Left inset: Ty’Asia Holmes (Hendry County Sheriff’s Office). Right inset: Students allegedly fighting in classroom (Hendry County Sheriff’s Office via WFTX). Background: LaBelle Middle School in Florida (Google Maps).
A Florida substitute teacher is facing charges after cops say she tried to orchestrate a fight between beefing students.
The incident came to light during a parent conference on Wednesday morning at LaBelle Middle School, the Hendry County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. The parent showed the school resource officer a video that depicted a verbal altercation during class the day before for which 20-year-old Ty’Asia Holmes was the substitute teacher.
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In the video, Holmes is holding back a student who is being taunted by another student, cops said. Holmes allegedly tells the arguing students to stop and take the argument to the “park.” Local Fox affiliate WFTX showed a portion of the video that showed a skirmish between students. The students grapple, sending a desk flying after they hit it, the video showed.
Cops said no punches were thrown, but “the actions displayed were those of intimidation and physical threat.” The substitute could be heard “inciting and enabling the other students to fight.”
“As a result of the video, Holmes was later found to have conspired with the students and facilitated the opportunity for this altercation to occur,” deputies wrote.
Holmes and the students were using profanity on the video, deputies said. She stands accused of two counts child neglect and eight counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She spent the night in jail and later posted a $35,000 bond.
“I am disgusted and appalled at the behavior of this substitute teacher,” said Sheriff Steve Whidden. “Schools should be a safe place for children and staff.”
Mike Swindle, Hendry County School District superintendent, told WFTX that Holmes has been fired and put on the district’s “do not hire” list.
“One blemish like this is painful to us,” he said. “We don’t like it, but it happened and we’re gonna deal with it, get better from it and move forward.”
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