I totally agree with what Texas Teacher said. As much as you would
like to help, I don't think it's a good idea to get involved in
fights. There are many factors at stake that could backfire on you.
First, you could easily get injured. If that happens, dealing with
the medical insurance claims will be a nightmare. Secondly, like
Texas Teacher mentioned, you could be held liable if you try to break
things up and a student gets injured. I've heard about this
happening a number of times. You don't want to put yourself in that
position.

We had a fight in the English hallway this year. A small, older
female teacher tried to break things up and was essentially thrown to
the floor by one of the male students. Apparently, this whole
incident was planned. Video of the fight was event put on You Tube.
The teacher was not only physically harmed but did not come back for
the remainder of the year due to mental anguish. She tried to press
charges against the culprits but nothing came of it. Plus, dealing
with the insurance situation has been hell for her because the school
district has a different view of her injuries.

As far as I'm concerned, our responsibility as teachers is to ensure
the safety and well-being of not only our students but also
ourselves. I'm not willing to risk injury by throwing myself in the
middle of a fight. However, I'm more than willing to call for help
and try to diffuse the situation verbally.

On 8/06/08, Texas Teacher wrote:
> Teachers are not encouraged to break up fights. We are told to
> call the office as each room has a phone. The principals come to
> the hallways with campus police. We have had teachers (male and
> female) get hurt when they break up fights. Also, if you try to
> break up a fight and the student is hurt and he says you hit him,
> you could be sued. This is not worth a court case and possible
> loss of teaching certificate as far as I am concerned. You need
> to monitor what is going on between the students and be prepared
> to write a report and/or give the campus police a full statement.
>
>
>
>
>
> On 8/06/08, NRM wrote:
>> I'm a 52 year old woman of 120 lbs. I teach high school math. I
>> haven't dealt with any major fights between boys, but I will
>> tell you: 200 lb high school boys are startled when I don't
>> mind sticking myself right in the middle of confrontations. I
>> think they are more likely to calm down when this skinny old
>> woman jumps in than they are when the gym coach starts pulling
>> limbs.
>>
>> Rebecca, I don't think you were stupid, nor lucky. I think you
>> were brave and smart.
>>
>> On 8/04/08, Rebecca wrote:
>>> It is our job to get help (getting another teacher, calling
>>> the office, whatever it takes). Districts do not want a
>>> teacher hurt if at all possible and would probably not advice
>>> a female teacher to get in the middle of two high school boys.
>>> So don't feel bad about not getting in the middle of it. And
>>> don't beat yourself up over it. It is so hard to act in the
>>> moment of something like that. You aren't thinking straight
>>> and your adrenaline is running.
>>>
>>> I dealt with one fight the year before last, right outside my
>>> room at a time when there were not many students or teachers
>>> around. And honestly all I was thinking was how can I stop it
>>> so I jumped right in the middle of the two boys and push them
>>> apart and yelled for help. One teacher called the office and
>>> then came to help while another showed up to grab one of the
>>> boys. The other two teachers didn't have classes at the time
>>> (were on lunch) and so they each took a boy and walked him
>>> down to the office and I walked back into my classroom
>>> absolutely shaking and continued teaching (which I'm not sure
>>> how I accomplished but it was just what needed to be done).
>>> Looking back, it was probably pretty stupid to get in the
>>> middle of two boys who were both bigger than I was.
>>>
>>> On 8/04/08, Teach wrote:
>>>> Hi everyone! I wanted to ask your opinion about fights. I
>>>> am a very new female teacher in a high school. Last year
>>>> there was a fight by my classroom between two boys. I had
>>>> yelled at the students to break apart before the fight
>>>> began, but instantly punches were thrown. Quickly a male
>>>> teacher had shown up and broke the boys apart. Both boys
>>>> ended up ok with no major injuries. The administrators were
>>>> fine with how I handeled the situation, and never mentioned
>>>> any concerns about my procedure. Yet,I was never satisfied
>>>> with how things happened.
>>>> My question for you is... Should female teachers verbally or
>>>> physically break up fights? If so what is the most
>>>> appropriate and safe procedure to do so?

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