Discipline that went extreme has never been more apparent than in a new viral video depicting a school resource officer at Spring Valley High School in South Carolina, as he bodily flings a student out of her desk, drags her across the classroom floor and handcuffs her — all over her checking a cellphone in class.
The other students in the class — which included one with the presence of mind to record the incident using a cellphone, described the situation that culminated in the officer’s arrest of the student and the arrest of another student who spoke up for her as well.
The girl had been using her cellphone while using the computer for an assignment and refused to hand it over when asked, and though apologetic for the use of the cellphone, she declined to get out of her seat when asked by an administrator. So instead of de-escalating the situation with this nonviolent student, the adults on the scene made the decision to call in the school police officer, who, when the girl again would not get out of her chair, instigated an act of violence against her and arrested her on charges of disturbing the school.
If I were in the classroom, I’d probably be a lot more disturbed by seeing one of my peers body slammed to the floor than by her use of a cellphone during class time, but ?
This is not the first time an incident of extreme disciplining has occurred. We’ve seen things go out of hand, getting a lot worser than this situation. However, we wonder, if things will ever get better. Like in this case, arresting a student by body slamming her, just for using a cellphone seems harrowing. Schools definitely need a protocol for disciplinary actions, so incidents don’t get out of hand!