Teen involved in teacher brawl expresses remorse, says mom

The mother of the teen involved in a classroom bust-up with a teacher at the Tivoli Gardens High School in Kingston says that the incident does not reflect the discipline she has instilled in him.

The boy, who has been charged with assault and malicious destruction of property, allegedly attacked the teacher after she asked him to leave a classroom. Coleman, 56, who sells in Coronation Market in downtown Kingston, told THE STAR that her son has expressed remorse.

"He is sad because him wah to go to school. Him love school, enuh. Dis mawnin when I was leaving him say 'Mommy, yah carry mi down at the school to see if me can go back?'. Mi tell him say mi will deal wid it this Tuesday when mi talk to the dean of discipline," she said. "Him say to me say him never wah lick the teacher but him say because she fling bag into him face and box him, that is how him end up lick har back." Coleman suggested that the teacher did not handle the situation in a professional manner.

"Yuh can see it inna di video say him tek di desk and fling it one side and after him fling it she insist fi beat him," she said. "Mi not going say him a bad pickney. But what I am saying is this. At age 16, member say he is not 10 or 12, if yuh start try to lick a 16-year-old dem ago react, enuh, maybe not all but some of them will."

She added: "Memba say Government say yuh no fi lick pickney, not even you as a parent. So if yuh child go a school and teacher lick dem, what going to happen? If a student into your class giving you trouble, you supposed to go to the principal or even the dean of discipline or the security guard to get him out of the class. It shouldn't have reached that far." Coleman said that the attention garnered from the incident has upset her.

"If I tell yuh the truth, I feel so upset about it. From Monday night mi no sleep and it mek mi worry because mi no send him to school fi go fight. Mi send him fi go learn," Coleman said yesterday. "Mi feel sad 'bout the incident. It deh all over the whole world and it mek mi feel embarrassed because me a grow seven of them and him is the only one this ever happen to. Mi raise him without a father 'cause from him born him father no business with him."

She added: "Mi nervous from it happen, enuh. The whole day yesterday [Tuesday] me no open up mi shop due to how me feel. Dem can send him to the juvenile school and a that me fear. Him always tell me say him ago mek mi happy and do well in school. Every day him bigger brother sit him down and talk to him and such." The teen is scheduled to appear in court on June 21.