at my child’s school," said Beatriz Martinez. "Now my daughter is afraid because of all these threats. No child should suffer due to such irresponsible acts by adults entrusted with their safety."
This disturbing news comes shortly after another similar case emerged where a Florida middle school teacher faced four counts of contributing to delinquency among minors when accused of facilitating classroom brawls amongst female pupils at her Tallahassee-based institution earlier this week.
As investigations continue within both cases across state lines, parents are left questioning how well their children are protected in the school environment from such harmful adult influences.