I'm really annoyed today.
Today I got a call from a friend who has worked many years, successfully and without incident, as the head of security for several schools. Today, for doing the right thing, he got canned.
Technically, he's being fired for putting his hands on a child. Apparently he was not supposed to interfere until either (A) a child attacks another or (B) the child attacks a faculty member, and the 'excuse' of him endangering himself isn't good enough for his employers. The full story goes something like this:
Two kids were yelling it out across a hallway, looking like they were going to duke it out. He steps between the two. One of them insults the other and walks off. The other, not wanting to chase after the kid in view of the chief of security, begins flailing his arms right next to a plate glass window. Seeing the obvious potential danger, he steps in from behind and does a policeman's hold. One arm across the stomach, one locking the right arm. He talks the kid down, quietly, and takes him off to the side into a break center to sit down and talk things out further. He resolves the situation, and goes to talk to the teacher about the other kids continued harassment of the kid he talked to. The kid had no issue with what he did at all.
When he arrives, the office is in an uproar. I arrived maybe ten minutes later. I get to watch the video they are screaming at him about, and the principle asks me, as his friend, to explain why he has to be fired over this. All I could manage to say was "Because the leaders of the next generation are spineless cowards afraid of defending someone doing his job against litigation."
When did this type of mentality invade school management? I'm just curious.
