Posted on 01/18/2014 4:37:59 PM PST by nickcarraway
A STUDENT who punched his teacher in the head during class said he's not sorry the man was sacked for putting him in a headlock.
Former Riverstone High School student Jarrad O'Hanlon told The Sunday Telegraph he felt no remorse over the 2011 incident which ended the twenty-year career of teacher Stephen Krix.
Mr Krix, then a probationary science and agriculture teacher, was fired for misconduct for breaking NSW Department of Education and Communities strict guidelines by making physical contact with a student.
Mr O'Hanlon refused to take off his headphones during a science lesson, told the Mr Krix to "f*** off" several times - before punching him when he stood close to the student and refused to move.
O'Hanlon, 18, was suspended over the incident, but claimed the teacher deserved to be sacked.
"I don't feel bad because he started it," Mr O'Hanlon said. "He provoked it."
He declined to comment any further and said: "I don't want any part of it".
Mr Krix lost an appeal against his sacking in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission earlier this month.
Stephen Krix sacked for putting student in a headlock after he was punched
The commission found Mr Krix should not have made physical contact with Mr O'Hanlon, despite Mr Krix arguing he was defending himself because Mr O'Hanlon was punching him.
Since The Sunday Telegraph revealed Mr Krix's plight last week, a Facebook page titled "Fix Our Schools - Support Stephen Krix" emerged last week and has more than 2000 'likes'.
An online petition calling the department to reinstate Mr Krix as a teacher has also received 100 signatures.
Mr Krix now works in the security industry and said he wasn't surprised at the teen's flippant attitude because "he's never been taught boundaries."
"I have no anger towards Jarrad because he's just taking advantage of the rules of the game," Mr Krix said.
Stephen Krix was sacked after an altercation with Jarrad. Stephen Krix was sacked after an altercation with Jarrad. Source: Supplied "No significant action has ever been taken against him."
"I don't see asking a student to do his work as provocation it's me doing my job."
The other incidents of misconduct included Mr Krix blocking the path of three students as they tried to run out of his classroom.
The third happened when Mr Krix's students kicked flammable liquid at each other - leaving one with serious burns - after he left the scene of the science experiment to stop a student stealing petrol from his car.
Mr Krix said the ruling meant teachers were powerless to discipline or stop students from physically assaulting them.
The punching episode was the second incident where Mr O'Hanlon physically assaulted Mr Krix during a class, according to his 168 page school discipline record tendered to the NSWIRC.
In February 2011, Mr O'Hanlon was suspended for four days for calling Mr Krix a "f***wit" three times and pushing him in the chest "very hard".
Asked whether it was appropriate to sack Mr Krix and how he should react when a student punched him, a department spokesman said: "action will not be taken against teachers who act reasonably in their conduct while disciplining students".
"Teachers are dismissed in circumstances where their conduct towards students is extreme and could not be considered appropriate given circumstances at the time," the spokesman
He needs a blanket party to adjust his attitude. Any men left in Britain?
My best friend taught school for several years in Newport News before taking another job.
He once told me of an instance where he came withing a fraction of a second of punching out a student. To be fair, I would probably have gone ahead and hit the student myself and I certainly could have understood if my friend had done so.
Of course if he had, that would have been the end of his job.
All over the western world the little old ladies are in charge.
No pictures, so let me guess; student black, former teacher white? It doesn’t really matter, the teacher should not have been fired. There is not enough pay in the world to literally become a whipping boy for thugs with no conscience. Of course, the teacher will say ‘he forgives’ the student, what has he to gain by stating the obvious, that the little punk had it coming and should have been B^^ThSlapped by the invisible Dad years ago.
Nope, the punk is white.
Why was the teacher “probationary” after 20 years?
.
Seriously, that teacher should have remembered one of the most important rules of teaching.
“Never hit a student in anger. Or in front of witnesses.”
Back in the day that punk student would have gotten 3 hard swats with a board to adjust his ‘tude.
No offense intended. My point is not so much that LOLs are at fault but that a masculine response in cases like this has been made practically illegal.
If I were the teach in question, I would hunt down this little sh!tbird and punch him into hamburger.
And then, after I did my 6 months for assault, I would hunt him down again. And send him to the emergency room AGAIN.
At some point, he will get more tired of being in the hospital, than I will get for being in the zoo.
“Violence, Violence, its the only thing that will MAKE YOU SEE SENSE!” (Mott the Hoople.)
Bravo! Sadly, even quality teachers of your era would be forced to comply with today's silly rules. A strong stomach is required to watch helplessly as a society self-destructs as ours is doing. A little familiarity with history shows it's a pretty common occurrence though, almost cyclic.
We think alike only I would make sure he disappeared.
Defending yourself in the UK is no excuse.
Perhaps not “little old ladies” like you, but too much control of our children has been turned over to “little old ladies” and young ones who believe all that Dr. Spock carp.
The loser is no doubt drugged out and on the public dole.
Yet another face that would look good in a Leopold M8.
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