Teacher handcuffed after questioning school board

OUTRAGE

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana teacher was removed from a school board meeting, forcibly handcuffed and jailed after questioning pay policies during a public comment period. The teacher’s union and the ACLU are investigating, and two board members say the board treats women unfairly.

A video posted by KATCTV shows middle-school English teacher Deyshia Hargrave complying with a city marshal’s orders to leave Monday night’s Vermilion Parish School Board meeting in Abbeville, west of New Orleans. Next, she is seen on the hallway floor, screaming as the marshal handcuffs her behind her back.

“Stop resisting,” the marshal says, hustling Hargrave toward an exit after lifting her to her feet.

“I am not, you just pushed me to the floor,” Hargrave responds.

Hargrave later bonded out of the Abbeville jail on charges of “remaining after being forbidden” and resisting an officer, according to KATC.

The station reported that board president Anthony Fontana had ruled Hargrave out of order for asking questions during a time reserved for public comment. Later, she spoke again and was confronted by the marshal despite objections from the audience. “She was recognized!” several people said.

“This is the most disgraceful and distasteful thing I have ever seen,” another audience member said as Hargrave made her way out.

Women have several times been told to leave meetings, while men who speak out have not, board member Laura LeBeouf said Tuesday.

“When she realized she had to get out, she picked up her purse and walked out,” LeBeouf said. “Women in this parish are not getting the same treatment.”

The board’s other woman member expressed similar sentiments.

“So far in 3 years, only women have been removed from board room meetings,” Sara Duplechain wrote to The Associated Press.

It remains unclear why Hargrave was handcuffed. In a longer video posted on YouTube by a local reporter, the officer is heard telling Hargrave outside the building that he had given her “many lawful orders to leave.”

“And that’s exactly what I was doing,” Hargrave insists.

Superintendent Jerome Puyau told reporters that the school system would not seek to have Hargrave prosecuted.