A Houston high school has been left in shock after a video surfaced of a student assaulting a teacher. According to Daily Mail, the footage recently appeared on Twitter.
In the video that surfaced on Twitter last week, a student can be seen in a heated confrontation with a man who appears to be his teacher.
“Give me my f*****g phone, n***a.”
The student firmly says. However, the teacher remains calm and repeatedly declines the student’s request.
Then, as the student takes a step back — seeming to appease his teacher’s orders — he nods and draws up his fist, punching the teacher multiple times in the face.
Neither the teacher nor the student has been publicly identified.
According to Daily Mail, the incident occurred at Lamar High School in Houston, Texas. The school reportedly sent letters to students’ families, and Principal Rita Graves responded to the viral incident, as per KHOU.
“We do not condone and will not tolerate this type of behavior. It is always our top priority to maintain an environment where our students and staff are safe. Administrators will be looking into the cause of the altercation and continue to evaluate ways to prevent these occurrences in the future.”
Zeph Capo, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president, has also spoken out.
“Unfortunately, this kid’s made a huge mistake.”
However, despite the student’s “mistake,” Capo believes the student should be kept off campus.
“By all means, he should not be allowed back on a regular campus. This is not something that needs to be tolerated.”
Additionally, Capo explained that the teacher’s actions did not warrant the student’s response, as phone confiscation is allowed in the Houston Independent School District.
“Unfortunately, we see too much of this. We see too much of this happening toward our teachers and toward our school employees.”
According to the outlet, 520 incidents of violence against school employees were recorded between the 2021-2022 school years. Furthermore, the statistic has reportedly doubled compared to the incidents reported between the 2017-2022 school years.