Emerson Clarridge
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
A student at a school in the Castleberry school district in the Fort Worth area slapped a teacher during an encounter in which the girl also referred to the educator in crude terms, according to video recording broadcast on social media.
The teacher is a Black woman. The student is a white teenage girl.
As the recording begins, the student heads briskly toward the front of a classroom. The teacher is using a landline telephone on a desk. The student presses a part of the phone that would end a call. The teacher attempts to lift the student’s hand from the phone, and the student hits the teacher’s shoulder with an open hand.
The teacher leaves the room for about 10 seconds before returning and finding the student attempting to make a call herself.
“No. I’m calling my momma. You ain’t about to [expletive] me up, [expletive],” the student said.
With someone apparently on the phone line, the student attempts to pass the call on to the teacher.
“You want to talk to her ’cause she’s Black, and she’s [expletive] pissing me off right now?” the student asks.
The student throws the phone receiver to a surface beside the teacher and leaves the classroom.
The video, which is about one minute in length and has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on social media, appears to have been recorded by another student. It is not clear at which district school the encounter occurred, or on what date.
The Castleberry district wrote in a statement that it commended “the teacher for the calm demeanor and utter professionalism she demonstrated throughout the entirety of the incident, even when the situation turned violent and offensive. We support this teacher and her response in the strongest terms possible. Because criminal activity occurred, the District immediately turned this matter over to law enforcement.
“In addition, the District is currently conducting its own investigation, including reviewing video footage and taking statements of those present. Castleberry ISD will follow the law in allocating appropriate discipline,” the district wrote.
In an interview with WFAA-TV, the student’s mother, Brittany Evans, said that her daughter has autism, bipolar disorder and depression.
Video shows a #student hitting #teacher and throwing a phone towards her way, this happened at Castleberry High School in #FortWorth pic.twitter.com/De0MVKTgUJ
— SmashDaTopic (@SmashDaTopic) November 19, 2021
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