I Stand With Teachers
posted by Breyonna Hardy | April 24, 2023 | In OpinionOn April 17, I was in English class waiting for class to start and I am scrolling through Facebook where I come across a video of a student and teacher fighting.
I would later find out that the same video that I watched before class came from my old high school. The young girl being a Rocky Mount High School student and the teacher was a substitute teacher for that particular class that day.
It all started over a phone, and it escalated to a full-blown fistfight between a student and a teacher, something that hasn’t happened at Rocky Mount High School, especially when I was there as a student.
Later that day, the Rocky Mount Police Department released a statement that they were currently investigating the incident and identified the substitute teacher as Ms. Xaveria Steele, who has been working for Nash County Public Schools for a year.
On April 19, it was announced that Steele and the student were both facing charges of simple assault in which Steele was arrested and released on a written promise to appear in court.
Here is my stance on this matter.
I stand with Ms. Steele. In that moment, she had no choice but to defend herself, the student got in her space and ultimately threw the first hit. I’m not condoning violence in any way because it shouldn’t have gotten to the point where they started fighting.
People on social media are saying that she shouldn’t have hit the student: “she is a grown woman,” “that is a child,” but what did people expect for Ms. Steele to do? Let the student hit her in her face.
As a Rocky Mount native and RMHS alumna, I have seen my fair share of students getting into heated arguments with the teachers, but it has never escalated to a fight because the administrators were already in the classroom or heading towards that way, so I’m appalled as why no administrators showed up when Ms. Steele was calling on them to come get the disruptive student.
The school’s policy states that “If an employee is attacked by a student, the employee has the right to reasonably restrain the student and defend themselves to the point of that they are free of the threat or attack”.
It is bad enough that teachers are underpaid, unappreciated, and now they can’t even come to their job and do what they love and feel safe. Steele spoke out about the incident where she stated that she has been receiving death threats and she is pulling away from teaching, which is something that she has been doing for 22 years. My heart broke for her.
When I tell people that I am an english major, they ask me do I want to be a teacher and part of me wants to say yes, but another part of me says no because I see how teachers are being treated with Ms. Steele being a prime example.
To all my teachers, keep doing what you’re doing. Y’all are the key to educating the future president, doctors, and astronauts. I value you and appreciate all the work that y’all do and the courageousness to walk in the line of fire to do what y’all love to do.
I stand with Ms. Xaveria Steele.
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