Teacher handcuffed at school board meeting 'appalled' that her 'voice was silenced'

— -- A Louisiana middle school teacher arrested at a school board meeting during an altercation caught on camera this week said she is "appalled" that her "voice was silenced."

"I planned to hear concerns or watch a vote take place about the superintendent's contract," Deyshia Hargrave, an English language arts teacher at Rene A. Rost Middle School in Kaplan, Louisiana, recounted in a Facebook video posted by Louisiana Association of Educators today. "My voice was silenced during audience concerns for the superintendent. By silencing my voice, they've also taken away, or tried to take away, my first amendment right to speak. And I'm appalled at this and you should be too."

Hargrave was handcuffed and taken into custody Monday after she was removed from the meeting, where she raised issues about the Vermilion Parish School System superintendent’s new three-year contract that includes a raise, ABC Lafayette affiliate KATC-TV reported.

That's when an Abbeville city deputy marshal employed by the school district, according to KATC, confronted Hargrave. The marshal asked Hargrave to sit down or be removed.

Hargrave left on her own but the dispute between the teacher and the marshal became physical outside the meeting room, video from KATC shows. The middle school teacher is seen on video screaming on the ground and being handcuffed by the deputy marshal.

Hargrave was arrested by the Abbeville Police Department but Abbeville city attorney and prosecutor Ike Funderburk told KATC that after watching the video, he will not prosecute Hargrave.

Hargrave said in the video posted today, "I was always taught that what's right is right and what's wrong is wrong, and when you see something you should say it's wrong ... so I chose to speak out. I'm hoping that you choose to speak out after seeing what happened to me and you don't let it become an intimidation to you. You let it be your strength because it's slowly becoming mine."

In a statement, the American Civil Liberties Union called Hargrave’s arrest "unacceptable" and warned that it raises "serious constitutional concerns."

"The Constitution prohibits the government from punishing or retaliating against people for expressing their views, and the fact that a schoolteacher was arrested at a public meeting of the school board is especially troubling," ACLU of Louisiana Interim Executive Director Jane Johnson said in a statement.

Superintendent Jerome Puyau, whose raise was being questioned by the teacher, defended the marshal's actions in an interview with KATC on Wednesday evening, and said he and his family have been receiving death threats over the incident.

"Our people know what to do, and when it happened, that person, that marshal, acted in what we asked him to do," said Puyau.

The Louisiana Association of Educators said Hargrave is a member of its association, writing, "As an organization that advocates for the dedicated school employees of Louisiana, we firmly denounce the mistreatment of Ms. Hargrave, a loving parent and dedicated teacher serving the students of Vermilion Parish."

"It is every citizen’s right to speak up for their beliefs," the association said. "Any action that infringes upon this right is unlawful and unacceptable."

But the school board president, Anthony Fontana, defended the actions of the officer in a Tuesday interview with KATC, comparing the action taken to a student’s being punished for unruliness.

"If a teacher has the authority to send a student, who is acting up and she can't control, out of the classroom to the principal's office, under our policy we have the same rules," Fontana said. "We have certain rules: Three-minute speech, it has to be civilized, it can't get off target, it has to be related to the issue before the board. That's not what was happening last night.

"The marshal did his job," Fontana added. "He was taking her out. He wasn't arresting her. He was escorting her out, telling her, 'Don't come back tonight.' It escalated out in the hall and she ended up getting arrested.”

Fontana said he believes the incident was a "set up," KATC also reported.

The other board members "have been committed to getting rid of the superintendent," he said.

He added: "The whole issue, from day one, was that they were not going to give him a contract."

Even Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards weighed in on the controversy on his radio show Wednesday. He also tweeted about the incident and shared a link to video from the show.

"I know there's going to be an investigation, but that was terribly unfortunate and should not have happened, and it casts a negative light on our state," Edwards said.

"Teachers do an amazing job in the classroom every day, and we really need to do a better job of promoting them in our communities and lifting them up and encouraging them in their work as educators," Edwards' wife Donna, who used to be a public school music teacher, said in joining her husband on his monthly talk show.