Posted on 12/21/2005 11:22:35 AM PST by ShadowDancer
Teacher Accused of Ordering Student to be Dunked in Pool
Web-posted Dec 21, 2005
By STEPHEN FRYE
Of The Oakland Press
BIRMINGHAM - A middle school teacher has been charged with two misdemeanors after allegedly punishing a student by ordering classmates to repeatedly dunk him in the school's swimming pool.
Michael Peter Zangkas, 54, of West Bloomfi eld Township could be arraigned as early as today on two misdemeanor warrants, which were issued Tuesday by the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office and sworn to by a Beverly Hills police detective.
Zangkas, a physical education teacher at Berkshire Middle School in the Birmingham School District, is charged with assault and battery as well as contributing to the delinquency of children. The two counts are misdemeanors, said Oakland County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Deborah Carley. Zangkas faces up to 93 days in jail.
Zangkas is suspended from the school district, where he has been employed since 1987. He taught both social studies and physical education.
The punishment of the student, a 13-year-old male eighth-grader, was on Dec. 8 after the pupil had allegedly been disruptive with a substitute teacher, Carley said. The boy was not injured.
A message seeking comment left at Zangkas' home was not returned.
The boy's mother made a complaint to the Beverly Hills Public Safety Department that day as well as to the district, which suspended Zangkas on Dec. 9.
"This is a new one," Carley said. "You're sending your kids to school to be monitored and kept safe by teachers, and not to be abused by them.
"This is dangerous and reckless behavior. It's shocking to me that a teacher would resort to this behavior and drag other people into it as well."
Carley said the teacher ordered five other pupils to administer the punishment, prompting the contributing to the delinquency charge. The other students will not be charged, the chief deputy prosecutor said.
"He tells them to throw the victim in the pool and dunk him," Carley said.
Marcia Wilkinson, community relations director for the district, said Zangkas was suspended the day after the incident was reported to the school.
Both Zangkas and the pupil disciplined reported what happened to the principal that afternoon. A letter explaining the investigation was sent home to parents.
Zangkas, who was named social studies teacher of the year for 2004-05 by the Ezra Parker Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, has had no discipline problems while with the district, Wilkinson said.
The teacher has been in the news before. In 1999, he shared a $150,000 lottery win with a friend, and in 2003, he was featured in area newspapers for using the stock market to teach students about math and money.
His suspension is with pay, as mandated by union contracts. Before his status is determined by school offi cials, a complete investigation will be completed by the district.
"There are fi rm guidelines that all staff members follow in working with students and in handling any disciplinary issues," Wilkinson said. "If these allegations are true, that would definitely be an unacceptable way to address such a situation. This is definitely something we are taking very seriously."
Dunking the kid, bad move. Should have taken him out in the hall and after making sure no one was looking, smacked the sh*t out of the little bastard, being careful of course to leave no marks..
Some kids need a dunking now and then.
Ahhh, the good ol days.
Of course this notion of "punishment" would occur to a PE teacher.
Most of the Phys Ed teachers I knew growing up were sadistic social misfits.
IMHO they're the ones who could stand a beating.
He should have dunked the parent while he was at it!
Middle schools have swimming pools?
Yeah, that's the ticket. Give a government employee with a superiority complex a license to beat your kid.
That'll work.
"This is a new one," Carley said. "You're sending your kids to school to be monitored and kept safe by teachers, and not to be abused by them.
I don't know if dunking falls under corporal punishment but teachers never used to just take whatever some spoiled brat gave them.
Ain't that the truth!
Indeed. The old sack full of oranges.
But still if the teacher didn't order this it would be considered horseplay and no one would have cared.
Much easier for these "disciplinarian" types (i.e., sadists) to bully 13-year-olds.
More important... the kid needed dunking. :~D
I bet this is a great teacher. He's been awarded as such in the past. We had a teacher in high school who would have done this, and had the respect of all his students because of it. I remember him making one kid sit in the trash can for a whole class, I forget why, but no abuse was alledged. Same teacher caught a kid chewing tobacco in class... at least he suspected the kid was chewing and had spit it into a Coke can. The kid denied it... teacher said... then you better drink the whole thing before class is out. If you don't, you'll be put in detention. The kid tried to drink it and threw up. :~D
Dunking was too harsh, 3 hard slaps , well aimed pine paddle on his rear would have been sufficient.
It worked on me, for a least an hr or 2.
It works a lot better than parents sending their kids to school to be taught, and then undermining all attempts to maintain discipline.
I'll say one thing... if I was EVER unfairly disciplined at school, my parents would NEVER have let me know if they had complained. The school and my parents were a united front. What keeps order is a kid who knows for sure his parents will back school, not a kid who thinks the school can't touch him and whose parents would help you rebel against it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.