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Is the student-beating teacher being used as scapegoat? - Houston News.NetIs the student-beating teacher being used as scapegoat? On April 29th Sheri Lynn Davis attacked a student in her class, the footage has now gone viral on the internet and shows an incident that seems to represent a complete breakdown of the system. In the video the 13-year-old student is seen backed into a corner of the room with Davis standing before him in a position indicative of an imminent attack, the boy cowers down at which point the beating begins. The video has sparked outrage in the Houston community and especially among parents whose children attend the school, “my son’s starting at this school soon,” commented one reader on the forums of a Houston news website, “now I don’t want to send him”. Another reader commented that the teacher must have anger issues and on one of the You Tube pages where the video is displayed there has been almost unanimous condemnation of the teacher’s actions. Indeed it is outrageous and Davis acknowledges this herself at a recent press conference for Houston news providers where she said “I am without excuse for my actions” and offered an apology to the kids in the class who witnessed the beating, as well as the mother of the child involved. Alesha Johnson, the child’s mother has filed a lawsuit against the school and Davis and was not receptive of the apology. “I don't even beat on my son, so what makes you think you can?” she demanded of Davis. But there is something else troubling about the whole incident, the question of how it happened in the first place. A teacher without any previous problems such as this to do with her career, does not just lash out at a student for no reason. Sheri Davis is not a psychopath, and no evidence has suggested she is, so she would not act in such an irrational manner without contributing factors. That is not to say her actions were justified, no amount of taunting or bad behaviour could condone such an attack, but a school environment is meant to be a secure and controlled one, and statements by Davis’ lawyer have suggested the environment at Jamie’s House was anything but secure and controlled. Statements made by the child who was attacked are also concerning. He alleged to Houston news provider Fox 26 that while he was being beaten there were other teachers in the room, watching and doing nothing. The school has confirmed that there was at least one other teacher in the classroom at the time and are investigating why that teacher did not intervene. In the video footage, one can also hear the students in the classroom laughing, apparently unconcerned by the violence being displayed. That in itself is worrying, suggesting that violence in the classroom at Jamie’s House Charter School is part and parcel of their day. Indeed, in the minutes before the incident, Sheri Davis had left her class to break up a fight in the hallway. While out of the classroom she said she heard the door shut and lock, at which point she became “panicked” because of a girl in the class with “special needs”.

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