Situation in a school. Needs some honest feedback

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bluedog46

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Ok guys and gals. Need some feedback here. Have a brother whose wife is doing her student teaching in DE. The other day he told me about a situation .

I will try to summarize as best I can. There is a kid that is autistic, but not in an autistic school that is available in the state. He is high functioning and my sil said he knows right from wrong and also seems to think he can get away with stuff. He is in 4th grade. it should not matter, but he also is black. Not sure if that could be part of why they are being more lenient or not. Last year her college informed her one of the districts was not suspending black kids from the inner city unless they did something "really wrong". I get the impression he is getting a pass because of his age, autism, being black or a combo of the three.

Well my sis has only been there since January. Apparently this kid has assaulted 2 or 3 teachers during the year prior to this incident by hitting them. He was suspended for that at least twice. Now back in my day a teacher assault was automatic expulsion.

The latest incident that happened was relayed to me. Apparently in his class he had hit his teacher already in he made some threats in front of the teacher and class.
He did not get his way and said he was going to kill the teacher and her family as well as the students. He was suspended for four days. He is now back in school and will have a full time para professional with him. Now that his behavior costs taxpayers more money. There was a meeting with the teachers and staff at the school that my sil was party to. All the teachers were very upset about this. The district said there was nothing they could do about the kid. Even though there are alternative schools and an autism program available. My SIL did not get me any info on the parents. Don't know if they think the kid can do no wrong or are trying to be helpful
I will concur with my SIL and other teachers that the student is a threat to the school. The district said a big part of it is that their hands are "tied" because he is autistic and in special ed. It is a public school.

Now as far as guns go. I figure the kid would not be able to handle not only bringing a rifle, but shooting a rifle. He could take a knife though and stab a teacher. Crazier things have happened. The thing that really got me is that the parents were not informed. SO here is where I was asked to get opinions. I know many will say he is only 10, or the autism, but neither means he cant do something bad. Also with all the violence that has happened at school it seems this needs to be taken more serious now.

1, would people be worried if their wife, or in this case should my brother be worried.
2, should one of them leak it to the newspaper in the area. Seems like something they would like to know
3, Should the parents not be informed of this threat
4. Any other ideas.

Thanks
 
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I've worked in the schools in that part of the country. The first thing that comes to mind is that the child must have an IEP. Part of the IEP should address how to handle his outbursts and if that isn't working, they need to update it. I can't imagine that the parents have not been notified, for liability issues if nothing else. You said he'd just been suspended so I would imagine they are in the loop.

There are mechanisms in place whereby the school district should do an assessment of the child and make additional/alterative recommendations. It may be that he has already had one done and they don't deem there to have been enough time passed to justify doing another one. It is important that they figure out whether his outbursts are related to his disability or if they are discipline issues. For what it is worth, what you are describing COULD be the result of his autism. They are easily frustrated and often have violent meltdowns. On the other hand, it may be that the child is acting out as a combination of his autism and behavioral issues.

Confidentiality issues would keep the school from confirming, denying or otherwise identifying the student even if the press were involved.

This is a tough issue. I've seen similar issues and it is not an easy fix. Public schools aren't what they used to be when we were young, sadly. The decision of schools to not suspend minority children unless the discipline issues are very serious is something going on in NYC and I imagine other east coast cities are doing the same thing. But with an autistic child, I suspect this is more about his disability than anything else. Just my two cents.
 

SMS

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IMHO, in this particular case, the teachers need to stop letting school admin handle it since they appear to be unable or unwilling to do anything.

The police should be called the next time, and every time, he physically attacks someone or threatens to do the same...Immediately, from the cell phone of the teacher who was assaulted...no calling the principal, no calling the parents. "Hello, 911? I was just assaulted in my classroom at xyz school, please send help."
 
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bluedog46

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Just to clarify. his parents are aware of what he did and why he was suspended each time including the assaults. The other students parents in the class or school have not been informed. Seems to me they should just like they send letters home when classmates have lice to check kids heads
 
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IMHO, in this particular case, the teachers need to stop letting school admin handle it since they appear to be unable or unwilling to do anything.

The police should be called the next time, and every time, he physically attacks someone or threatens to do the same...Immediately, from the cell phone of the teacher who was assaulted...no calling the principle, no calling the parents. "Hello, 911? I was just assaulted in my classroom at xyz school, please send help."

If I were a teacher in that school, I would be tempted to do the same thing. No one wants to involve a child in the juvenile justice system but they aren't giving their teachers the protection they should be entitled to. A ten year old may be on the small size but he could be big enough to cause real damage not only to a teacher but to his fellow students.
 

bluedog46

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If I were a teacher in that school, I would be tempted to do the same thing. No one wants to involve a child in the juvenile justice system but they aren't giving their teachers the protection they should be entitled to. A ten year old may be on the small size but he could be big enough to cause real damage not only to a teacher but to his fellow students.

Actually His wife apparently is pretty good at picking the ones that will get into trouble. Supposedly some teachers had a pool years ago on kids that will end up in serious trouble in high school. Those kids that shot up Columbine were 10 once. That is the thing that worries me and the family. If it were me I would have tipped someone off by now. I don't know if the teachers are allowed to call the police. I think that is up to the admin. Apparently this kid has been caught telling other kids he can "get away with whatever he does", but that is from secondary sources.
 

mightymouse

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Ms. para bellum is right, schools aren't what they were some years back. I have a friend who is a local legend in the old school (pardon the pun) way of teaching. Having exhausted other means of getting a disruptive student to mind, my friend grabbed said youngster and hung him out the third floor window of his classroom by his ankle. That's right, by only one ankle (he let the other one dangle for added effect). The administration, knowing said youngster HAD been a problem child (local legend claims the kid was literally "scared straight"), responded by moving my friend's classroom to the basement, where...well, that's a story for another time.
 

tRidiot

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Ms. para bellum is right, schools aren't what they were some years back. I have a friend who is a local legend in the old school (pardon the pun) way of teaching. Having exhausted other means of getting a disruptive student to mind, my friend grabbed said youngster and hung him out the third floor window of his classroom by his ankle. That's right, by only one ankle (he let the other one dangle for added effect). The administration, knowing said youngster HAD been a problem child (local legend claims the kid was literally "scared straight"), responded by moving my friend's classroom to the basement, where...well, that's a story for another time.

Yikes.... ok, I wouldn't advocate this.


Anyways, I agree with the above poster who said call the police. If the school administration isn't going to back their teachers, then call the police and get some press on the issue. Period. Our schools have been overly pussified and think they have to cater to bad behavior. Autistic or not, learning right from wrong is within the capability of almost every human being, and if it ISN'T, that human being should NOT be in a public school setting. PERIOD.

If my kid were hit by that kid without provocation, you can damn sure bet there'd be some heated discussions with the school admin AND the kid's parents. And if that got nowhere, there would be police and press discussions. I won't discuss what a last resort would be.

This isn't a kid playing with an imaginary bow and arrow on a playground, or pointing his finger like a gun while playing cowboys and Indians - this is a kid who is used to getting his way and used to being coddled. F*** THAT.
 

Mos Eisley

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You can teach a damn animal right from wrong. Apparently no one is showing him there are consequences for his actions. Suspension isn't an effective consequence in this case. Hell, he probably enjoys the time off.

I'm an advocate of leaking the story to the parents and the press.
 

cooljeff

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I can only comment from my own experience and knowledge of this matter. I'm a 3rd and 4th grade Special Education teacher in Moore and I am at the end of my Master's degree in Special Education. Any time you suspend or expel any student for longer than 10 days that has been diagnosed and categorized with a disability that requires an IEP or individualized education program the school and teacher must be able to provide a manifestation determination. This essentially means that the school must provide proof that the action that caused the suspension or expulsion was a NOT a product of their disability. This is required by law to be done and if the school is wrong it can end very badly for the school and reporting teacher. I'm not saying it's right, and don't generally agree with it. However I understand why so many schools are reluctant to take much action towards special education students, especially the more severe the disability the student has. Again, just my knowledge of it and I don't agree because it causes many issues and the students often learn from parents to play into the disability they have.


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