CALDWELL, Idaho — A year after teacher's aide, Ettson Arreola, instigated classroom fights at Syringa Middle School in Caldwell, a student sits down with Idaho News 6 to share how it all happened.
- In the video above you can see the classroom fight between Gianna Gish and another student.
- Gish tells us the class teacher's aid instigated the fight and encouraged students to keep it a secret.
- Gish faced bullying as a result of the video of the fight that circulated among students.
- Gish is currently home-schooled, largely as a result of this incident. Her mother says they are still looking for the right fit for their family.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
"I can't fathom how this was able to happen," said Brittany Gish.
A surprising scene inside a Caldwell classroom involving several students and a school employee who was ultimately arrested.
"It was all just very shocking. And really sad. Especially seeing the video. It's really hard to watch," said Brittany.
That's Brittany Gish talking about this video where you see her daughter Gianna forced to fight another student at Syringa Middle School.
Both, sitting down with us to explain how it all happened.
"I was really embarrassed because I didn't know how to fight and she was way stronger than me. She kind of just came at me at full force and desks fell over and stuff," said Gianna.
The adult in charge, teacher's aide Ettson Arreola is currently incarcerated for his involvement.
Not only did he not stop the fight but court records show he instigated it.
"He asked who in here has beef and then other students told him that me and this other girl didn't like each other. So then he forced us to physically fight," said Gianna.
Court records show this wasn't the first time Ettson encouraged students to fight.
In this case, telling Gianna and another young student to "slap box" each other and allowed other students to record the fight on their phones as long as he wasn't in the shot.
"It makes me sad because I feel like she was put in a situation where not only did the teacher make them do that, but how was she supposed to say no," said Brittany.
Gish says Ettson also asked who the class "snitch" was and offered him McDonald's lunch the next day if he could keep quiet.
One year later Gianna and her family are still impacted by what happened that day.
"No one told the substitute that it was wrong. Everyone called him the cool teacher," said Gianna.
"I could only imagine being eleven and having all these people who are supposed to be your friends just laughing at you instead of trying to help you. Or stopping this person from attacking you," said Brittany.
"I feel like I can't trust adults that I'm supposed to trust now because he was a safety aid. That's what they called him. And he did all that," said Gianna. "In general, I don't feel comfortable in big rooms with a bunch of kids because everyone at school was super rude."
Gianna says she was bullied at school after videos of the fight circulated and even lost friends as a result.
"Just all of them laughing at me and making noises and recording and then making fun of me was just kind of heartbreaking," said Gianna.
We reached out to the Caldwell School District and they told us student and staff safety is their number one priority.
Arreola has not been employed with the District since the incident happened on January 26th of last year.
Last month he was sentenced to 120 days in jail where he is still incarcerated in Canyon County.