Chaos in the classroom is a huge distraction for both students and teachers. Earlier this week, a video shared on social media showed a disturbance involving a teacher and a student at Veterans Memorial High School. The video didn't show what prompted the verbal altercation.
KRIS 6 News spoke to CCISD Chief of Police Kirby Warnke about aggressive behavior at school. He said just like citizens, teachers do have rights in the classroom.
"Nobody loses their rights at the schoolyard door," Warnke said. "That includes students and staff."
Warnke said if there is an altercation between a student and faculty member, staff is advised to do what it can to ensure everyone's safety, even if that means intervening.
"In this circumstance, or a circumstance similar to (the video incident), you have to make a judgment call and make a determination on what you need to do to keep yourself safe and others," he said.
CCISD couldn't release information or details about the video, however its district police currently are investigating to determine if a crime took place.
Meanwhile, Corpus Christi American Federation of Teachers President Dr. Nancy Vera told KRIS 6 that lack of respect for educators in the classroom has been a growing problem for the past decade.
"There are things that the general public doesn't know about what's happening in our classroom to our teachers," said Vera, who is a retired teacher. "There were students who would verbally attack me, and there were some who were racist, misogynistic."
However, when a teacher comes to her for advice -- for example, when a student physically assaults a teacher -- she advises them to press charges on the student or students involved.
"This is not a privilege or right that you have to be rude, ugly, or abrasive," she said.
