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This BPS teacher was attacked by her student. The district has left her behind, she says.
Maya Jones has been on medical leave with PTSD since October of last year after a student repeatedly punched her in the face, she said.
A Boston Public Schools teacher says she was violently attacked at her Roxbury school by a student, then retaliated against by the district for requesting safeguards ahead of her own return to the classroom.
“I could have been hurt. I could have been killed. I could have been maimed,” said Maya Jones, an eighth grade teacher at the Tobin School, a K-8 school near Roxbury Crossing. “We have no security protocol in the building. There’s no discipline protocol. The Code of Conduct isn’t being followed.”
Just a month into the school year, while holding a community meeting about “the uptick in student disrespect” with multiple adults in the room, a teen girl verbally assaulted her before slamming her laptop down and charging at Jones, according to the teacher.
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“She punches me directly in my face. She’s repeatedly hitting me in the head, in the face, in the jaw,” Jones said when describing the attack, noting that her glasses were knocked off her face with the first punch.
The now-14-year-old girl and Jones fell to the floor before the girl was physically restrained by a Boston Teachers Union representative, who was also pushed down before the principal restrained the teen, according to Jones.
But, the police weren’t called, and the student was back in the classroom a few weeks after the incident, despite promises to transfer her to another school. Jones has been adamant to BPS leaders that she doesn’t want to be transferred to another school.
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“I want to return back to my school. I want to go back to my school,” she said.
She has been on medical leave with PTSD since the assault in October of last year.
Jones’s story is becoming increasingly more common amongst public school teachers. Post-pandemic, nearly 80 percent of teachers reported at least one incident of verbal harassment or threatening behavior from students, according to the American Psychological Association, up from 65 percent before the pandemic.
A paraprofessional at a school in Dorchester lost consciousness after a student attacked him in 2023, WBZ News reported, and multiple adults had to intervene to get the student off of the educator. Another teacher in Mattapan was hospitalized after attempting to intervene in an after school fight that same year.
Other large school districts outside of Boston have struggled with escalating violence. Some school officials in Brockton wanted to call in the National Guard because of violence at their high school, the largest in the state, last year. A teacher was then injured during a fight in a school hallway.
Last fall, teachers in Revere appealed to the City Council for more support after a teacher was injured during a “massive brawl.”
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“I hear about incidents related to school safety happening all across our district,” Revere Teachers Association co-president Jane Chapin said at the time “We are at a breaking point.”
District ‘butchered’ handling attack by student, union says
District leadership seriously botched the incident involving Jones and her student, according to a Boston Teachers Union communication.
“BPS did not follow their own protocols and BUTCHERED the handling of the incident,” the email communication read. “This is a far cry from ensuring that there is a safety plan in place and feels like a betrayal of what was promised.”
BPS leadership appears to have tried to transfer Jones to an elementary school and even mistakenly sent her paperwork to retire. The attempted transfer was “done prematurely,” and the severance paperwork was an “error,” BPS leaders told Jones, according to emails obtained by Boston.com.
“I’m completely blindsided,” Jones said.
While district leadership first indicated that the student would be safely transferred to another school, Jones then received notice from colleagues that BPS left her off of an email signaling the student’s return to the classroom.
“They said initially that … she should transfer schools for her to get the resources and support that she needs,” Jones said. “The tone was conciliatory with the district, and then they said they have to honor the student’s rights, and they don’t want to aid and abet the criminal justice system.”
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Jones, who filed a police report after the assault, said her union shared that the district administration has voiced internally that Jones could be at risk for an investigatory meeting unless she drops the criminal charges.
“I don’t want to leave under these circumstances, because I feel like it sets a very, very bad precedent,” said Jones, who has been teaching at the school for four years. “Now I’m a part of the fabric. I’m a part of the community of the school.”
Jones also filed a police report against the teen girl’s best friend after a colleague informed her that she was making verbal threats against her, she said. A spokesperson for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office confirmed that both students were charged.
The 14-year-old who allegedly attacked Jones is charged with assault and battery and will go through a juvenile program as an alternative to a formal criminal charge. The other student, 13, is charged with threats and witness intimidation, the spokesperson said.
Two pellet guns, multiple physical altercations at the Tobin
BTU representatives said in an email that the assault against Jones isn’t the only ongoing issue at the Tobin. Jones said she isn’t the only teacher to be assaulted at the school this year.
At the Tobin, the union representatives also pointed to “batch school skippings, multiple physical altercations on and off campus, and most recently two pellet guns recovered in school during a bag search conducted in class by safety/police.”
“We had to escort a teacher out of the building yesterday who was in a state of mental and emotional collapse. We have had students eloping (leaving the premises without permission) or attempting to elope from the building, swearing at educators, posturing to educators, refusing to go to classes, and more,” the union representatives wrote. “Events of this magnitude are unprecedented at the Tobin.”
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A spokesperson for Boston Public Schools said the district strives “to ensure our schools are a safe and supportive learning environment for all.” The spokesperson said that all incidents that result in injury are “thoroughly investigated.”
“We continue to provide staff with training in de-escalation techniques and particular staff members, based on their role, are trained in crisis intervention. All staff are required to review these policies at the start of every school year and must understand that they are expected to utilize these student-centered approaches,” a spokesperson said. “Based on the outcome of the investigation, we work with all involved parties to ensure an appropriate response.”
Boston Teachers Union leadership did not return a request for comment.
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