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! 

[azureline**]

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@ufo_investigations wrote:

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@the_great_she_elephant wrote:

This is is the stupidist thing I ever heard. The teacher has the right to self defense and to stop further attack on himself. The teacher should be reinstated and promoted. The student should be charged with assault and forced to repeat the school year and given the strap.

Since you don't know either the student, the teacher, the school, its principal or even how much of the story is true, I would respectfully suggest that you are not an a position to make any pronouncements on the subject, one way or the other.  Were you to preface your remarks with the word IF then they might carry more weight.

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The teacher is in a position of authority, kids have no right to assault the teacher.  In my day if I even swore at a teacher we used to get 50 beltings. No one dared!

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So, no one dared ............but they got 50 beltings?

[aftanas]

Teachers are not allowed to assault students.  A person has the right to defend himself and usually that means that if someone fights you you have the right to fight back.  But not always.  A teacher is responsible for the welfare of his students and, if assaulted, the expectation is that the teacher would retreat if that option were open.  Indeed, the article states that

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

The dismissal was reviewed by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.  It seems clear that the teacher's error was fighting the student instead of running away, as he was required to do under the terms of his employment.

This obvioulsy raises the question of corporal punishment.  It doesn't work.  Beatings donot teach respect.  Beatings engender fear and resentment.  Anyone who has trained a dog understands the value of positive reinforcement over the application of pain.  The same principle applies to children.   And I would also think that most, if not all parents, would expect their child's teacher to have the maturity and self restraint not to get into a fight with their children.

[sav74]

It's unlike the telegraph to allow the truth to get in the way of a good story! Mr Krix seems to be the articles only source of information hence it is biased towards his version of events.
The headlock incident was one of a dozen incidents or complaints made about him, they included things like physically pushing students and making inappropriate comments towards students.
He was not dismissed for this headlock incident, in fact the final straw was when a boy(in year 9 not year 7, great journalism again telegraph) was severely burnt because Mr Krix left half a dozen students unsupervised, huddled around a burning drum of diesel fuel.
His dismissal was completely justifiable and yes I know these facts because I was member of the senior executive of Riverstone high school during this time.

[drew-2756 · Accepted solution]

I know the teacher personally and worked with him for over 2 years in another role he held as a part time fire fighter with Fire Rescue NSW. He was also my daughters Ag teacher so I can definitely speak with some first hand knowledge of this person. I must say that I can't believe how everyone jumps to such crazy conclusions. You wouldn't find a more respected and kind person. Wherever we went everyone knew Steve and couldn't stop talking to him. His past students love him like a friend and his method of teaching was to get students involved in learning by hands on example not just theory. He is a lovely kind and respected person in our community who would do anything for anyone. He resigned from the Fire Brigade over the stress of all this when it started so the fire brigade lost a great person too.
Our public school system these days is just a joke witness no discipline or consequences and that's why the bottom portion of our current generation of young adults who needed discipline when growing up, but got none at school or at home are now out coward punching people in the street. Just ask the local police. they know them all and will tell you the same as the teachers that has no power to control the little buggers at school. They are the 20% that cause 80% of our trouble in society because they think they can do what they want without any consequences. Steve was just protecting himself from one of these little **bleep**s who attend Riverstone High which is one of the roughest schools in Sydney. He didn't punch him back, just restrained him, that's all. Wake Up all you idiots who think Steve did wrong and take a stand behind ALL OF our teachers who are TRYING TO HELP RAISE A DECENT BUNCH OF ADULTS who often don't have decent parents as role models.

[ptb333]

Senior Executives of schools should never talk about this in a public forum, or their opinions! Your bias against Mr Krix is noted.

Mr Krix was an outstanding educator, who used strategies that may need modification in this PC world of primary teacher influenced high schools.

[ronronny1970]

You hit the nail on the head. Seems clear that Steve Krix was not supported at your school.

[12elliemellie]

So which one of you three is Steve Krix?

[ptb333]

hmmff..No I am not Steve and never met the bloke but he seems like a model member of our community and a positive role model for our young adults.

Mr Krix was sacked despite being punched and abused. How many teachers just like Mr Krix do you think have committed suicide or quit their job to go to financal struggle street?

[azureline**]

lol, elliemellie but..... it's nice that the new id's have popped in, in support of Steve...............

[azureline**]

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@ptb333 wrote:

hmmff..No I am not Steve and never met the bloke but he seems like a model member of our community and a positive role model for our young adults.

Mr Krix was sacked despite being punched and abused. How many teachers just like Mr Krix do you think have committed suicide or quit their job to go to financal struggle street?

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however, it appears Mr Krix was not sacked over just the mentioned incident.