chair pulling - appropriate teacher reaction?

[Anonymous]

Kids are not allowed to get in trouble anymore so it's best just to ignore the chaos in the classroom because admin will retaliate if they see "bad data" when reporting. Everything needs to just be hunky dory or low paid teachers will get fired.

[Anonymous]

So the kid who pulled a prank that injured the other kid got zero consequence? That does not seem like the right way to handle it. I would be pretty annoyed.

[Anonymous]

The offending child should have been reprimanded immediately or sent to the office, also with a note to his/her parents. Everyone is electronically connected these days. I would have a word with the teacher.

[Anonymous]

What if the bully kid has parents who donate a million dollars every year from their stock dividends. It really doesn't matter that kids are getting hurt and education is being hindered-thats a lot of money. If the teachers are not able to donate millions out of their paycheck- the math does not add up. This is how crime is legalized for the oligarchs so we should be teaching children that crime is ok because that is just how it works.

[Anonymous]

You don't know what follow-up took place with the other kid, but if you're concerned, let someone at the school know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did your kid explain his injuries? It sounds like he handled them privately, I don’t blame him for that but the teacher may have thought it wasn’t a big deal if he thought there weren’t really any injuries.

If the teacher doesn’t think the chair pulling is a big deal, she won’t mind when this kid doesn’t it to her.

[Anonymous]

Does it to her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On a scale of one to 10, how upset would you be:

4th grader has the chair pulled from out under him during class by another classmate and falls hard to the floor. Teacher just says “don’t do that again” to the chair puller and offers your kid to go to the nurse. Child walks to nurse’s room and no one is there. Goes to bathroom to soothe his arm with wet paper towels and returns to class.

No repercussions, no follow up. I’m less upset at the kid who did it and more upset that all the adults didn’t do anything.

Totally agree with you - horrible.

[Anonymous]

Teacher have accepted that students probably will attack us many different times in our career. The thing is we need money to eat and pay for gas etc and can't lose our jobs by reporting crime in schools. That makes the schools look bad and makes us in line for retaliation. As teachers who have no support we are danged if we do and danged if we dont so ignoring is the safest bet for us.

[Anonymous]

Schools usually do not share with parents the consequences meted out to offenders, OP. So unless you know for a fact, because the teacher told you, that the chair puller was not reprimanded in any way... you don't know how he was punished behind closed doors.

[Anonymous]

Since this in the private school forum, I would take advantage of one of the perks of private vs public schools which should be having a more direct line to the administration. I would be very upset re this incident because the potential to get hurt is high. My friend's DD got a concussions this way (fell so far backwards so hit her head on the desk/table behind her) and got very hurt. You could also hurt your tailbone, elbow, arm or wrist in this scenario. Her concussions ended up being bad, so maybe a freak accident but she's had major issues even since.

I would go straight to the principal and insist the offender not be seated anywhere near my DD again to decrease the likelihood of reoccurrence. I would also ask about what the school will do to keep my kid safe from this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Schools usually do not share with parents the consequences meted out to offenders, OP. So unless you know for a fact, because the teacher told you, that the chair puller was not reprimanded in any way... you don't know how he was punished behind closed doors.

Reprimanding is not just for the wrongdoer, it's so the whole class knows this isn't tolerated. If there's no reprimand then the school is signaling the behavior is fine.

[Anonymous]

The school isn't going to notify you of repercussions or consequences. If it doesn't happen again then you can consider the matter resolved. Your kid is fine.

[Anonymous]

I brought my kid to the ENT.
What was in his ear that was blocking is hearing a spitball.
I knew this was happening and ignored it.
It is 12 years later, and I am still annoyed when I see this 22 year old.

When your child is harmed, you have a right to be upset. If you are me, hold that grudge as long as you can.

However, teachers can't always announce consequences.

She may have:
Emailed the other child's parents
Added the incident to a chart about behaviors she is asked to track to get this child evaluated for a disorder
Gone to admin and told them she wants this child moved out of her class
Took the child off to the side during recess or a special and offered a consequence away for the group
Went to a counselor to report the behavior.
Called CPS because children who hurt others are sometimes hurt at home (probably not).

If your child got treatment from the nurse she may have addressed it away from your child to not embarrass your child, since he was injured in a sensitive place.

You are well within your rights to ask admin to look into this because you don't want the classroom to be a place where people need to be on-edge or hypervigilant and ask for some support for the teacher and a review of the policy/handbook. Maybe the child should be suspended for a day.

[Anonymous]

I’d expect consequences for the chair puller. First time explain why not to do it - 2 sentences max. Second time principal or dean’s office and a call home.