A Texas history teacher at Schrade Middle School in Rowlett apparently mistook his classroom for the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. On Monday, he reportedly lassoed a student around the neck. By Tuesday, the Dallas Morning News reported, the boy’s neck showed bruising.
The seventh grade teacher was apparently explaining “how cowboys corralled maverick steer back into the herd,” Garland Independent School District spokesman Chris Moore told KVUE. He wanted to teach lasso techniques used during cattle drive and asked for student volunteers to run while he tried to rope them.
“The teacher had roping experience and knew he’d missed his mark when the lasso stopped at the student’s shoulder,” DMN‘s Ray Leszcynski wrote.
“It was not malicious. It was not intentional,” Moore said, “but it was very poor judgment.”
The school district has launched an investigation and suspended the instructor for precautionary reasons. KVUE reported that the police department is looking at possible criminal charges for injury to a child.
The child’s parents said they can’t believe this would happen at school. The teacher, meantime, said that he feels bad and will never use a lasso in class again.
This unfortunately comes on the heels of reports that an Arlington teacher was suspended after pouring pencil shavings into a student’s agape mouth.
