Teacher sacked for putting a student in a head lock despite being punched by the youth

[nero_bolt]

Teacher sacked for putting a student in a head lock despite being punched by the youth says staff are powerless 

 TEACHER who was sacked for misconduct including putting a student in a headlock after the youth punched him said the NSW education system left teachers "powerless to discipline kids".

Science and agriculture teacher Stephen Krix was fired from Riverstone High School when he fought back against a year-10 student who refused to work and punched him in the face during a class.

Mr Krix - a "squarely built" 51-year-old who had worked in various public and private teaching roles since 1989 - told The Sunday Telegraph he acted in self-defence when he put the "slight" student in a headlock during a science class in May 2011.

The incident came after the student refused to take off his headphones, told Mr Krix to f*** off several times and punched the teacher when he stood close to him with a worksheet and refused to move

.

The incident was outlined in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission last Wednesday where Mr Krix lost an appeal against the sacking he claimed was "harsh, unreasonable and unjust".

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Krix, who now works in the security industry, said the public system was failing kids because teachers feared being sacked if they disciplined students.

He said students were leaving public schools without the self-restraint required to cope with post-school life.

It's a joke - that's why people are running to private schools," Mr Krix said.

"Eighty per cent of kids are screwed over by the state system because of a lack of discipline given to a minority of bad kids who disrupt classes," he said.

"You have to have zero tolerance … if a kid is behaving badly in the classroom he needs to be extracted and all the kids that are behaving themselves need to be able to get educated."

In relation to the student, Mr Krix said: "It's not like he's some sort of pathological killer … he's just a kid who needed discipline and wasn't getting it. If he's given the guidelines then he knows where the boundary is".

A NSW Department of Education and Communities representative told the commission Mr Krix should have stood down from any physical confrontation.

The representative said the Teaching Service Act meant that teachers had to respond to situations with the safety of students being the top priority.

more here http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/teacher-sacked-for-putting-a-student-in-a-head-lock-despit...

A very true comment from a poster on that page....

The day will come when no one will want to become a high school teacher...it has been getting worse for years now.

Education will be  via the internet for a teacher's safety .T

he students hold the power .  

Has anyone got the guts to swing this around...I doubt it.

Then again, anyone who wants to become a secondary teacher in the public system ,I guess, deserves all that is coming their way if they haven't heeded the warning signals by now to AVOID this once great profession! 

[*ibis]

is there anyting about it on twitter?

[kengillard]

I wouldn't care really if my son had been stupid enough to punch a teacher in the face, he deserved a headlock to stop him.  how else?   was the teach supposed to have punched him back.?

[bluecat*dancing]

There had been other incidents of "gross failings"  by this teacher which are mentioned in the link provided in the op.

[deeg845]

Your son needs discipline and the education department needs to be sued for not protecting their teachers.  Have you ever been in a classroom where a chair is hurled and objects thrown at you, or you are being continually being threatened.  These children think it is really funny to wind a teacher up, to see how far they can go.  Have any of these parents actually watched the behaviour of these children in class?  Most likely not, because if you had, you would be defending the teacher and apologising to him or her for the actions of your child causing so much stress.   Some children need to be sent to boot camp to learn to behave.  It really is out of control.  Teachers don't do this job because they love being abused, they become teachers because they love teaching and want to be able to make a difference.  It's certainly not for the pay.  The teacher used inappropriate methods to control this student you say?  Try taking this behaviour day after day, week after week, year after year.  It's human nature to defend yourself and this is what this teacher was doing.  He reached his breaking point, like all of us have done at some point and who can blame him and given that you don't have to endure this , could you do it?  Anyone who says they haven't are lying.  And the education department, what did they do....sacked the teacher and did not support him.  The child? ...  who knows...  judging from his parent's comment.....will continue to do this again and again.  Why be a teacher  I ask, where is the respect these days.  Seems to me it's gone down the gurgler. 

[the_great_she_elephant]

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@just_me_karen wrote:
It's from a populist magazine, not a newspaper with reputable journalists...and this means the story is skewed towards popularity and readership income, ie the facts are missing but the drama and scandal remains.

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My thoughts exactly, Karen. We have no idea what the full story is - whether the kid was habitually disruptive, whether the teacher was a bully who had been warned before, whether the 'punch' was really a punch or an effort to fend off the teacher, how aggressive the headlock was. Until we have some actual facts to go on it's a bit pointless pontificating on what should or should not have happened.

[lind9650]

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@bluecat*dancing wrote:

There had been other incidents of "gross failings"  by this teacher which are mentioned in the link provided in the op.

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Have you read the whole story? Have you read all the comments from readers, including one from an ex-pupil of this teacher?

I have, and have no more comments to make than what I've said before.

Erica

[bluecat*dancing]

Erica, I have just finished reading all of the comments, twice, as well as the article in question, and my opinion remains unchanged. I would like to read the "whole story". and not just sensational one-sided clap trap. For instance, I would like to know what punishment, if any, that the student received. This teacher has a history of being irresponsible which resulted in students being injured. He had been a teacher for a long time and should have known better. Teenagers are still learning how to be adult . which doesn;t mean that they shouldn't be held responsible for their behaviour. Cause and effect. Action and consequence.

However, I do not , and will not, condone acts of violence.

[***super_nova***]

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@nero_wulf wrote:

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 what is wrong with the kids of today.... their parents and upbringing and this sort of attitude and total lack of respect. 

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yes, but that is not exclusive to public schools.  Actually, the kids in private schools are worse.  I was present at a dinner where a father boasted that when they travelled o/s and their luggage did not arrive on the same plane his 15 years old daughter abused the staff screaming at them that they are 1st class passengers and expect their luggage arrive at the same time as they do.  And then was rude in similar way to the receptionist at their hotel, because there was something not quite to her liking in her room.  The same man also told the same girl that as he pays huge school fees for their 3 kids at that school,  the teachers are in fact their employees, and therefore the girl does not have to do what the teachers tells her.  Funny, i was brought up to treat my employees with respect.

But that is nothing that new; some 45 years ago we lived in Sydney eastern suburbs in a house backing onto the grounds of one of the most prestiges girls schools in australia, and the kids - many of them boarded - also pretty much ran riot and did not pay much respect to the teachers at all.  Another rich spoiled kid I knew at that time drove a car bought for him by his father before he was even old enough to get L-plates and drove it unregistered on the road -  he drove it on their country property since he was little, so he was in control of the car.  when he got arrested, daddy just got him off, and he kept driving.

[***super_nova***]

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@deeg845 wrote:

  Have you ever been in a classroom where a chair is hurled and objects thrown at you, or you are being continually being threatened. 

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and sadly in such classrooms how do you expect the kids actually learn?  It does not matter how much the education department spends if there is not respect for teachers and there are kids that will keep disrupting nobody learns.  No wonder teachers have breakdowns and leave.

[donnashuggy]

gosh that sounds like my neighbourhood lol.

My daughter goes to public school, overlooks the harbour and it is free, she is getting a great education. The eyes roll quite often in conversation with parents sending their kids to these 20,000 plus schools (my eldest daughter went to vinnies) so I can compare.

But I wanted to say that on Friday nights my daughter plays basketball against a lot of these schools and there is never a parent in sight watching their girls, says something doesn't it? Your comment about school fees made me think of it nova 🙂