School-age kids have always had a tendency to scuffle, especially boys. When I was in junior high and high school in the mid-late 1970s, that generally took the form of two boys meeting in a pre-arranged spot at a pre-arranged time, squaring off, and going at it with bare fists. This was generally done off school grounds. Why? Because we all knew there were serious consequences for tussling on school grounds, like detention or suspension - or, yes, a swat applied by the vice principal with a big wooden paddle called the "Board of Education."
Now, though, there seems to be a disturbing trend of not only fighting in the classrooms and hallways, but even in attacks on teachers.
Take the case of a New York City teacher, Lauren Vitale, who was six months pregnant when she was attacked by a kindergartner - yes, you read that right, a kindergartner - who kicked her repeatedly in her belly. The child had a history of violent outbursts. And Lauren Vitale was later fired over the incident.
A pregnant city special-ed teacher was violently kicked in the stomach by one of her students — then fired by officials who blamed her for the terrifying outburst, a shocking lawsuit claims.
Then-kindergarten teacher Lauren Vitale, 31, was six months pregnant when she was attacked in January by one of her pupils, who has a documented history of violence, according to her Manhattan Supreme Court suit.
The special-needs kindergartner had been placed in the classroom at Staten Island’s PS 84 without giving Vitale any advance warning of her violent past — part of a troubling pattern by the administration of targeting the teacher, the suit says.
The child ended up spitting in Vitale’s face and kicking her in her pregnant belly — which resulted in the mom-to-be suffering from bleeding, low fetal movement and high blood pressure, according to court papers.
A kindergartner! Now, the fact that this was a kindergartner should raise some eyebrows. Even a child, with no restraint, can be dangerous to a pregnant woman, and Lauren Vitale would seem to have suffered some serious injury over this. And, granted, it's not like we can throw a kindergartner in prison, but this is clearly a seriously troubled child who should not be in the regular system.
But it's not the fact that this was a kindergartner that's alarming: It's the school's response:
But instead of supporting Vitale over the assault, the school’s principal immediately blamed her for it, the lawsuit alleges.
Vitale was eventually fired when she protested, court documents claim.
That's precisely why these things are happening. And a lot of these events are carried out by students who are children, yes, while others are very nearly adults. For example, in 2026 alone:
- A student at Roye-Williams Elementary School in Harford County, Maryland, attacked two teachers with a knife. Both were injured.
- A student at East Helena High School in Helena, Montana, punched a teacher several times in a classroom. The student was charged with assault.
- A student at Parkland High School in El Paso, Texas, assaulted a teacher, resulting in the teacher requiring medical attention.
- A teacher in the New Vision School in Hartford, Connecticut, was injured while breaking up a brawl between four students.
- Several students in Siegel High School in Rutherford County, Tennessee, assaulted a teacher and a school resource officer during a fight.
Statistics indicate an increase in the last few decades of incidents like these. There was a dip during the COVID scare - hardly surprising, since schools were largely shut down - but now the trend has risen back to pre-COVID levels.
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This appears to be a trend in an overall increase in violent crime, and as we see from the five incidents just in 2026 to date, these incidents are not confined to our disintegrating major cities. This is a nationwide issue, across the lines of urban/small town/rural communities. Furthermore, it appears to be part and parcel of an overall lack of respect for the law, for the propriety of civilized behavior, among too many young people today: Young people who, it's a safe bet, grew up with minimal parental involvement, minimal discipline, and minimal respect for established society.
And, yes, part of the problem lies in the schools themselves. Too many of our nation's schools are more concerned with teaching kids about the 9,366 new pronouns they can use to describe themselves rather than teaching reading, writing, arithmetic, and perhaps some civics and history. And too many of our nation's schools, like the aforementioned PS 84, which employed Lauren Vitale, are too quick to blame a teacher, not a student, when things go wrong.
Violent attacks on teachers and school workers are a serious problem, and will only be reduced in one way: When the young skulls full of mush who may otherwise perpetrate such an act are all too aware of the serious consequences that would arise should they do so. There must be consequences. Justice must be done for the targets of these attacks. Otherwise, the problem will only grow worse.
