Violence at Lafayette, thoughts?

[Anonymous]

This incident did not occur the way most of you posters are describing it. There was no "attack" by five bullies against another child. I agree that recess supervision is imperative, but to exaggerate this incident because someone who was not connected to any of the kids involved chose to post something inflammatory on a neighborhood listserv is nothing more than gossip. The school acted properly after this incident occurred.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This incident did not occur the way most of you posters are describing it. There was no "attack" by five bullies against another child. I agree that recess supervision is imperative, but to exaggerate this incident because someone who was not connected to any of the kids involved chose to post something inflammatory on a neighborhood listserv is nothing more than gossip. The school acted properly after this incident occurred.

Where are you getting your information? Information was posted on our neighborhood listserve by the PARENT of the victim. That is hardly gossip; it is firsthand information.

[Anonymous]

poster 20:00 you are wrong, the message posted on the CC listserv was not posted by a parent of a victim, it was a parent whose child witnessed the incident.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:poster 20:00 you are wrong, the message posted on the CC listserv was not posted by a parent of a victim, it was a parent whose child witnessed the incident.

I am 20:00, and no--you are wrong; I was absolutely correct. Here is a direct quote from the first paragraph of the message on our neighborhood listserve, cut and pasted:

"There was an incident on Wednesday December 10th on the playground
at recess where several 2nd grade boys were kicking and hitting a
1st grade boy (our son). We received a call from the school that
afternoon, letting us know that our son had been hit in the eye –
that his eye was red and puffy, but no permanent damage. When my
husband arrived to pick our son up from school that afternoon, he
was then told by both the school counselor and our son's teacher
that it was more than a punch in the eye – that several boys were
kicking and hitting our son"

Please check your facts before accusing others of being wrong. In fact, you were wrong.

[Anonymous]

this isn't the message that was posted on the CHCH list serv

[Anonymous]

the first message that was posted on the CH CH listserv about the incident was posted by a parent whose child witnessed the event - he later apologized for writing and sending the FIRST email

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the first message that was posted on the CH CH listserv about the incident was posted by a parent whose child witnessed the event - he later apologized for writing and sending the FIRST email

Please get your facts straight! I just went back and re-read the entire thread from beginning to end at the Ch Ch listserve. The FIRST message was the one I quoted above, from the PARENT. There was indeed another, later message from the parent of a witness, who eventually posted again saying she regretted posting (the reasons were not because of exaggeration, however). The original poster, the PARENT of the victim, never retracted anything. Is it really necessary to cut and paste the entire thread off of that listserve?

Again, please get your facts correct; this is just getting tiresome, sigh.

[Anonymous]

It may be tiresome but your order of events is still wrong - the first message posted about this incident on CC was on Dec 11 (this is what poster 18:50 above is referring to). The message from the parents of the victim was posted on Dec 12.

[Anonymous]

22:02 is incorrect.

FIRST MESSAGE: Thu Dec 11, 2008 9:17 pm

On Wednesday at recess, a first grader ran into the school to get his
teacher. The teacher came out to find at least 4 second graders
punching and kicking a first grader (a classmate of my son) who was on
the ground.

As of Thursday night, there has been no action from the school.

1) Where are the people who are being paid to supervise recess?

2) Why, since there was a teacher-witness, have these boys not been
suspended? The teacher says 2 of them have histories of violence.

3) Why has the only contact from the school to the parents, been the
call stating that he had 'been punched'?

A person identified as the school counselor is handling this. Great,
the attackers can sit with her in a quiet room and discuss their
feelings, then walk out and laugh.

My wife has gotten used to the way our 3 sons wrestle constantly, and
has accepted that they may play the violent sports I played. But
this incident is outside of acceptable 'boy behavior' and it needs
some attention.

SECOND MESSAGE: Fri Dec 12, 2008 4:11 pm

There was an incident on Wednesday December 10th on the playground
at recess where several 2nd grade boys were kicking and hitting a
1st grade boy (our son). We received a call from the school that
afternoon, letting us know that our son had been hit in the eye –
that his eye was red and puffy, but no permanent damage. When my
husband arrived to pick our son up from school that afternoon, he
was then told by both the school counselor and our son's teacher
that it was more than a punch in the eye – that several boys were
kicking and hitting our son.

That night one of the father's of the 2nd grade boys called to
apologize (which we very much appreciated) and to assure us that his
son would be reprimanded. The next day we started to receive calls
from parents of other kids that saw what happened on the playground –
wanting to make sure our son was okay and to see what was being
done about the incident.

While I certainly hope the parents and the school reprimand the boys
involved and take this opportunity to explain how dangerous it is to
hit/kick another child, to explain that we are lucky there wasn't
more physical harm done other than bruises and a puffy eye and that
bullying is not tolerated; I'm just as concerned about how this
happened in the first place and how the school has handled the
incident.

First – I'm concerned that there is not enough supervision on the
playground – that an incident like this could have escalated to the
point that it did. Second, I'm disappointed in the way the school
has handled our concerns. We have placed several calls to the
school asking for an update and/or a meeting with the principle and
were told that she was busy giving a tour to VIPs and would be in
meetings all day Friday – that she could meet with us sometime next
week. I also left the school counselor a voicemail message on
Thursday afternoon – letting her know that we were concerned that we
have not heard back from anyone at school and that we would like an
update on the situation and asked for her to call me back. As of
3:15PM Friday – we have not received any calls from anyone at the
school lettings us know if and how the situation is being handled.
So far – the only information we have is from other families of kids
that saw the incident and the little detail we received from the
school counselor the day of the incident and our teacher.

Thanks to those that have been concerned - I'm happy to update you
once we know more about the incident and the school's response.

EIGHTH MESSAGE: Mon Dec 15, 2008 11:07 pm

I was the original poster about an incident at recess. My only intent
was to draw attention to the lack of supervision and the lack of
communication with the victim's family.

I thought that posting again might bring more negative attention, but
one of the families thought it would help.

Below are 3 things I could have done better.

1) My message was muddled by my sensationalised subject line. This
has caused heartache for the families involved and I apologise.

2) The school actually did act quickly in terms of punishment. I
did not know this, given the inexcusable and unhelpful shroud of
secrecy around what should have been a great learning opportunity for
the student body.

3) I have complained about the amount of opinion offered on The
List. In my post I offered my opinion on punishment, that is
hypocrisy.

I posted because I love the school and expect better from it. I am
making my screw up public and apologising for it. That's what is
expected of adults.

[Anonymous]

It seems that the attack did occur by four 2nd graders on a 1st grader, no matter how the school handled it and who broke the news. To disagree over many little details will not reverse that fact.

The offenders should be suspended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This incident did not occur the way most of you posters are describing it. There was no "attack" by five bullies against another child. I agree that recess supervision is imperative, but to exaggerate this incident because someone who was not connected to any of the kids involved chose to post something inflammatory on a neighborhood listserv is nothing more than gossip. The school acted properly after this incident occurred.

How did it happen then? Why don't you tell us since you were there. And since you must work at the school please tell us exactly how the school acted after the incident.

[Anonymous]

bump

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This incident did not occur the way most of you posters are describing it. There was no "attack" by five bullies against another child. I agree that recess supervision is imperative, but to exaggerate this incident because someone who was not connected to any of the kids involved chose to post something inflammatory on a neighborhood listserv is nothing more than gossip. The school acted properly after this incident occurred.

The thread has gotten long and a bit confusing but I think there are now two different incidents discussed in the thread. I think this thread started with a description of the fight you are referring to, but another poster wrote in to report on another incident a year or so prior at the school involving 5 on one, but in the older grades. The description of that earlier incident is accurate and I don't know if it was on any listserv.