New Jersey Teacher Fired After Breaking Up Fight

An attempt to break up a fight — with what a New Jersey school district called "excessive force"— has cost a teacher his job.

Phillip Eisenstein, 28, tried to break up a fight between two sixth-graders in October, according to The Press of Atlantic City, grabbing the perpetrator of the fight under his arms from behind and taking him to the office at a New Jersey school.

The physical education teacher said he broke up the fight several times at the New York Avenue School in Atlantic City, according to nj.com. As students were leaving, one tried to attack the other pupil.

“I’d already broken them up two or three times and had them sitting on the bleachers,” he told The Press. “But when they were lining up to leave, the bigger student went after the other one again and had him cornered. I did what I had to do to protect the other student.”

The state Department of Children and Families Institutional Investigations Unit reviewed a video of the incident, interviewed staff and determined Eisenstein did not use excessive force and no abuse occurred, according to nj.com.

Atlantic City school officials, however, said Eisenstein used excessive force at the New York Avenue School, then suspended him with pay and fired him, a decision he is appealing, according to the report. The student was checked out by the nurse and returned to class.

Eisenstein’s attorney, Ned Rogovoy, told The Press that Eisenstein attempted to mediate the situation several times in class and called for help. There is security in the K-8 school, but Eisenstein claimed that day one person was out, one was at lunch and the third was on a different floor.

“He did what he had to do to protect the other student who was being bullied,” Rogovoy told The Press. “The result was not what I thought the facts dictated.”

Eisenstein was in his third year at the district after teaching two years at Atlantic City High School He was special teams coordinator and defensive line coach on the football team after working at the University of Miami and other schools, and working as a Super Bowl intern, according to his Linkedin profile.