Teacher accused teen of cheating, locked him in room and attacked, NJ officials say
A New Jersey high school teacher locked a freshman inside her classroom when she suspected he cheated on a Mandarin assignment, then repeatedly hit the teen, according to a legal decision that revokes the teacher’s tenure.
Hui-Tzu (Isabella) Chen got physical with the student to “punish” him for having “the temerity to leave the classroom when (she) told him not to do so” at Morristown High School in March 2024, the Jan. 6 legal decision published by the New Jersey Department of Education says.
In the 15-page written opinion, an arbitrator has sided with the Morris School District, which challenged Chen’s tenure and accused her of endangering “the health, safety, and well-being of a young high school student with her aggressive, violent, and frightening and fear-inducing conduct.”
The arbitrator ruled Chen’s behavior toward the student was “unacceptable” in the legally binding decision that affirms her firing and loss of tenure.
“The penalty of termination is warranted,” the decision says.
The opinion was issued after hearings regarding the incident with the 14-year-old student took place in October, the Morristown Daily Record reported.
Chen’s attorney, Ronald J. Ricci, told McClatchy News in an emailed statement on Jan. 14 that they “are disappointed with the decision and believe that termination was against the standing case law in the state of New Jersey,”
Ricci said “the young man suffered no injuries and any contact between the two (was) because Ms. Chen was trying to keep the young man in class to redo the work he had cheated on so he would not fall behind in class.”
“She had no ill will against the student and wanted him to do well in the class,” Ricci added.
School resource officer had to intervene
According to background information included in the opinion, Chen wanted the student to stay after Mandarin class to review a worksheet on March 13, 2024.
She believed the 14-year-old turned in the worksheet after copying off of a classmate’s work, the arbitrator wrote in the legal decision.
When the teen didn’t want to stay after class and told Chen he wanted to leave for lunch, she “confronted” him about cheating and “physically blocked him from leaving,” the decision says.
She’s accused of hitting him on his forearm as he tried to leave.
Then Chen locked the classroom door from the inside by pulling on a “magnet” that’s used for school lockdowns when other students began to peer into the room to see what was happening, according to the decision.
Chen blocked their view by standing in front of the door’s window, the decision says.
That’s when the teen called a friend “for help,” according to the decision.
The friend was let into the classroom by Chen and reported seeing her “grabbing and hitting” the 14-year-old, the decision says.
The 14-year-old asked his friend to find a school resource officer, who soon arrived and intervened, according to the decision.
The officer “reported that he observed (Chen) yelling and physically blocking the interior view of the locked classroom door in order to prevent anyone from looking into the classroom and to prevent (the student) from leaving,” the decision says.
The officer told Chen twice that she couldn’t keep the student inside the classroom and that he should be allowed to leave for lunch, according to the decision.
The teen left after he told Chen that he would complete his assignment on Friday, according to the officer, the decision says.
The officer reported hearing Chen call the student “a liar,” according to the decision.
‘Conduct unbecoming of a teacher’
At a hearing, Chen said she tried to prevent the student from leaving her room so he could “redo his assignment,” according to her testimony summarized in the decision.
She testified that she didn’t intentionally hit the student.
Meanwhile, the teen testified that she “struck him with her fist on his forearm three times and that he was in shock that (she) had hit him.”
The Morris School District argued “she engaged in ‘conduct unbecoming of a teacher’ and that she violated the District’s policy against the use of corporal punishment,” the decision says.
The arbitrator ruled that the school district established grounds for Chen’s termination.
Under New Jersey law, tenured school employees cannot be fired “except for inefficiency, incapacity, unbecoming conduct, or other just cause.”
“I find that termination is warranted in this case because despite the wrongful confinement and the physical assault against (the teen), as well as the verbal abuse when she called (him) a liar, (Chen) refused to truly acknowledge the severity her misconduct,” the arbitrator wrote in the decision.
Morristown, in Morris County, is about a 35-mile drive northwest from New York City.
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