Quote:The Louisiana middle school teacher who was thrown out of a school board meeting, handcuffed and booked on criminal charges says she won't be silenced and wants an apology.

"By silencing my voice they've also taken away, or tried to take away, my First Amendment right to speak," English teacher Deyshia Hargrave said in a video released by the Louisiana Association of Educators. "I'm appalled and you should be, too."

Video posted on social media from Monday night's Vermilion Parish School Board meeting showed Hargrave expressing dissent with the board's decision to approve a $38,000 raise for the school superintendent even though teachers have not received a raise in several years.

Board President Anthony Fontana ruled Hargrave out of order, and an Abbeville city marshal official asked her to leave. Hargrave, the 2015-16 teacher of the year at Rene A. Rost Middle School, balked but then walked out.

Video shot seconds later from the hallway shows the officer handcuffing a screaming Hargrave. She was booked on charges of remaining after being forbidden and resisting an officer, but authorities said she will not be prosecuted.

Hargrave told NBC News she was "definitely" owed an apology from the officer and from the superintendent, Jerome Puyau.

"I was seriously panicked," she said. "I've never been handcuffed in my life."

But Fontana dismissed her concerns, telling WAFB-TV that Hargrave "made a choice" when she resisted the officer outside the room. He said the officer did nothing wrong and that the board has received death threats since the incident.

“This is not about the board, it’s about the teacher and everybody wants to side on the poor little woman who got thrown out,” Fontana told the Baton Rouge TV station. "She could have walked out and nothing would have happened."

Debbie Meaux, president of the state educators association, told WAFB she was appalled by Fontana’s comments.

“He’s right. This didn’t have to happen to this 'little woman' as he calls her, but her name is Deyshia Hargrave,” Meaux said.

Puyau told CBS News that plans for a raise for teachers are in the works. He also said he supports the officer who handcuffed Hargrave — and the right of the teacher to speak.

"I'm the superintendent, I'm to blame," he said. "I should have stood up, okay? That's what you want to hear and it's the truth, I should have stood up….Let her speak."

Gov. Bel Edwards weighed in, calling the situation "terribly unfortunate."

"We need to do a better job of promoting our teachers in our communities and encouraging them in their walk as educators," Edwards said.

The American Civil Liberties Union called Hargrave’s arrest "especially troubling" and said it would investigate the incident.

(01-11-2018 05:36 PM)fsquid Wrote:  from my understanding she did leave and then the incident happened in the hall

(01-11-2018 05:41 PM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  

(01-11-2018 05:36 PM)fsquid Wrote:  from my understanding she did leave and then the incident happened in the hall

Screaming in the hall and showing out is still enough to get your ass tossed.

(01-11-2018 05:45 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(01-11-2018 05:41 PM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  

(01-11-2018 05:36 PM)fsquid Wrote:  from my understanding she did leave and then the incident happened in the hall

Screaming in the hall and showing out is still enough to get your ass tossed.

Based on the charges she was booked on I would imagine she tried to re-enter the room after leaving.

(01-11-2018 07:34 PM)Bull_Is_Back Wrote:  She left, and unless they can show she did something outside of the doors then it's BS to cuff and arrest her.

(01-11-2018 07:47 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  If the video I saw is anywhere near accurate, there needs to be a civil rights investigation. Like any video, it is probably cherry picked, so I don't know if it's accurate or not. But if it is, that's awful.

(01-11-2018 07:58 PM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Holy Moly. Superintendent went from 110000 to 148000. Teachers salaries have been froze for the last three years. My God. Superintendents don’t make that in Ohio. How in the hell can they pay a Superintendent more than 100000 dollars more than a teacher. Crazy. I can’t believe that disparity. Ridiculous.

(01-11-2018 07:58 PM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Holy Moly. Superintendent went from 110000 to 148000. Teachers salaries have been froze for the last three years. My God. Superintendents don’t make that in Ohio. How in the hell can they pay a Superintendent more than 100000 dollars more than a teacher. Crazy. I can’t believe that disparity. Ridiculous.

(01-11-2018 07:47 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  If the video I saw is anywhere near accurate, there needs to be a civil rights investigation. Like any video, it is probably cherry picked, so I don't know if it's accurate or not. But if it is, that's awful.

(01-11-2018 07:58 PM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Holy Moly. Superintendent went from 110000 to 148000. Teachers salaries have been froze for the last three years. My God. Superintendents don’t make that in Ohio. How in the hell can they pay a Superintendent more than 100000 dollars more than a teacher. Crazy. I can’t believe that disparity. Ridiculous.

Quote:Teachers should just their pie holes and be happy they have jobs. The Superintendent probably deserves that 37% raise. They do the real work in schools anyways.

(01-11-2018 08:10 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(01-11-2018 07:58 PM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Holy Moly. Superintendent went from 110000 to 148000. Teachers salaries have been froze for the last three years. My God. Superintendents don’t make that in Ohio. How in the hell can they pay a Superintendent more than 100000 dollars more than a teacher. Crazy. I can’t believe that disparity. Ridiculous.

Well, let's see. That's a $37,000 raise for the super. How many teachers are in the district? Let's say 100. So instead of that raise they could have given each teacher a $370 raise.

I think the superintendent raise is probably absurd. But it's not coming out of the teachers' pockets. The big problem is probably that they have 47 assistant principals when they used to have 1 or 2.

I'd be interested in knowing how much gets spent outside the classroom versus how much gets spent inside the classroom at that, and every other, school district in the country. If the numbers were reported accurately, I bet it would astound people.