Teacher arrested in Abbeville, Louisiana.....

[gimmethesimplelife]

What do you'all make of the teacher arrested this past Monday night in Abbeville, Louisiana? I gotta say I'm glad for smartphone video - the whole ugly fiasco has been downloaded to the Internet for the whole world to see. Suffice it to say this teacher may find herself significantly richer not too far off and what's heart warming is that even in the conservative deep South, most of Abbeville, Louisiana seems to be siding with the teacher and against town officials!!! It's so heart warming to see people turning on officials and demanding human rights/the rule of law to be followed.

I await this teacher's settlement with anticipation and am of the mind that a penny less than 7 million dollars US is revictimazation. And I will close this with - duh? Why are there still officials of any kind out there who don't understand the power of smartphone video and the power of social media/the Internet. It's not as hard as it once was for everyday people to retaliate legally against evil such as what this teacher endured - you'd think by now officials would realize that the balance of power has shifted and there ain't (said on purpose, I know it's an illiteracy) no (ditto for the double negative) going back........Rob

[Chicken lady]

Where exactly is that 7 million going to come from? I’m going to guess either the school system or the school system’s insurance (which will then raise premiums and impoverish a lot of schools a little bit.)

from what i’ve Seen, I definitely side with the teacher, but as a teacher, i’m more a fan of restorative justice - if there are consequences they should involve removing power from those responsible for it’s abuse, better transparency in school board practices, and more equitable pay. I’d also like to see this great outpouring of support for the teacher turn into an outpouring of support for the schools, the other teachers, and the students. The teachers haven’t had a raise for years? Why? Where is the tax money going? Is there any tax money? If the community isn’t passing school levies, where do they think the money for schools is coming from?

[sweetana3]

Insurance Ha. The money will come from the taxpayers.

[Chicken lady]

Presumably the school system has liability insurance which would cover the board as an entity and possibly the board members. In which case, the cost will be distributed over a wider set of taxpayers than if the school system had to pay directly.

but yes, ultimately if you sue a public institution/employee for money - that money comes from the community of individuals “served” by that institution/individual.

(i was raised by teachers, lawyers, doctors, and insurance agents. I am very cynical.)

[ToomuchStuff]

Zero dollars, because those who should be participating will be working on getting out of Jury duty.>8)

Cities/counties tend to self insure. I was hit by a city vehicle decades ago, and that I expect played some part in some rules changing. (was a juvenile property owner at the time)

[dado potato]

Deyshia Hargrave speaking at a rally (followed by a state politician)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E5yLZ9Pk

The Governor of Louisiana did not hesitate to say the arrest was unfortunate. I believe Deyshia will receive an apology from the School Board President, who directed the "school resource officer", Reggie Hilts, to eject her from the meeting. Deyshia was booked on 1 count of resisting an officer and 1 count of remaining on premises after forbidden. She was bonded out of custody. She will not be prosecuted. It seems likely that her appeals to "Come out... You have a voice!" will resonate, and public involvement in School Board meetings will increase, not just in Vermilion Parish.

In my opinion, the Abbeville City Marshall's Office may be deficient in its ability to recognize when a citizen is complying. And more generally the City Marshall needs to think about how well the "police culture" of the deputies is oriented toward democratic ideals such as freedom of speech and peaceful protest.

[Yppej]

These school resources have criminalized a lot of normal rambunctiousness by students, who have physical education cut and have to sit for long periods, and so goof off in the hallways. I saw it in several of the public schools my son attended. In one case a pencil sword fight resulted in a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for students in middle school.

[Chicken lady]

In the absence of a “school resource officer” my son was suspended his third week of school - which didn’t occur until 9th grade - for “fighting, and destruction and vandalism of school property” once.

He and another student were swiping each other’s collage pieces and gluing them on randomly. (My son was pretty sure this was in fun) Then the other kid got up for something (more collage pieces?) and my son put some (washable school) glue on the kid’s chair. When the other kid got back, he (immediately saw the glue, and instead of sitting down,) yanked my son out of his chair and began punching and kicking him. My son dropped to the floor and rolled into a ball and the sub sent them both to the office. Everything not in parenthesis came from the sub.

i think the whole philosophy is a problem, not just the cops.

[Williamsmith]

I watched the video clip. I don’t understand why the teacher was arrested but there was a gap in the video. I do understand why she was booked even after the school district advised they didn’t want her prosecuted. An on view arrest is when an offense in committed in the presence of an officer authorized to enforce a statute. Once the officer decided to take her constitutional right away from her and take her into custody, he must proceed with due process. If he “unarrests” her, she can rightly claim false arrest. The charges can be withdrawn by the prosecutor.

If I were a Superintendent or school board member, I would be embarrassed by the incident. The superintendent needs to decline the raise and take he high road. 110K is plenty of money given that resources in his district are limited.

[Yppej]

110K is plenty of money given that resources in his district are limited.

And given the low cost of living in Louisiana. It's not like he's trying to support a family someplace expensive like San Francisco or New York City.

[ToomuchStuff]

I doubt the superintendent will be doing that. Seen a video interview with him, saying his whole family is educators, and are receiving death threats. He understands their position but the school is now 6th in the state, at a pay level that is 56th in the state, so when is a good time to ask for a raise. (paraphrased as I saw the video yesterday)

[Zoe Girl]

Sounds like the raise is only part of it, and no one should get death threats. My god. I have no idea of what his work is like, if he is working towards getting teachers more money, what other sups make, etc. It does seem like a good meeting facilitator could have worked with what was happening, i have seen some facilitators who are amazing at managing conflict.

it did look like she left when she was asked, so that is on the officers. And we should be able to express ourselves in some way, not sure if she broke a rule or was just shut down

[Williamsmith]

There are usually strict open comment periods and sometimes you are required to register intentions of speaking so that they have a rough idea how long and on what topic you might be addressing. It looks like she complied and left so I don’t get the resisting arrest charge. Had she not been arrested....it would have been a nothing burger. But now that it is....the Superintendent and the Police have a need to gain the public confidence back.

[dado potato]

Death threats have been taken seriously in Louisiana since 1935, when Huey Long was assassinated by an opponent.

I have seen few details about the death threats directed at this school board. One snippet was that a caller said "he might come down to the school board office"... and that was interpreted as a sufficient threat to lock down the building. Under the lock-down persons who were expected to have business with the school board ... and "looked all right" .... would be let in through the locked doors. The death threats have been referred to the FBI for investigation.

From this distance, The chair's ruling during the school board meeting that the teacher's questions were "not germane" suggests defensiveness to me. Likewise, prompting the uniformed deputy marshal to eject her from the meeting reminds me of tactics used by Donald Trump to deal with hecklers at his rallies. For example, in Harrisburg PA 4/29/2017, Trump says at the podium: "That's right, get him out of here. Get him out."... as 5 uniformed officers restrain the protester on the ground. In that context, Deyshia Hargrave's call to "Heal our fears ... Come out ... You have a voice..." goes far beyond a budget decision by a school board.

[bae]

I would like to know more details about what transpired before summoning up my outrage.

A quick search for news stories popped up this:

"The station says the teacher had addressed the board about teacher salaries and raises, and school board president Anthony Fontana at one point ruled her "out of order."

A city marshal on duty at the meeting approached her as she continued to speak and directed her to leave the room. She was then apprehended in the hallway."

I run meetings of governmental bodies. Sometimes they are contentious during the public access/testimony portion of the meetings, where we will sometimes have hundreds of people signed up to speak on a touchy subject.

We run these meetings by rules. The rules are made known in advance. If people do not follow the rules, they can be ejected from the meeting. I have had the Sheriff standing by many times to aid in this process. Nobody so far has resisted the simple suggestion that they need to stop what they are doing, and either sit down quietly or leave, once I or the Sheriff has explained the situation politely to them.

I have had several threats of violence directed to me personally, or to other members of my governmental body - these required a less-polite response.

Our meetings aren't on cell-phone video, but they are all video-recorded and live-streamed to the community.

[LDAHL]

There are usually strict open comment periods and sometimes you are required to register intentions of speaking so that they have a rough idea how long and on what topic you might be addressing. It looks like she complied and left so I don’t get the resisting arrest charge. Had she not been arrested....it would have been a nothing burger. But now that it is....the Superintendent and the Police have a need to gain the public confidence back.

Most of the public hearings I've attended are run along those lines. In fairness to the people running them, and the people in attendance, you generally walk a fine line between people getting a fair say and preventing zealots hijacking all the time with "passionate" showboating. Registering one's opposition or support can usually be done in a few minutes. Baying for money in theatrical style is more wasteful and unproductive.

This case seems somewhat extreme, but ejecting the more drama-intensive folks or at least shutting off their microphones can be useful tools in getting through the agenda.