Boy, 13, arrested in assault on teacher at Volney

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A 13-year-old boy was arrested Tuesday on charges of assault and disorderly conduct in the assault of a teacher who was trying to break up a fight about 10:30 a.m. at Volley Rogers Middle School.

Tyrone Olverson, the district’s chief academic officer, said the student, a seventh-grader, is subject to punishment up to expulsion.

Krish Mohip, chief executive officer of the city schools, said violence against teachers will not be tolerated in the district.

He said Volney has a strong administrative team in place.

“If teachers are afraid to come to work, that’s something we take seriously,” he said.

But he said he hasn’t received any such reports.

School police were called to the teacher’s room, where they found him bleeding from a gash in the back of his head.

Reports said the teacher tried to break up a fight between two students, and the suspect told the teacher: “Don’t get between us old man or you will get hurt.”

The boy flipped the teacher to the floor, reports said. Olverson described the teacher as “dazed and disoriented.” The teacher was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital by another teacher for treatment.

Reports said the teacher told deputies from the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office who were working security that he went to the classroom of another teacher to break up a fight between the two students.

Another teacher told police that the two students were separated by the teacher, and on opposite sides of her room.

When teachers escorted one of the students out, the suspect told the victim to get out of the way. When the teacher did not get out of the way, the suspect grabbed him. The teacher grabbed onto the student to try to restrain him, but the student flipped the teacher to the floor, reports said.

As school police arrived, the student was on top of the teacher.

The other student, also 13, was issued a citation for disorderly conduct and released to a parent, reports said.