11 April 2023 , 14:42
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A middle school teacher has been arrested for allegedly hosting fights and letting students brawl in her classroom.
Angel Footman, 23, from Florida, US, is accused of allowing sixth-grade girls at Griffin Middle School in Tallahassee to fight and would offer encouragement to the students by shouting “30 seconds, no screaming, no yelling, no phones.”
The suspect, who has denied organising the fights, allegedly encouraged rematches between her pupils and asked if they wanted "friendly fade" confrontations - which is fights among friends who agree to remain friends afterwards.
Some of the pupils "were called out of other classes to go engage in these fights", prosecutors alleged.
During the videos it is alleged Ms Footman can be heard saying "stop pulling hair" and "break it up" during footage captured by pupils.
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According to court documents, two of the girls told police the teacher had asked them if they wanted to come back to her classroom to "run it back” during their breaks.
The fights allegedly happened at Griffin Middle School in TallahasseeIn some of the videos the students were seen violently pulling each others hair despite pleas from Ms Footman insisting her four rules were applied - which included “30 seconds, no screaming, no yelling, no phones.”
Pupils showed the videos to their parents and immediately contacted the school with their concerns.
The Leon County Sheriff's Office was made aware of the fighting on the second day of the accusations and placed an office on the campus to investigate.
They also praised parents for bringing their children's concerns forward.
In a statement it said: "LCSO appreciates the diligent parents and others for reporting the videos to administrators."
The teacher, when confronted with the videos and accusations by her pupils, denied organising the fights and didn't acknowledge there were brawls in her classroom, according to court documents.
Sheriff Detective Hannah Parry revealed the suspect claimed she has "poor management skills" and would allegedly try and solve disputes with fights.
Teacher Angel Footman is accused of holding fights in her classroomMs Parry said: "Footman stated outright that she knows she has poor classroom management skills."
She was arrested on Friday and faces four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
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The suspect is due to appear in court on May 4.
The arrest comes just weeks after a teacher was forced to resigned in disgrace after taping a 11-year-old student's mouth shut to try and stop him talking.
Brady sent his mum Catherine Webster a selfie after his teacher covered his mouth with tape at Smithfield Middle School in North Carolina, US, on February 13.
Catherine said: "I asked, ‘What is that? Who did that? “And, he didn’t respond. I showed the pic to [the] principal [and] she took us into her office.”
An investigation into the teacher revealed the teacher had subjected other pupils to the mouth-taping earlier this year including taping students' wrists together.
Johnston County Public Schools confirmed the teacher, who was hired in August 2022, resigned on February 17.