Swanson?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would also help to have the SROs back in the building. This would free up the staff that has suddenly had to play security guard.

This doesn't make sense. If all you need is a warm body, then why do you need a warm body who is authorized and trained on the use of deadly force? There is a lot of time and money spent on law enforcement training, plus Arlington has a shortage of police officers right now. For every person who you want to carry a gun in schools (in order to do what exactly?), that's one less person assigned to showing up at a burglary at 3 a.m., or at least one more person who is showing up while on so many overtime shifts to cover vacancies that they are sleep deprived.

"It would also help to have additional crisis intervention personnel in the building." Fixed that for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the news said police have been called to the school 22 times in the past year? this is what you get when you remove SROs
these kids need some social emotional learning clearly

This isn't just an issue of removing SROs. This is an issue of putting kids who should be in alternative placements into gen ed environments. Removing SROs is a convenient lightning rod but it's not the real problem. The real problem is that the pendulum has swung way too far on inclusion and mainstreaming. Those of us who work in education have been saying this since NCLB started. I guarantee the kids who are causing trouble had issues in elementary school well before the pandemic and the administrators there quietly swept them under the rug. In a high SES district that's usually a mixture of parents refusing to agree to alternate placement and too many discipline referrals looking bad for schools. The pandemic let a lot of administrators off the hook because discipline referrals magically disappeared when these students were no longer in the buildings.

This 100%. I worked in a NArl ES for many years and was really saddened witnessing what you wrote about above. On more than one occasion, a student really, really should have been moved to an alternative placement, but the parents refused so they just stayed or transferred to a neighboring school. Therefore, the child wasn't getting the support needed and other students also paid the price.

Absolutely true. It’s very frustrating and a huge cause of burnout among sped staff especially.

I’m so sorry you have had to deal with that. I have to say in this particular case it’s not a SPED situation. Hopefully the school is providing the resources necessary to get this person appropriate help. Way too young to be in trouble like this multiple times. And budgets are cutting counselors/psychologists.

[Anonymous]

Are parents contacting APS about this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are parents contacting APS about this?

What do you mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are parents contacting APS about this?

What do you mean?

If this individual has in fact made threats of gun violence against the school, what are they doing? What's the strategy when dealing with a known threat? Information coming out still seems to be very lacking in terms of what APS is doing. It really hit me dropping my child off this morning.

[Anonymous]

DD (6th) hadn't heard about the taser but she did mention a kid breaking a window and says this kid is always in trouble (they went to the same ES so she has known him for awhile). She also has a class with the kid who was bullied and hadn't heard about the incident, but made it seem like that kid was a big troublemaker and was known for outbursts and also using bad language (racial/ethnic slurs). Not sure if that was after the incident in the news but it did make me wonder if there was more to that bullying story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD (6th) hadn't heard about the taser but she did mention a kid breaking a window and says this kid is always in trouble (they went to the same ES so she has known him for awhile). She also has a class with the kid who was bullied and hadn't heard about the incident, but made it seem like that kid was a big troublemaker and was known for outbursts and also using bad language (racial/ethnic slurs). Not sure if that was after the incident in the news but it did make me wonder if there was more to that bullying story.

The student who brought the taser is a 7th grader and he has already been suspended in the past for making comments about shooting up the school. Some 7th grade parents had already contacted Swanson about this situation before he showed up with the taser. There are other bullies in 7th grade, but this student is well-known for being the worst of them all. My son said the kids are openly talking about how they are afraid he's going to come back from his taser suspension after spring break with a real gun.

[Anonymous]

Oh man, that's terrible. Wonder if I should mention anything to DD or if that would just scare her for no reason? She does seem kind of naive, like I was trying to tell her to leave XYZ at home and she responded with "nobody at Swanson steals". I tried to tell her differently but maybe she's in a bit of a bubble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD (6th) hadn't heard about the taser but she did mention a kid breaking a window and says this kid is always in trouble (they went to the same ES so she has known him for awhile). She also has a class with the kid who was bullied and hadn't heard about the incident, but made it seem like that kid was a big troublemaker and was known for outbursts and also using bad language (racial/ethnic slurs). Not sure if that was after the incident in the news but it did make me wonder if there was more to that bullying story.

Are you saying the child on the spectrum is a "big troublemaker" and you are questioning that he was bullied into saying a word that rhymes with vinegar? I would take what your child had heard through the grape vine with a grain of salt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD (6th) hadn't heard about the taser but she did mention a kid breaking a window and says this kid is always in trouble (they went to the same ES so she has known him for awhile). She also has a class with the kid who was bullied and hadn't heard about the incident, but made it seem like that kid was a big troublemaker and was known for outbursts and also using bad language (racial/ethnic slurs). Not sure if that was after the incident in the news but it did make me wonder if there was more to that bullying story.

Are you saying the child on the spectrum is a "big troublemaker" and you are questioning that he was bullied into saying a word that rhymes with vinegar? I would take what your child had heard through the grape vine with a grain of salt.

+1. This is part of the downstream impact of the bullying this child experienced - that now kids think he said racial slurs because the kids who assaulted him spread that gossip. Please dissuade your DD from thinking he did, and remind her to act kindly. We have known this family and this child for many years, and the challenges he faces daily as a result of his special needs are very real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD (6th) hadn't heard about the taser but she did mention a kid breaking a window and says this kid is always in trouble (they went to the same ES so she has known him for awhile). She also has a class with the kid who was bullied and hadn't heard about the incident, but made it seem like that kid was a big troublemaker and was known for outbursts and also using bad language (racial/ethnic slurs). Not sure if that was after the incident in the news but it did make me wonder if there was more to that bullying story.

Are you saying the child on the spectrum is a "big troublemaker" and you are questioning that he was bullied into saying a word that rhymes with vinegar? I would take what your child had heard through the grape vine with a grain of salt.

Quoted PP here, my child actually has class with the boy so it isn't exactly the grapevine. I wasn't sure from DD's story if the incident was from before or after the bullying. I did talk to her though about trying to be more understanding and realizing that he faces challenges due to special needs and isn't acting out "on purpose". I think it can be hard for kids to differentiate between kids who are just badly behaved and those who have some kind of issue going on. When everyone is in class together and nobody is "labelled" - for obvious reasons - the kids may not know who has special needs per se.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would also help to have the SROs back in the building. This would free up the staff that has suddenly had to play security guard.

This doesn't make sense. If all you need is a warm body, then why do you need a warm body who is authorized and trained on the use of deadly force? There is a lot of time and money spent on law enforcement training, plus Arlington has a shortage of police officers right now. For every person who you want to carry a gun in schools (in order to do what exactly?), that's one less person assigned to showing up at a burglary at 3 a.m., or at least one more person who is showing up while on so many overtime shifts to cover vacancies that they are sleep deprived.

"It would also help to have additional crisis intervention personnel in the building." Fixed that for you.

Sorry SROs do not use DEADLY force--way to overexaggerate. Kids have a way of keeping things in check when they know there is supervsions...I think the administrators and teachers are overwhelmed obviously with the police being called to Swanson more than 20 times in the past year. I agree we have a shortage of police in the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD (6th) hadn't heard about the taser but she did mention a kid breaking a window and says this kid is always in trouble (they went to the same ES so she has known him for awhile). She also has a class with the kid who was bullied and hadn't heard about the incident, but made it seem like that kid was a big troublemaker and was known for outbursts and also using bad language (racial/ethnic slurs). Not sure if that was after the incident in the news but it did make me wonder if there was more to that bullying story.

Are you saying the child on the spectrum is a "big troublemaker" and you are questioning that he was bullied into saying a word that rhymes with vinegar? I would take what your child had heard through the grape vine with a grain of salt.

+1. This is part of the downstream impact of the bullying this child experienced - that now kids think he said racial slurs because the kids who assaulted him spread that gossip. Please dissuade your DD from thinking he did, and remind her to act kindly. We have known this family and this child for many years, and the challenges he faces daily as a result of his special needs are very real.

Yes. The whole comment from the parent of the 6th grade girl makes me very sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD (6th) hadn't heard about the taser but she did mention a kid breaking a window and says this kid is always in trouble (they went to the same ES so she has known him for awhile). She also has a class with the kid who was bullied and hadn't heard about the incident, but made it seem like that kid was a big troublemaker and was known for outbursts and also using bad language (racial/ethnic slurs). Not sure if that was after the incident in the news but it did make me wonder if there was more to that bullying story.

Are you saying the child on the spectrum is a "big troublemaker" and you are questioning that he was bullied into saying a word that rhymes with vinegar? I would take what your child had heard through the grape vine with a grain of salt.

+1. This is part of the downstream impact of the bullying this child experienced - that now kids think he said racial slurs because the kids who assaulted him spread that gossip. Please dissuade your DD from thinking he did, and remind her to act kindly. We have known this family and this child for many years, and the challenges he faces daily as a result of his special needs are very real.

Yes. The whole comment from the parent of the 6th grade girl makes me very sad.

Agreed. Just because an 11 year old says something as fact doesn't mean its so.

[Anonymous]

Do you see the 4/1 Fox news story about Swanson? Sounds awful there.