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Ex-Lone Peak coach disciplined for role in altercation

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to enough already | 7:12 a.m. March 31, 2008

The coach did not stop a fight. The students who witnessed this event have said so. The two boys were seperated before the coach came on the scene.

Scoobie | 7:43 a.m. March 31, 2008

I'm sorry but the video only shows part of the story.... If that's your defense more power to you and your off place comments.....you'll never sell that to the majority of the readers....the kid should have left it at the break up of the fight and not extended the situation and certainly should not have poured gasoline on the fire.......i.e struck the teacher and used the foul mouth.......the logical response to his extending the situation was the teacher using fire to fight fire......end of story

re:Enough Already Already | 7:44 a.m. March 31, 2008

The problem is what happened after the kid was subdued, and if you watch the video, you can see it.

Congrats to the coach for starting the fight, but he's not a hero. Teacher's stop fights all of the time, and people aren't hero's for doing their job.

It's what happened after the fight that I find so repulsive.

Oh, right, like you say, this time student didn't have a knife. Nor did the student have a gun, pepper spray, a sword, c-4 , or a "mace".

I just can't believe that people think what this guy did was OK.

I think the district was very lax with their punishment, probably because this guy also intimidates Administrators also. He's proven that he has a volitile temper and no one wanted to deal with him.

Let's not end this comment board with 5:51 a.m. March 31 letting us tacit approval giving all teachers the right to slam kids as they feel.

Teachers should protect children, rather than be the ones hurting them.

Poor kid could have been hurt severely, and I believe that he won't trust the educational system enough to continue his education to be a productive member of society.

Comments continue below

So what would YOU do? | 8:01 a.m. March 31, 2008

Whether the kid the teacher restrained was actually "fighting" or was just threatening to continue the fight is irrelevant. The coach told the kid to stop (not seen on video), the kid would not stop his threatening behavior. The video does show his abusive language, so even those who don't approve with what Coach Morgan did should agree the kid was out of control.

Here's the problem now - what would Alpine School District have our teachers do? If a kid will not willingly stop the fight, it looks like the teachers have to walk away and duke it out.

That's the biggest problem I have with this situation. Whether or not what the coach did was right or wrong, the message is - If you're a teacher, you'd better run from anybody that is out of control because if you intervene you could be suspended or lose your job.

re: 8:01 So what would you do? | 8:58 a.m. March 31, 2008

Great question...

Suppose you are at your daughters soccer game and a fight breaks out between two boys.

You and another adult, let's say a coach break up the fight.

This might be where the video stops rolling.

You have your kid seperated, and look over, and the coach has the kid slammed against the wall, smashing his head into the wall, and telling the kid he could knock him out if he wanted to.

See, at that time "I", would probably release my kid and he would be on his way, (like in the video), and would then seperate the kid from the adult that has lost his cool and is in danger of inflicting some real pain on a youth.

I know a lot of us readers dislike teens, and figure they all deserve a good thrashing once in a while, but as much as they deserve it, it's probably not our place to be the ones administering the whooping.

Teachers, just like you said, need to make choices if a fight occurs.

I just don't understand how "Smashing the kid up" became one of those choices?

First hit to the head | 9:38 a.m. March 31, 2008

The video does not show Morgan hitting the student's head against the wall the first time. His reaction (vulgar language and the shove)is to being hit against the wall the first time. If you listen to the student's language carefully he is protesting this action that is not shown on video. The line between hero and villian seems rather blurry.

Meet me at Midnight | 9:55 a.m. March 31, 2008

Ref:ref: 8:01 OK soccer mom, before I can answer your question in your hypothetical I need to know if the kid hits me with a purse or does he just slap my face????

fellow Coach | 10:46 a.m. March 31, 2008

What if Coach Morgan had done nothing? What if he had allowed the fight to escalate, returning to his office, and ignoring the altercation. That is exactly what a lot of high school teachers would do in that situation.

At the high school where I teach, I have broken up several fights. A couple of times, there have been other teachers "hiding" on the fringe, afraid to get involved. Most of the time I have had to physically refrain the student involved. Only once did a student fight back. I never struck the kid, but did throw him down on the ground and put him in a hold. I was never suspended without pay. The principal just asked me to give a written account. I suppose that I could have let the student continue to hit me, and let him get away without any accountability. Then again, I could have been like most teachers and have ignored it.

Coach Morgan did the right thing, bottom line. The only injustice here is his suspension with lack of pay. It sounds to me that he made a good move in resigning from a school with an unsupportive administration.

Notice | 2:34 p.m. March 31, 2008

Take notice of all of the comments that have a two-line gap between paragraphs. An indication that all of those are coming from the same person, probably one of the kids involved in the fight or friend of one of them or the person who posted the video on Youtube, trying to justify their actions.

Notice | 3:11 p.m. March 31, 2008

The Video on youtube identifies both the posters, and from the posts that have been made, those students are not hiding.

Maybe I am what I claimed in a earlier post, a High School teacher who has coached in both California and Utah, who has been trained how to break up fights verbally, who does not like to see kids bullied or slammed around by those meant to protect them, and who understands that the district would not have disciplined the coach unless he did go over the line, where the kid could have been hurt severely and the coach could have also been hurt. I believe that districts need to implement rules on how teachers break-up fights (Some teachers are not weightlifting coaches), and finally, no matter how a person feels about a student, they do not deserve the treatment shown on the video, and then have the coach be called a hero.

I do not know coach Monte Morgan, have never met him, nor seen him coach. I do not even know where Lone Peak is.

I think what happened is wrong and have a right to suggest that.

I question whether he should be working with kids.

Re:Notice | 4:14 p.m. March 31, 2008

Me thinks you are the coach, the coaches wife, an assistant, or someone trying to protect the coach. Why else would you post a "conspiracy theory"?

Maybe "the guilty dog barks loudest"???

Good coach - bad player | 8:52 a.m. April 1, 2008

Student: "I'm not attacking you. You're f---ing attacking me. You slammed my g-- d--- head in the ..

Ok, so this "poor little player" seems to have a pretty dirty mouth and a hot head. Not that Coach Morgan is without fault but try mouthing off like this to coaches at the next level (Bronco Mendenhaul or Kyle Whitingham) and you would find your tail out the door and out of school so fast you wouldn't know what hit you.

Bad Player | 11:56 a.m. April 1, 2008

This was a PE class. I don't think this kid is going to the next level. Kid didn't know he was being taped. Why do you think he was saying he was being attacked and having his head smashed into the wall unless that was the case?

I do think getting his tail out the door and out of school would be a step in the right direction. Hopefully followed by the adult administering the physical "subduing".

KId needs help | 3:37 p.m. April 2, 2008

The kid in this situation needs help. The teacher doesn't need to follow him "out the door." The teacher did what was right and when the kid continues to thrash around and they end up against the wall, what's a guy to do? Let him go to attack the other kid he was fighting with again? NO

I hope what is learned from this is that kids shouldn't start fights or they can get their just desserts. I hope that teachers will NOT be punished for stopping fights. I hope that the school district gives this guy his pay back.

I know Coach Monte Morgan. He is a good man who did what was morally correct. I'm sad that what was shown on this video is so one sided and that people suspect him to be abusive. I hope those people sugesting he should not be a teacher are never put under the one-sided scrutiny that this YouTube video has placed him under. We have all done things that, when taken out of context, make us look bad. Everyone of us.

So Hey There | 10:22 p.m. April 2, 2008

Does this mean that there is only one more day of "people that know Monte Morgan" can "Bear Testimony" of his character and moral standing? Sort of like the last five minutes of testimony meeting, everyone can swear beyond a shadow of a doubt that the tape was wrong, the kid was wrong, the district was wrong, and then Monte Morgan can slink off silently into that goodnight until next years "incidents".

To "So Hey There" | 8:04 a.m. April 3, 2008

If there are any people "slinking" off, it's those of you who attack others like this, hiding behind the veil of privacy that forums like this provide. You can say anything you want, slander anybody at all, without having to take responsibility for your words.

You make it sound like you are a real church-going kind of guy. Maybe you sould start paying attention at church! There's nothing wrong with standing up for someone when others are beating them down.

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