teacher dies from interaction in school

[Anonymous]

Alfred Jimenez was killed in his classroom earlier this month. His death has been ruled a homicide. And yet, virtually every school in the U.S. has students who are physically aggressive. While the student in question had an IEP, this is not just about students with disabilities. At some point, teachers, staff and students need legal protections from all the students who are unsafe and do not belong in schools. Period. FAPE needs to be redefined.

https://www.lmtonline.com/news/local/article/brandeis-teacher-death-18681974.php

[Anonymous]

We need more security and SRO's back in the schools.

[Anonymous]

There needs to be federal funding to comply with FAPE including for private placement when a mainstream classroom is not an appropriate environment. But no one seems to care or run for office on this issue.

[Anonymous]

We need to fund and staff schools appropriately. But that means taxing the wealthy, most of whom don't use the schools and so don't care about this problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need to fund and staff schools appropriately. But that means taxing the wealthy, most of whom don't use the schools and so don't care about this problem.

Maybe we start by spending more on student-facing roles and less on central office or in-school-but-non-teaching roles?

[Anonymous]

Not just FAPE, or IEPs, OP. Violent behavior should NEVER be tolerated from anyone.

As I've said on threads in the MCPS forum discussing the violent climate at some MCPS schools, we need to pay for more alternative schools for violent youths: I called it Juvie with a Degree. Expulsion from school is a not a long-term solution, because it just turns kids into hardened criminals - they've got nowhere to go and no professional future. But they cannot stay in general education either, endangering innocent adults and kids. Taxpayers need to put their mouth where their wallet is and cough up enough to create educational pathways specific to these students.

Currently MCPS has an alternative school, but the model is insufficient and kids are shunted back to mainstream schools after a period of time, when they're considered non-violent again - and then they go right back to re-offending. One such student has been charged with rape in an MCPS high school.

This has to stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not just FAPE, or IEPs, OP. Violent behavior should NEVER be tolerated from anyone.

As I've said on threads in the MCPS forum discussing the violent climate at some MCPS schools, we need to pay for more alternative schools for violent youths: I called it Juvie with a Degree. Expulsion from school is a not a long-term solution, because it just turns kids into hardened criminals - they've got nowhere to go and no professional future. But they cannot stay in general education either, endangering innocent adults and kids. Taxpayers need to put their mouth where their wallet is and cough up enough to create educational pathways specific to these students.

Currently MCPS has an alternative school, but the model is insufficient and kids are shunted back to mainstream schools after a period of time, when they're considered non-violent again - and then they go right back to re-offending. One such student has been charged with rape in an MCPS high school.

This has to stop.

OP here. Agree 100%

[Anonymous]

+1 that FAPE needs to be redefined to explicitly exclude anyone who has ever exhibited violent behavior from mainstream classrooms and to make it clear that some people can’t derail the education of others by being a constant distraction in the classroom (by constantly talking, for example).

[Anonymous]

This is the failure of mainstreaming special ed students + lack of funding and overly large classrooms + a culture of disrespect.

Inevitable, really.

[Anonymous]

Where does it say he died from an interaction? He hit the floor and sustained injuries. It says he worked with students with cognitive disabilities but nothing says a child did this to him.

[Anonymous]

Child was in a self-contained classroom. Not sure what you want - kids to be chained up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the failure of mainstreaming special ed students + lack of funding and overly large classrooms + a culture of disrespect.

Inevitable, really.

child was in a self-contained classroom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1 that FAPE needs to be redefined to explicitly exclude anyone who has ever exhibited violent behavior from mainstream classrooms and to make it clear that some people can’t derail the education of others by being a constant distraction in the classroom (by constantly talking, for example).

THIS WAS SELF CONTAINED. But go ahead with your rant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where does it say he died from an interaction? He hit the floor and sustained injuries. It says he worked with students with cognitive disabilities but nothing says a child did this to him.

"Jimenez was reportedly "attempting to redirect a student" when he fell to the floor and sustained a head injury that sent him to the hospital." Then later it says the fall was ruled a homicide. Read between the lines here. If he simply fell during the course of being at work and hit his head, it would not have been ruled a homicide. He died of blunt force trauma. What, do you think another staff member pushed him?

And yeah, this happened in a special ed self contained room. The students in that room deserve safety along with the staff, too. There needs to be special schools for violent students. I don't care if they have IEPs or not. Students who harm others do not belong in gen ed or sped rooms. Perhaps we can have schools for violent kids where they get all instruction online for the safety of the teachers. Then we can hire security guards or police officers to be in the rooms with these students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need more security and SRO's back in the schools.

Did you bother to read what the "interaction" consisted of? He was trying to redirect a student, but fell and hit his head.