A teacher at Griffin Middle School has been arrested for helping kids get into trouble by setting up fights in her classroom.
Angel Footman denies the accusations, but according to court papers, she told investigators that she didn’t call for help or act quickly to stop the fights or tell anyone about them. WCTV was the first to report the arrest.
Footman is charged with four counts of causing a child to break the law.
Documents that WCTV got show that on March 24, a School Resource Deputy was told that Angel Footman, 23, was letting her students fight in class. Videos supposedly showing some of the fights between March 22 and March 23 were also shown to school officials.
Several sixth-grade girls told detectives they had planned fights at school, and they say they were asked back for more fights. This is shown in the documents.
The kids also said that Footman said things like “30 seconds, no yelling, no screaming, and no phones.”
According to WCTV, a probable cause document says that police looked at videos and saw Footman sitting at her desk, not helping, and saying things like “no screaming, no nothing” and “stop pulling hair.” The paper also said that there were no records of Footman telling anyone about the fights.
On May 4, there will be a court date.
Recently, the Leon County School Board heard a report on the rules for how students should behave. Staff from the Leon County School District told elected officials that teachers are asked to try to change the way students act before referring them for punishments.
