LAFOURCHE, La. — A Lafourche Parish school board member has been charged with simple battery of a 14-year-old Central Lafourche High School student during a dodgeball game at an overnight band event.

As WWLTV reports, according to police reports, school band director William Martin told police that district school board member Clyde “Joey” Duplantis, III, who was chaperoning the event, was the last parent standing in a dodge ball game between parents and students.

According to the news report, “Martin told police that when the student did not immediately leave the court when he was supposed to be ‘out,’ Duplantis pinned the student against a wall, holding him by either the shirt or the throat, and began jabbing the student with the dodge ball.”

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Martin also told police that when he later spoke to the teen, he was crying and complained his side hurt.

The student said Duplantis also cursed at him, telling him to “Play by the [expletive] rules.”

The teen’s mother, who asked to remain anonymous to protect her son’s identity, said she wasn’t aware of the incident until her son came home from the overnight event.

According an earlier news report of the incident, Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman Brennan Matherne said they learned of the incident several days later and Duplantis was cited with simple battery on Monday.

The boy’s mother said she believes school officials should have reached out to her immediately and should have contacted authorities.

In a statement given to WWVL, Lafource school spokesman Floyd Benoit said they are aware of the incident. “The school system is continuing to investigate the allegations and Central Lafourche High School has cooperated with the sheriff’s office in their investigation,” says Benoit.

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In a September 8th police interview, WWVL reports, Duplantis admitted he grabbed the student by the arm and touched his chest and explained the rules of the game. However, police say they interviewed four other chaperons who witnessed the event and all gave a similar account to what the teenager said happened.

“We have multiple people saying one thing happened, and the perpetrator in this case saying some of it happened but not necessarily to that degree,” said Dep. Brennan Matherne, Lafourche Sheriff’s Office spokesman. “Based on witness statements, we feel pretty confident what happened and that’s why we brought the charge against him.”

The Lafourche Parish School District doesn’t have a policy on handling incidents in which a board member is charged in a student-related incident, and “has no plans to remove or suspend him during the investigation”, said a spokesman.

According to WWVL, the boy’s mother wants Duplantis to step down. “The message the school board is sending out is that it’s okay for bullying to come from a school board member, it’s not ok for somebody else in the school to do it,” she said.

In what some have referred to as the “wussification of America,” several schools have banned games like dodgeball in recent years.

Last year, a middle school in Port Washington, New York banned footballs, soccer balls, baseballs and other equipment “that could harm a child during recess.” In a New Hampshire school district, dodgeball and other “human target” activities were banned over concerns of violence and bullying.

In this case of a school board member allegedly roughing up a student, let’s just hope school authorities see to it that the bully is the one penalized, not the game.