Principal placed on leave after 'altercation' with student: 'Something definitely needs to change'
A high school principal who allegedly exchanged blows with a student is on leave, and the teenager is charged for his role in the “serious incident.”
In grainy footage shot Wednesday at 1:20 p.m. by a student at Charles Herbert Flowers High School in Springdale, Md., Principal Gorman Brown squares off with a 17-year-old and punches him in the face. The student hits back. In a different portion of the video, Brown confronts him against the wall while other adults mill around. The student who filmed wrote the caption, “Let’s be fair. Mr. Brown hit him first.” Police are reviewing the video.
A spokesperson from Prince George’s County Public Schools sent Yahoo Lifestyle a letter from associate superintendent Dr. Carletta T. Marrow addressing the brawl.
“This letter is to inform you about a serious incident that occurred today,” she wrote. “There was an alleged physical altercation between a student and Principal Gorman Brown. The circumstances are under investigation. Mr. Brown has been placed on leave until further notice.” The letter invited parents to talk about “acceptable behaviors” that “support a positive school climate” with their children.
A district spokesperson tells Yahoo Lifestyle that during morning classes, the same student assaulted a teacher and knocked her cellphone to the floor.
Prince George’s County Police Department wrote on its blog that Brown went looking for the teen, finding him in the hallway, and a school resource officer deployed his foam pepper spray when he witnessed the student swing at the principal. The teen later washed his face in the nurse’s office.
“A portion of this interaction was recorded on another student’s cellphone which we are reviewing. The department is working to determine whether any additional video captured the entire interaction,” the blog said. The kid was charged as a juvenile and officers stressed that they are focusing their investigation on the entirety of the situation, not solely the video.
“I think it’s crazy, for him to be a principal, put his hands on nobody,” an 11th-grade student told Washington, D.C., news station WJLA. A parent added, “And the principal doesn’t do a good job and maintains his anger, something definitely needs to change at the school and it might need to start with the principal.”
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
Photo of elementary school principal in blackface for Steve Harvey costume resurfaces
Substitute teacher banned from district after allegedly making racist comments to students
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