ABBEVILLE, La. (AP) — A Louisiana teacher ejected from a school board meeting and roughly handcuffed in a video-recorded arrest after she questioned her superintendent’s pay raise said she thinks a lawsuit is likely in the case.
Deyshia Hargrave speaks to supporters at rally to protest her silencing and forceful arrest at Vermilion Parish School Board meeting Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018 in Abbeville, La. (Scott Clause/The Daily Advertiser via AP)
Deyshia Hargrave declined, at first, to say with certainty whether she would file a lawsuit in the matter. “We’ll see how it goes,” she said when asked again. “But I clearly feel my First Amendment rights were violated, and I feel like, yeah, there will be a lawsuit filed for that.”
About 100 people chanting “Stand by Deyshia” and waving signs heralding free speech gathered in a light rain Thursday night to support Hargrave. Near tears at times, she thanked supporters who stood by her after the arrest and emphasized the need to speak out on important issues.
“I hope and pray my experience will empower you — my students, young women everywhere — to know that you have a voice,” Hargrave told the crowd. “Use it. Many, many women suffered tremendously and sacrificed greatly for us to have this voice. … And this is for the boys, too. You matter.”
Earlier, Hargrave told The Associated Press she believes Vermilion Parish School Board President Anthony Fontana should resign. She declined to suggest any discipline for Reggie Hilts, the deputy city marshal who handcuffed her on the hallway floor after she left the meeting and marched her out of the building.
“He needs training,” the middle school English teacher said. “Whether he needs to lose his job, I don’t know.”
The American Civil Liberties Union and her teachers union are investigating the case.
The turmoil followed the board’s 5-3 vote Monday night approving a new three-year contract raising Vermilion Schools Superintendent Jerome Puyau’s salary by roughly $30,000, to about $140,000 annually, with incentive targets that could add 3 percent a year.
Video of the meeting shows that Hargrave addressed the superintendent directly after raising her hand to speak and being recognized.
She questioned Puyau’s raise, given that teachers haven’t received an increase in 10 years, despite growing class sizes and other demands.
Fontana then declared that her comment wasn’t “germane” to the vote on the contract, and banged his gavel in an attempt to silence her. According to school board member Kibbie Pillette, Fontana then beckoned off-camera to the officer, who interrupted Hargrave while she was speaking and ordered her out.
“I’m going,” she said, making her way out. The officer followed her into the hallway, where moments later, a camera recorded her on the floor with her hands behind her back, being handcuffed and complaining that the officer had pushed her down.
Asked by the AP on Thursday who’s directly to blame for the incident, Hargrave said “Anthony Fontana.”
Fontana has not returned calls for an interview with the AP, but has defended his actions and that of the officer.
Hilts was accused along with another officer of slamming an ailing 62-year-old man’s head onto a concrete slab in 2011. He left the city of Scott’s police force later that year, for unrelated reasons the police chief said. Scott denied using excessive force, and the man’s federal suit was settled in 2016.
Now a local pastor and a resource officer at J.H. Williams Middle School in Vermilion Parish, Hilts hasn’t spoken publicly about Hargrave’s arrest.
“He’s a very good guy, he’s a pastor, respectable citizen here, and is well-respected in the community,” Puyau told the AP. “Students and teachers love him.”
A teacher who attended Thursday’s rally agreed.
Alicia LaSalle is a second-year teacher at the school where Hilts works as a resource officer. LaSalle said Hilts is on hand to stop altercations or other problems among students in. She adds that Hilts has a good relationship with students and teachers. “Honestly, he is very well liked at our school,” she said.
“I agree she should not have been arrested,” LaSalle said. “Personally, I don’t think he would have arrested her if it was up to him.”
Puyau, who said he began receiving hate mail and threatening phone calls as the video spread on the internet, wouldn’t comment on who ordered the teacher’s removal, but said he’s not happy with how things played out.
“It was not good in any way,” he said. “We are a good community. It took everybody by surprise. I’m having a hard time with this, but we care about our teachers and our support staff.”
By STACEY PLAISANCE and GERALD HERBERT
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This teacher alone with other teachers are the ones who should receive a pay raise they deal with the children directly with more than issues of education. The superintendents most likely have no clue what it takes to be a school teacher. I TOTALLY respect and appreciate teachers.
I totally agree. Teaches get the shot end of the educational stick. I think teachers spend more time with our children than we as parents do. Her rights to free speech were squashed. She was treated like a criminal and I hope she comes out on top.
I’m happy she’s going with a lawsuit. There was no reason she needed to be handled like she was.