Cases like this make you wonder whether teachers are increasingly vulnerable to classroom attacks:
A Tennessee high school teacher was set on fire by one of her students, cops said.
WATE reports that Gabriela Penalba, 23, turned her back to her class on Monday morning at West High School in Knoxville when a 15-year-old male student set her hair and shirt ablaze using his lighter, police said.
Students quickly put the fire out.
Gawker notes that the student allegedly “exploited the commotion” by throwing the lighter out the window and fleeing before being captured by police.
The quick thinking of her students helped Penalba avoid any burns, according to WBIR.
The student faces aggravated assault and evading arrest charges.
His name has not been released because he’s a minor and has not been charged as an adult.
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Tags: AOL Weird News, Education, Gabriela Peñalba, Gabriela Peñalba Set On Fire, Gabriela Peñalba Teacher, Near Weird, Teacher Set On Fire, Teacher Set On Fire Tennessee, Teacher Welfare, Tennessee Teacher Set On Fire
Topical Teaching 
November 30, 2013 at 11:59 pm |
My heart goes out to that young lady. Such incidents are rare but are they becoming more frequent? I worked in a school where students were outside fighting on the street. A young lady teacher went to break it up and was standing between the two main protagonists when she was king hit by a student who had been a spectator and who ran up on her blind side. At the same school where another fight was in progress the principal was struck on the head with a piece of steel pipe.
Such behaviour, while inexcusable, is a symptom that all is not well in the school community.
December 4, 2013 at 12:07 pm |
Absolutely right John. Improving school culture is vital to a workable system.