Police called to School on 5 year-old's tantrum

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Child injures another child...
Child suspended immediately for 3 days... (whether they are classified as special needs or not)
Child expelled upon review.
That easy.

It is up to the child's parents to pursue grievance if they want their child allowed back into that regular classroom.

It's not that easy at all. Just like in every occupation there is lots and lots of paperwork that needs to be completed. The district can't just say, "Bobby, you are expelled from school" and hit the delete key on the computer.

My sister is a special ed teacher. Last year she had a student who stabbed her with a pencil. Did he get suspended? Yes - expelled, no.

I guess this brings up another point - what if the student is only violent to authority such as teachers? Do you (I mean everyone reading this post), as parents feel it's ok to keep that child in the class or should the child be suspended? I'm just wondering. I know how I feel about the situation, but I am wondering what the opinion of others may be.

 

[daisyduck123]

I guess this brings up another point - what if the student is only violent to authority such as teachers? Do you (I mean everyone reading this post), as parents feel it's ok to keep that child in the class or should the child be suspended?

I am a parent, but also a teacher, so not sure if I should be chiming in here, but I will anyway. I think the student should be suspended, and at my school, he would be (anywhere from 1-3 days, depending upon prior offenses).

Depending upon the circumstances, I might even press charges.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

I am a parent, but also a teacher, so not sure if I should be chiming in here, but I will anyway. I think the student should be suspended, and at my school, he would be (anywhere from 1-3 days, depending upon prior offenses).

Depending upon the circumstances, I might even press charges.

You have every right to chime in! You are on both sides of the fence.

The student who stabbed my sister with a pencil was suspended but due to his age, I don't believe she could press charges. My dad (who is also a special ed teacher) had a student hit, punch, kick, bite and spit at him on many occations and nothing happened to the student. That really upset me that this kid was getting away with no punishment for doing this to my dad. I think he should have at least had an in-school suspension.

 

[famofsix]

a 4 year old poked me in the eye today at school by accident...should I call the police

 

[Cinderella94]

a 4 year old poked me in the eye today at school by accident...should I call the police

You're kidding in implying that that's the same thing as the situations presented in this thread...right?

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

a 4 year old poked me in the eye today at school by accident...should I call the police

Being poked in the eye by accident is very different from a student kicking, hitting, biting, stabbing the teacher.

If the police were called for such a small offense (poking in the eye), then I would be questioning the school.

 

[famofsix]

sorta I just think society can handle issues like a 5 year olds having a tantrum without police involvement but I am in the minority here...

maybe he threw the toy car and hit the kid by accident, kicking the teacher was a bad impulsive decision that the school counselor and the school officials could deal with instead of calling the police. What if he has a sensory issue and went out of control because the teacher set him off by her reaction? I am not blaming the teacher, no way.... no how. I am just saying maybe there is an issue with this kid that could be identified and he could get help. Or maybe he is just a brat, I don't know. He could be disciplined and suspended without the police coming to the school.

my only issue is the police were called instead of the grown-ups handling this situation to help the student. YES he was wrong and out of control...he deserves discipline but let's keep the police out of it

He kicked the teacher he didn't stab her or bite her

 

[mhsjax]

sorta I just think society can handle issues like a 5 year olds having a tantrum without police involvement but I am in the minority here...

maybe he threw the toy car and hit the kid by accident, kicking the teacher was a bad impulsive decision that the school counselor and the school officials could deal with instead of calling the police. What if he has a sensory issue and went out of control because the teacher set him off by her reaction? I am not blaming the teacher, no way.... no how. I am just saying maybe there is an issue with this kid that could be identified and he could get help. Or maybe he is just a brat, I don't know. He could be disciplined and suspended without the police coming to the school.

my only issue is the police were called instead of the grown-ups handling this situation to help the student. YES he was wrong and out of control...he deserves discipline but let's keep the police out of it

He kicked the teacher he didn't stab her or bite her

Wow

 

[famofsix]

I may get flamed for this, but I don't think that a child that is violent has the "right" to be educated with others. Since when does that child's "right" trump all of the other kids "right" to not be hurt. sorry but this doesn't cut it for me.

As far as I am concerned when a child throws things and hits and punches, or worse, like some other pp said, then that childs' rights are gone as far as public education. Adults can't act like this, so why do kids get to. They need to be removed from anyone else that they can hurt.

wow

 

[mhsjax]

wow

Never mind, it isn't worth it.

 

[mhsjax]

sorta I just think society can handle issues like a 5 year olds having a tantrum without police involvement but I am in the minority here...

maybe he threw the toy car and hit the kid by accident, kicking the teacher was a bad impulsive decision that the school counselor and the school officials could deal with instead of calling the police. What if he has a sensory issue and went out of control because the teacher set him off by her reaction? I am not blaming the teacher, no way.... no how. I am just saying maybe there is an issue with this kid that could be identified and he could get help. Or maybe he is just a brat, I don't know. He could be disciplined and suspended without the police coming to the school.

my only issue is the police were called instead of the grown-ups handling this situation to help the student. YES he was wrong and out of control...he deserves discipline but let's keep the police out of it

He kicked the teacher he didn't stab her or bite her

Well when I taught Sunday School, we had a child that was a little violent. He kicked. The head teacher came and got him form he. I told her that I could handle him, she told me that he kicked, and because I was pregnant I couldn't have him, see he liked to kick, hard, in the stomach. Would that have been ok with you?

Also they had tried numerous times to talk to the mom, she wouldn't hear of her child being violent, despite the fact that he had kicked almost every teacher there. Sorry, that doesn't cut it with me.

 

[famofsix]

Well when I taught Sunday School, we had a child that was a little violent. He kicked. The head teacher came and got him form he. I told her that I could handle him, she told me that he kicked, and because I was pregnant I couldn't have him, see he liked to kick, hard, in the stomach. Would that have been ok with you?

Also they had tried numerous times to talk to the mom, she wouldn't hear of her child being violent, despite the fact that he had kicked almost every teacher there. Sorry, that doesn't cut it with me.

I never said it was OK

I said that the police didn't need to called

I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this one

 

[mhsjax]

I never said it was OK

I said that the police didn't need to called

I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this one

Again, maybe it is school policy that the police be called, you don't know

 

[NotAmused]

I teach at a school right down the road from this school and I can honestly say I am sure there is more to the story as the kids we teach come from very rough backgrounds and it is next to impossible to reach their parents....or find a parent that tries to fix the misbehavior. If the the violent behavior is a regular occurance, then they had to do something major to try to break the pattern. We have very strict policies about zero violence here.

 

[torinsmom]

If you have never been kicked by a 5 year old in a rage with tennis shoes on, I don't think you should comment that it is ONLY a kick. I had a bruise on my shin for TWO WEEKS, and it hurt like heck. I also had a bruise on my cheek from the same child hitting me when he didn't want to roll his work rug. Kick, hit, bite, whatever, it is not okay to hurt another student or a teacher. I guess it was the way I reacted to him though from what some of you say I guess I should have let him run down the hall and out the front door of the school, instead of grabbing his hand and bringing him into the classroom? That is why he kicked me. He hit me because I was trying to show him how to roll his work rug after he was unsuccessful. Just got mad because he didn't want to do it. We're talking 0 to 60 mph and less than 2 seconds with this type of kid.

 

[Wishing on a star]

It's not that easy at all. Just like in every occupation there is lots and lots of paperwork that needs to be completed.

My dad (who is also a special ed teacher) had a student hit, punch, kick, bite and spit at him on many occations and nothing happened to the student. That really upset me

So.... What, this kid continued to assault others because somebody didn't want to do some paperwork????

I don't think I am mistaken here that in most any State/District schools have the right to immediately suspend any student for up to 3 days.
During this time, the student can be suspended further, and/or expelled, after review.

If some 'procedure' and paperwork are just too much...??????????

I would hate to see the day when a teacher who didn't like a kid, or had a personality conflict with a kid, or just couldn't handle them because of basic learning disabilities could 'expell' a kid without review. And, I would never, ever, agree that it should be THAT easy. (is that what you are suggesting?)

But, come ON.... The fact is that a kid simply does NOT walk back into a school if administrators agree with expulsion, or placement in a specialized environment.
That would not happen until after the parents won grievance and appeal after appeal.

I had a kid in special ed because of some bona-fide learning disabilities (NOT behavioral)
I know the drill....
The schools have the right to do as they wish.
A parent can only look in from the outside and appeal.

If out of control students (or teachers who are simply unable to maintain adequate control) are in the classrooms,
there is simply nowhere else to place the blame except for the school system.

 

[hambirg]

As a former teacher in an inner city environment I can tell you that calling the parents often is a complete waste of time....they are one of the reasons the child is acting out the way that they are. I can't even tell you the number of unanswered calls I have made, being told off, told it is my job to fix the kid not theirs etc.

I think the school did the right thing. What is they had not been able to calm him down in the time it took the police to get there. What if they child ended up severly injuring themselves or someone else in the midst of the tantrum? Or if the teacher/principal tried to restrain the child to prevent them for injuring themselves and as a result the child was injured anyway? Then the school has a whole other set of problems.

Most of us are diligent, responsible parents who would give the world for our children. We volunteer at school, work with our kids and discipline them teaching right from wrong. Sadly not all parents are like that. In fact many are not. There are parents who are selfish, unstable, drug/alcohol addicted, absentee parents etc. A school can only do so much and if it takes a phone call to the police to ensure the safety and legal coverage of ALL involved, then so be it.

I absolutely agree with the bolded part! BUT I disagree with everything else in your post. Seriously! If you can't handle an emotionally disturbed 5 yr old. . .than you have NO business being in education. Period.

 

[minniebride]

Imho, any two educators who can not handle a five year old without the police should lose their jobs. Just sayin'. I drove a school bus for seven years and the only uncontrollable people I ever saw were parents.

I have to respectfully disagree here. I work in a preschool in a poor urban school district (very crime-ridden and poverty filled city). I work primarily with students with autism, some who require two-person physical interventions & even in some of those incidences, staff have gotten hurt by the child.

But even some of our quote-unquote peers have been known to be quite violent (emotionally dysfunctional little guys who come from very dysfunctional living situations) and I have seen my principal and a teacher have to restrain a student or get physically harmed by a student on more than one occasion. Sad but true.

Last year I had a student who was mis-diagnosed at age 6 with autism-turned out he had very severe bi-polar disorder. He required 3 people to escort him or physically restrain him. Lots of staff got injured that year.

Now, we would NEVER call the police on any of these children. We may have called their parents to pick them up~some parents will come, but many do not because they don't have transportation or some just don't want to be bothered, in which case we de-escalate as best we can & if we are unsuccessful and the child is still violent we WILL call 911 in extreme situations. But otherwise, where I work, it is our jobs to work together and formulate a behavior plan to implement for the child- for both our autism students and our quote-unquote peers.

I know my situation is far more extreme than the kid in this article, but I just wanted people to be aware that there is definitely such thing as a violent (to the point of very dangerous) five year old!!!

I work in a public school. Maybe this school in the article was private and they don't have the staff or knowledge to handle the child effectively.

 

[hambirg]

If you have never been kicked by a 5 year old in a rage with tennis shoes on, I don't think you should comment that it is ONLY a kick. I had a bruise on my shin for TWO WEEKS, and it hurt like heck. I also had a bruise on my cheek from the same child hitting me when he didn't want to roll his work rug. Kick, hit, bite, whatever, it is not okay to hurt another student or a teacher. I guess it was the way I reacted to him though from what some of you say I guess I should have let him run down the hall and out the front door of the school, instead of grabbing his hand and bringing him into the classroom? That is why he kicked me. He hit me because I was trying to show him how to roll his work rug after he was unsuccessful. Just got mad because he didn't want to do it. We're talking 0 to 60 mph and less than 2 seconds with this type of kid.

Yes. . and he was 5 and you are an adult. . .supposedly trained in child psychology and development and learning. Teaching is NOT easy. . .nobody ever said it was. If you can't do it then don't! I worked 8+ years with big, high school age kids that didn't even have the mental capacity to understand that they were assaulting you. So!!!! You either deal with it or you don't. I heard accounting is a nice field.

 

[minniebride]

Just like you have parents who should not be parents you got teachers who should not be teachers. Why would you call the cops on a 5 year old. Just a stupid lazy teacher would.

WOW