Three teachers at a troubled Queens middle school failed to stop a videotaped pummeling of a 13-year-old girl last week — and sources said staffers are hesitant to break up fights to avoid administrative repercussions.
The footage shows a 14-year-old girl battering her female target and even jumping off of a cafeteria table at one point like a pro wrestler during the attack at Marie Curie Middle School in Bayside.
School sources said the latest incident exemplifies a breakdown in discipline — and teacher skittishness — that has slowly corroded one of the city’s better middle schools.
While the three adults sporadically attempt to intervene, the attacker manages to land a string of punches over an extended period before standing atop the table once again to celebrate the brawl.
A current Marie Curie teacher told the Post Monday that he and his colleagues are increasingly hesitant to intervene in fights because they fear administrative backlash or accusations of excessive force.
“The principal is very lax with student disruptiveness and disrespect towards adults in the building,” he said of school leader Henry Schandel. “The students run the building. The environment gets more chaotic by the day.”
The NYPD said they were called to the scene and that the attacker was eventually charged with juvenile assault.
A parent told The Post last month that Schandel failed to alert him about the repeated sexual harassment of his daughter by a classmate who was eventually arrested for forcibly groping her groin.
The school has also drawn recent criticism for a proposal to let students complete academic assignments at their leisure without any penalties or consequences for turning them in late.
A recently retired Marie Curie teacher told The Post that conditions at the once exemplary school have deteriorated steadily and that kids are aware that there are few consequences for misconduct or academic laxity.
Parent Evelyn Hernandez said Monday that her own son was bullied relentlessly and that action was only taken after he recorded his tormentors in the act.
“They’re just very afraid,” Hernandez said of teachers at the school. “It’s a very thin line they’re walking. And everyone is afraid of doing the wrong thing and having a big consequence. I think they’re doing the best they can do.”
The Department of Education said the school addressed the student’s conduct but did not specify the actions taken.
“Safety always comes first, and disciplinary action was taken to address this incident,” said DOE spokesperson Miranda Barbot. “It has also been referred for further investigation to ensure the school followed proper protocol.”
Citing racially disproportionate suspension rates and concerns over long term negative consequences of classroom removal, the DOE has prioritized “restorative justice” techniques in lieu of harsher punishments. Suspensions have plummeted accordingly.
Critics argue that the approach is appropriate in some situations but has been left teachers and school administrators with their hands tied.
The principals union lobbied for more autonomy in their disciplinary practices in a letter to schools Chancellor Richard Carranza last week.
The administrators complained that students in many schools were misbehaving with impunity and polluting the environment for classmates.