• Whiteville High School computer teacher resigned Wednesday after incident Tuesday where student was assaulted in classroom.

By BOB HIGH
Staff Writer

Anthony Dobbins, a 46-year-old teacher at Whiteville High School for the past 10 years, resigned last Wednesday after he was charged with assault on one of his computer class students.

Dobbins has been charged with assault on 17-year-old Marquis Jabber Rose, according to authorities. It is not known if the warrant has been served on Dobbins who lives in Shallotte.

Dobbins appeared upset Tuesday when the afternoon class began because he didn’t like how a substitute teacher was treated in his computer class Monday, records show.

A Whiteville police report last week showed Rose was “eating a cookie” in Dobbins’ class at 2:30 p.m. and refused to give the teacher the food item because students were usually allowed to eat and drink in the class.

The teacher approached Rose and demanded the young man give up the cookie. Rose did not comply and Dobbins grabbed him by the back of the neck and threw him to the classroom floor, then tried to drag him to the door to remove him from the class, reports show.

Rose fought back and the two of them struggled in front of the class near the door, and Rose was pinned against the wall at one point. Some other members of the class attempted to separate Dobbins and Rose, but were unsuccessful.

Assistant Principal Rob Conway was walking in the hallway and heard the commotion in the classroom and tried to enter, but the door was abruptly shut by Dobbins and Rose as they struggled, the reports showed.

Conway was able to get into the classroom on his second try, and Dobbins was pulled away from the student.

Two shirts Rose was wearing were damaged in the struggle, one being torn from the neck down.

Dobbins was using foul language before and during the incident, plus he cursed at one of the other students as he exited the classroom and went to the principal’s office.

Dobbins paid for the damage to Rose’s shirts and then left the school Tuesday afternoon, reports indicate.

“The school officials should have never let the teacher leave without the police being called,” said Rose’s mother Vanessa McKenzie. “They should have detained him, called another officer, charged him with assault and taken him to jail.

“If it had been a student charged with assault, they would have done it that way. I didn’t appreciate how the situation was handled,” McKenzie added.

Dobbins resigned early Wednesday, according to Dr. Danny McPherson, superintendent of the city schools system.

The teacher began work in the Whiteville system in 1997 by teaching computers and career subjects at Central Middle School.

He moved to Whiteville High School in August 2004, according to McPherson.

Dobbins did not return a phone call made Friday to his home in Brunswick County.