By Kevin Taylor
Alexander City Outlook
The parent of a Horseshoe Bend School student filed a report with the Tallapoosa County Sheriff's Office in which he alleges a coach assaulted his son, a student of the school.
The object used in the assault is listed as a paddle on the police report, and it indicates the incident occurred on Feb. 14.
Horseshoe Bend School Principal Glenn Fuller confirmed the coach involved in the incident is head football coach Andy Keith.
"We did everything according to proper procedure," Fuller said.
Fuller said the child had committed four minor offenses, which calls for punishment as laid out in the school's policy manual.
According to code 2.26 for habitual Class 1 violations, the punishment is three days of In School Suspension (ISS).
Fuller said the student approached him and asked to take a paddling instead of serve three days in ISS. Fuller agreed to the terms, so Keith administered the paddling with Fuller as a witness.
"I would have never dreamed anything like this would have come up," Fuller said. "If I could have turned back time, I would have told the child that he would have to serve the three days in ISS."
Keith said he could not comment on the situation as advised by his attorney.
The police report indicates the alleged misdemeanor assault was classified as simple and not aggravated assault.
Tallapoosa County Schools Superintendent Ginger East said the board is aware of the incident and checking into the situation.
"We are always concerned about the welfare of our students," East said. "We are focused on maintaining the learning environment and providing a quality education. We follow policy, and we followed policy."
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Whoa!!! What a spin job!
Now, I guess the fact that this finally made the newspaper will have to convince those who have doubts that I didn't just make the whole thing up for kicks. This is a very biased story with no quotes from the family. Looks like a news release from the school. Also, are there any witnesses to this kid asking to be paddled? I bet not. Proper procedure was obviously not followed because,
1. There is nothing in this kids record to indicate that it is ok to use corporal punishment.
2. Neither of the parents were called before corporal punishment was administered and they should have been. A 14-year-old does not have authority to give consent to corporal punishment.
3. The bruises left on this child are far and beyond anything normal corporal punishment would have inflicted.
Stating that they followed all procedures does not make it true. They are still SUNK because this child was left with injuries. They can hem and haw all they like but the facts remain the same.
"He asked us to beat him" is not a very good defense and won't hold up in a court of law. Blaming a kid for beating him black and blue is beyond the pale.
I will not be around today to moderate comments. I won't turn off comment moderation because my children have received many threats against them since yesterday. To the kids who think they are anonymous on the internet....think again. I am logging your IP number and all it takes for me to trace you is to have anything happen to either of my children at school. Then I will get a subpoena for the IP's that have shown up on my site threatening my kids, take it to the ISP and have them tell my attorney who you are. It's very simple.
When that happens you will wind up in juvenile jail for assault and battery. I'd hate for that to happen. I know kids are very upset that a favorite teacher is involved in this. I don't like juvenile jail any more than I like adult jail and fight to keep kids out of it every day. But, if any of the kids who have made threats follow through with them I will have them locked up for assault and battery. I won't hesitate. For someone to stoop so low as to threaten my kids with violence because I spoke out against violence is very sick. I recieved many comments overnight that appear to be kids advocating for the right to be beaten by this coach. It is most bizarre! I guess this is how Coach Keith taught his pupils to deal with their problems. Nice!
