Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The head of the Buffalo Teachers Federation is speaking out over an incident this week where a teacher aide was assaulted by a student. That attack was posted online.
Rich NIgro says he has limited information, but says a teacher aide was covering a class when a student accosted the aide, nearly knocking him to the ground. He says the disturbing thing is the aide has been an employee in that school for close to 40 years. "I've spoken with a number of teachers, I've spoken with teacher aides, I know a number of kids, apparently this is posted online, have commented on it, and this is a beloved staff member by all measures, and for something like this to happen to anybody in a workplace setting is disgusting, " says Nigro.
He says no one on the job should have to worry about being attacked on the job. "It's outrageous that that is a concern for anybody in education today," says Nigro. He notes making it worse is the fact it's posted on social media, "Everything seems to go to social media now, and that is,, of course, unfortunate too."
He says when the cell phone ban went into effect, he noticed an immediate drop in those incidents, because students couldn't text and plan things, and couldn't pull their phone to capture such incidents. "As the year went on, more so closer to the end of the year, kids started getting these things through, and I've noticed a bit of an uptick in these instances of violence, and if you look at the video, this is just a disturbing culture, because at least one child had had a phone out, and again, should not have a phone, because there's a digital device ban, but had the phone out, and it was recording it, and of course, kids are laughing, kids are kids, and whether it was laughing of nervousness or laughing that they truly thought was funny, or, but, but it's disturbing to see something like this," says Nigro. "What if that was your parent, whether that were your uncle, your brother, your father, what if that was anybody? It doesn't matter. That's just outrageous that something like that will occur in the workplace," adds Nigro.
Nigro says the teacher aide is on administrative leave.
The teacher aide has been with school for decades
The teacher aide has been with school for decades
