FORMER CALDWELL TEACHER INDICTED IN INJURY TO CHILD CASE
Editor's Note 2/9/22: KWHI has removed Vestal's jail booking photo from the article, as he has been found not guilty of the charge.
Original Story 11/28/19: A former Caldwell ISD employee arrested in May on a child injury charge has been indicted by a Burleson County Grand Jury.
51-year-old Brad Vestal, Caldwell ISD’s former alternative education director, was indicted last week in connection to an incident on the Caldwell ISD campus in March. Vestal, according to the indictment, is accused of pushing a student into a wall.
According to a probable cause statement filed by Caldwell police, Vestal was seen on surveillance video dragging the student, grabbing the front of his shirt, and pushing him out of a door. The student was seen falling backwards and hitting their upper back against an adjacent building.
The statement said when being interviewed by police, Vestal told them he did not mean to hurt the student, and was only attempting to calm him down by putting him outside.
Vestal resigned from the school district on March 27th, and following investigation, turned himself in at the Burleson County Sheriff’s Office in May, by request of the police department. He has since been freed on bond.
This teacher maybe guilty, but we don’t know the big picture at all. And thankfully our justice system is not a social justice system where you’re guilty until proven innocent.
This is a typical story where all you get is the action that was done to bring discipline and order to an otherwise out of control situation. What happened before, what is the context? Have you ever noticed how context seems to be missing in so many of these inflammatory teacher and police brutality cases?
So while an action by a teacher or police officer may seem extreme if all you read about are the results, if given the context, it may be an entirely appropriate consequence for actions already committed. But that assumes we’re all on the same page concerning values and morality and what determines right from wrong. Are you buying into the wrapping paper of “privileged” and “marginalized” (Bourgeoisie and Proletariat)? We’re not on the same page anymore as a moral nation and the divide is growing thanks to the teaching of relativism to promote a multi-culture instead of an absolute Judeo-Christian approach to a national identity (that we had at founding and for the 200 + following years that made us strong). Think we will stay strong by wearing our rose colored pc glasses?
This could have been a potentially dangerous situation for the student, peers or teachers but we don’t know that.
This is one of many reasons we need school choice or school vouchers. Its not just the poor education, its also the negative influence of the peer group and environment you get for your money. Tax payers should not be forced to pay what they are paying now for public education when private schools offer a better education at the same price. We all have a right to an education, but we also all have a right to representation due to taxation so shouldn’t public schools represent the Christian worldview or allow parents to make a funding choice with their educational tax dollars.