City school cafeteria worker hurt in alleged assault
A cafeteria worker at one Baltimore school was injured Tuesday in an alleged assault involving students, and a teacher at another city school was punched by a student Wednesday, district officials confirmed.
The incident Tuesday, which was captured on video, took place at the National Academy Foundation School of Baltimore, which serves grades six through 12.
“Our thoughts are with her and her family during her recovery,” city schools spokeswoman Anne Fullerton wrote in a statement. “Pending completion of investigations by school staff and City Schools police, the students involved will receive all appropriate consequences according to the law and the district’s code of conduct.”
In a separate incident, a student punched a physics teacher at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute on Wednesday, city schools spokeswoman Edie House-Foster confirmed. The student, a 16-year-old 11th-grader, had been upset over being given a detention, according to FOX45, which first reported the incident, citing sources.
The student will not be allowed to return to the school, the station reported.
The incidents are at least the second and third this month, following a viral video earlier in November showing a Frederick Douglass High School student striking a teacher.
Baltimore Teachers Union President Marietta English condemned Tuesday’s incident. She said the union is putting together a school safety task force, which will meet Dec. 14 to examine the district’s code of conduct.
“It is inexcusable that teachers and paraprofessionals, school administration and staff keep being assaulted by students whoare in desperate need of help,” English said in a statement. “The safety of our teachers, paraprofessionals, school staff and students is of utmost importance.”
The cafeteria worker is a member of the City Union of Baltimore, or CUB. The organization’s president said the incident began with a “disagreement over milk.”
“We know students in our city grapple with a myriad of challenges each day before they even reach the school doors,” CUB President Antoinette Ryan-Johnson said in a statement. “That does not excuse violence against teachers and staff. CUB finds this violence against our members abhorrent and we will find a way to secure the safety of those who work in service to our city.”