Lloyd Said:

What message does it send to high school students when the teacher gets suspended for breaking up a fight?

We Answered:

I've been in that situation. I did two years of subbing and in the urban high school broke up a number of fights. It's a matter of attitude, but there is no protection from a weak administration and school board. The No Child Left Behind Act, as best I understand, does allow a school official to use whatever force he or she feels necessary to protect students and staff. I did, and never held back -- you can't wait.

The worst case was when I walked into a classroom where two fair-sized male students where just starting to assault a female teacher. She got upset at me and yelled that she had the situation under control. She was one of those younger teachers who talk to the students as equals. Well, you can do that with some, but definitely not the group she had that period!

Joey M is right, when the teachers and administration do not present a unified front, and in a case where they hang a teacher out to dry -- "It sends the message that teachers have no true authority...it destroys the student/teacher relationship...it teaches children that they do not have to respect adults".

News gets around the school VERY quickly. In the rough schools -- many of them today -- a teacher needs to have and project that attitude of authority in himself or herself and have that absolutely reinforced by all the staff. Teacher known to have been dissed -- then some students will act up much more with that teacher.