A beloved Bronx teacher had a miscarriage Wednesday after she was hit trying to break up a fight between two students, sources and students told the Daily News.
The teacher, who was four months pregnant, was teaching her fifth period Spanish class at Exploration Academy in the Claremont section of the Bronx when the assault occurred.
A student arrived five minutes late, walked up to another student who was already seated and told him to get out of his desk, students said.
When the seated student refused, the conflict escalated and the teacher tried to intervene. She was accidentally elbowed in the stomach and fell to the ground, crying.
"I can't believe it," said Amaury Lopez, 17, a student at the school. "I can't believe she lost her child over a fight over a chair."
The teacher was taken to North Central Hospital, where she miscarried. The two students involved in the incident have been suspended.
"If I could talk to her, I would say I'm so sorry for your loss," said Jose Vasquez, 17, a junior at the school. "I'm just furious right now."
Students said the teacher was "like a counselor" to lots of students.
"All the students love her and our wishes go out to her," said O'Neil Jones, 16, junior. "This is a super nice woman we're talking about."
"This is a very sad incident and my heart goes out to Mrs. Batista and her family," Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott said in a statement.
In a separate incident Thursday, a 49-year-old teacher was punched in the eye by a 14-year-old eighth grader at Junior High School 45 in East Harlem. The teacher got a black eye and was treated at Weill Cornell Medical Center, cops said. The student was arrested for assault and has been suspended.
And in a third incident, a ruckus shook the hallways of Murray Bergtraum High School in Manhattan.
The principal threatened to stop issuing bathroom passes if kids kept getting into fights, prompting students to organize a riot between 5th and 6th period.
One student was injured and sent to the hospital, and several others are being disciplined.
"I've been teaching since 1986," said chapter leader John Elfrank-Dana, "and I've never seen anything like it."
I'm sure Arne Duncan will find a way to blame teachers for these awful things.
I'm sure Barack Obama will applaud when Bergtraum undergoes turnaround and half the staff is fired.
And I'm sure Cathie Black will lay off the 49 year old teacher who got punched in the eye when she gets around to performance-based cost-cutting.
You see, a younger teacher would have dodged that punch.
As for the teacher who suffered the miscarriage, there's just nothing to say about that except to express how awful it is.
Perhaps Barack Obama will invite some of these teachers to the White House to say how much he appreciates their service to the youth of this country?
Oh, right - that privilege is reserved for charter school kids from Waiting for Ironman.
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