MCPS teachers--what kind of abuse from students goes on in your building?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year in my elementary school -

*Several teachers kicked and/or punched by students.
*Students getting up and walking out of class all day, every day. Refuse to go to office when principal finds the student. Admin can't put hands on the kids and they know it so they just roam the halls and barge in on other classrooms. Parents refuse to take phone calls from the school.
*Fights in the lunch room and playground several times a week.
*Administrators punched, kicked and spit on.

I'm so shocked parents of well-behaved students aren't calling and complaining. We aren't even a Title 1 school.

C’mon, name the school or at least give the cluster name.

In the Gaithersburg/Germantown area.

[Anonymous]

I remember back in my day when the principal would routinely paddle kids. The guy had a ping pong paddle with holes in it to hit their backsides with extra force. Perhaps, this is the sort of thing these parents wax nostalgic for. The truth is today's methods are more effective and also don't fall under the heading of child abuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm so glad I stumbled across this thread. I've been considering making the move to MCPS all year, but it sounds just as bad as where I am now (PG). Nothing will ever compare to what I experienced in DCPS, but it's still too much for someone to deal with day in and out. Maybe Fairfax?

Choose your pyramid wisely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so glad I stumbled across this thread. I've been considering making the move to MCPS all year, but it sounds just as bad as where I am now (PG). Nothing will ever compare to what I experienced in DCPS, but it's still too much for someone to deal with day in and out. Maybe Fairfax?

Choose your pyramid wisely.

Yes, there are "good" and "bad" schools. This is upheld mostly by the old boundaries that have been around for 40 years, but some do-gooders want to change all that to benefit the unwashed masses. It's so horrible!

[Anonymous]

Not a teacher, but in 2nd grade I was volunteering and a kid starting school speaking no English. He was crying most of the day. Just over and over again. The teacher (who was 8 months pregnant at the time) tried to go over and calm him and he punched her as hard as he could twice in the stomach and when she was falling back, another time in the face. Then he ran out in the halls screaming at the top of his lungs. Three people had to subdue him. The kids were a complete mess. My daughter still talks about that day. She had anxiety into going to school for weeks.

This POS was back in school the next day. The teacher never came back. She was supposed to have two more weeks before maternity leave and come back after the baby was born in May, but quit teaching. It was so f'ing traumatic. My daughter missed her teacher and they ended up with some crap sub the rest of the year.

We have had so many issues with ESOL kids. I understand there is a lack of communication and I have always said kids shouldn't be able to start school or be in a generalized classroom until they understand some English, but even still. No reason to be throwing down.

This is the RM cluster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a teacher, but in 2nd grade I was volunteering and a kid starting school speaking no English. He was crying most of the day. Just over and over again. The teacher (who was 8 months pregnant at the time) tried to go over and calm him and he punched her as hard as he could twice in the stomach and when she was falling back, another time in the face. Then he ran out in the halls screaming at the top of his lungs. Three people had to subdue him. The kids were a complete mess. My daughter still talks about that day. She had anxiety into going to school for weeks.

This POS was back in school the next day. The teacher never came back. She was supposed to have two more weeks before maternity leave and come back after the baby was born in May, but quit teaching. It was so f'ing traumatic. My daughter missed her teacher and they ended up with some crap sub the rest of the year.

We have had so many issues with ESOL kids. I understand there is a lack of communication and I have always said kids shouldn't be able to start school or be in a generalized classroom until they understand some English, but even still. No reason to be throwing down.

This is the RM cluster.

There’s no need to call a 7 year old a POS. Kids who come in with no English AND a history of trauma are extremely challenging and need a lot of special services/attention. Sometimes the schools know about the trauma history and sometimes they don’t. We have had many kids come into our school speaking no English that don’t react that way at all. The kid is clearly suffering and writing it off as a POS 7 year old is really wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a teacher, but in 2nd grade I was volunteering and a kid starting school speaking no English. He was crying most of the day. Just over and over again. The teacher (who was 8 months pregnant at the time) tried to go over and calm him and he punched her as hard as he could twice in the stomach and when she was falling back, another time in the face. Then he ran out in the halls screaming at the top of his lungs. Three people had to subdue him. The kids were a complete mess. My daughter still talks about that day. She had anxiety into going to school for weeks.

This POS was back in school the next day. The teacher never came back. She was supposed to have two more weeks before maternity leave and come back after the baby was born in May, but quit teaching. It was so f'ing traumatic. My daughter missed her teacher and they ended up with some crap sub the rest of the year.

We have had so many issues with ESOL kids. I understand there is a lack of communication and I have always said kids shouldn't be able to start school or be in a generalized classroom until they understand some English, but even still. No reason to be throwing down.

This is the RM cluster.

There’s no need to call a 7 year old a POS. Kids who come in with no English AND a history of trauma are extremely challenging and need a lot of special services/attention. Sometimes the schools know about the trauma history and sometimes they don’t. We have had many kids come into our school speaking no English that don’t react that way at all. The kid is clearly suffering and writing it off as a POS 7 year old is really wrong.

Sorry, but if they punched your child in the face or your pregnant belly you would feel otherwise. I don't give a crap how much trauma someone has in their life. No one goes in to a school punching. And he was 9 and the size of a 12yr old. You know how they send kids to younger grades because they have had limited schooling. Again, not my problem. It traumatized everyone and spooked the teacher out of her profession. So glad the only one you sympathize with is the kid throwing punches. I was there and I saw what he turned into as he was allowed to stay into the school and he was a POS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm also an elementary teacher and we are all at a loss as to what to do. Our admin is out at every lunch/recess and spend time literally camped out in certain grade level hallways in an attempt to keep control over a handful of unruly students. Like another poster mentioned, parents have blocked the school's phone numbers and the kids actually laugh when teachers or administrators threaten to call home. They know their parents either won't be reached or won't care. I know I have a parent who claims her child will be punished but this same kid also tells me he knows how to pester his mom so that she relents and lets him do whatever he wants.

I don't get it, can't the principal first suspend them, and then later move to expel them if they continue the disorder/yelling/fighting? I thought the rules are pretty clear in the student handbooks. Doesn't the principal have the authority to do that? I'm not seeing how their hands are tied down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also an elementary teacher and we are all at a loss as to what to do. Our admin is out at every lunch/recess and spend time literally camped out in certain grade level hallways in an attempt to keep control over a handful of unruly students. Like another poster mentioned, parents have blocked the school's phone numbers and the kids actually laugh when teachers or administrators threaten to call home. They know their parents either won't be reached or won't care. I know I have a parent who claims her child will be punished but this same kid also tells me he knows how to pester his mom so that she relents and lets him do whatever he wants.

I don't get it, can't the principal first suspend them, and then later move to expel them if they continue the disorder/yelling/fighting? I thought the rules are pretty clear in the student handbooks. Doesn't the principal have the authority to do that? I'm not seeing how their hands are tied down.

There are limitations if the student is on an IEP and it is found that the aggression occurs as a manifestation of disability

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also an elementary teacher and we are all at a loss as to what to do. Our admin is out at every lunch/recess and spend time literally camped out in certain grade level hallways in an attempt to keep control over a handful of unruly students. Like another poster mentioned, parents have blocked the school's phone numbers and the kids actually laugh when teachers or administrators threaten to call home. They know their parents either won't be reached or won't care. I know I have a parent who claims her child will be punished but this same kid also tells me he knows how to pester his mom so that she relents and lets him do whatever he wants.

I don't get it, can't the principal first suspend them, and then later move to expel them if they continue the disorder/yelling/fighting? I thought the rules are pretty clear in the student handbooks. Doesn't the principal have the authority to do that? I'm not seeing how their hands are tied down.

If they are a minority it is almost impossible to suspend. The school documented too many racial disparities in incidents (mean more blacks than whites) so many of them go undocumented now. That way the numbers look more even.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also an elementary teacher and we are all at a loss as to what to do. Our admin is out at every lunch/recess and spend time literally camped out in certain grade level hallways in an attempt to keep control over a handful of unruly students. Like another poster mentioned, parents have blocked the school's phone numbers and the kids actually laugh when teachers or administrators threaten to call home. They know their parents either won't be reached or won't care. I know I have a parent who claims her child will be punished but this same kid also tells me he knows how to pester his mom so that she relents and lets him do whatever he wants.

I don't get it, can't the principal first suspend them, and then later move to expel them if they continue the disorder/yelling/fighting? I thought the rules are pretty clear in the student handbooks. Doesn't the principal have the authority to do that? I'm not seeing how their hands are tied down.

If they are a minority it is almost impossible to suspend. The school documented too many racial disparities in incidents (mean more blacks than whites) so many of them go undocumented now. That way the numbers look more even.

Ok so then they are actually suspending them, but just not documenting it. Minority or not, I'm pretty sure the principal has the sole authority to suspend/expel if they are actually disrupting students and teachers and taking away school resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also an elementary teacher and we are all at a loss as to what to do. Our admin is out at every lunch/recess and spend time literally camped out in certain grade level hallways in an attempt to keep control over a handful of unruly students. Like another poster mentioned, parents have blocked the school's phone numbers and the kids actually laugh when teachers or administrators threaten to call home. They know their parents either won't be reached or won't care. I know I have a parent who claims her child will be punished but this same kid also tells me he knows how to pester his mom so that she relents and lets him do whatever he wants.

I don't get it, can't the principal first suspend them, and then later move to expel them if they continue the disorder/yelling/fighting? I thought the rules are pretty clear in the student handbooks. Doesn't the principal have the authority to do that? I'm not seeing how their hands are tied down.

There are limitations if the student is on an IEP and it is found that the aggression occurs as a manifestation of disability

Isn't the number of kids on a IEP a small percentage of the whole school? I'm assuming most of the troublemakers are not on a IEP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also an elementary teacher and we are all at a loss as to what to do. Our admin is out at every lunch/recess and spend time literally camped out in certain grade level hallways in an attempt to keep control over a handful of unruly students. Like another poster mentioned, parents have blocked the school's phone numbers and the kids actually laugh when teachers or administrators threaten to call home. They know their parents either won't be reached or won't care. I know I have a parent who claims her child will be punished but this same kid also tells me he knows how to pester his mom so that she relents and lets him do whatever he wants.

I don't get it, can't the principal first suspend them, and then later move to expel them if they continue the disorder/yelling/fighting? I thought the rules are pretty clear in the student handbooks. Doesn't the principal have the authority to do that? I'm not seeing how their hands are tied down.

There are limitations if the student is on an IEP and it is found that the aggression occurs as a manifestation of disability

Isn't the number of kids on a IEP a small percentage of the whole school? I'm assuming most of the troublemakers are not on a IEP.

It really depends on the school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also an elementary teacher and we are all at a loss as to what to do. Our admin is out at every lunch/recess and spend time literally camped out in certain grade level hallways in an attempt to keep control over a handful of unruly students. Like another poster mentioned, parents have blocked the school's phone numbers and the kids actually laugh when teachers or administrators threaten to call home. They know their parents either won't be reached or won't care. I know I have a parent who claims her child will be punished but this same kid also tells me he knows how to pester his mom so that she relents and lets him do whatever he wants.

I don't get it, can't the principal first suspend them, and then later move to expel them if they continue the disorder/yelling/fighting? I thought the rules are pretty clear in the student handbooks. Doesn't the principal have the authority to do that? I'm not seeing how their hands are tied down.

There are limitations if the student is on an IEP and it is found that the aggression occurs as a manifestation of disability

Isn't the number of kids on a IEP a small percentage of the whole school? I'm assuming most of the troublemakers are not on a IEP.

Many troublemakers are uncoded ED kids. They used to be sent to Alt programs where they were eventually coded. If a home school codes them, they can't remove them and send them to Alt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a teacher, but in 2nd grade I was volunteering and a kid starting school speaking no English. He was crying most of the day. Just over and over again. The teacher (who was 8 months pregnant at the time) tried to go over and calm him and he punched her as hard as he could twice in the stomach and when she was falling back, another time in the face. Then he ran out in the halls screaming at the top of his lungs. Three people had to subdue him. The kids were a complete mess. My daughter still talks about that day. She had anxiety into going to school for weeks.

This POS was back in school the next day. The teacher never came back. She was supposed to have two more weeks before maternity leave and come back after the baby was born in May, but quit teaching. It was so f'ing traumatic. My daughter missed her teacher and they ended up with some crap sub the rest of the year.

We have had so many issues with ESOL kids. I understand there is a lack of communication and I have always said kids shouldn't be able to start school or be in a generalized classroom until they understand some English, but even still. No reason to be throwing down.

This is the RM cluster.

There’s no need to call a 7 year old a POS. Kids who come in with no English AND a history of trauma are extremely challenging and need a lot of special services/attention. Sometimes the schools know about the trauma history and sometimes they don’t. We have had many kids come into our school speaking no English that don’t react that way at all. The kid is clearly suffering and writing it off as a POS 7 year old is really wrong.

Sorry, but if they punched your child in the face or your pregnant belly you would feel otherwise. I don't give a crap how much trauma someone has in their life. No one goes in to a school punching. And he was 9 and the size of a 12yr old. You know how they send kids to younger grades because they have had limited schooling. Again, not my problem. It traumatized everyone and spooked the teacher out of her profession. So glad the only one you sympathize with is the kid throwing punches. I was there and I saw what he turned into as he was allowed to stay into the school and he was a POS.

Slow down everyone....MCPS is promoting restorative justice!!!
So, everyone come in a circle and talk about this incident.. Oh, wait, the pregnant teacher is not here today and will not be returning...

Ok, then, we count this as done per MCPS practice of restorative justice. No detention, no consequence. Nothing to see here.