A teacher's aide was arrested in Milwaukee on Wednesday after a video surfaced of him pushing a 14-year old boy around the classroom and holding him down by his neck. The 39 year old is now facing physical abuse of a child and tonight NBC26 asks local educators where things went wrong.
Social media and smart phones are showcasing moments behind closed doors that we would never have seen just a few years ago. Today educators talked to NBC26 about what all teachers know about refraining from becoming another viral video.
The video is disturbing to watch, it shows a grown man, a teacher’s aide, handling a Milwaukee high school freshman with violence.
"I mean you never touch a student like that, never," says UWGB’s Chairman of the Education Department Dr. Steve Kimball.
Dr. Kimball says that very school has protocols in place with how to restrain a student who has gotten violent. But adds that for far too many schools it's not everyone of the teachers who get the training.
"You would hope the school would have something in place for instructional aides but they don't always," adds Dr. Kimball.
At the Little Chute Area School District Laura McCormick, the Director of Pupil Services, say she makes sure the majority of her staff gets the training.
"We train all of my special ed aides, all of my special ed teachers, and a number of regular ed teachers at all levels are trained in the non-violent crisis intervention," says McCormick.
And after watching the 17 second video she knows that there are many unanswered questions as to what lead up to the violent confrontation. But still she hopes teachers will look at it and ask the questions that could make them better prepared for such an event.
"I hope teachers are saying what happened before that, that would ever lead a teacher or an aide to ever do that," adds McCormick.
She, like many educators who watched just hope more teachers and their aides recognize the warning signs of students, even staff, before an event like this unfolds.
Every public school has at least one staff member trained for non-violent crisis intervention, most schools though have dozens.
