"Calling security" on pre-K students :(

[Anonymous]

DS goes to Pre-K at a DCPS, and recently has been saying things to me like he is "going to call security on me and put me in jail" when I try to set a reasonable limit with him. I was kind of surprised and wondered where he had gotten that from. Today I casually mentioned it to the teacher (who is a sub while the actual teacher is on maternity leave) and she said that they had been calling in the school security guard to discipline a few out of control and physically violent kids. I was shocked!

She said it was not my DS that they were calling security on, and that the security guard didn't always even physically come into the room, but that didn't reassure me any. Obviously DS is internalizing these threatening tactics and is now spitting them back out at me. More importantly, it must be just plain scary for him and the other kids!

She also said that it didn't even work because 5 minutes after the security guard leaves, the kids in question are back at it again. Clearly this teacher and her assistant do not have adequate training to deal with discipline problems in the classroom. I am going to talk to the principal, but this makes me just want to take my child out of the school now! I feel like what is this, a school or a prison?

Am I overreacting? WWYD?

[Anonymous]

Holy crap. You are not overreacting. I'd definitely talk to the principal as a starter. Hopefully other experienced DCPS parents have some perspective on this as well.

[Anonymous]

In this day and age where a teacher's options are limited by law and the court of public opinion, what would you advise a teacher with an out of control, physically violent kid (who probably refused a time out) to do? Leave the classroom?, hit the kid?, call security?. Obviously you wouldn't want your kid's teacher to leave the classroom unattended with an out of control kid in there and you would not want your kids' teacher to hit the unruly kid(s). Maybe calling security (without the verbal threat of being put in jail) is the lesser of all the options. It doesn't seem like the kid(s) would have listened to the principal either.

[Anonymous]

My DD constantly tells me she's going to put me in time-out because I'm naughty. This started in pre-K.

[Anonymous]

You are not over-reacting, and your instincts about the teacher are right, in my opinion. If this sub is supposed to be a long-term sub while the teacher is out on maternity leave, then she needs to learn basic classroom management skills.

I can't imagine any situation where the teacher would need to call the security guard to deal with misbehaving 4 year olds.

Good luck on your meeting with the principal.

[Anonymous]

If the child is hitting and screaming and kicking, the security guard is called to document the situation. This is a case of the teacher covering herself legally. If the child goes home with bruises, even if self-inflicted by flinging self on floor or banging their head on the floor etc..., guess who is in trouble? Yep, the teacher.

I would talk to the principal though, as there should be another level of intervention here teacher-principal-security and the school counselor and/or social worker should be tossed in there as well.

[Anonymous]

From what experience do you speak? If the child is kicking and screaming, then it would make sense to call the principal or the school counselor. I don't believe that the security guard is trained in child development and has any skills whatsoever in classroom management.

Please tell me that you, PP, are not a preK teacher in DCPS.

[Anonymous]

We are going to keep having these problems as long as we don't allow teachers to carry guns.

Hopefully with the new Congress we will make some progress here. Little Johnny might think twice about acting out if he knew his teacher was packing a Glock 9mm.

[Anonymous]

This is EXTREME, even if it is protocol. How out of control are the students? Does this teacher have experience with this age group? I would ask for a meeting with the principal, with other concerned parents. I cannot imagine you are the only one who thinks this has to be handled differently. At the very least, the school should be communicating this approach to families so they can discuss things with their children.

[Anonymous]

12:12, no I'm a parent.

And it's not like the security guard comes to rough up the kid. They come to walk the child to the principal or counselor.

I can't speak about OP's situation. Maybe the teacher is using security as a threat, which is wrong.

However, if you have a child who is throwing a tantrum and might injure himself, another child, or the teacher, then you need backup. If the child goes home with bruised forehead, you can bet that teacher needs to have that injury witnessed and documented.

Personally, I have seen children so completely out of control that they had to be removed from the classroom. And here's the kicker--these were not low income kids with difficult family situations. These were highly indulged 4 year olds who had never once yet heard the word "no." The transition to pre-K was rough for these children. And it sucked to have my kid in class with them and their clueless parents.

[Anonymous]

12:29 - read the OP's post. The teacher is using the threat to call security as a classroom management technique. Terribly ineffective, as even the teacher herself admits.

[Anonymous]

If I learned that the school was "calling security" on my pre-k child without telling me, I would pull that kid out of that school immediately. And, if I learned that they were "calling security" on other kids in their class, I would start thinking pretty seriously about pulling my kid out. My assumption would be that my child was in real danger, and such a situation had better be explained to me. What school is this?

[Anonymous]

You don't have enough information to react at this point. Why is security being called. What is going on in the classroom. Once you have that information, you can have an opinion or a reaction. But at this point, you really need to get information.

I found 12:29's post to be quite informative. Also, I too have worked with kids and have seen some pretty seriously out of control behavior from young kids, which would not have been able to be managed in a classroom. There has to be some protocol to remove the out of control kid and keep the others safe and keep the learning environment intact.

[Anonymous]

No 12:33, the teacher is calling in the security guard.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like at the very least, the teacher is threatening the children that she will call security, and doing so loudly enough that all the other children can hear it. Putting aside for a moment the appropriateness of actually calling security when a child is out of control, this verbal tactic is just wrong, especially for other (innocent) children to witness.