Physical Attack on a Studen in MCPS Elementary School

[Anonymous]

FYI, There is a new rule as of last year in MCPS that children are not supposed to lose recess for disciplinary reasons and they are supposed to get parent permission to withhold recess for unfinished work/extra help. There are other consequences they can give as well as teach kids the skills necessary to avoid or reduce these types of escalations. Principals seem to regularly violate MCPS policy.

[Anonymous]

OP: Coming at this from the angle of a parent who went through bullying with a child at a younger age than yours.

1st grade -- son was getting punched every day by a child as he moved from homeroom to differentiated math class. Didn't say anything for weeks UNTIL it happened at dismissal one day and he had a total meltdown.

Talked with teacher, who changed the procedures for moving around.

2nd grade -- Heard from friend of DS that same child was trying to beat up DS in hallways. DS told me that he could outrun the kid who was hitting him. No action taken by school to discipline this child. People aware and my son was not the only target.

3rd grade -- switched schools. So did the child. New school inadvertently placed the two in the same classroom for part of the day (I told them of the situation when we were switching schools). Discussed issue with assistant principal. Child who hit others was given a strict discipline plan. Was shadowed throughout the school day. Had to sit right next to teacher in all classes and away from other kids. Had to hold teacher's hand while walking hallways. Hitting was simply not tolerated AT ALL.

While school did not tell me specifics of discipline plan, my son did. And school made it clear to me that if ANYTHING more happened to my son, I was to tell them immediately. By end of year, DS told me he was no longer afraid of being near the child.

That's really key. Your child needs to be an active part of the discussion so that child feels safe.

[Anonymous]

What is the school, OP? We have a MCPS elementary school bullying incident that is severe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the school, OP? We have a MCPS elementary school bullying incident that is severe.

Op here. Sorry I prefer not to disclose the school. It is generally an ok ES. DH talked with a person works at school board. She told us we can file a complaint with the regional superintendent if we want to. We decided to observe at this point. If your ES bullying incident is severe, I would suggest to file complaints whenever incidents come along, even calling local police on their non-emergency line. The school will have to address it.

[Anonymous]

The thing is, you can have all sorts of regulations, rules, policies, etc. but if the kid is coded (special ed) basically they can do what they want and never get expelled or really suspended, which could be the case with the ES kid.

I teach HS. We had a student attack a teacher here two months ago. The student, who was not coded before the attack, was brought in the day after the attack on the teacher and screened. They found out then that the kid should have been receiving services. Becuase he was then coded, he didn't even serve three days of a 10 day suspension. The teacher was out for two weeks. Both are back in the same classroom.

I love MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the school, OP? We have a MCPS elementary school bullying incident that is severe.

Op here. Sorry I prefer not to disclose the school. It is generally an ok ES. DH talked with a person works at school board. She told us we can file a complaint with the regional superintendent if we want to. We decided to observe at this point. If your ES bullying incident is severe, I would suggest to file complaints whenever incidents come along, even calling local police on their non-emergency line. The school will have to address it.

Ours mirrors yours except the child made comments against an entire group of children and the child lied. The entire group was accused, disciplined, judged and defamed doing something First Amendment related. I cried for two days when my DS told me he signed an admission because it was coehersed. He is depressed and his reputation is trashed for being a Nazi. There was no investigation. We did not find out about it until the counselor called telling us our DS admitted to gang attacking a child. I supported the school 100% until I heard this child has a long history of attention seeking behavior. My heart is shattered a child could view any one as such a treat to his safety. I hope your child seeks help in order to feel safe in school. My child will never feel safe from unsubstantiated punishments after this unfortunate incident.

It is very painful. We are observing also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The thing is, you can have all sorts of regulations, rules, policies, etc. but if the kid is coded (special ed) basically they can do what they want and never get expelled or really suspended, which could be the case with the ES kid.

I teach HS. We had a student attack a teacher here two months ago. The student, who was not coded before the attack, was brought in the day after the attack on the teacher and screened. They found out then that the kid should have been receiving services. Becuase he was then coded, he didn't even serve three days of a 10 day suspension. The teacher was out for two weeks. Both are back in the same classroom.

I love MCPS.

No way!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused...did this happen at school, during school hours?

OP here. Yes, happened during recess.

Was it this week?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the school, OP? We have a MCPS elementary school bullying incident that is severe.

Op here. Sorry I prefer not to disclose the school. It is generally an ok ES. DH talked with a person works at school board. She told us we can file a complaint with the regional superintendent if we want to. We decided to observe at this point. If your ES bullying incident is severe, I would suggest to file complaints whenever incidents come along, even calling local police on their non-emergency line. The school will have to address it.

Ours mirrors yours except the child made comments against an entire group of children and the child lied. The entire group was accused, disciplined, judged and defamed doing something First Amendment related. I cried for two days when my DS told me he signed an admission because it was coehersed. He is depressed and his reputation is trashed for being a Nazi. There was no investigation. We did not find out about it until the counselor called telling us our DS admitted to gang attacking a child. I supported the school 100% until I heard this child has a long history of attention seeking behavior. My heart is shattered a child could view any one as such a treat to his safety. I hope your child seeks help in order to feel safe in school. My child will never feel safe from unsubstantiated punishments after this unfortunate incident.

It is very painful. We are observing also.

I posted above. We want to put this entire incident behind us. We know misinformation was flowing very quickly. We wish the child, the family and the staff the very, very best. The MCPS tried their hardest to do what they thought was right during the most challenging week for an elementary school staff that I can recall. Then, the Principal tried to fix it as fast as the misinformation was disseminated. Have a restful break, everyone. Peace.

[Anonymous]

You have a teaching moment with your child that you should not let pass. Or you could focus all your energy on what to do about the other kid. I would focus on my own child first.

[Anonymous]

I really don't think suspension is going to make anything better for anyone. Chances are that spending more time at home is NOT going to improve anything other than give the other kids a very, very brief reprieve. Punishment isn't going to help a very disturbed child. Schools need to address the behavior in school (or perhaps an alternative school of some sort) and figure out how to control the behavior and get the disturbed child the resources he needs to learn to control his behavior so as to not grow up to be a violent member of our society.

[Anonymous]

It's called teaching skills and schools don't want to spend time on that. The reason kids with special needs may not get "punished" or suspended as much as PP would like is that it doesn't help them learn behavioral control. Special needs kids have a right to be in public school and if there are problems, the school is not doing enough to teach the skills they need to be successful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the school, OP? We have a MCPS elementary school bullying incident that is severe.

Op here. Sorry I prefer not to disclose the school. It is generally an ok ES. DH talked with a person works at school board. She told us we can file a complaint with the regional superintendent if we want to. We decided to observe at this point. If your ES bullying incident is severe, I would suggest to file complaints whenever incidents come along, even calling local police on their non-emergency line. The school will have to address it.

Chances are that there are two sides to this story and we will never hear the other side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have a teaching moment with your child that you should not let pass. Or you could focus all your energy on what to do about the other kid. I would focus on my own child first.

We know all about "the blessing of a skinned knee." We have taught our DC to respect everyone's beliefs, including ours. I think you were trying to be supportive and kind. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

OP, how old is your child?