Child transferred from other class has completely changed the feeling of a classroom - wwyd?

[Anonymous]

My child's classroom has been very calm and chill this year, and she has thrived in that environment. It's just a calm teacher and a great group of kids. A few weeks ago, a child from another class transferred into her class and ever since then, she has been so upset and kind of a mess at the end of every day. It sounds like this child is very disruptive, takes up a lot of the teacher's attention, and has really changed the environment of the room up a lot. The child is not new to the school, just switched classes. If this was so upsetting to your child - to the point where they were in tears when talking about their day whereas previously it was going great, child was happy in school and enjoyed it very much, what would you do? Is there anything that I can do, or does she just have to ride it out and hope it gets better? It has been three weeks - this is week 4.

[Anonymous]

Have you talked to the teacher?

[Anonymous]

Please go talk to the teacher.
Here's the reality though. My guess is the teacher is taking "data" on the disruptive kid because no evaluation can happen for months or even years until several rounds of "RTI" or "MTSS" has been put in place. It doesn't matter how many times the teacher has to evacuate the room or whatever. Most schools are getting push back because they are referring too many kids to sped and one way to reduce the referrals is to make the interventions so consuming for the teacher, she essentially just waits the kid out til the end of the year. (Example, kid throws things in the room. Sped team meets with teacher. Tells her to take data on the incident, what precedes and follows it to find out why it is happening. 6 weeks pass. Now there's data on the why. Then the sped team suggests, "why don't you try a chart with stickers?" Teacher has to implement that for 6 weeks. Oh and by the way, this is all while meeting every other need in the classroom, teaching content, and dealing with the out of control kid. 6 weeks later, problem is not solved. "Have you tried moving his seat near you?" (Omg, no, that never occurred to me! Thank you for your wisdom because this is my first rodeo!)
And on and on and on and on.

However, when OTHER parents complain, sometimes this speeds up the process. The school probably won't listen to anything the teacher says.

Good luck. I'm sorry this is happening to your daughter. I'm always very worried about how one or two kids can affect every single other child in the room in major and negative ways.

[Anonymous]

I am sorry your child is experiencing this. This was my child's experience all of 2nd grade. The teacher could not manage the classroom and just gave up. It was horrible as no one in the class that year learned anything. I am serious - my child moved 1 reading level in all of 2nd grade and I know 2 other students who were similar.

Moving forward I put in my child's record that they were not to be in a class with this child. Of course I used nicer words than that. I said something like - given my child's documented learning disability, he needs a classroom that does have serious disruptions.
For your child- reach out to the teacher and the school counselor. Lead with the stress and anxiety that the classroom disruptions are causing. Do not say the child by name - just say - the last 4 weeks my daughter has been having serious challenges. She has days when she does not want to come to school, she is in tears talking about her day etc. You want the school to support your child's needs and ask what they can do to support her.

[Anonymous]

Was disruptive kid moved from another class into your daughter's? Or is the child moving into the school new?

If he was moved from another class, then they know he/she is a problem and your daughter's class is now stuck with the problem the other teacher could not handle.

[Anonymous]

I would focus on finding ways with the teacher and maybe counselor/AP to support your dd in dealing with this. You can't change the fact that the kid is in the class.

[Anonymous]

What exactly do you expect a public school to do? Seriously. You’re incredibly lucky your child was ever in a classroom without a student like this and also incredibly lucky there is only one. If you don’t like it, move to private.

[Anonymous]

Nothing you say will have that child removed from the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was disruptive kid moved from another class into your daughter's? Or is the child moving into the school new?

If he was moved from another class, then they know he/she is a problem and your daughter's class is now stuck with the problem the other teacher could not handle.

The OP says the child was moved from another class.

[Anonymous]

Sorry your kid is going through this and im so glad my kids are in private. This kid would just be asked to leave and they never switch classes, even when a request is made.

If my kid were in this position I would complain to the teacher and the principal in writing every time an incident happened. It is not fair for one student to disrupt the education of the others. That said I'm also sure they are aware of the problem and will probably do nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What exactly do you expect a public school to do? Seriously. You’re incredibly lucky your child was ever in a classroom without a student like this and also incredibly lucky there is only one. If you don’t like it, move to private.

Maybe OP can’t afford private. And she can’t just switch in March to private school. She can talk to the principal or teacher or counselor. Her child doesn’t deserve to dislike school now because one kid had to switch. Have some empathy.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thank you to the first few posters - no, I haven't spoken to the teacher yet, mainly because I just don't know what I should say or what help I should ask for, so thank you for providing suggestions regarding how to ask for that help/support.

[Anonymous]

You can certainly talk to the teacher and administration, but I would have some specific examples to relay. If your child is seated close to the disruptive kid, ask for her to be moved to the other side of the room. You can also ask to not be with this child next year.

Don’t expect he teacher to tell you anything about the disruptive child. They are not allowed.

[Anonymous]

No advice but I’m sorry OP :-/

[Anonymous]

This happened in elementary to my child. It never improved throughout the year. If I could have a redo, I would request that my own child’s class be changed due to the stress and anxiety she was feeling about this “new” student.

I would strongly suggest you let them know how your child is feeling. Even if they can’t do something this year, you can make an argument to keep your child in a different class next year.