Big Fight 4/10

Big fight today. Three kids, one with a hammer. I saw the students rushing toward the door and knew that something was going on. I was the only staff member to respond. There were two smaller boys and a very big kid, over 6 ft, probably 250 lbs. One of the small kids had the hammer and was in between the big kid and the other smaller one. The big guy was throwing punches and the boy with the hammer was threatening him, holding it up and yelling something. I only had a moment to decide. I went for the big kid. He was swinging wildly at the boy with the hammer when I wrapped him up and pushed him away. He went easily. I shoved him back inside the door and went after the other kid. He tried to ditch the hammer and and I grabbed it. By that time help arrived outside but in the meantime the larger boy and the other boy had started up again right inside the door.

When I went inside, another teacher was trying to get the two apart and was getting the worst of it. They were grappling with each other and swinging and my colleague was squeezed between them. I wrapped the smaller boy in a bear hug from behind and pulled him away from the fight. The big kid kept swinging and lunging at us so I kept the boy locked in my ams, turned, and pushed him down into a corner so the other boy only had my back to swing at. By that time, he was swarmed by staff and pulled away.

We turned back around and I just held the smaller by in my arms for a while and he leaned back, limp against my chest. Both of our hearts were beating fast and we were both breathing hard. "Are you okay," I asked him, and he said, "yeah, I'm cool," but he didn't move, he just leaned there against me while we caught our breath and I hugged him to my chest.

It was a funny thing, those few moments that we leaned there in the corner as the crowd of students dispersed.

I don't think that kid gets a lot of hugs. I think he was very scared; that he is very scared a lot of the time. I think he felt safe there in the corner, leaning against his teacher, at least for a few minutes.