A Southern High School special education teacher was beaten and scratched by two parents who went to the school last week to confront him about a comment their daughter said he made to her, according to court papers, witnesses and interviews.

School police, Southern's principal and teachers union officials say the incident is puzzling and unusual. While students have attacked teachers, and irate parents sometimes verbally abuse them, many observers say they can't remember the last time a teacher and a parent came to blows in a city school.

"This just doesn't happen," said city schools police Chief Leonard Hamm. "It's very, very unusual."

The teacher, Maurice T. Byes, 31, has pressed assault charges against Timothy and Stacey Haynes, parents of Wendi Haynes, 15. Questioned outside their home in Upper Fells Point this week, Mr. and Mrs. Haynes denied assaulting Byes or sneaking into the school. They called the matter an "accident" and said they filed a police complaint against Byes. They refused to specify what charges they had requested, and The Sun could find no record yesterday of their filing charges in the case.

"Whatever the school and the teacher want to say is fine with me," said Stacey Haynes, 34. "We have to go to court, and we'll wait 'til then to explain."

The alleged attack Feb. 24 occurred a day after Wendi told her parents and a school staffer that Byes had cursed and ordered her to sit during class. Stacey Haynes also alleged this week that Byes had "put his hands" on her daughter. Byes, a Philadelphia native in his second year at Southern, denied touching Wendi or making the remark.

Timothy and Stacey Haynes went to Southern last week to confront Byes about the alleged remark. The couple said school staff escorted them to Byes' classroom, though records show they did not sign in at the school's front office, as is required of visitors. Southern Principal Darline C. Lyles said they went straight to Byes' classroom on the building's first floor.

School staffer Jeanese Robinson was in the first-floor hallway when she saw Byes leaving his room with Stacey Haynes walking next to him. Robinson wrote in a statement to school officials and police that Mrs. Haynes was yelling profanities at Byes. Similar comments by Mrs. Haynes were reported in a statement by special education teacher Dena Pinkard.

Witnesses said Byes told Haynes that he was "not having this conversation" and began walking to the principal's office to seek a mediator. Mrs. Haynes reportedly responded, "I ought to bang you in the face."

Witnesses said Timothy Haynes, who was following Byes and Stacey Haynes, then punched Byes in the face, and the two men began fighting. Witnesses said Stacey and Wendi Haynes then jumped on Byes' back and began punching and scratching him. They ripped Byes' shirt and a wool sweater off his back, according to statements by Pinkard and Byes. "I struck back," said Byes. "I was defending myself, and I wasn't able to get free from them." He pinned down Mr. Haynes until school police came.

School police detained but did not arrest Timothy and Stacey Haynes. Lyles said Wendi Haynes and an unnamed student who was reported to be involved in the incident face possible long-term suspensions.

Byes did not go to a hospital. He said he sought treatment at the city's health clinic on Gay Street. An employee incident report signed by Lyles reported scratches on his face, a bruised shoulder, a swollen knee, a bruised jaw, and blood from his nose, mouth and left ear.

A week after the incident, Byes' right knee remains visibly swollen, and he has difficulty walking. "Is this God's way of telling me," Byes asked, "that another line of work is necessary?"

Byes said Lyles and Southern's administrators have done "a great job" improving the school after a rash of violence and fires last fall. "Honestly, I don't know what more can be done," said Byes. "You've got administrators doing the best they can. In the end, the problems fall on the students and their parents."

Marietta English, president of the Baltimore Teachers Union, said teachers feel the school system is not doing enough to protect them in school buildings -- from anyone. "It is intolerable that teachers, students and other school employees are subjected to violence and threats of personal safety," she said. "In fact, our field representatives have received an increased number of reports of assaults on teachers by students."

School police report fewer assaults on school staff from September 1998 until now (135) than they did from September 1997 to January 1998 (145).

Pub Date: 3/04/99