Head teacher suspended after knife-wielding pupil put in isolation room to cool down

A head teacher as well as 5 other teachers have been suspended and questioned by the police after restraining an irate 9 year pupil with a knife and locking him in a small room with a glass window to try and calm him down.

Head teacher Cath Woodall, 51, who was not on duty at the time, is among those being questioned by police after the nine-year-old boy made threats against teachers and pupils.

A teacher blocked the boy's path through the school and he started to kick out at her. The staff member then put the boy in a restraining hold approved for use by police officers. Finally he was placed in a small room with a glass window to try and calm him down. One teacher stood outside for forty minutes before the boy calmed down sufficiently.

Blackpool Council and Lancashire Police have launched an inquiry, although the council said it did not believe any child had come to harm. One member of staff not suspended defended the actions of the teachers, saying they had few options when confronted with the knife.

The Telegraph

The council which suspended the teachers are either incompetent or willfully short sighted. What if the irate 9 year old boy had attacked and injured or killed other pupils?

Yet, the teachers and head get suspended for restraining the 9 year old child who had armed himself with a knife from the kitchen of the primary school and had kicked at teachers when confronted by them.

No doubt his 'human rights' had been infringed. Never mind the human rights of the teachers who had to deal with a little thug armed with a knife nor the human rights of the other pupils whose personal safety had been put into jeopardy.

It sounds like a fair thing to have done in restraining the child, to me. The way that sounds, they used the minimum force they could possibly manage and kept someone right outside the door in case of emergency or anything, which would have been my only concern.

The kid's rights matter, but so do the rights of everyone else in the school not to be stabbed I would say. Frankly, I wouldn't have been as restrained. Plenty of kids that age have become killers in recent years.

Hopefully the suspension is just to review the actions of the teachers and they are back to work ASAP. It sounds like they took the proper precautionary measures.

If all went down as the article states then theses teachers should be commended for acting in the manner they did, no one was harmed and the situation was resolved. The child that caused the issue will be able to get the help he needs as well, all due to the actions of these teachers.

The way the situation was handled is the same that was standard operational procedure for dealing with similar situations in state psychiatric facility I worked at 26 years ago... It sounds to me that things were handled very well and that the staff members should be commended for not letting the situation escalate into something where someone got hurt.

They made a kid, who was threatening people with a knife, sit in a room for 40 minutes to calm down...
And they got suspended?
What the hell were they supposed to do?

That poor kid will be pumped full of Ritalin for the rest of his school days now

reply to post by MX44K


yea- that poor kid.

its a shame he didnt get to finish off his work right?


poor poor boy


-sarcasm off

Originally posted by xEphon
They made a kid, who was threatening people with a knife, sit in a room for 40 minutes to calm down...
And they got suspended?
What the hell were they supposed to do?

Apparently the glass doored 'room' was the size of a cupboard and had a lock on the door. No mention was made of the size of the knife.

I wouldn't take it too seriously
My wife was 'suspended pending investigation' after a particularly nasty incident at her school, It meant she was sent home to calm down and have a glass of wine while said incident was checked out.

Next day she was back at school no recriminations, just praise from teachers and pupils alike.

Difference ? There wasn't an over zealous reporter desperate for a shock story around.

Of course the actions will be checked out, and rightly so, they are probably back at work already, that just isn't 'news worthy'

Originally posted by cody599
I wouldn't take it too seriously
My wife was 'suspended pending investigation' after a particularly nasty incident at her school, It meant she was sent home to calm down and have a glass of wine while said incident was checked out.

Next day she was back at school no recriminations, just praise from teachers and pupils alike.

Difference ? There wasn't an over zealous reporter desperate for a shock story around.

Of course the actions will be checked out, and rightly so, they are probably back at work already, that just isn't 'news worthy'

One can only hope so.

The article does say that a temporary head teacher had been drafted into the school while the investigation continues. It is interesting that the head has been suspended yet wasn't even working at the time.

reply to post by ollncasino


The council are in defense mode
Cover all bases, if anything this should be a blaring headline to the stupidity of the nanny state, at the risk of sounding old, when I was at school the marks left by the head masters cane were worn as a badge of honour and if dad found out. Well God forbid.

Originally posted by cody599

The council are in defense mode

Cover all bases, if anything this should be a blaring headline to the stupidity of the nanny state

Indeed the council is in defense mode and the article is, as far as I can tell, driving at the stupidity of the nanny state.

It's gone too far.

They need to bring back the cane. In the old school you wouldn't dare pull a stunt like that.. and if you did you'd have a sore ass for weeks. You wouldn't try again.

Originally posted by MX44K
That poor kid will be pumped full of Ritalin for the rest of his school days now

I've got a sneaking suspicion the he's on medication *now*. Coupled with environmental poisons, food poisons, trash television and more-than-likely a single parent home. It's amazing that more children don't act-out.

The council's behavior in suspending the teachers is beyond bizarre. Perhaps they could use a dose (or three) of Ritalin? Just another symptom of the fact that we-aren't-in-Kansas-anymore.