Teacher Charged With Child Abuse For Patriotism?

Teacher Charged With Child Abuse For Forcing Student To Be Patriotic.

Kaepernick and his disrespectful copycats have set a bad example for the youth of our nation. This attitude has trickled down to the classrooms where teachers now have to deal with disrespectful students that are led by the poor example set by NFL players. These misinformed students most likely think it is the “cool” thing to do without fully understanding why they should be standing for the flag. Which leads us to a Teacher in Colorado who tried to do the right thing. Unlike the NFL and Goodell, Teacher Karen Smith did her job and tried to correct a bad behavior.

Karen Smith, a Gym Teacher at Angevine Middle School in Lafayette, Colorado, tried to set a child straight. A middle schooler was purposefully sitting out during the Pledge of Allegiance. So Smith picked the student up by the jacket and encouraged the student to stand for the occasion. Now, this may be a more aggressive tactic than the usual but no one was hurt and the student was corrected. But that’s not where the story ends as it should have.

Smith was charged with “child abuse-recklessly with injury and third-degree assault charges.” She is also on paid leave as the school investigates the incident. Granted the teacher was aggressive but this seems a little extreme. It seems like there may have been a bruised ego but not much more than that.

Watch the Newsreel below.

Karen Smith has been a teacher for twenty years in that school district yet this one incident could spell the end of her teaching career. The school Principal sent a letter out to parents about the incident that included the following:

“Angevine and the Boulder Valley School District are cooperating with the District Attorney’s Office and respect their decision on this matter. While we are unable to share more because it is a legal and personnel matter that the school district is actively investigating, I, again, want to reaffirm that our focus remains firmly on our students.”

Is this a case of child abuse and assault or a misconstrued lesson?