A student is facing criminal charges after they attacked a teacher at a Gwinnett County school, the principal said.
On Tuesday, a video went viral of the attack that happened during a class transition at Discovery High School in Lawrenceville.
In a letter sent to parents, principal Marci Sledge said “physical violence” would not be tolerated.
“Using physical violence to attack students and/or staff will not be tolerated at our school. It is not only against our school disciplinary policy, it is against the law,” Sledge wrote.
“I want to be clear, the student who attacked the teacher will face criminal charges in addition to school disciplinary consequences.”
She said the attack ended when other students got in between the two and broke it up.
“They acted in a positive way, like true Titans, and their actions are representative of the vast majority of our students,” Sledge added.
The video has been shared across multiple social media platforms and shows the attack. 11Alive has opted to blur the video in order to protect the identity of those involved.
“We are also looking at issuing school disciplinary consequences to students who helped plan and/or record the attack and attempted to upload it online,” the principal said adding that behavior is also against district policy.
This all comes after parents and other staff members spoke out at a recent board meeting angry about the district’s disciplinary policy which is aimed at keeping violators in school, and restoring them.
In the district as a whole, the number of fights and weapons on campuses has increased when compared statistically with the first three months of last school year.
According to Gwinnett County Schools officials, fights on campuses are up 35 percent. There were 473 fights, from August through October in 2021, and there were 638 fights during the same period in 2022.
And the number of weapons found in the schools has nearly doubled, up 88 percent. There were 17 guns and knives found, from August through October in 2021, and there were 32 guns and knives found during the same period in 2022.
Teacher catches a Vicious Beatdown from his own student… pic.twitter.com/3lrcBDgug3
— Fight Haven (@FightHaven) February 2, 2023