A Pine Bluff Junior High School teacher and coach has been fired for allegedly biting a student, following an 83-minute open hearing with the Pine Bluff School District board on Monday night.
Tramaine Brown spent nearly 54 minutes defending himself against allegations that he caused a bruise to the student during an in-class incident Brown characterized as horseplay. When board member Jomeka Edwards directly asked Brown if he bit the student, Brown answered: “I playfully nibbled at his jacket.”
Brown said the incident occurred on Aug. 31 when the seventh-grader challenged him to a fight. The teacher explained he tried to brush off the student’s challenge, not knowing the youngster was being serious, before the incident – which he said lasted 5 seconds – occurred.
“I’ve been teaching 18 years,” Brown said after the meeting, noting 13 of those years were in the PBSD. “I get close to my kids. Kids want to hug me, whatever it may be. If we have that relationship, that’s fine.”
Brown said he later learned the student suffered from oppositional defiant disorder and has an individualized plan under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“If I would have known this, would I engage with him that way? No,” Brown said. “He has oppositional defiant disorder. He doesn’t respect authority. I’m thinking it’s playful when he tells me to put up my fists and ‘Do I want to box?’ He could have been dead serious.”
According to Brown’s case, the boy’s mother informed school officials she learned her son sustained a bite mark in the shoulder area.
Brown said he was issued a letter of reprimand Sept. 1 and was suspended with pay by Principal Arnold Robertson Sept. 5-8, the four days after Labor Day. Brown pointed to a copy of his check stub that showed he was docked for three days’ pay, adding that cost him about $1,000, contesting that action when he was suspended with pay.
Brown said he returned to work on Sept. 11 and was suspended again the next day.
“The kid had a sweater, a school shirt and all that stuff on,” Brown said. “I don’t see how a bite mark would show up. Seven hours later? Now you’re telling me you got the pictures on the 12th? If this were a court [case], you could say anybody bit him.”
Brown also accused the student of calling him a racial slur.
Neither Robertson, the student nor his mother were present during the hearing, although Brown said he asked the mother to attend.
PBSD Superintendent Jennifer Barbaree, who recommended the termination, said the mother sent the email of complaint Sept. 8, and that she did not receive the email until Sept. 11.
Brown contended the district exercised double jeopardy when he was suspended again and told board members he was being considered for termination without reviewing visual evidence. Brown emotionally stated he had not seen any visual evidence.
“We’re trying to say this was abuse,” Brown said. “What constitutes abuse? How was this abuse? Didn’t go to the doctor. There was no harm to the child. The child was allowed to come back to my class, day after day after day, after this happened.”
Barbaree responded she sent pictures to the Arkansas Department of Human Services. Brown has appealed the true finding of maltreatment by DHS, which if upheld could cause him to lose his teaching license.
“I still think the boundary has been crossed, before the bite even happened, or the nibble, or whatever we’re going to call it,” board member Ricky Whitmore Jr. said. “I’m looking through the folder. I don’t doubt you’ve touched students’ lives and you have been great in your field. I’m not disputing that at all. But, I’m wondering, based on your statement, if it went too far, it still wouldn’t justify what happened because of you being a great teacher. You see where I’m going with this?”
Brown said he understood, adding there was no malicious intent.
“I think it would close the loop if the picture was clearly where [the student] knew the bite happened and it wasn’t just some other thing that popped up,” board member Lori Walker Guelache said. “What evidence do we have that wasn’t the case?”
Barbaree responded: “The only thing I’m going to say is, once I turn [visual evidence] over to the child maltreatment hotline as a mandated reporter, and the child maltreatment hotline stamps the report, I am no longer … I do not investigate because I’m not an investigator. I’m just recommending termination because he bit a student at school, and it’s not something I agree to.”
Edwards moved to modify Barbaree’s recommendation to keep him on administrative leave until his licensure status is determined. The motion died for lack of a second.
Board member Stephen A. Broughton then moved to accept the motion to terminate Brown, although he disputed the chronology of the events that followed the incident and noted the board may be jumping to a conclusion.
“Is it a lapse in judgment, yes,” Broughton said of the incident. “Yes, it’s a lapse in judgment. But that doesn’t mean that type of interaction is totally unprofessional and totally something that wouldn’t happen. The problem I have, basically, is with this – the timeframe. Too many timeframes that are lacking in this whole process. … There are too many ongoing processes that are not making sense right here.”
Whitmore seconded, and the board voted unanimously in favor of the termination.
“I don’t understand,” Brown said after the meeting. “The DHS case is still pending, so how do you make a decision with a case still pending? It almost seems like it’s wrongful termination. You jumped the gun on this. If the DHS case comes out to be untrue, I’m already terminated. It’s a plus I don’t lose my license, but I’m unemployed, and to be honest with you, if the district treats me like this, what makes them think I would want to reapply?”
Asked what’s next if he loses his license, Brown said: “I can’t teach in Arkansas anymore. I’m done. I’m through. My career [is] over. It’s too early to tell. I don’t know what I’ll do from here.”
The hearing ended at 10:47 p.m. It was held toward the end of a regular board meeting, which started at 6:30 p.m. and ended at about 10:51 p.m.
CORRECTION: This version corrects the status of the Department of Human Services’ true findings of maltreatment against Tramaine Brown.