Riley High teacher is suspended for 5 days: School district says she told two students to fight, then hit one.

Carol Wallace has been a teacher at Riley High School for the past 35 years.  Recently, Wallace was suspended for 5 days without pay following an incident with two students.

She did not contest the fact that two students were acting up in class and she told them to go into the hallway and not come back until one of the kids was “bloody.” After talking with the students in the hallway, she brushed away one student’s hand from his face, striking his cheek.

This incident prompted administrators to suspend Wallace, who has no prior allegations of wrongdoings in her file, for five days without pay. 

I’m not saying what Wallace did was right, but I have some thoughts on this issue.

Although it has been about 25 years since I was in third grade, I remember having a very disruptive student in my class named William. Each day, he would misbehave and each day Mrs. Rea would paddle him in class. I don’t think William was in that class very long before he transferred, but I can tell you that the rest of the 25 students who were in the class learned that we better behave unless we wanted to be paddled.

Teachers had more authority back then. They also were given more respect. If Mrs. Wallace has been a teacher for 35 years, she probably remembers those days.

I can understand that trying to teach a classroom of 20-30 students and having two students filled with testosterone and disrupting the class would be enough to make any educator frustrated. I’m sure that Mrs. Wallace was pushed a little over the edge when she demanded they go into the hallway and fight.

I am sure she knows that touching the student and telling them to fight was a poor decision. But does it warrant a five day suspension without pay?  Many people who commented on the South Bend Tribune feel as though she should be fired for her actions. I think that is a little rough. 

What about the students who caused this whole incident to happen? I didn’t read anything about the students getting suspended or reprimanded for disrupting the class. Without their choice to act up in class, none of this would have happened.

I believe that Mrs. Wallace made a snap decision that was in poor taste and judgment, but it is a shame that more people will associate her name with this sole incident than with the 35 years of teaching and mentoring numerous students in the South Bend area.