Substitute Teacher Barred From Polk County Schools

LAKELAND, FL — Polk County school officials said they will bar a substitute teacher from all future county substitute teaching assignments based on the teacher's handling of an incident earlier this month at Lawton Chiles Middle Academy in which an 11-year-old pupil refused to stand for the "Pledge of Allegiance."

The child, who was not identified, was later arrested by the Lakeland Police Department after "becoming disruptive and refusing to follow repeated instructions" by school staff and law enforcement, according to Kyle Kennedy of Polk County Public Schools.

"To be clear, students are not required to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance," Kennedy said. "Unfortunately, a substitute teacher was not aware of this."

Kennedy said Friday that the incident led to an argument between the substitute teacher and the child, who didn't wish to participate.

"The student became disruptive and the teacher contacted school administrators for assistance," Kennedy explained. "The school’s resource deputy also became involved."

Kennedy referred additional questions on the arrest to the Lakeland Police Department, but police declined to release information on the case based on the child's age, according to the department's Gary Gross.

The student's mother, Dhakira Talbot, told Spectrum Bay News 9 that she believes the charges should be dropped against her son.

"I am upset. I'm angry. I'm hurt, more so for my son," Talbot said in the interview with the TV station. "My son has never been through anything like this and I feel like they should have handled it different."

Kennedy said that the substitute teacher was hired through Kelly Services.

"We are looking into this matter, but this individual will no longer be allowed to substitute at any of our schools," he said. "Our HR department will contact Kelly Services, which provides our substitutes, to further refine how our substitutes are trained."

Photo courtesy Polk County Public Schools