Hui-Tzu “Isabella” Chen was a Mandarin teacher with tenure at Morristown High School when she pushed the student, a freshman, struck his forearm and pushed herself against the door to block his way on Wednesday, March 13, 2024, according to charging documents. Chen had taught at the school since 2017.
Chen had suspected the student copied his Mandarin assignment and wanted him to stay after class to review his worksheet. The student said he wanted to go to lunch instead. She called the student a liar when he said he would complete a worksheet during the class.
“Ms. Chen’s interactions with J.H. did not engender a safe learning environment of mutual respect and support,” the district said, calling her behavior “aggressive,” “violent,” “frightening.”
Chen observed other students standing outside of the classroom looking in to see what was happening and then pulled the “magnet” from the door, which is used during lock downs, to locked the door from the inside and to prevent anyone from entering the classroom, the district said. Che then stood in front of the door to prevent students on the outside from looking through the window on the door to see what was occurring inside of the classroom.
A school resource office was summoned to help and he told Chen she could not keep the student in the classroom and he must be allowed to go to lunch, the district charged. The officer told the student to leave, but Chen blocked the door again before allowing him to leave, the district charged.
In a meeting with the principal, Chen said she “may have” slapped the student on the forearm, even demonstrating to the principal how she did it. She expressed no remorse for her actions, the principal said, according to charges. The principal removed her from the classroom.
Chen had previously made fun of a student for being overweight, the district charged.
Chen called the incident “an isolated lapse judgment from a well-intentioned teacher who made a mistake while trying to keep her student from falling behind in his studies.”
She said there was no credible evidence she struck the student and that any contact was inadvertent. She said the principal never asked her if she showed any remorse for what happened.
James McKeever, the arbiter, ruled the district made its case for termination and said he believed Chen was not a credible witness.
“I do not credit [Chen’s] claim that any physical contact she may have had with [the student] was inadvertent,” McKeever wrote in his ruling. “To the contrary, I find that the evidence supports a finding that [Chen] intentionally struck [the student] on his arm with her fist, more than once, in order to prevent [him]. from leaving her classroom, which was clearly a violation of the District’s policy against the use of corporal punishment.”
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