Staten Island Teacher John Webster Fights For Himself

I am still trying to figure out if yesterday's article in the New York Post about phys ed teacher John Webster is supportive or derisive of him.

Just to catch you all up to speed, John Webster is a phys ed. teacher at PS 330 in Staten Island. John, who is 5'10" and 220 lbs, was attacked by a 50 pound (SBSB guidelines prohibit the naming of the student) student at his school.

According to the Post, John claims;

a pupil fractured his ankle, injured his knee and forced him to go to a shrink for stress

Yes, a 50 pound child can cause this. I know first hand.

In August of 2009, about 3 weeks before school started I had my right knee scoped. I had about an inch and a half of cartilage removed. I assumed that with some time between surgery and school I had plenty of time to rehab the knee and all will be well come September.

First day of school, in fact the first few days of school, all was well. Had a little aches and pains in the knee but it was progressing. Unfortunately, I was doing lunch duty as well.

I think it was the 2nd week of school and was outside with the 3rd grade. A fight broke out and a boy who I shall refer to as Schlomo got into a fight. In fact he initiated the fight and as the person he was attempting to fight fought back little Schlomo's infamous temper got the better of him.

As I was attempting to prevent another student from being seriously injured I was holding the other student back, keeping myself between him and little Schlomo. Schlomo kept on trying to get at the boy but I wouldn't let him. Then Schlomo picked his foot up and kicked me in the outer side of the surgically repaired right knee which was planted and bearing weight in the melee.

Ouch! Long story short, that kick set me back. On my next appointment to my doctor he told me that I had grade 1 ACL sprain. I was quite lucky. So lucky that I was then forced to wear a knee brace for about 2 1/2 months.

It could have been worse. In retrospect, I wish I had put in for a line of duty. I should have. But in my head I did not feel like dealing with all the crap the DOE would have given me being that I already had an "injured" knee.

But yes Virginia, a kid can "beat up" a teacher. I know of someone who last year was bitten by a student and the skin was broken. This kid because of an IEP suffered no consequences.

But there are students who without IEP's suffer zero consequences for hitting teachers, throwing chairs, books, and whatever they can get their hands on in fits of violent rages.

It is easy to blame the students and the families in which they come from for this. But I think the bigger culprits are the DOE and their joke of a discipline code, administrators that hide their heads in the sand for they don't want incidents "showing up", and the Pupil Personal Teams of the schools in NYC that are either over burdened, incompetent, or told to butt out.

We should celebrate John Webster today. We should want to shake his hand and buy him a drink. We need more John Webster's in the DOE. We need people like John that are not afraid to take a stand, to stick up for themselves. Then and only then will the walls of Uncle Mike's phallic fallacy come crashing down.