Video shows Skyline High School student attacking substitute teacher

DALLAS - A cellphone captured a student attacking a Dallas ISD teacher in front of the class.

The scary encounter happened Thursday at Skyline High School. The substitute teacher was not seriously hurt.

The video doesn’t reveal what started the classroom confrontation or how long it had been going. It shows the student pushing the teacher back and the teacher raising his left leg in response. In a flash, the student is on top of him, shoving the teacher to the floor and punching and kicking him.

DISD says the teacher received minor injuries and was treated by the school’s nurse.

Rena Honea with the Alliance-AFT Teachers Association says the video points out how much bigger the student is than the teacher.

“That’s a very frightening thought,” she said. “So many of our students in secondary schools are large individuals. They’ve just grown. It is a scary situation for both male and female.”

Honea says that many teachers have asked for the district to provide them with self-defense training.

“I know many staff in our schools would love that kind of training because it is a fearful situation,” she said. “And I’m sure they pray every day that it doesn’t happen to them.”

A DISD spokesperson says the district is being proactive to ensure the safety of students and staff at Skyline. There will be additional support from central staff for hall monitoring through next week. They’re also working to have more meetings with parents to address behavioral issues, and there will be a major focus to fill vacancies of hall monitors.

“The state legislature has taken away a lot of options that teachers have when it comes to unruly disruptive volatile students,” Honea said. “For a great degree, teachers’ hands are tied.”

DISD says they recently added an urban specialist to provide more mentoring to students. They would not say how the student in the video was specifically disciplined, due to confidentiality issues.