Boy's beating in classroom also leaves teacher hurt
WAILUKU » An investigation into the severe beating of a 14-year-old boy by another student at Kalama Intermediate School was tentatively scheduled to be completed today, Department of Education official Ken Nomura said.
Nomura, the superintendent of the Central Maui Complex Area, said police were conducting a separate investigation.
"It an unfortunate situation that occurred," Nomura said.
Nomura said the student assailant is no longer at the school.
Nomura said the top priority of the schools is the safety and health of students.
The 14-year-old, an eighth-grader, suffered fractured bones to his face requiring surgery, a teacher said.
He returned to class Wednesday but teachers were told that he was still recovering from facial injuries, said Donna Montalvo, a Kalama teacher who was injured while trying to halt the assault.
Montalvo, who teaches home economics, said on Nov. 28, the 14-year-old boy, who is about 5-foot-2, had just arrived in her class for a basic practical arts program in home economics, when a taller and heavier boy entered the building.
Montalvo said she told the boy he didn't belong in the class and to leave.
She said the boy began punching the 14-year-old, and she grabbed the boy by the waist to try to pull him away.
Montalvo said the boy threw her down against a stove and she struck the back of her head.
She said the 14-year-old, who never threw a punch, might have struck his head on the metal table.
Montalvo said she and other students helped pull the 14-year-old out of the classroom, when the boy tried to attack again and she had to try to stop him again.
"I was just pushing him away. ... Finally, security came," she said.
Montalvo, who required medical attention and was on leave for three days, said she has been a teacher for 20 years and has never seen a student injured this severely.
"It was the worst I've seen in my years of teaching," she said.