New York Teacher Accused of Staging Student Wrestling Match

by Brett Singer (Subscribe to Brett Singer's posts) Feb 4th 2010 11:30AM

Categories: In The News, Weird But True, Education

When the kids are fighting, have you ever wanted to just lock them in a room for a while to see which one is left standing? But while none of us would ever actually go to such an extreme, a Queens, N.Y., teacher and an aide have been accused of doing something very similar in their fourth grade classroom.

The New York Daily News reports that teacher Joseph Gullotta, 29, and teacher's aide Abraham Fox, 43, of Public School 65, have been charged with child endangerment by the Queens District Attorney's office. They are accused of telling two students, ages 9 and 10, to settle their differences by wrestling. In class.

According to the Daily News, the other kids in the Ozone Park, Queens, classroom were instructed to give the two fighters enough room to beat the stuffing out of each other, after another student was told to shut the door.

One member of Gullotta and Fox's fourth-grade arena told the Daily News that he and his fellow classmates were "laughing," and added that the pint-size pugilists "were fighting over some pencils, and they were bleeding."

The bleeding, according to the newspaper, was because one of the diminutive duelists busted his lip on his sparring partner's head. Fox, the teacher's aide, allegedly told Gullotta that the boy might need stitches, but Gullotta invoked the age-old school rule -- "the first rule of Fourth Grade Fight Club is you don't talk about Fourth Grade Fight Club" -- by telling the kids to lie about how they got injured.

This may not be the first time Gullotta has exhibited less than stellar judgment. Ten-year-old Jovan Ortiz tells the Daily News that when he was in Gullotta's class last year: "My teacher said if I got out of my seat, kids were allowed to punch me in my face."

This, allegedly, was a way to get Jovan to behave. Classmates allegedly complied by socking the kid in the stomach, which led to Jovan's mother filing a complaint. The miffed mom told the newspaper that "Gullotta cried and said he was just trying to 'toughen up' " her son when they met to discuss the incident.

Education Department spokeswoman Margie Feinberg tells the Daily News that Fox has been suspended without salary, while Gullotta is at a teacher reassignment center -- one of the infamous NYC Education Department's "rubber rooms." That's the same type of place the two female teachers who were allegedly caught nude in a classroom were sent to back in December.

Related: Annoyed Teacher Chops Off Girl's Braid

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Comments (20)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Brandon 2-04-2010 @ 9:21PM

In my gym class in 7th grade back in like 1973, we had gym teachers break out the tumbling mats and had two students fight it out.

Bobby 2-05-2010 @ 12:12AM

"But while" ? Journalism rises to new heights again. Teachers encouraging disorderly conduct. Journalists who flunked English. There is too much wrong to even bother.

TO H 2-04-2010 @ 9:24PM

I GUESS I CAN'T BLAME THE TEACHER MUCH HIS HANDS ARE TIED HE CANT DO ANYTHING FOR PUNISHMENT THE SUPREME COURT DID A DISERVICE TO THE AMERICAN FAMILIES WHEN THEY TOOK AWAY THE BOOT IN THE REAR FROM THE PARENTS AND THE TEACHERS. NOW THEY LEARN DICIPLINE IN PRISON AND MAYBE THE MILITARY IF THERE WANTED. THIS GOODY 2 SHOES LIBERAL APPROACH IN GOING TO END UP BEING OUR DEMISE

Bill T. 2-04-2010 @ 9:31PM

I would much rather see stuff like this happen then the kids shooting each other in the street after school....just like we did 25yrs ago. you got a problem????let's step out side shall we??

david 2-04-2010 @ 10:02PM

I think its a good idea, better than them bringing guns to school and shooting it up.

Ted C. Mc Neel Sr. 2-04-2010 @ 9:53PM

The teacher made a serious mistake. He should have maintained discipline in the classroom between these two juveniles and told them to settle the matter in the gyn with boxing gloves! Can't do that anymore (?), worked pretty good back in the late 40s/early 50s!
If you can use the gyn method, he should have sent them to the Principal/School Disciplinarian for adjudication of the fricas!

private 2-05-2010 @ 1:45PM

he should of busted there asses and then when there dad finds out they got an ass woopen they would of got a nother

MomOfThree 2-04-2010 @ 10:09PM

I'm not surprised that the teacher and aide permitted the kids to fight; the kids undoubtedly would have done it anyway and it would have turned into a spectacle and been disruptive to a lot of students and certainly would have resulted in even more injuries since there wouldn't have been any form of adult supervision. Why should anyone be outraged at all? Society promotes violence. The United States is engaged in two unjustified wars and involved in many more conflicts yet none of them are our business to begin with. Some young people need the stuffing beat out of them; they are too mouthy and rude and one good beating will teach humility and respect.

H J Bart 2-05-2010 @ 4:56AM

when i had a business in las vegas.... the junior high kids.. used to take their fights to our business parking lot.. got so bad.. that.
the cops where camping there after school was getting out..

bad enough with the skateboard hitting the floor to ceiling plate glass windows.. and cracking or breaking them.. kids even stole the no skateboarding signs.. off the builidings..

kids are can be brats.. and brats need to be handled like brats..Bring the parents down to the school. and threaten the parents.. they are dropping the ball somewhere.. or else they need to be investigated for possible home abuse of that child.. usually when the kids are hit constantly at home.. or abused. they act out the same attitude with others.

Paul 2-04-2010 @ 10:55PM

In about 2002 I got in a fight with the"toughest kid in school",See I beat him up first in the 7th grade(afterwards he threw a book at me missed and hit the teacher) but we made up and in the 8th grade he won a bunch of fights so he got cocky again,I told him as soon as the bell rings its on in the hallway and when it rang I beat him up again but he told his dad I hit him from behind.In the office the priceable was putting me down so I said I didn't hit him in the back and if you want we can go outside and do it again the the princable said its a good idea and if we go to the lot across the street she has no reason to stop us

Teri 2-04-2010 @ 11:04PM

I can see no tolerance is alive and well. You reassigne the teacher. Are you kidding? But, why is this a shocker. After all heck in Pawtucket RI you can have your kid get choked and the most the kid doing the choking does is get a day or two suspention. I would think if your choking someone that 1 they would be sent to the office right away and parents called. NO, they keep the kid in class go to the office at the end of the day and the kid doing the choking gets to walk home.....I'm sorry 1/2 the BS that happens in school is because of the schools Afraid yes I said Afraid of doing anything or the right thing. So why does this shock anyone? That a teacher would do this.

Colleen Johnson 2-05-2010 @ 1:12AM

Typical moronic teacher stuff. Teachers are just plain idiots. If they weren't they'd have a real job instead of "teaching". You have to be mentally sub-standard to earn a teaching certificate.

Tina 2-05-2010 @ 2:42AM

This is why I homeschool!

WindFox1788 2-05-2010 @ 4:06AM

I'm homeschooled! Its so funny; I've been a homeschooler all my life and my boyfriend has been in Christian schools all his life and he thinks homeschooling our future children would be an awesome idea. :)

This is a very horrific and sad case. It turned my guts inside out and left them twisted in knots. People like that don't belong; I would be very irate if one of those boys had been my child!

h 2-05-2010 @ 4:47AM

Looks like this moron of a man was absent on the day his class took a field trip to Rikers Island. A field trip that was to impress on him and his classmates that physically assaulting another person and or encouraging others to beat the be-Jesus out of another person is in fact actually a crime and you will be arrested for it.

lizbeth 2-05-2010 @ 5:14AM

I'm 45. Way back when my father was a boy, growing up...if two boys or girls got into a fight, they were allowed to fight it out so long as it was a fair fight. I see in a way the idea this teacher had. But IF he told a kid he'd allow others to beat him up IF he got out of his seat...that's different. Two students who have an issue ARE going to find a way to fight. I would prefer it be done so that an adult can observe to ensure NO WEAPONS are involved......but then again... There is a thing called a one punch kill....IF one had hit the other and the other died from the hit, the teacher would be responsible. The way to handle today's youth issues is by adults getting involved and working it out with the kids. Let them each talk, tell their side of things and come to some kind of truce. Too often these things fester and then guns are brought into it and someone dies. The teacher should be fired on this one. He had no idea what he was doing and it sounds like he enjoyed watching kids fight. THAT is wrong.

Jim Fedullo 2-05-2010 @ 5:49AM

I STILL SAY THAT PSYCHOLOGICALPROIFILES ARE NEEDED FOR MANY JOBS AND DRIVERS LICENSES NOWADAYS. EVEN IF IR CATCHES A FEW HERE AND THERE IT WILL KEEP CERTAIN PEOPLE OUT OF POSITIONS THAT ARE DETRIMENTAL TO THE SAFETY OF OTHERS, ESPECIALLY CHILDREN & MAYBE KEEP A FEW NUTS OFF OF THE STREETS. I REALIZE THAT IT MAY BE A LITTLE TIME CONSUMING & COSTLIER TO DO THIS BUT IT MIGHT JUST SAVE YOUR FRIEND OR LOVED ONE IN THE LONG RUN. THERE ARE JUST TO MANY SQUIRRELS OUT THERE NOWADAYS AND THEY HAVE TO BE WEEDED OUT SOMEHOW,

Laurie 2-05-2010 @ 5:49AM

Maybe the parents should ask themselves why their 10 year old kids feel violence is the acceptable way to solve a dispute. It used to be parents discouraged this type of behavior; now they either encourage it or are too lazy to care.

steve 2-05-2010 @ 5:50AM

Hell when I was in school I used to fight the teachers.
Fist fight wresting match who cares I beat them all.
When it was over I got alot of respect from them.
I was no longer some long haired hippie