Teacher vows to return to classroom after attack

Baltimore Spanish teacher: Student threw furniture in rage
BALTIMORE —A popular teacher who loves her job will not be deterred after an attack in her Baltimore City classroom on Friday.

 

Maria Quintana teaches Spanish at Baltimore Liberation Diploma Plus Academy High School on North Dukeland Street. Instead of teaching Monday, she spent the day visiting doctors for injuries to her leg she suffered after she said a student attacked her.

Quintana said an enraged 19-year-old student came into her classroom cursing and making trouble. She said things got violent when she asked the student to leave.

"She flung chair No. 1, which hit her on the leg. Maria fell. She was getting up and she saw chair No. 2 coming and she got her head behind a Smartboard," said Quintana's sister, Marta Quintana-Herlihy.

That smart move may have saved her life. A teacher in Baltimore City for 17 years, Quintana told 11 News she plans to go back to school Tuesday, which concerns her sister.

"We don't want to get the third phone call that Maria is dead," Quintana-Herlihy said. "I'm worried for her safety. She wants to go back to school tomorrow because she says, 'My kids are scared and I need to explain to them that I will be alright.'"

The Baltimore City Public School System would not comment on any plans it may have to make sure Quintana is safe when she returns, nor would it say if the student has been arrested.

The president of the Baltimore Teachers Union said school officials will be hearing from her.

"I will definitely ask for what's going to be done for her safety, and I'll be talking with the new chief of student support to figure out what is it that we need to do differently because, obviously, the Code of Conduct is not working," said Marietta English, president of the Baltimore Teachers Union.

Quintana did file charges against the student.

"There has got to be something done to support kids who are angry, who are coming in with this rage and taking it out on teachers. This is not the first time this has happened," Quintana-Herlihy said.

District Court officials said there is an active warrant out for the student, and authorities intend to charge her with second-degree assault and use of a deadly weapon with intent to injure.

Number of attacks on teachers increases

There have been a number of high-profile cases of Baltimore students attacking teachers on campus. In 2009, an attack at an east Baltimore high school was recorded on a cellphone.

A year later, another teacher suffered a broken jaw and eye socket after he was attacked by a student at his southeast Baltimore high school.

These are the types of incidents turning up in Baltimore City.  Student suspension data obtained by 11 News showed the number of physical attacks on teachers and staff was 975 during the 2011-2012 school year -- up 27 percent over the previous year. The numbers have also climbed 19 percent for the amount of students suspended for making verbal or physical threats against teachers and staff.

English said more has to be done to bring the numbers down.

"(Officials) are very much on board. They're willing to sit down and say, 'Let's work together to see how we solve this problem.' It was a very good meeting today," English said.