The next time you think that teachers have it great listen to this. Last week at my wifes school a teacher approched 2 students who were fighting (throwing closed fist punches) and one of the students pushes the teacher down and she breaks her leg. She is out of work now on workers comp for at least 6 weeks and the 2 kids who were fighting get put on school "clean up detail" for several days. Whats so bad is last year a principal at the same school was fired for shoving a kid and the news media stayed on it for weeks. Where are the news media now when a teacher receives a serious injury caused by students fighting. Nothing mentioned....The teacher wasnt even alowed to fill out the accident report for workers comp and say a fighting student knocked her down. I thought in a workers comp claim you had to FULLY describe what happined,but not when it happins at Charlotte Meck Schools......

 

Actually documenting what happened might require more work.

I know on the industrial accident reports we have to fill out where I work, one of the questions is "was the injury the result of an assault". Sounds like a "yes" in this case. The kids should have been charged IMO. Clean up detail? They should be expelled. They probably get some school-yard "cred" for taking out a teacher. Sad.

 

Not to rain on your parade, but why would a broken leg keep her from teaching for 6 weeks?

But that aside, she should be able to make a claim with worker's comp.

 

I question that as well. All school buildings are supposed to be handicap accessable(public and private), so even if a wheel chair is needed the teacher can still be there.

But the student that did the actual pushing should be charged and expelled from school.

 

In Nevada the teacher can file criminal charges if a student puts a hand on them. They are arrested. Most districts here it would be an immediate suspension.
Craig

 

If I were injured in that type of incident, they'd be lucky to see me after just six weeks. She went to work one day walking and through no fault of her own (I assume) she ends up with a broken leg. I'd want that to heal correctly and fully before I went back. I wouldn't milk the system but I sure as hell would take what I needed to make a recovery.

Not to mention, if her leg is in a cast, how is she supposed to get to and from school? I don't think she'd be wise to drive in a cast and risk an accident.

 

I get that, Ray.

I'm just saying that teaching isn't exactly a labour intensive job. I could see maybe if she is a P.E. teacher, but there's no mention of that.

And I would want my leg to heal properly too. But there are ways to get to work with a cast on your leg. Get a wheelchair, hail a cab to and from work, and bill it all to worker's comp.

 

It depends on what she is teaching. Some classrooms will have the need to do a lot of walking around either to check on students or for presenting the subject matter. I know at work we've had people have injuries and they would put them on light duty so that they didn't have to have the lost day due to injury. I would go by what my doctor said to do over what the workmans comp doctor might have to say.
Here the students would be suspended and if they didn't have charges filed against them I would be down there with a lawyer asking why.

 

I hear what you are saying and agree with you to a point. I broke my tibia three years ago and never missed a minute of work (except all the overtime I couldn't work). I was able to work on projects at my desk and was able to drive myself to work since I had a boot, not a cast. I'd have gone stir crazy if I'd had to stay home.

That said, since the teacher's injury is a w/c injury, the teacher may not be allowed to work if she wanted to due to the school and their insurer not wanting the liability in case the injury is aggravated. I know both schools my son has gone to are NOT accessible so that would mean someone on crutches having to climb stairs. I wouldn't want my wife trying to negotiate stairs on crutches, would you?

 

I blew out my ACL and had it repaired. Tough guy (?) that I am, I went back to work after 2 weeks with a full leg brace.
The next month or so was the hardes month of work I ever had. It was exhausting just moving around as little as need be.
I was able to put light pressure on my leg and used crutches for about 2 weeks then was allowed to walk on it. Walking with one leg immobilized put stress on my hips and other leg like I never expected.
I was exhausted every day after work and would get home and just spend the rest of the evening in the lazy boy.
In hind sight, I would have taken more time off work. That was supposedly the reaon I saved so many sick days over my career-so I could take as much time as I needed if I was ever injured/ill.
She should take every day she can to heal properly.
In my school, the association (read:union) pushes hard and usually successfully for remainder-of-the-year expulsion if a student hurts a teacher. Even if the students didn't mean to knock her down, they should not have been fighting and should have stopped immediately when told to do so. I know.....fights happen and in the heat of the moment it is difficult, if not impossible to stop. But kids need to learn that brawling, except in the case of defending oneself, is not the appropriate solution to whatever issue is at hand.

edit: Oh- in our school, that is definitely W/C.

 

Unfortunately, in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System, you could rape a nun and not get expelled. They did a study on this a couple of years ago where....despite the presence of HUNDREDS of felons (some committed on school property, some committed off), they actually expelled a total of THREE students over a 2-year time span. We're talking sexual assaults, aggravated assaults, robberies, etc..

When you look at some of the blithering idiots who have been running the school board for the last 10 or 15 years, it's no surprise. And it's also no surprise that whites, and any other ethnic group with the financial wherewithall to do so, have been fleeing for the suburbs or adjacent counties with their wallets and their kids.

10 years ago, the school system (some 100,000 kids) was 60% white. Now it's just over 30%. In some of the outlying counties, the schools there are 95%+ white. They either go there, or to private schools.

 

Being a native of this town there is nothing that stews me more than the school situation here.

 

Sux....Doesn't it, Mike?

 

I must have read the original post wrong.

But after re-reading it, there has to be a spot on the incident report where she can fill in the blank about stopping a fight. Why isn't her union backing her up?

Glad she's off for 6 weeks to properly heal, but again, after re-reading it, I'm fully with you Ray. 6 weeks might not be enough. Hell, I was off 8 weeks for a broken finger. Mind you, it was full WCB, at work, and I'm right handed.

 

I feel badly for the teacher, and the kids need to be given a more severe punishment.

But that aside, i went to schol with a broken, leg TWICE in high school , and did just fine on crutches.
I also have gone to work with a broken leg, and missed just 1 day of work.