A teacher from Thomas Dale High School was assaulted while in the classroom on Wednesday, April 22, and the injuries sent the teacher to the hospital, police said.
As a result, the Chesterfield Educational Association sounded a Mayday.
“It was reported that a 15-year-old male student threw his backpack and two chairs at a (female) teacher,” Chesterfield police spokeswoman Elizabeth Caroon said. “During the incident, the student also damaged a school laptop and pulled a fire alarm.The woman, whose glasses were broken during the incident, was transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
A police officer filed a criminal complaint against the juvenile for disorderly conduct in school, assault, false alarm, and two counts of vandalism, Caroon said.
“Nobody should fear being hurt where they work,” said Sonia Smith, president of Chesterfield Education Association, noting that a teacher at Clover Hill High School was also recently assaulted by a student and went to the hospital as a result.
“I had a husband of a teacher call me and thank me for bringing this to the public’s attention,” she added.
Smith said she’s calling Mayday because “something has to be done to prevent it from happening again. We are conducting a survey to find out more information on any aggression or assaults that may have happened, if they were reported or not and for ideas on handling these situations.”
She noted that the responses to the survey will be kept confidential, but that the results will be shared with education leaders and Chesterfield Schools Superintendent Merv Daugherty.
“Teachers need to not be afraid to speak up, and now opportunities are better for getting information out,” Smith said. “Social media is really helping.”
The survey can be accessed online at vea.link/studentagression.
