Ref Attacked After the Buzzer

Why sometimes the extra pay from a larger district isn't necessarily worth the issues that can be faced. It's a matter of finding that balance of decent pay and a district that won't seem to be a threat to your safety.

My BIL taught in the TC's for a bit at one of the rougher HSs. Said it was nothing for a gang member to drag a kid out of class, said there was only so much you could do due to your own safety. Believe he said he taught there 1 year, 2 at most; and found a new school quickly.
My wife teaches at a 4A school. I teach at a 2A school and have significantly less issues with violent students. I am dealing with ****** pay, unsupportive parents, and a complete lack of support/resources for students in crisis. It isn't worth it, so we are leaving the profession.
 
I hate to take us off topic, but this is yet another reason everyone needs to be prepared for the coming teacher shortage. Because all of these things, and much more, are happening on a daily basis in schools across Iowa, meanwhile teachers are taking pay cuts due to the increased cost of insurance and inflation. Personally, I am in my 8th year and am applying to non-teaching positions because I can't imagine doing this for another 20 years. I just turned 30 and with both my wife and I still paying student loans while teaching we can't afford to start a family of our own. We are both preparing for a career change along with my brother, his wife, and about 8 of our friends/colleagues. All of us are 28-32.

Everyone needs to seriously consider who you vote for in our state elections because a good deal of these issues come from failed leadership at the state level. To give you an idea, Central Iowa has a single school for students with severe mental and behavior issues and the waiting list is often over a year long. Not to mention that the state completely gutted nearly all mental health services.

Just to give you an idea, the following has occurred at the middle school my wife teaches at over the last 2-3 years:
- Pregnant teacher pushed down stairs by students.
- Pretty big male teacher tried to separate two students fighting when the group turned on him and jumped him. He had a concussion and needed several stitches.
- Student snuck their phone under their desk and took upskirt pictures of their teacher. The teacher was talked to about their choice of clothing by her administrator(skirt was past her knees).***
- Students throwing snowballs at traffic on busy road. Motorist stopped and yelled at them to stop. He was pulled out of his car and put in the hospital by a group of students. (happened to be the same students who were jumping people in the DSM skywalk a few years back)
- Students grabbed and shook the ladder that a custodian was on trying to fix a light. I believe he was able to get down safely, but regardless, that is dangerous as ****.

And honestly, there is so much more. My wife is regularly called a B!tch and told to eff off. Admin doesn't enforce rules and when they do, parents show up and scream about how their kid is being treated unfairly.

The only time a student faced serious consequences was when they assaulted the motorist. Every other time nothing happened.

***When the teacher this happened to told administrators she intended to press charges she was transferred to another building and the district didn't remove the student from their classroom because they "have a right to a free and appropriate public education" and there is no where else they can send the student.


You (or your wife) took a job at Des Moines Public Schools? Was that your only option?
 
In 1895 Pop Warner took his Iowa Agricultural College (later Iowa State University) squad to Butte, Montana for a matchup of two very strong teams.

"...
He couldn't have imagined anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 rowdy miners and even cheerleaders firing pistols into the air any time they felt the urge to express their pleasure — or displeasure — at the events on the field.

He also wasn't ready — though perhaps he should have been — for a little home cooking from a local referee named W.H. Armstrong, who conjured up inventive ways to prevent the Cardinals (soon to be Cyclones) from scoring when they threatened to overtake the home team.
..."

And this excerpt is from a Montana apologist's take on the game.

I don't imagine the referees were intimidated at all by a crowd full of armed miners who weren't at all shy about firing their weapons when things didn't go their way.

Source: https://406mtsports.com/406mtsports...cle_5710ece6-8205-53d2-afc0-f3d468ebfeaa.html


Man. Iowa State was getting screwed by the officials in the Old West? Figures.
 
Mob mentality, man. Send em all to jail and make sure they get proper required therapy while they’re there. Don’t let them out until they realize because your buddies a dumb **** attacking someone doesn’t mean you get to be a dumb **** attacking someone.
 
Dozens = happens everywhere? Got it. Still waiting for an example of an entire team assaulting a ref. That's a first for me.

Keep pretending it's normal though.

Huh? That’s a really weird nit to pick but whatever. Violence against refs isn’t rare, not sure how you can come to any other conclusion reading this thread.
 
I played in the least serious church league ever and still almost got into fights with guys who were harassing the volunteer refs we had. It’s not just kids, that’s pretty much been my experience in any adult league I’ve played in post college. I just gave up on it.
 
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I didn't take a job at DSM Public. My wife did, and yes it was her only option at the time.
DSM public has its pluses and minus like any other district. My wife (at a dsm high school) and I frequently have the if you can just hang on for... more years, or is it time to look elsewhere conversation. She "likes" her job but it is harder and harder to accept every day. And the stories you listed are very similar to what she tells me routinely. My response is regularly, "back in my day (25 ish years ago) kids who did that (err something of that nature, because no kid every got physical beyond pushing a teacher that I remember) were never seen by me again" to which she responds "those kid(s) will be back in class end of the week, no where else they can go." Its incredibly sad.

The political majority in Iowa wants public education gone in favor of privatization, and they are getting their wish, just slower than they want. The line between haves and have nots is being emboldened more and more every day.

Also its the 80/20 rule... in that 20% of the students will **** it all up for the remaining 80% because no one has any idea or willingness to address the 20% causing the problems. So. Damn. Sad.
 
Huh? That’s a really weird nit to pick but whatever. Violence against refs isn’t rare, not sure how you can come to any other conclusion reading this thread.
I've been to hundreds of athletic events in my lifetime and never seen a ref physically attacked. Maybe I'm lucky, or maybe it's rare. I don't know how you could possibly claim it's common, or normal.

I guess we have different definitions of "rare". Can you show me some study where this happens in more than like 5% of amateur athletic events?
 
I've been to hundreds of athletic events in my lifetime and never seen a ref physically attacked. Maybe I'm lucky, or maybe it's rare. I don't know how you could possibly claim it's common, or normal.

I guess we have different definitions of "rare". Can you show me some study where this happens in more than like 5% of amateur athletic events?

Knock yourself out
 
I've been to hundreds of athletic events in my lifetime and never seen a ref physically attacked. Maybe I'm lucky, or maybe it's rare. I don't know how you could possibly claim it's common, or normal.

I guess we have different definitions of "rare". Can you show me some study where this happens in more than like 5% of amateur athletic events?
That taunting call ref in the okie st game would have been some pretty hairy positions leaving the game had we lost that one.
 
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This doesn't involve refs but fan behavior. I went to CR Jefferson and this was over 30 years ago. There was a quad wrestling meeting going on at night. One of our associate principals went over to address some fan behavior. One of those fans stood up and decked him. Well, just so happened that associate principal was VERY popular with students. The stands emptied and that whole group of fans got their asses kicked. Our AP was injured, though not seriously, and missed a couple days of work. The next day the principal read a statement from him over the PA, thanking those who came to his aid. @keepngoal and @CRcyclone6 might remember this too.
 
This doesn't involve refs but fan behavior. I went to CR Jefferson and this was over 30 years ago. There was a quad wrestling meeting going on at night. One of our associate principals went over to address some fan behavior. One of those fans stood up and decked him. Well, just so happened that associate principal was VERY popular with students. The stands emptied and that whole group of fans got their asses kicked. Our AP was injured, though not seriously, and missed a couple days of work. The next day the principal read a statement from him over the PA, thanking those who came to his aid. @keepngoal and @CRcyclone6 might remember this too.
Wonder if students would stick up for their AP now. About the same time our school played substrate with our biggest rival and got beat on what we thought was a controversial call. Their crowd rushed the court and our AP met their obnoxious AP. They had words and our AP decked him. Alot of us saw it and showed him tremendous respect for him afterwards. Some srudent even gave him a box of donuts we heard.
 
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Officiated some Iowa Games games one summer, had games of all ages, etc.
Ended up officiating with another guy for a medal game. Some college football players involved, etc.

The other ref was in charge of counting 3 pointers. Halfway through it came out he was counting anything where a person had a foot on the line as a 3. They asked me and I said I wasn’t watching close enough to remember how many.

Thought we might get beat up there, did feel bad about it, but they assigned what we needed to watch and that wasn’t mine, even though I was wondering what was going on with the threes.
 
This doesn't involve refs but fan behavior. I went to CR Jefferson and this was over 30 years ago. There was a quad wrestling meeting going on at night. One of our associate principals went over to address some fan behavior. One of those fans stood up and decked him. Well, just so happened that associate principal was VERY popular with students. The stands emptied and that whole group of fans got their asses kicked. Our AP was injured, though not seriously, and missed a couple days of work. The next day the principal read a statement from him over the PA, thanking those who came to his aid. @keepngoal and @CRcyclone6 might remember this too.
That was a fun night. /end of story
 
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