A middle school teacher in Florida has been charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor by facilitating fights between students in her class and others.
Angel Drew Footman, 23, allegedly facilitated fights and announced rules, such as no hair pulling for her class of sixth-grade girls at Griffin Middle School, according to Leon County Sheriff.
According to the affidavit, videos of the fights include Footman’s voice saying, “30 seconds, no screaming, no yelling, no phones.”
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The affidavit says, “Footman stated outright that she knows she has poor classroom management skills.”
School administrators were also shown videos showing several fights between March 22 and 23.
Some children were called from other classrooms to fight, but no injuries were reported.
Footman was fired from the school district.
The fights were planned events, and Footman even asked the students if they wanted “friendly fade” confrontations, which means the fighters remain friends after the fight. The school resource officer was made aware of the fights on the second day, and a detective arrived the next day to investigate.
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Footman turned herself in and was booked into Gadsden County jail on Monday. She was released two hours later.
“This is an active investigation, LCSO appreciates the diligent parents and others for reporting the videos to administrators. This is a perfect example of practicing “See Something, Say Something” to reduce harm in these types of situations,” said Leon County Sheriff’s Office in a press release.
According to online court records, an arraignment is scheduled for May 4.
In Other Teacher News:
A Florida teacher was recently fired because he had students write their own obituaries before his school participated in an active-shooter drill.
Jeffrey Keene, a psychology teacher at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, directed 11th and 12th graders in his first-period class to write their own obituaries last week as a part of their coursework.
In an interview with NBC News, Keene said, “It wasn’t to scare them or make them feel like they were going to die, but just to help them understand what’s important in their lives and how they want to move forward with their lives and how they want to pursue things in their journey,” Keene said.
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That did not matter to school officials. He was fired by the end of the day.
Orange County Public Schools said Keene was axed after “families were informed that a teacher gave an inappropriate assignment about school violence.”
Keene was hired in January and was still on probation. Thus, the school district did not have to butt heads with the teachers’ union to oust him from the classroom.
The incident occurred shortly after a transgender man shot up a school in Nashville, killing six people, including three children.
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“I don’t think I did anything incorrectly,” Keene told NBC. “I know hindsight is 20/20, but I honestly didn’t think a 16-, 17-, 18-year-old would be offended or upset by talking about something we’re already talking about.”
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