If Your Kid Whips Out Their Drugs In Class, You Will Hope The Teacher Acts Like Coach Mark Black Did

I know parents everywhere love their children and they think that their special snowflakes are never in the wrong, even when they are allegedly whipping out a baggie full of the weed (Yes, I meant to say THE WEED) in the middle of class to bashbrag (I also made this word up, and it means to show off your weed) to all of their little friends. Tempers are running HIGH (see what I did tharrrrr?) at Santa Monica High (That was unintentional) because longtime science teacher and wrestling coach Mark Black has been placed on leave pending an investigation, and the school superintendent had issued a statement on Friday reading:

“Today, a deeply disturbing incident involving a teacher and student occurred in a classroom at Santa Monica High School, resulting in the Santa Monica Police Department being called to the campus. A number of videos capturing at least a portion of the incident are circulating, and I can tell you that what I witnessed on one of those videos is utterly alarming.

We have been in contact with the student’s family, and we will work with them to offer the support that they may need.”

The issue is that a cell phone video taken from inside the classroom also went viral over the weekend, showing Coach Black doing what he had to, meaning he physically restrained a student who was allegedly whipping out his drug stash in the middle of class.

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Now school superintendent Sandra Lyon admits that her statement may have been issued too soon after parents flooded Lyon and the school board with letters, castigating the superintendent for pre-judging the popular teacher and fiercely defending Black for what some saw as bravery. Thousands of people liked a ”We Support Coach Black of Samohi” Facebook page and signed a Change.org petition calling for the coach’s reinstatement. So Lyon issued a second statement over the weekend, acknowledging that her remarks about Black had ”caused great anger,” and apologizing to the community. From the LA Times:

“There is concern that my statement reflected a pre-judgment of the teacher’s conduct prior to completion of an investigation,” she said. ”There is also concern about my failure to address the conduct of one or more students who were involved in the incident.  In retrospect, I understand how my statement has created these concerns.”

I think it’s all well and good that she was so quick to defend the student, and I know we have heard many-a-story about bad teachers who used physical means to discipline a student and they were in the wrong, but in this case I think maybe the facts should have been investigated a little more, especially considering the word on the streets is that this altercation took place over drugs. I’m sure there were some sort of legal aspects to the statement Sandra Lyons issued but as a parent I can’t help but feel like we are all so quick to take the sides of these kids who are all too often just punkass jerks who need to be physically restrained. I know that if my kid were allegedly doing something like this I’d be issuing my own statement of apology to the teacher and to the school and feeling very disappointed in my spawn.

Yesterday, Santa Monica police announced the arrest of an 18-year-old and a 16-year-old in connection to the classroom scuffle and said they were seeking battery charges against both students from L.A. prosecutors.

Here’s hoping that by the end of this mess Coach Black gets his job back and gets his own apology from the school district.

(Image:you tube )