A Philadelphia substitute school teacher with a dedicated history to Philadelphia and its schools has spent the weekend recuperating from a concussion he suffered at the hands of one of his students at Bartram High School on Thursday.
Sixty-eight year old Liberian immigrant Pewu Johnson was picked up and slammed to the ground, hitting his head on the hard school floors, immediately falling unconscious. The immediate wake of the incident was captured on another student’s cell phone.
Bartram High School (Image courtesy of WikiMedia)
The assault on Johnson marks the school’s third assault in a month, which comes as a blow to a school that had hopes its violence was beginning to ebb.
According to school officials, the altercation stemmed from Johnson asking a young man to leave his classroom earlier in the day for defying school behavior codes by allowing a young woman to sit on his lap in an inappropriate manner. When the student refused Johnson’s request to extricate himself from the young lady, Johnson asked the young man to leave the room.
Later in the day, that same student waited to confront Johnson during seventh period, allegedly yelling out, “Get the f#ck out of my face!” before picking Johnson up and slamming him on his back to the hard school floor, where Johnson bore a majority of the act with the back of his head, resulting in being knocked unconscious and suffering a concussion. You can see a video immediately following the attack below:
Johnson stated in an interview Friday:
He grabbed me, then lifted me up, then dropped me on my back, on the floor. I became unconscious. I wasn’t hearing anything. I was out.
After the attack, witnesses say the student fled the scene and the school nurse tended to Johnson until he could be transported to a local hospital. He stated that he still has intense pains in his neck and had been bleeding from an elbow directly following the attack. He had to spend many hours at a local hospital as a result of his injuries. As of now, he is unsure as to when he will be returning to teaching.
Like most videos captured on cell phones these days centering around ugly fights and drama, the video quickly began circulating social media. Several students took to tweeting about the incident, as well. On student tweeted, for example:
Old head got put to sleep in Bartram.
Many other disrespectful tweets chimed in, as well.
Philadelphia School District spokesperson Fernando Gallard stated:
The School District does not tolerate this type of behavior and is working with Bartram High School and Philadelphia Police to make sure that the student is disciplined and also charged.
Gallard also stated:
This is a grave concern to us. The student has been suspended. He will be referred for expulsion. . . . There’s a need to press charges. These things need to be discouraged.
Pewu Johnson (Image still courtesy of YouTube)
Johnson, who is trained as a city planner, has been a substitute teacher for 14 years and admits it can be difficult. He stated:
I’ve been abused and bullied.
Thursday, however, was the first time he was ever physically attacked.
Bartram High School of Southwest Philadelphia has been in the media numerous times over the prior school year due to violence. It’s unfortunately nothing new there. Last March, for example, one staffer was knocked unconscious by a student. Ironically, that staff personnel was the school’s conflict resolution specialist. That should offer readers some idea of the atmosphere at Bartram.
Just last month, on October 9, another student punched a teacher in the face. Why? So students could get out to the hallway in order to see a fight. One young lady wanted to rush out and get a good look. When the teacher stepped in the way to stop her, another senior class member punched the teacher right in the face. That teacher was also attended to by the school nurse.
Even more recently, a teacher was pushed down to the floor by a freshman attempting to steal the instructor’s laptop, injuring the teacher’s back. That happened Oct. 21.
It’s easy to see why staff may be a bit frazzled. Due to the all the recent violence, 10 police officers now patrol Bartram on a daily basis. Footage also shows metal detectors are in place at the school.
The extra police presence, as well as a second principal, have helped curb the violence somewhat, though. Newly hired principal Abdul-Mubdi Muhammad has really focused on enforcing school codes and rules this year in an attempt to reign in student behavior.
However, one teacher clearly still frustrated with the environment stated:
Mr. Muhammad has been advocating for more resources, but they haven’t sent us any help. A lot of people feel that this is a pressure cooker about to explode again.
That instructor only spoke on the condition he/she remain anonymous.
While Muhammad is considered to have made some strides in curbing violence in the school, he admits that they started pretty far down the rabbit hole. He stated:
[W]e started with a huge deficit.
Another staffer who wished to remain anonymous feels that the school has been slowly improving over the last year, stating that students used to openly smoke cigarettes and marijuana in the hallways, but that such behavior has nearly disappeared.
Most everyone on staff agrees, however, that lack of staff remains a primary problem.
One teacher stated:
They call for hall sweeps on the loudspeaker, but there’s nobody to sweep the hallway. There’s still ample students walking the hall, and ample fights.
Muhammad remains optimistic and determined, though, stating:
We’re trying to develop a culture here. We have to rebuild the idea that this is an academic setting, that no, you can’t do that thing you could do last year. There must be visible consequences for everyone.
Muhammad is a former math teacher at Olney and Masterman schools, as well as a former charter school assistant principal.
H/T: philly.com and opposingviews.com / (Featured image courtesy of YouTube)
freaking animals, these types of “students” need to be locked up tight in a human zoo.
Or we can do the SMART thing and put money into schools, free lunches, get the Wing Nuts sitting jobs bills in congress to do their job and get unemployment to go down so parents don’t have to work 3-4 jobs and never see their kids so they can have some hands on time raising them. Raise the minimum wage…
You know, the things that work.
Or we can keep dehumanizing people and stop pretending this is a country based on Christian Principles such as forgiveness, love they neighbor and “I am my brother’s keeper.”
Your call.
Typical Government behavior refund till its broken the sell it to private interests. Its all an effort to keep a poor uneducated work force and a free workers in the prison system. Its the American way.
So if your poor then you can’t teach your children respect or manners or decent behavior, is that what your implying? Because that’s what I inferred from your comment.
Poverty does increase extreme behavior, gang affiliation, violence, crime, etc. It’s all well proven and evidence based. That’s why the solution to all of this includes both education and anti-poverty measures.
No, that’s what you’re imputing based on your own personal bias. And imputation is the evil stepchild the Strawman Fallacy.
THis is true. The real cause is poverty and all of it’s correlates. Malnutrition, substance abuse, broken families, overworked families, etc.
The Christian principles that you have mentioned are also equally espoused by Islam. By Islam, I refer to the true and correct faith, not the travesty practiced by a few fanatics.
If you say so. I have NO idea, nor have I any experience. Don’t take that as an insult, it’s my ignorance and I’m admitting to it.
But I will take your word for it since all religions, and many philosophies, have the same basic tenets which foster peace, good will and harmony through love and care of our earthly neighbors.
I think that you might just be my new favourite person!
I like this U Mad Bro fella. He thinks and talks a good game like I do! Internet doppelganger, is that you?!
Don’t do that shit. Every time there’s an incident involving a black person, I have to read about how they’re all “animals”.
Even if I didn’t think you were using the term “animal” because it was a black person, he’s still a human. This is HUMAN nature at its worst.
Animals only engage in violence for a good reason.
you know humans are animals right?
You know you’re responding to a four month old comment, right?
Both the students and the parents need to be charged and then sued. Both of my kids knew better than to behave in a manner 1/10 as bad as the kids in this article. There is no way they would have ever laid a hand on a teacher for fear of incurring my wrath. That said, they also knew I had their back if someone abused them too. Parenting is becoming a lost art.
I highly doubt suing the parent(s) will do anything, they’re obviously having issues controlling their children. As for charging the kid, I say go for it. You should know better than to put your hands on another person- let alone an 68 year old teacher!
And just how would a school curb bad behaviors? YOu are as stupid as Stacey. So much to be said in answering the last two sentences you wrote and not enough time or space to do so.
sued for what? You idiot, they live in poverty. What are you going to take from them in a lawsuit. NOw you know why many people still believe that an education is wasted on a woman. You are a prime example of stupidity and ignorance.
It would help if it was made illegal to take the picture of a victim and pass it along for spurious reasons. I wonder what the perp would claim was his reason/excuse for the attack. Oh, and what his parents think about the suit that surely should come his way.
Why on earth do you refer to these girls as “ladies”?? They are almost as bad as the guys 🙁
Because whoever said it is being polite and respectful. I’m afraid to ask what appellation you would choose to use in lieu of “ladies”.
No nation ever can allow its teachers to get treated this way. As long as this kind of behaviour continues they should hire war veterans to teach.
We, as a society, don’t treat our teachers well when we hire part time and sub teachers to replace them - or teachers as sub or part time - because we don’t want to pay benefits (colleges did it first - now it is becoming common in public schools). We also don’t treat them well when we don’t give treat them like the professionals that they are and provide them with decent pay. Anyone want to improve education? Better teacher student ratios and keep qualified and effective teachers by paying them well and treating them with respect. Otherwise you get a lot of people who are not as effective or good at teaching because the good teachers have gone on to do something else.
REally? And just how is a war vet going to do any better of a job teaching than trained teachers? Why not just station cops or individuals with guns and shoot anyone that misbehaves? That makes as much sense as your comment about war vets.
“…substitute school teacher with a dedicated history to Philadelphia…”
Mr Hock, is that your idea of English? “history to Philadelphia”?
Christ. How does garbage like this get into print?
That’s what you’re worried about? Grammar and syntax when these “children” are so brutal. Worry about the subject matter of the article first! I’m a grammar Nazi myself, but come on! YOUR priorities here are what’s wrong!
yah I know. i’m such a bitch.
Grammar and syntax are always a priority. Always.
I guess it’s not the best grammar, but your response isn’t grammatically sound either. Don’t lose the sleeves of your shirt over it.
I hope that teacher presses charges against the bitch/asshole student who did this.
This is a school where 91% of the students receive free or reduced lunch; 23% of the students are special ed. Do you guys REALLY think that “charging & suing the parents” is going to make ONE BIT OF DIFFERENCE?
Poverty is the primary problem here, and until THAT gets addressed in a meaningful, constructive way, ain’t nothing you can do about violence at Bartram High.
Exactly, it is a socio-economic issue. HOWEVER, they do need to charge and discipline people who assault. The worst thing would be to let any student get away with that. While not solving the bigger issue, you have to send a message that violence towards other students or teachers is never acceptable.
Shut it down. It’s time that we have human control like limit how many kids people can have. I’m sorry but why is it fair to have someone with 6 kids living in the hardened ghetto causing crime to go up and people to get harmed?
This was a criminal attack and should be treated that way. This city must have horrible social issues. This problem solving should include the mayor. Behavior this bad in a city must start at the top and work down. Does all business conducted in this city require this physical force? I certainly will not make a visit to Philadelphia any time soon. They won’t get any of my tourist dollars or respect.
It’s poverty.
it’s not poverty. it’s culture.
The only way this relates to Philadelphia is the fact that public schools are very underfunded and understaffed. Phillly, as a whole, is doing just fine though.
I should know, I live there.
I taught in a Title i school probably similar to this one. Although thankfully I was never physically attacked, I was everything but. “Bullying” is correct. I had a couple of classes/periods where maybe 10 students in each would completely disrupt and try to take over the class, swear at me, flip me off, gang up on me verbally, etc. End result was it was horrific to come to work every day and the other 20 students in the class had their learning harmed. When I would have the students disciplined or removed, they would be put right back in the class and go at it again. Teaching in schools like this is the hardest thing I ever did..
The reason the poor staffing situation at schools like this continues is not only situations like this, where teachers are abused by students, but also very poor funding in the classroom and outside, with many teachers having to buy school supplies out of meager salaries, poor salaries, and insufficient support for teachers by administrators when hard situations with students comes up.
Teacher’s and staff also need to sue the school system and the City for failure to provide a safe work environment.
This. Even a threat to sue would be a good idea
We don’t know the history this teacher had with this student. People are making assumptions without knowing the whole story.
History with a sub who you might see twice in a year at that school
Im sorry but if your going to do things like this you dont deserve an education that simple! If we took a stand & were harsh like back in the day these things would happen so much less!
I’m a substitute teacher and I see a total lack of respect for teachers coming from third-graders. They talk back, argue and are just generally disrespectful. I would be appalled if my kids acted that way. Makes you wonder what type of home life these kids have. But the only thing school districts spend money on these days are more tests that simply line the already bulging pockets of corporations.
This is beyond belief for me. I remember growing up back home in Pakistan, when the teacher entered the room, all of us students would rise up out of respect and say, “Good morning, Sir/Miss”. Thus when I hear of incidents like this, I know that the Day of Judgement is close at hand.
Not from Philly, but I just read that Philly cancelled it’s contract with the teachers. Who’s going to want to come work in Philly, under difficult circumstances for lower pay and less protection than they have in wealthier districts that surround Philly?
Flagged for racism.
Flagged for violent threats.
And flagged for not adding anything of value or substance to the discussion.
“Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.” - Oscar Wilde
And yes, let’s look at good Christian Principles.
“When a man strikes you on the one cheek, turn the other to him that he might strike it also.”
“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”
“Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”
“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
And my favorite…
“Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone.”
But hey, it’s not like Jesus said these himself…
OH WAIT!
i think it is all too late. we are lost…….
Expel all the dipshiats that don’t want to learn.
And there are so many voters who want to allow teachers and students to conceal carry on school grounds. Imagine the outcome if both had guns for this incident. Not only the possibility of killing each other but innocent kids in the hall. (yeah, I know, innocent kids is an oxymoron.)
It seems this behavior has been going on for many years. It goes back to the days when I was in school and that was 65 years ago. So they are just now figuring that they need to change something? HOw about not using poverty as an excuse for behavior that is criminal? I heard a lot about poor people and that it wasn’t their fault. BULLSHIT. Poverty is an excuse for a lot of things but criminal behavior is not one of them. Forget jobs for Muslims jackasses in shitholes like Iraq or Syria, we need jobs for areas like these and others throughout this country. $10 an hour aint’ goint to cut it. Wake up America/ The answers don’t come from the Koch brothers.
“That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.” -C Hitchens.
If that was an attempt at a lampoon, I suggest submitting to the Onion.
Dismissed.