Teacher admits grabbing student's throat

By KELLY RYAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 8, 2001

ST. PETERSBURG -- A Lakewood High School teacher has agreed to a three-day suspension without pay after acknowledging that he grabbed a disruptive student by the throat.

James E. Hall, 56, will begin his suspension Wednesday if the School Board approves the recommended punishment next week. In a signed agreement expressing remorse, Hall acknowledged that on Dec. 18 he grabbed a ninth-grade boy around the neck after the boy overturned a desk.

The boy's mother is livid that Hall is only being suspended for three days.

"That's all? It's pathetic," said Deloris Redenburg, mother of 15-year-old Jearell. "This man choked my son. He was being a class clown. He wasn't being vicious or trying to hurt anyone."

Hall was an engineer for 30 years before becoming a Lakewood High math teacher in August 1999. Since that time, Hall has been reprimanded several times, including twice for making disparaging remarks about students. Those remarks included calling students "idiots" and referring to one as "fat."

Before becoming a teacher, Hall was arrested on aggravated assault charges in 1991. He entered a pretrial intervention program to resolve the charges.

Hall has a master's degree in business administration but has not gone through extensive training in classroom management. Right now, he holds a temporary teaching certificate and has applied for a permanent one.

Efforts to reach Hall, who earns $31,950 annually, were unsuccessful. His most recent evaluation said he needed to improve his performance in and out of the classroom.

On Wednesday, Superintendent Howard Hinesley and staff attorney Jackie Spoto defended the district's recommendation to suspend -- not fire -- Hall. The School Board will consider the recommendation Tuesday.

"This guy was remorseful," Hinesley said. "There's never a circumstance other than protecting yourself where one has the right to strike a student without looking at consequences. There are circumstances where it might require punishment and not firing."

Hall told investigators that he asked the student to pick up the desk, but the student refused. He also said that the student grabbed his sweater and his arm, Spoto said.

While Hall had other blemishes on his teaching record, Spoto noted that he had never touched a student before. For first offenses, a suspension is common practice, she said.

"It's a judgment call on the circumstances at the time," Spoto said.

Redenburg and her son took their case to the state attorney's office, which has decided not to prosecute, said chief assistant state attorney Bruce Bartlett.

Bartlett said it is exceptionally rare for the state attorney's office to prosecute school officials who touch disruptive students. Teachers need some latitude to control their classrooms as they see fit, Bartlett said.

In this case, Bartlett said, prosecutors took note that Redenburg was not injured and that Hall had no intent to harm the student.

"Teachers have an extremely difficult job," Bartlett said. "In most instances, they are reacting to the conduct of the child and doing so in a way that is on behalf of the other students in the class."

Redenburg acknowledges that her son is talkative and is not perfectly behaved. But she maintains that a teacher should use available resources, like the school resource officer, to control problems.

"If I had done my son like that, they would have taken him away from me and locked me up for child abuse," Redenburg said. "Three days without pay is nothing."

Jade Moore, executive director of the teachers union, said all union members are taught that "reasonable force" is acceptable to maintain control and classroom safety. The tricky part is defining "reasonable."

"There is a huge gray area," Moore said. "Our advice with people is only to get involved physically with a kid as a last resort."

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