A 17-year-old special-education student attacked a teacher at the Hughes Center Wednesday and left her with a mild concussion, Cincinnati police said.
The incident, a day after classes began, provided the new school year with a fresh illustration of issues confronting school administrators over the rise in student violence.
Marcia Engleman, 49, was released from Good Samaritan Hospital after being treated for injuries suffered in the 9:39 a.m. incident. She has taught in Cincinnati public schools since 1986 and at Hughes since 1989, district spokeswoman Monica Solomon said.
The boy, whose name The Enquirer is withholding because of his age, allegedly threw his teacher and a family counselor into a wall after they tried to take away his pencil. The boy then straddled his teacher when she fell to the ground and was knocked unconscious, hitting her in the face and head, police said.
Police charged him with two counts of assault.
He was removed from school pending a disciplinary hearing, which probably will be held this week, Ms. Solomon said.
Normally, Cincinnati students found guilty of assaults are expelled, but the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act exempts special-education students.
That exemption angers some area administrators.
"Lawmakers really have bent over backwards to protect the rights of kids with special needs, but they may have gone too far and handcuffed administrators from taking prudent action," said Bryan Blavatt, assistant superintendent at Boone County Schools and a school safety specialist who consults districts nationwide on decreasing discipline problems.
"I understand that certain kids have certain problems, but they should be held accountable for their actions," he said. "I can't believe that any child would find it acceptable to strike out against anyone else."
A Cincinnati Federation of Teachers (CFT) representative said the incident points to a need for lowering the student-to-teacher ratio and hiring more social workers and counselors in the schools. "Fifty thousand kids is the equivalent of a small city. How many crimes and fights would be in a small city? When you're dealing with the sheer volume of children that we're dealing with, you're going to have incidents," said Dean Dennis, a CFT field representative. "And when you pack kids into the deplorable, crowded buildings we have, a lot falls on the heads of teachers. It's a rough job for teachers to teach and manage behavior."
The Cincinnati district tallies 50 to 70 teacher assaults a year, although few are as serious as Wednesday's attack, security chief Bob Morgan said.
"There really is very little to prevent an unprovoked assault against a teacher," he said.
But like many schools nationwide, the Cincinnati school district has stepped up discipline and security efforts in recent years. The Project Succeed Academy started last year for students in kindergarten through eighth grade who are chronic discipline problems. The North Fairmount school, which has 400 enrolled, teaches behavior-modification techniques to students and their parents so children learn to control outbursts.
The district also has a Saturday school program, in-school suspensions and alternative placement centers, in which disruptive students can be punished yet continue their schoolwork, Ms. Solomon said. Job Corps is a residential program for unruly students.
Security guards staff every high school and junior high, Mr. Morgan said. And a security response team is mobilized for "critical incidents," such as gang fights; last year, the team conducted 268 random searches to deter kids from bringing drugs and weapons to school, he said.
Other districts employ similar strategies.
At Norwood, the district last year installed phones in each classroom; pressing one button alerts the principal's office to a dire situation, Principal David Griffel said.
Boone County Schools opened the Alternative Center for Education for disruptive children in seventh to 12th grades, Mr. Blavatt said. About 15 children are enrolled.
At Lockland, schools have time-out rooms, where short-tempered students can go to cool off, said Lockland Superintendent Roy Hill. Many schools suspend or expel students who assault anyone on school grounds. Many keep doors locked and have strict visitor policies.
And most send student-conduct handbooks home with a form parents must sign verifying that they received the books and understand discipline policies.
"We seem to have more kids with short fuses than we used to," Mr. Hill said. "It's a sign of the times. More kids come from dysfunctional families, and society in general is less tolerant and less patient than it used to be."
