BELOIT, Wis. – A Beloit Memorial High School freshman faces a felony charge after police allege she trapped a teacher in her classroom using a fan, then fled the scene when the teacher emailed for help.

WISC-TV reports the student was removed from class last Thursday but returned after school hours to confront her teacher by standing in the doorway to her classroom with a fan and refusing to let the woman leave.

“A female student was creating a ruckus in the afternoon class she was in and so the teacher sent her to the principal’s office,” school spokeswoman Melissa Badger said. “After school, the student decided to take it upon herself to go back to the classroom.

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“She physically blocked the door, and she was threatening the teacher at the same time, which made the teacher feel trapped.”

The teacher attempted to de-escalate the student while emailing colleagues for help, and the student fled when staff and school security approached the classroom, according to NBC Chicago.

“We take security very seriously. We do maintain locked buildings, … we have a security systems in place, the security resource officers, the cameras.”

The student was later apprehended and charged with felony false imprisonment.

The situation prompted commentary from Wisconsin Education Association Council President Betsy Kippers, who told WISC-TV that schools could avoid situations like the Beloit standoff by spending more money on counselors or psychologists.

“If we could provide the support where there’s a lot of small group and one-on-one help for the students, what an improvement that would be,” the union president said. “We have to provide these resources to those students so that they don’t go to that extent.”

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Kippers shrugged off the student’s bad behavior as likely influenced by factors outside of school, and said building relationships between teachers and troubled teens can help mitigate problems.

“Adolescents have a lot just becoming adolescents – but then you don’t know what the family is like, or what other things might be bothering that student,” Kippers said. “I think the most important thing is that every teacher knows how to connect with their students, and they do that every day.”

A Minnesota blog, BringMeTheNews.com, also pointed out a National Education Association union article from 2013 that alleges 80 percent of teachers surveyed by the American Psychological Association had been victimized by students within the prior two years.

The article was based on a 2011 national survey of teachers coordinated by the union that allegedly showed a “national crisis” of teachers under attack from their students.

Dorothy Espelage, a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who helped to conduct the research, told the union publication NEA Today the problem of student violence against teachers is underreported by the media and overlooked by scholars.

“About half of the teachers who reported being victimized experienced harassment. Others reported property offenses, including theft and damage to property. And about one-quarter of these teachers experienced physical attacks,” Espelage said.

“Harassment includes everything from obscene gestures, verbal threats and intimidation and obscene remarks. With physical offenses, teachers widely reported objects being thrown at them and being physically attacked,” she said. “The most severe and uncommon cases are physical attacks that result in a visit to the doctor.”

Several folks who commented on the Beloit situation online didn’t necessarily agree with the union perspective on student discipline.

“Good grief! School hasn’t even been in session for two weeks, how the hell is a teacher supposed to ‘connect’ with a student in that time?” Marcia James questioned. “When are parents going to start disciplining their children, or take responsibility?”