Concerned for my daughter's safety
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Anonymous
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My DD goes to Lewis High School and I am worried they have a student that might cause serious harm.
My daughter has an IEP so she is in a small self contained science class. About two months ago a new student transfered into Lewis because she was expelled from her previous district. In her two short months her she has assaulted multiple staff members. She tried to choke out a teacher and ripped of an earring. She also tried to stab security with scissors when they came. Student was only suspended for a week. The Lewis community received an email last week that student hit a staff member on the head with a water bottle and caused a disturbance when she was escorted to the office. I hear she is coming back on Monday. This has created a tense situation for my daughter and her classmates. She says the student is always hitting her IA. Nobody wants to be near the girl. When she doesn't get her way she crawls in a bawl and screams and moves under tables. How is this one student able to ruin the education of so many. Admin won't respond because they can't talk about student. I hear about everything from my daughter and other students/parents and generic emails from admin that her class had to be evacuated. Is there anything I can do as a parent? This girl obviously needs real help, but I'm afraid she is going to kill someone. |
Anonymous
| All parents should repeatedly contact the administrator with concerns for your child’s safety. Name names. Indicate that you will hold the school and child liable. Contact the school board. If you can, have general education parents contact administrators and the board, as well. If you have any reason at all, file charges and a protective order with the police. Don’t give up. Sorry your child has been placed in this situation. IEPs should not provide protection for one at the expense of safety for others. I’d file charges if I were the teacher. |
Anonymous
If my daughter gets attacked I will definitely be filing a police report. Hopefully that doesn't happen though. |
Anonymous
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We all need to contact school administration, the school board, and FCPS administration to talk about the need for REAL CONSEQUENCES. A girl who tries to harm multiple teachers, multiple times needs to be EXPELLED not suspended. Kids who start violent fights need long-term suspension. It is RIDICULOUS that FCPS has allowed itself to be bullied by parents and organizations who threaten lawsuits over and over again to the point that now there are never any consequences for any behavior.
On top of that, the consequences need to be the same regardless of race or socioeconomic status of the involved children. Don't be scared of the NAACP and don't be scared of rich parents. |
Anonymous
| It’s really ridiculous how FCPS prioritizes one child over the needs of everyone else in a class. I have seen it so many times. |
Anonymous
| Three months and we are done with FCPS, can't happen soon enough. We liked our elementary school, but heard reports that it went downhill fast soon after we left (largely for reasons similar to what the OP reports). Then our middle school was a big rough, but not horrible, then the principal left, the staff turned over and by all accounts it's a zoo. Our high school also had a principal change, which was a disaster, but might be back on track, it got hit hard by the influx of all of the illegal aliens. The school board is playing games with the safety of our kids, I wonder how many of them have kids in the schools. |
Anonymous
| I am genuinely concerned about how much more prevalent situations like this will become as FCPS moves towards 100% inclusion. I’ve already seen classrooms fall into complete chaos as parents of EAC kids at the school I teach at push for their kids to be placed in gen ed classrooms and specials rooms despite the fact that it is a completely inappropriate placement. OP, I’m so sorry your daughter is going through this. I know it’s hard, but please continue to advocate for her and the other kids in her room, and try to get the other parents involved as well. They won’t listen to teachers, but they will listen to parents if they’re loud enough. |
Anonymous
PLease tell me how you know FCPS is “moving towards 100% inclusion.” Who said it, what slide presentation said it, what memo said it? I’m asking because it’s 100% false. Does FCPS need to do a better job at inclusion? Absolutely. But to say that we’re going to 100% inclusion is a lie. VDOE is requiring 80% of students with IEPs spend a minimum of 80% of their day in an inclusion/gen ed setting. That means 20% of students cannot and should not be accessing gen ed to that extent. Nowhere does it say 100%. Stop spreading falsehoods. |
Anonymous
It was at our latest STAC meeting. There was quite an uproar, and many of us were talking about leaving the profession if this becomes the new norm. I wish I was fear mongering and spreading misinformation, but it will be public soon enough. |
Anonymous
This is genuine curiosity - why do parents push for gen ed when their children clearly have special needs? Isn't there more of a chance of that child getting a good education or making progress on challenges in a specialized setting? |
Anonymous
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OP: Email the Teacher, Principal, Vice Principal, and Counselor explaining your child’s concerns and the impact it is having on her learning experience. This could help the school push for the child to be moved to a more appropriate environment because they have impact statements from parents on how other kids are reacting to the situation.
The email should be “My child witnessed X in her classroom today. She is afraid because this is the X time that this child has behaved in this manner. It is causing her anxiety and it is causing her to X (not want to go to school, drop in grades, develop anxiety).” You can include your concerns for the teachers safety and well being in your email, I would guess that the Teachers would be happy to hear that parents are worried about them. The school will not tell you what they are doing because the are not allowed to but statements from parents and staff about the adverse reactions to the other child's behavior can help speed change. After the first two you send, include the Principal’s supervisor. |
Anonymous
Some parents don’t want to believe that their child is different. Some parents don’t understand how much their kids needs impact their education. Some parents worry that their child won’t get into college without all honors or AP/IB or having been in specialized placement. Some kids might be in the cusp of being able to be in the gen ed classroom and it is legitimately hard to tell when the kid is prepared, with supports, to move from a restrictive environment into gen ed environment. Some kids who are ready might sturuggle because it is so different and they are anxious. Some restrictive placements are just bad because of how they are managed or because the kids in the environment are genuinely out of control. |
Anonymous
Teacher here. They are in denial. They don’t want the kid labeled. |
Anonymous
A lot of it is unwillingness on the parts of parents to accept that their kid has different needs and is unable to thrive in a traditional classroom environment. And there are plenty of educational advocates willing to charge exorbitant prices to prey on their worry over their kids futures. |
Anonymous
This girl is in a self contained class. That seems appropriate. She isn’t in an gen ed class. |