You could argue that one thing worse than being attacked by a student is being told by administrators to keep quiet. But that may be happening in Baltimore, Maryland, where supposedly gang-affiliated middle-schoolers recently burst into two classrooms, cut the lights, and then pummeled the teachers. Although these and other attacks have been reported, the Baltimore Teachers Union claims that many similar incidents have not because administrators are seeking to avoid a school label of “persistently dangerous.” Pat Ferguson, chair of BTU’s school safety committee, says that, while 25 official complaints have been logged this year, an additional 50 calls have been made to the union’s anonymous hotline. “Those teachers,” Ferguson adds, “are afraid to give their name or even their school because they are afraid they are going to lose their job.”
A version of this news article first appeared in the Web Watch blog.
