LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Following the reassignment of a Jefferson County Public Schools teacher who was caught on camera pinning a student to the ground, some activists want to see the district and law enforcement to do more.

Anthony Gaines runs Colors Newspaper in Louisville. He also has two kids, one in Jefferson County Public Schools, and he says he was appalled when he saw video Monday of a fight at Marion C. Moore School in the Outer Loop of Louisville involving a white teacher and a Black student.

“We all know, especially as Black people, if you put your hands on your own child in a public scene like that, you will probably get locked up,” he said.

JCPS spokeswoman Renee Murphy said the teacher has been reassigned to a position where he has no contact with students. Further action depends on the results an internal investigation.

Others in West Louisville want to see more done.

“There was no reason for him to touch that child under no circumstances and he walked away scot-free,” said George Fields with Beacon Light Of Hope Movement.

Gaines said the issue is one of two he wants JCPS to address, the other being the fact schools are open at all with the high rate of COVID-19.

935 students have tested positive in the district this year and 4,746 are in quarantine, according to numbers posted by the district Wednesday afternoon. 

“That instance alone shows you that there is no social distancing going on in the school,” Gaines said. “The teacher was on top of the guy. That’s a crowd full of students pulling him off. Everybody in that hallway should be quarantined.”

Murphy said there are two reasons JCPS won’t close schools and move to virtual learning: one, the district only has ten non-traditional instruction days to work with following legislation passed in Frankfort earlier this year that also didn’t give districts the flexibility to use a hybrid schedule. She also said district officials are confident their plan to keep kids healthy will work.