Hundreds Beaten, Whipped, Choked By Teachers, Coaches (Chicago Schools Under Obama's Ed. Sec.)

CBS 2 Chicago ^ | Wednesday, February 11, 2009 | Dave Savini

[kristinn]

Hundreds of students have allegedly been beaten by teachers, coaches and staff at Chicago Public Schools. 2 Investigator Dave Savini continues his ongoing investigation involving the illegal use corporal punishment.

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An exclusive CBS 2 investigation discovered Treveon Martin is one of at least 818 Chicago Public School students, since 2003, to allege being battered by a teacher or an aide, coach, security guard, or even a principal. In most of those cases - 568 of them - Chicago Public School investigators determined the children were telling the truth.

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The 2 Investigators found reports of students beaten with broomsticks, whipped with belts, yard sticks, struck with staplers, choked, stomped on and pushed down stairs. One substitute teacher even fractured a student's neck.

But even more alarming, in the vast majority of cases, teachers found guilty were only given a slap on the wrist.

CBS 2 informed former Chicago Public School CEO Arne Duncan of our investigative findings shortly before he was promoted to U.S. Secretary of Education.

"If someone hits a student, they are going to be fired. It's very, very simple," Duncan said.

Before heading to Washington, he vowed to take action.

"Any founded allegation where an adult is hitting a child, hitting a student - they're going to be gone," Duncan said.

But that's not what happened under Duncan's watch. Of the 568 verified cases, only 24 led to termination. Records show one teacher who quote "battered students for several years" was simply given a "warning" by the Board of Education.

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[mort56]

America what have you done?

[a fool in paradise]

Okay for America’s youth but wrong wrong wrong for Islamic terrorists held at Gitmo.

[an amused spectator]

Hey, Obama's ACORN Brownshirts have got to train somewhere...

[Badeye]

Lets see. Growing up in a lilly white oh so comfy eastern suburb of Cincinnati, what do I recall from those days?

1. Grabbed by a principal at age 10 and shaken violently?

Check

2. Beaten by a teacher multiple times?

Check

Guess I’ve got a issue myself huh?

[a fool in paradise]

But even more alarming, in the vast majority of cases, teachers found guilty were only given a slap on the wrist.

I'll bet they didn't even get that.

[a fool in paradise]

"Any founded allegation where an adult is hitting a child, hitting a student - they're going to be gone," Duncan said.

Put security cameras in the classrooms. Keep the NEA union staffers in line.

[AreaMan]

How many of these incidents were little snowflakes with behavior problems and how many were assaults by incompetent teachers?

Voting Republican...That's a paddlin!

[digger48]

Probably the only way to get the little darlings to hand over their knives and guns.

[jurroppi1]

Regardless of which, I will discipline my own child thank you very much. Any one of these teachers - were they to do this to my child would never walk again - I’d see to that myself! In fact, they’d be lucky to live for any length of time after the incident.

these people are supposed to set an example and be above the fray, not add to it!

[proud_yank]

Maybe they openly questioned Algore and global warming, or perhaps they didn’t put the condom on the cucumber properly???

[freekitty]

So much for Obama love.

[mojitojoe]

It’s the Chicago way.

[goldi]

Doesn’t matter. It’s against the law.

[ronnyquest]

This just keeps getting better...

[jaydubya2]

Go to this link to see how much Illinoise teachers and administrators are paid. Unbelievable!

http://www.suntimes.com/data/1408824,illinois-salaries-teacher-administrator.article

[Cicero]

I’ll reserve judgment. Each of these is an individual case. But as a general rule, the biggest problem with the inner city public schools—and all the other public schools—is LACK OF DISCIPLINE.

We had corporal punishment back in the prep school I went to many years ago. It wasn’t fun, but it did the job. In fact, probably an occasional injustice is better than no discipline at all. It teaches you the lesson, “Life is unfair, so get on with it!”

A lot of these kids probably come from disfunctional families, have older brothers who are drug dealers, and no fathers at home. A little discipline is exactly what they need.

Which isn’t to say that this is being done right. Chicago? Not a model for good education. Still, it’s time to admit that there’s no way in hell that some of these kids can be taught without an occasional whacking. Better a whack with a broomstick than a couple of years in jail a little later on.

[MWestMom]

Name Parpet, Paul F
Salary $160,929
Years of Experience 34
School Addison Trail High School
Position High School Classromm Teacher
City Villa Park
District DuPage HSD 88
County Dupage

Holy cow! My husband retired from a highschool math position after 32 years with the district at 80% of around $55,000! We should have been in Chicago and I need to get out of business and back into education!

[Slings and Arrows]

The president of the university where I used to teach makes less than that.

That said, $160K isn’t enough to get me in a public high school classroom.

[I Buried My Guns]

"...I will discipline my own child thank you very much...."

If only these kids had a parent that meted out discipline like you would, I would agree with the premise of the story (beating kids - bad!). However, a lot of kids today are feral animals with little or no parenting.

Oftentimes, they need to get beat. It may be the first time someone has made the effort to say "hey, your behavior is inappropriate" in a manner which they understand.