Social media is flooded with confrontation videos: high
school kids fighting each other, grown men beating each other up in parking
lots and shopping malls, and event altercations
What happens when the fights take over the classroom, but
the combatants are a teacher and student? Students across the country want to
instigate trouble with their teachers, just to catch their reactions on video
and spread the shame on social media.
One specific video went viral eight years ago, and it’s been
making the rounds again this past month.
The date of the initial altercation: November 2nd,
2018.
The location: Maywood Academy High School, a traditional
high school in the troubled, bankrupt, failing Los Angeles Unified School
District.
What happened: Music teacher Marston Riley was teaching at Maywood
Academy High School when a 14-year-old student became argumentative,
disrespectful, and belligerent, refusing to wear his uniform, then coming back
in the classroom when the teacher had told him to leave.
The child wanted to start a fight. One of the students was
rolling his smartphone camera to capture the confrontation. After repeated
attempts to deal with the student, Mr. Riley snapped, took a swing at the
minor, and a massive brawl erupted. The fight turned the entire music room upside
down as students fled for safety to avoid the fight between the enraged teacher
and the insolent student.
The teacher was escorted off the property later that day,
never to return.
He was later charged with misdemeanor assault, to
which he pled “not guilty.”
A year and a half later, just before the federal and state
governments started shutting down schools and other public spaces over the
COVID-19 outbreak, Riley
went public to give his side of the story.
CBS reports:
"What they showed was me
hitting the student," he said. "They didn't show anything before
that.
"When I got to that student,
particularly, he didn't have his uniform," he said. "When I asked him
for it, he became belligerent.
"He hit me with a basketball,
so I decided I needed to call security one more time. Once he finished talking,
then I just turned and walked away, and called security. And, again all that
happened before the cameras started rolling — in other words, what everybody
saw was the second time he came into the classroom. He got worse and worse. The
less I did, the worse he got, and it finally came to an altercation."
"I tried to avoid it," he
said. "I took what I took, and I didn't want it to go there, but it went
there. If he wanted to avoid something like that, you don't leave and then come
back."
The power of the camera mitigates the confusion from “He
said, She said,” or “Teacher said, student said.” Riley had every right to give
his side, but the public can still draw their own conclusions.
I don’t doubt the teacher’s narration. Multiple accounts
confirmed that the student refused to comply and cooperate. Far too many in the
public do not understand that teachers face an egregious level of disrespect
from students, and on a routine basis. Students have quickly learned over the
last ten years that they have more power than the teachers, and the
administrators are more afraid of the race card and civil rights lawsuits than
ensuring the safety and well-being of the students—and the teachers!
Riley was facing a near-certain conviction in court if the
jurors saw the video. Yet such an outcome is mere conjecture, since the LA
County District Attorney dropped the case, most likely in response to a
plea agreement, since Riley completed a ten-week anger management course.
I will give my judgment of the whole scenario:
First, Mr. Riley was wrong to hit the kid. The kids deserved
a rap on the mouth, but not at the teacher’s hand, and not in the classroom. The
teacher’s impulsive physical response did not resolve the situation. In
general, children should receive repeated smacks on the bottom with a paddle in
my view, for repeated insolence. Regarding the Maywood Academy situation, though,
Riley went about it all wrong how he did it, where, and with all the children
adversely affected. None of that was good.
Having said the above, I also believe that it was right and
just that Riley was not convicted of anything. The LA County District Attorney’s
staff stated that they took the teacher’s age into consideration, as well as
the fact that he had no prior record of wrongdoing. I would have added that
compassion and commiseration would have affected a potential jury—if they had
heard about all the prior issues with the student—and they would have acquitted
the teacher. I would have! Teachers are human beings, and as I have shared
above, they are subjected to a constant barrage of pressures, posturing, and
outright punk-like behavior from students—and parents! Of course Riley tried to
hit the kid! Who would stand and endure such abuse, and endure such constant
disrespect over and over?
It’s no surprise that then and now, the public generated considerable
comment and conversation around the Riley-Maywood Academy incident. In the end,
all things worked out for Mr. Riley’s good: he retired before he faced
professional sanction, he received incredible love and support from the
community, and he retired and moved onto other projects.
One would think that resolution would have ended the
discussion eight years ago.
On
Friday, July 3, 2026, the Oddcrimes Instagram account replayed the
confrontation, as though the teacher and student had only recently come to
blows. The Instagram post provides a
decent summary, but this phrase stands out:
The incident quickly sparked a nationwide
debate, with many community members and former students rallying behind Riley
by raising nearly $200,000 to help cover his legal expenses.
The social
media account took the teacher’s side, and rightly so. The focus on the
national scope of the controversy matters, as well. Indeed, the conversation
around the controversy consumed many on social media at the time, but the
discussion has resumed in the last few months. The public has likely long
forgotten this, but in spite of the incendiary nature of the video, the teacher
received considerably outpouring of support.
Here’s X account @parkersity_9 reposting the video on August 26th,
2026, with the following description:
This high school Teacher was Arrested
after he Beat The Dog Brakes Off a 14 Year Old Student in an Epic Squabble in
the Classroom
This account does not pick a side, although the post glibly
relates that the student received a massive humbling at the hands of the
(understandably) irate teacher.
The conversation about the consequences of teacher abuse and
student disrespect must continue, but administrators and elected officials need
to provide results. If public education has any hope of avoiding future cuts,
declining enrollment, and diminishing trust, schools need to make respect in
the classroom a top priority once again. Students must face rigorous and
immediate discipline for the lack of respect towards teachers—and other
students, for that matter. Otherwise, there will be more Marston Rileys who
lose their temper and take matters into their own hands to maintain order in
their classrooms.
