I don't believe my kids ever punched an adult, broke glass, or produced a tantrum to the point they had to be removed from a classroom when they were five, however, it would seem to me that a phone call to the parent would have been the first step before anything as drastic as handcuffs and a call to the men in little white coats. I'd hate to be that adm. who made that decision.
I noticed the news report stated school sources sd. when describing the child's behavior the previous day. That's the most maddening thing about these kinds of reports. They always slant towards how bad the school's action were, but the school system cannot provide their entire side to the matter due to confidentiality.
Point well taken.
Unless you have spent time in an urban kindergarten you haven't a clue. This child clearly has problems that have been ignored. His father stated on the news that his son had no other problems aside from speech. However, it is reported that he is ADHD. AN out of control child is capable of harming himself as well as others. He must have been very out of control to be cuffed. In my 20 years of teaching I have seen many disturbed young children (unclassifed due to parental denial) They are often very dangerous and disruptive. I bet the other students in the class can tell you that he is a problem and probably carries on often in this fashion. I pity the other children trying to learn while living on the edge of what this disturbed child will do next.
NYC, I know you know I wasn't being snarky.
Ms. Parker makes valid points. I've had to restrain a five year old to keep him from running off campus. There was another five year old a couple of years ago that was sent to the alternative school because he repeatedly kicked and bit children and adults.
Too often we hear from the parents the child has no problems at home. They are mystified that there are problems at school. This is probably true due to the fact that the child is often placed on "ignore", runs the house,and gets his way 100% of the time.
Naturally I'm not tuned into this particular child and his environment, however, I've seen the same scenario played out over and over.
Oh, this doesn't surprise me in the least. I've also seen some pretty out of control kids. At one school, a kindergartener injured several adults who were much larger than he - I mean black eyes and a severe head injury. It's true, the school never gets to air their side of it due to confidentiality. Interesting, though, the most severe behavior I've seen has been at the elementary and middle school levels, and not at the high school. I've seen seemingly nice, sweet girls go ballistic and have to be removed from a building wearing shackles.
I taught at a school where the special ed kindergarten teacher was severally hurt and hospitalized. She was left with blurred vision and headaches after a child hit her hard on the head with an object.
Just because they are 5 doesn't mean they don't have emotional problems.
I had a 1st grader go crazy last year when I was a cluster. He also went crazy in his own classroom. But the principal did nothing until her "F" status friend also had a problem with him.
Sometimes having the child hospitalized is the right call in order to get help for that child when the parents refuse to see a problem.
We had a special ed kindergarten child bite and break the skin of a teacher. She now needs to live with the fear of the HIV test she will need in a few months.
Gosh... after reading that article and all these comments, I'm still not certain how I feel about a 5 year old being cuffed. Believe me, I have witnessed "out of control" and have been on the receiving end a few times. In those moments anything was possible, however I don't think that I would ever want my first graders to experience being cuffed and taken away.
And then in Georgia we have studnets throwing chairs and flipping desks and you can not even get him taken out of the classroom, let alone in handcuffs.
Commenting by HaloScan
