Suspending PreK Students?

[Anonymous]

So the problem child is "closer" to the teacher therefore the teacher spends even more time on this one kid and ignores the advanced well behaved kids. I don't think people should get so hung up on if the suspensions are minority kids or not. Some of these kids come from horrific backgrounds and while school is probably the safest place for them, CPS needs to be involvd to find out why their parents or home environments are creating so many issues. I have heard enough about young girls being harassed by young boys in class to be highly concered about some of the agressive behavior that starts in K. the bullies are learning that from being in environemnts where they are wathcing violent and sxual video games in the home, experiencing and witnessing violence from their moms and their boyfriends and then taking that learned behcaivor into a classroom. No thanks. I have zero tolerance if my child is the victim.

My impression from the teacher is that the child sits next to her at circle time and has his nap mat placed next to her during rest time. And for what it's worth, my response to what happened to my daughter was to immediately call a meeting with her teacher, the school's counselor and the principal to discuss what happened and how to prevent it from happening again. THEIR response was to schedule a meeting with his mom, have him meet with the psychologist and report what happened to CFSA. The child is still in the classroom. I assume the investigation is ongoing. I recognize and accept that they cannot disclose the progress of that investigation to me. I am satisfied with my responses to the situation and the way I advocated for my child. The school's response gave me confidence that they are not ignoring the problem. My daughter's teacher's response did not lead me to believe that she would be unable to pay attention to other students.

That said, the rest of your post is pretty offensive and I would be very interested what direct experience you have with anything you're talking about, just to make sure that it's not complete racist garbage you're spewing here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

So the problem child is "closer" to the teacher therefore the teacher spends even more time on this one kid and ignores the advanced well behaved kids. I don't think people should get so hung up on if the suspensions are minority kids or not. Some of these kids come from horrific backgrounds and while school is probably the safest place for them, CPS needs to be involvd to find out why their parents or home environments are creating so many issues. I have heard enough about young girls being harassed by young boys in class to be highly concered about some of the agressive behavior that starts in K. the bullies are learning that from being in environemnts where they are wathcing violent and sxual video games in the home, experiencing and witnessing violence from their moms and their boyfriends and then taking that learned behcaivor into a classroom. No thanks. I have zero tolerance if my child is the victim.

My impression from the teacher is that the child sits next to her at circle time and has his nap mat placed next to her during rest time. And for what it's worth, my response to what happened to my daughter was to immediately call a meeting with her teacher, the school's counselor and the principal to discuss what happened and how to prevent it from happening again. THEIR response was to schedule a meeting with his mom, have him meet with the psychologist and report what happened to CFSA. The child is still in the classroom. I assume the investigation is ongoing. I recognize and accept that they cannot disclose the progress of that investigation to me. I am satisfied with my responses to the situation and the way I advocated for my child. The school's response gave me confidence that they are not ignoring the problem. My daughter's teacher's response did not lead me to believe that she would be unable to pay attention to other students.

That said, the rest of your post is pretty offensive and I would be very interested what direct experience you have with anything you're talking about, just to make sure that it's not complete racist garbage you're spewing here.

Not pp you are answering and calling racist. I do not call it is racist at all to want students with severe behavioral problems to not be in the same classroom with those who do not. I do not care what color the student is; if their behavior is a danger to others either emotionally or physically I do not want them in the same classroom. In DC, it is probably more children of color who are suspended by virtue of socio-economics, that is most white students are from high SES. In the city where I came from it could be a child of any race so this is not about race. It is about meeting the needs of every kid and keeping kids safe.

[Anonymous]

NP here, and I'm with PP in calling the poster racist. Like this gem:

"the bullies are learning that from being in environemnts [sic] where they are wathcing [sic] violent and sxual [sic] video games in the home, experiencing and witnessing violence from their moms and their boyfriends and then taking that learned behcaivor [sic] into a classroom. No thanks."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So the problem child is "closer" to the teacher therefore the teacher spends even more time on this one kid and ignores the advanced well behaved kids. I don't think people should get so hung up on if the suspensions are minority kids or not. Some of these kids come from horrific backgrounds and while school is probably the safest place for them, CPS needs to be involvd to find out why their parents or home environments are creating so many issues. I have heard enough about young girls being harassed by young boys in class to be highly concered about some of the agressive behavior that starts in K. the bullies are learning that from being in environemnts where they are wathcing violent and sxual video games in the home, experiencing and witnessing violence from their moms and their boyfriends and then taking that learned behcaivor into a classroom. No thanks. I have zero tolerance if my child is the victim.

My impression from the teacher is that the child sits next to her at circle time and has his nap mat placed next to her during rest time. And for what it's worth, my response to what happened to my daughter was to immediately call a meeting with her teacher, the school's counselor and the principal to discuss what happened and how to prevent it from happening again. THEIR response was to schedule a meeting with his mom, have him meet with the psychologist and report what happened to CFSA. The child is still in the classroom. I assume the investigation is ongoing. I recognize and accept that they cannot disclose the progress of that investigation to me. I am satisfied with my responses to the situation and the way I advocated for my child. The school's response gave me confidence that they are not ignoring the problem. My daughter's teacher's response did not lead me to believe that she would be unable to pay attention to other students.

That said, the rest of your post is pretty offensive and I would be very interested what direct experience you have with anything you're talking about, just to make sure that it's not complete racist garbage you're spewing here.

Not pp you are answering and calling racist. I do not call it is racist at all to want students with severe behavioral problems to not be in the same classroom with those who do not. I do not care what color the student is; if their behavior is a danger to others either emotionally or physically I do not want them in the same classroom. In DC, it is probably more children of color who are suspended by virtue of socio-economics, that is most white students are from high SES. In the city where I came from it could be a child of any race so this is not about race. It is about meeting the needs of every kid and keeping kids safe.

The research in question was not specific to DC schools, PP. And it was clearly about race. Story here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/03/21/292456211/black-preschoolers-far-more-likely-to-be-suspended

If you are unable to understand the racial dynamics at play here, I do not know what to tell you. You don't get to decide who is and is not in your child's classroom, like it or not. Your option is to remove your own child, or escalate things legally with the school in order to have the child removed. My choice was to focus on helping that child, which is what is happening now. I am satisfied that my child is being protected to the best of her teacher's ability.

[Anonymous]

Does DCPS even have a special school for children who are severely emotional disturbed? I thought they closed those schools down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here, and I'm with PP in calling the poster racist. Like this gem:

"the bullies are learning that from being in environemnts [sic] where they are wathcing [sic] violent and sxual [sic] video games in the home, experiencing and witnessing violence from their moms and their boyfriends and then taking that learned behcaivor [sic] into a classroom. No thanks."

Excuse me, the same sort of thing can be found in tons of homes with white families in this country. It just so happens in DC that because of SES it more often happens with black families here so this has nothing to do with racism. Stop making everything about race when it is not.

[Anonymous]

Not about race.

Perhaps it's about ethics in gaming journalism?

[Anonymous]

Suspending a PreK child is terrible! These children need support and educated on how to behave or deal with problems. It is a lazy administrator who just suspends them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Suspending a PreK child is terrible! These children need support and educated on how to behave or deal with problems. It is a lazy administrator who just suspends them!

I did not say to suspend them. I said to educate them in a separate class. Now if simple interventions like sitting near the teacher work that is different. However, I have spoke with many teachers who told me of some very out of control students who took most of their attention away from the rest of the class and also posed a safety risk for the other children emotionally and physically. To me that is unacceptable and the schools should have criteria on when it becomes necessary to pull a student out of a classroom.

[Anonymous]

If a child is a candidate for being suspended from PreK, the first thing that should be done is to match that family with a social worker and a parenting coach. The parents and the school need to work together to figure out why the child is acting out and how he/she can be best helped.

[Anonymous]

I am the parent of a white male prek3 DCPS student. I would much rather my son deal with a few disruptions than see an African American child suspended for the same behavior that my son gets away with. The research suggests that the latter is happening. Special education professionals are available at the school for kids who have identified emotional and learning difficulties, and I haven't seen anything at the PreK level to suggest thatprocesses to identify those kids aren't working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here, and I'm with PP in calling the poster racist. Like this gem:

"the bullies are learning that from being in environemnts [sic] where they are wathcing [sic] violent and sxual [sic] video games in the home, experiencing and witnessing violence from their moms and their boyfriends and then taking that learned behcaivor [sic] into a classroom. No thanks."

Excuse me, the same sort of thing can be found in tons of homes with white families in this country. It just so happens in DC that because of SES it more often happens with black families here so this has nothing to do with racism. Stop making everything about race when it is not.

I agree that poor behavior transcends race. I stand by what I said about this issue though. Black preschoolers are disproportionately suspended. I'm sorry that those facts do not comport with your worldview. If children are so violent that they cannot be in a classroom, the school does what it can. As far as I know, there is no comprehensive discipline policy for all of DCPS preschool. My child's school has a policy that involved positive behavior reinforcement, even for older kids. Despite its high poverty rate, as far as I know, that policy has been relatively effective at redirecting problematic behavior without employing suspensions or expulsions, even in extreme cases like what happened to my daughter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Suspending a PreK child is terrible! These children need support and educated on how to behave or deal with problems. It is a lazy administrator who just suspends them!

I did not say to suspend them. I said to educate them in a separate class. Now if simple interventions like sitting near the teacher work that is different. However, I have spoke with many teachers who told me of some very out of control students who took most of their attention away from the rest of the class and also posed a safety risk for the other children emotionally and physically. To me that is unacceptable and the schools should have criteria on when it becomes necessary to pull a student out of a classroom.

Not PP you are responding to, but at my DCPS if smaller measures (like having kid sit next to teacher) don't work then the child is absolutely removed from th classroom. This is rarely necessary. My school does not, however, suspend PK students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here, and I'm with PP in calling the poster racist. Like this gem:

"the bullies are learning that from being in environemnts [sic] where they are wathcing [sic] violent and sxual [sic] video games in the home, experiencing and witnessing violence from their moms and their boyfriends and then taking that learned behcaivor [sic] into a classroom. No thanks."

Excuse me, the same sort of thing can be found in tons of homes with white families in this country. It just so happens in DC that because of SES it more often happens with black families here so this has nothing to do with racism. Stop making everything about race when it is not.

I agree that poor behavior transcends race. I stand by what I said about this issue though. Black preschoolers are disproportionately suspended. I'm sorry that those facts do not comport with your worldview. If children are so violent that they cannot be in a classroom, the school does what it can. As far as I know, there is no comprehensive discipline policy for all of DCPS preschool. My child's school has a policy that involved positive behavior reinforcement, even for older kids. Despite its high poverty rate, as far as I know, that policy has been relatively effective at redirecting problematic behavior without employing suspensions or expulsions, even in extreme cases like what happened to my daughter.

I don't know what you mean by older children, and given our experience I don't think what happened to your daughter was "extreme." Now when you start talking about older children who get into physical fights where kids actually end up hurt, or teachers end up hurt, or a boy who is threatening to rape a girl and we all know he knows what it means, who is talking about how his father has a gun and has killed someone........ THEN you can talk to me about EXTREME. When your child ends up in the ER, you can talk to me about extreme. Oh and in case you care all the students in question were minority students, so no little snowflakes were involved. And that teacher who says you can call CPS till hell freezes over and they will never come was also on the money. Did you see the utube video about the flash mob attack in Galleria Place between Wilson and McKinley Tech students? It was posted here somewhere last year. Watch it and then come back here and talk to us all, educate us all, about what is "extreme" behavior. They got enough verbally disruptive kids so sometimes can't hardly teach, what about that kid from DC General last year who did what to a teacher and what with a window? Oh and I'm sorry because now that I mentioned he was at DC General I gonna catch hell and I'm done for. I flying my racist flag..... and you all gonna catch me and put me in my place, not that you have ever heard of someone being "schooled." Lady, I think we come from two different worlds - they may both be real, but one is a hell of a lot more dangerous than the other, and I think one is a hell of a lot more common in this chocolate city of ours. Just some thiings to consider when you are so proud of your response - some "victims" don't have parents capable of doing that, or worse, those parents aint the right color so no one going to listen to them in the first place.

[Anonymous]

To the teacher, who is obviously posting on this thread, watch yourself. You are telling your parents some very real information and kids. Information they are not privy to.
I get that you want this student out of your room. But it's not going to happen. Teachers across the district have violent students. And we don't get them moved.
Secondly- stay in your lane. Your job is to teach the kids. You are a free agent. You can walk away from the job. The parents of the kids in your room can do that. But that's it.
Lastly, this is why dcpS pays so much. My guess is that you've had a fairly sweet ride up until now. Maybe even taken a few bonuses. Now you are on the flip side. Not saying it's ok that dc pays us for abuse, but then again ...
If you want butterflies and roses teaching- don't teach in an urban district.
For the record, I don't think you are racist. I think you are outraged and upset about your kids. So now decide if you are going to sink your career for your disgust or walk away.