The fallout from the arrest of a teacher in Louisiana continues today with teachers announcing a rally to support Deyshia Hargrave.
Hargrave, a teacher in the Vermilion Parish school district was handcuffed and booked after she spoke up at a school board meeting. KATC TV reports that Hargrave was asking board members about teacher pay when a city marshall reportedly forced her out of the meeting and took her into custody. The language arts teacher was asking ‘why the superintendent was receiving a $38,000 raise, but teachers who work so hard weren’t getting any more money’. She went on to say “it’s a sad, sad day to be a teacher in Vermilion Parish.”
One of our readers, who wishes to remain anonymous told us:
I am a teacher in a neighboring parish to the one in the following video. A teacher was questioning a raise for the superintendent at a school board meeting… The extra cash he would net is nearly equivalent to the starting salary of a public school teacher in this parish, and the teachers haven’t had a raise in over 10 years. When this teacher calmly spoke up, she was forcibly removed and handcuffed. This is very frightening and enraging to witness, especially as an educator.
You can see a shorter video of the arrest above and if you have 12 minutes check out the full exchange here.
The school board is reportedly not pressing charges, but Hargrave was officially booked and later bonded out. The prosecutors’ office is now saying they won’t be moving ahead with charges either. As for the school board, CBS reports that board president Anthony Fontana is defending the arrest saying, “A board member was recognized and a board member’s getting ready to speak when she cut into him. That’s when the officer acted, and I think he acted properly.”