There is little question that this was an overreaction. But, the teacher was not to blame. He/she did the right thing, and contacted the administrator. As I understood it, the student was not just using her phone, but was talking on it, disrupting the class. She should have been disciplined.
OMG!!! Talking on the phone! They should have convened the firing squad.
It wasn't just an overreaction. It's a system that does not work. Why couldn't the teacher deescalate the situation without tossing the girl across the room? Why do they need cops for something as banal as that? Why are the overwhelming majority of these cops white, no matter what the ethnic composition of the school? Why have similar abuses been recorded across the country and they always seem to follow the same pattern (racially and socially)?
I'm sorry there is no amount of logic that justifies having a cop deal with a student who doesn't obey the teacher, unless there is something criminal in the student's behavior.
It was not the teacher who tossed the student. It was the school "peace" officer. The student was outright defiant and needed to be disciplined, but not in the way that officer handled it. Both should be punished. IMHO, since the officer had prior incidents of violence, he was rightly fired. But that girl should have some meaningful kind of discipline as well. I understand that she suffered a death of either a family member or friend, but that does not giver the right to be so disruptive and defiant. Excusing her behavior will just cause the incident to happen again. As I said before, discipline should have started at an early age(infancy). And for all teachers, school administrators and law enforcement, there should be better training in
de-escalation. Learning how to peacefully nip the problem in the bud.
When I was volunteering at the high school in my neighborhood last year, the teachers required all students to label their cell phones/iPads/iPods/computer watches/pagers, put them on vibrate and deposit them in the teachers' desk drawers. The students were allowed to retrieve them on their way out of class. This made the students more likely to pay attention in class. This action was also announced to all students and parents at orientation at the beginning of each year. So no surprises. That could be one example.
