harvie,

i don't know. i've had children do some pretty bad and even vile things to me and i never called the cops. mainly because i had good relationships with the kids, they were remorseful, and it was a one time thing.

but you don't know the details in this case. what if this assistant has already put up with being cussed and/or hit at since the beginning of school? what if they have talked to the child's parents and the parents didn't care. i know i seems hard to believe, but there are children with serious issues who the teacher and administrator never meet because they won't return calls or respond to letters. maybe they've been dealing with this all year and they finally did something to put a stop to it since the parents wouldn't.

i would bet on it that this is definitely not the first time a teacher took a swing from this kid. teachers and principals don't call the cops on a typical child who loses his/her temper once or twice.

The teacher should be fired, the school administrator should be fired and the policeman responding, making the arrest and charges should be suspended without pay for a week. The reason the school administrator and teacher should be fired is because they are expected to have some intelligence. They have demonstrated they have none and should not be in a position to have influence on children. It might be appropriate to call social services to investigate the child's home life and find out why she was acting in such an aggressive way. I bet no one has yet listened to her side of the story. This kind of behavior does not just occur without reason. Part of the problem here is that the children of the Sesame Street generation are now in school. We not only have problems with the parents but with the school administrators and the kids. People from the Sesame Street generation are on the school boards as well so you often see actions by school boards which are just plain stupid and we wonder why the children today are so angry. They are angry because they witness this stupidity on a daily basis not only at school but at home as well. Unfortunately I have to say that it is the Jeremiah Jones' of this world that are the primary problem They are the parents of the Sesame Street generation that is so screwed up.

our kids,our society HAVE become more violent in the past 10yrs. than i have ever seen in my short 50yrs. of life it has already been said that our next generation is one that feels nothing but hate,gonna be a wonderful world when they start getting into office,politics,and business

when all else fails,a good a** bustin does wonders but it should be a LAST option...

makes a good argument to bring back corporal punishment.......

waiting for back-lash on this one too...

It's very interesting that "more beatings" is always the solution.

Probably the student is already being well beaten at home. I doubt she came up with the idea of punching the teacher with a fist out of the blue. It's likely something that already happens to her.

Age 10 is too old for spankings. If you are spanking your 10 year old, you've been doing the whole "raising children" thing wrong.

And yes, I do believe in corporal punishment. But there's a way to do it and too many parents who believe in it now are undisciplined and out of control themselves. In these cases, it does far more harm than good.

For punching the teacher, she should be expelled. There's no way around that. Back in the old days she'd be sent to be paddled by the principal as well. Those days are past. Now they call the police and create a criminal record rather than deal with it in school.

Kids do not become this maladjusted on their own.

Well it is definitely not aggravated assault at all. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-102 is clear.

The police often bring absurd charges and then "plea bargain" down to a guilty plea for the best charge they could have gotten at trial. This is a dishonest practice. They should charge with the actual crime.

A closed fist????? A closed fist is SIMPLE ASSAULT. Tennessee Supreme Court ruled otherwise. I have the case file and the court ruling on that in my desk. (Did a research paper on it some years back) State of TN v. Eric Flemming. No. 95-D-2513 Seth Norman, Judge.

No. M1997-0073-SC-R11-CD - Decided April 3 2000

Now, I will guess that will be the argument her attorney will use to lower the charges, ask the state for a mental health exam, and then plea bargin it out somehow. Then find an alternative educational source for the young girl to get her back into school with continued counseling for the betterment of all parties.

Now before you all begin on me for giving the case reference above, I am NOT defending this young girl at all. I am pro discipline. I think it starts with the parents and the courts need to stay out of it to a big degree. Child ABUSE is NOT the same as Child DISCIPLINE. There are differences. My guess is this child needs some discipline and the parent(s) need some discipline training.

I am not sure how hard a 10 year old girl can swing or throw a punch with a closed fist, and the point of impact would play a part as well in the pain and damage factor.

Now I know that a boney fist from a 94 year old lady can break your nose and splatter blood pretty good when your are not looking at her, and instead, talking to some nursing staff about what led up to the fall and gash in the back of her head before you take her to the ED for treatment. Yep, I was the victim in that one. Had to learn to look at the patient at all times instead of the people I was talking to. So what kind of pain can a 10 year old cause?

I had a few teachers that made me mad in my day, and even though I was mad, the most I ever got was verbal with them. I never made any attempt to be violent with them because even if I was in the right, My parents would have been educationally aggressive on my rear end and my traveling would have been limited to the kitchen, bathroom, and my bedroom. If the teacher was in the wrong, then my parents were at the school to enquire as to the circumstances of the incident. Even though I had one teacher all through high school that gave me grief, Trust me, there were very, very few instances with her.

Since I am not involved in the incident, I can't say who needs what really. Like most of everyone else, I am guessing. But I do know this is not Agg. Assault.

Waiting for the comments and backlash I have created now......