Clueless kids on bus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So my 3rd grade DD in AAP came home today and said that she had the distinct pleasure (not) of getting yelled at by this much larger 6th grade boy in the AAP program who is a safety patrol on the bus. He was mad at them because he heard them discussing the differences between AAP and GenEd classes with another 3rd grader.

She was really upset because the boy wasn't part of the conversation, but interrupted them. The girl in the GenEd class had been telling them repeatedly that there was no difference between GenEd classes and AAP classes and that she was just as smart as they were, if not smarter. When they explained that the AAP classes are for the more academically advanced kids, the boy ordered them to stop talking and "bullying" the other girl.

My DD is just a 3rd grader, and she'd never had such a discussion with another student before, and she certainly never had been loudly reprimanded by a 6th grade patrol leader before. Now she is scared of the boy and doesn't want to get on the bus again. She wanted to know if he was going to report her to school administrators and why she did anything wrong telling the GenEd student that the more advanced kids had been selected for AAP.

Parents of GenEd kids: please stop telling your kids they are "just as smart" as the others. They will parrot this BS back, even if you think they won't, just leading to arguments that aren't very productive.

School counselors: if you happen to be reading this, please sit down with the GenEd classes at your school and make sure these kids know that there is nothing wrong about being in either a GenEd or an AAP class. And please ask the administration to remind safety patrols that they are there to help maintain order, not take sides on behalf of GenEd students or police what younger children say to one another about how kids are selected for AAP.

FCPS: please don't bend to the pressure to do away with centers or drastically cut back AAP admittance. You would be doing our communities a disservice by pretending that all the kids have exactly the same academic needs or abilities.

I wish I could spit on you.

That might not be bullying, but it would be assault. Want to meet up and find out how that goes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you guys are missing the point. This is not at all about AAP. It's about mean girls. Probably take after their moms.

+1. Their moms are discussing who made AAP and who did not in front of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So my 3rd grade DD in AAP came home today and said that she had the distinct pleasure (not) of getting yelled at by this much larger 6th grade boy in the AAP program who is a safety patrol on the bus. He was mad at them because he heard them discussing the differences between AAP and GenEd classes with another 3rd grader.

She was really upset because the boy wasn't part of the conversation, but interrupted them. The girl in the GenEd class had been telling them repeatedly that there was no difference between GenEd classes and AAP classes and that she was just as smart as they were, if not smarter. When they explained that the AAP classes are for the more academically advanced kids, the boy ordered them to stop talking and "bullying" the other girl.

My DD is just a 3rd grader, and she'd never had such a discussion with another student before, and she certainly never had been loudly reprimanded by a 6th grade patrol leader before. Now she is scared of the boy and doesn't want to get on the bus again. She wanted to know if he was going to report her to school administrators and why she did anything wrong telling the GenEd student that the more advanced kids had been selected for AAP.

Parents of GenEd kids: please stop telling your kids they are "just as smart" as the others. They will parrot this BS back, even if you think they won't, just leading to arguments that aren't very productive.

School counselors: if you happen to be reading this, please sit down with the GenEd classes at your school and make sure these kids know that there is nothing wrong about being in either a GenEd or an AAP class. And please ask the administration to remind safety patrols that they are there to help maintain order, not take sides on behalf of GenEd students or police what younger children say to one another about how kids are selected for AAP.

FCPS: please don't bend to the pressure to do away with centers or drastically cut back AAP admittance. You would be doing our communities a disservice by pretending that all the kids have exactly the same academic needs or abilities.

You should direct your formidable intellect away from the dark side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So my 3rd grade DD in AAP came home today and said that she had the distinct pleasure (not) of getting yelled at by this much larger 6th grade boy in the AAP program who is a safety patrol on the bus. He was mad at them because he heard them discussing the differences between AAP and GenEd classes with another 3rd grader.

She was really upset because the boy wasn't part of the conversation, but interrupted them. The girl in the GenEd class had been telling them repeatedly that there was no difference between GenEd classes and AAP classes and that she was just as smart as they were, if not smarter. When they explained that the AAP classes are for the more academically advanced kids, the boy ordered them to stop talking and "bullying" the other girl.

My DD is just a 3rd grader, and she'd never had such a discussion with another student before, and she certainly never had been loudly reprimanded by a 6th grade patrol leader before. Now she is scared of the boy and doesn't want to get on the bus again. She wanted to know if he was going to report her to school administrators and why she did anything wrong telling the GenEd student that the more advanced kids had been selected for AAP.

Parents of GenEd kids: please stop telling your kids they are "just as smart" as the others. They will parrot this BS back, even if you think they won't, just leading to arguments that aren't very productive.

School counselors: if you happen to be reading this, please sit down with the GenEd classes at your school and make sure these kids know that there is nothing wrong about being in either a GenEd or an AAP class. And please ask the administration to remind safety patrols that they are there to help maintain order, not take sides on behalf of GenEd students or police what younger children say to one another about how kids are selected for AAP.

FCPS: please don't bend to the pressure to do away with centers or drastically cut back AAP admittance. You would be doing our communities a disservice by pretending that all the kids have exactly the same academic needs or abilities.

You should direct your formidable intellect away from the dark side.

There are two sides to every story, particularly the ones that have either been manufactured or carefully crafted by those who were not there when the events in question occurred.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So my 3rd grade DD in AAP came home today and said that she had the distinct pleasure (not) of getting yelled at by this much larger 6th grade boy in the AAP program who is a safety patrol on the bus. He was mad at them because he heard them discussing the differences between AAP and GenEd classes with another 3rd grader.

She was really upset because the boy wasn't part of the conversation, but interrupted them. The girl in the GenEd class had been telling them repeatedly that there was no difference between GenEd classes and AAP classes and that she was just as smart as they were, if not smarter. When they explained that the AAP classes are for the more academically advanced kids, the boy ordered them to stop talking and "bullying" the other girl.

My DD is just a 3rd grader, and she'd never had such a discussion with another student before, and she certainly never had been loudly reprimanded by a 6th grade patrol leader before. Now she is scared of the boy and doesn't want to get on the bus again. She wanted to know if he was going to report her to school administrators and why she did anything wrong telling the GenEd student that the more advanced kids had been selected for AAP.

Parents of GenEd kids: please stop telling your kids they are "just as smart" as the others. They will parrot this BS back, even if you think they won't, just leading to arguments that aren't very productive.

School counselors: if you happen to be reading this, please sit down with the GenEd classes at your school and make sure these kids know that there is nothing wrong about being in either a GenEd or an AAP class. And please ask the administration to remind safety patrols that they are there to help maintain order, not take sides on behalf of GenEd students or police what younger children say to one another about how kids are selected for AAP.

FCPS: please don't bend to the pressure to do away with centers or drastically cut back AAP admittance. You would be doing our communities a disservice by pretending that all the kids have exactly the same academic needs or abilities.

OP here. So many things to address here, where to start... First of all, in your entirely unimaginative copy and paste effort, you changed a few key points, bolded above. In the scenario that actually happened, the two girls weren't having a lovely discussion about "the differences between AAP and Gen Ed classes". Nice try, but these two girls were telling the third girl that she wasn't smart enough to be in AAP. Nothing nice about that. They didn't sweetly "explain that the AAP classes are for the more academically advanced classes". If you don't categorize that as bullying, then quite frankly, there is something wrong with you.

And yes, safety patrols are there to "help maintain order". Seeing two kids picking on another and intervening on behalf of the child being bullied is maintaining order. That's one of the things they're taught to do. If the kids had been picking on a child for any other reason, the safety patrols would hopefully have intervened in much the same way. Hopefully it's not your kid being treated this way one of these days. It would be such a shame if the patrol chose to ignore what was going on, wouldn't it? And I'm sure you'd march on down to the school to make the case that someone should have done something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So my 3rd grade DD in AAP came home today and said that she had the distinct pleasure (not) of getting yelled at by this much larger 6th grade boy in the AAP program who is a safety patrol on the bus. He was mad at them because he heard them discussing the differences between AAP and GenEd classes with another 3rd grader.

She was really upset because the boy wasn't part of the conversation, but interrupted them. The girl in the GenEd class had been telling them repeatedly that there was no difference between GenEd classes and AAP classes and that she was just as smart as they were, if not smarter. When they explained that the AAP classes are for the more academically advanced kids, the boy ordered them to stop talking and "bullying" the other girl.

My DD is just a 3rd grader, and she'd never had such a discussion with another student before, and she certainly never had been loudly reprimanded by a 6th grade patrol leader before. Now she is scared of the boy and doesn't want to get on the bus again. She wanted to know if he was going to report her to school administrators and why she did anything wrong telling the GenEd student that the more advanced kids had been selected for AAP.

Parents of GenEd kids: please stop telling your kids they are "just as smart" as the others. They will parrot this BS back, even if you think they won't, just leading to arguments that aren't very productive.

School counselors: if you happen to be reading this, please sit down with the GenEd classes at your school and make sure these kids know that there is nothing wrong about being in either a GenEd or an AAP class. And please ask the administration to remind safety patrols that they are there to help maintain order, not take sides on behalf of GenEd students or police what younger children say to one another about how kids are selected for AAP.

FCPS: please don't bend to the pressure to do away with centers or drastically cut back AAP admittance. You would be doing our communities a disservice by pretending that all the kids have exactly the same academic needs or abilities.

You should direct your formidable intellect away from the dark side.

There are two sides to every story, particularly the ones that have either been manufactured or carefully crafted by those who were not there when the events in question occurred.

Of course, it's only "carefully crafted" when you want to discredit the entire thing and want everyone else to do the same. When it's an issue that actually matters to you, then it's gospel. You are so transparent, it's actually hilarious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize the job description for "safety patrol" includes monitoring the editorial content of conversations of younger students for political correctness. Sign me up!

I'd like to take this seriously, but OP has layered on so much BS and made so many assumptions that it makes that all but impossible. But I'll reconsider when OP reports back that her kid has also laid down the law for the GenEd boys who make fun of the athletic skills of AAP kids on the bus, on the playground, and in the classroom.

OP here. The job description for patrols includes stepping in when students are being bullied. In my son's view, and mine, the one girl was being bullied by the other two. Imagine being told you're not "smart enough" to be in a certain class. I'm proud of him for intervening and telling them to cut it out. And of course he would step in (and has) if he saw bullying going on in any form, including non-athletic kids being bullied by the jocks. Wondering why you assume it would be the AAP kids who aren't athletic though. AAP includes so many children these days that it's hard to believe that old cliche about them not having athletic skills. In most ways, these kids are really no different from those in Gen Ed (which is kind of the point of this whole topic). He's had to speak up for several kids on the bus due to various types of similar behavior. This particular instance, however, was about two AAP girls trying to make another girl feel bad about not being in AAP. And if you and PP don't view that as bullying, then so be it.

It doesn't sound like bullying to me, and if my girls had been berated by a much older boy on a bus I might complain to the school to make sure it doesn't happen again. Your kid should check cross walks, not decide what people say about test results.

Are you really criticizing a kid who had the guts to speak up for another child being teased? The OP's son did exactly what I hope my child would do. Schools would be a better place if everyone stood up against mean kids. (regardless of safety patrol status).

Tell your girls to be nice, and it won't be an issue.

I'm basically just refusing to take OP's scenario at face value because she's layered it with so many assumptions and judgments as to what supposedly took place. And, even if one accepted it as wriiten, the mean AAP girls didn't call the GenEd girl stupid, hit her, or yell at her. They just said she wasn't smart enough to be in an AAP class, which is more or less what FCPS determined without using the word "smart."

So, hypothetically, yeah, if an older, larger boy tells my younger girl that this is "bullying" and she has to stop it, we might end up in the principal's office hashing it out. If he kindly suggests "hey, c'mon, be nice to each other," no worries.

Let's follow up on this hypothetical. Older boy - patrol on bus who is doing his job - witnesses two girls, one of them your daughter, telling another girl she's not smart enough to be in AAP. He tells girls to cut it out, that they are being hurtful and rude. Your daughter runs home to tell you what happened. You decide to "hash it out" in principal's office.
Principal: "So, girls, tell me what is was you said that got you in trouble."
Larla: "Well, all we did was tell Darla that she wasn't smart enough to be in AAP, like we are."
Principal: "You mean you were bullying her?"
Larla: "Well..."
Principal to Patrol: "Thank you for doing you job, ending this situation, and reporting it to us. We take bullying, in all its forms, very seriously here at school. Girls, what you said was unacceptable and you will have to apologize to Darla. Don't ever talk to someone like that again."
Larla: "But I was just repeating what my Mom and Dad tell me all the time!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So my 3rd grade DD in AAP came home today and said that she had the distinct pleasure (not) of getting yelled at by this much larger 6th grade boy in the AAP program who is a safety patrol on the bus. He was mad at them because he heard them discussing the differences between AAP and GenEd classes with another 3rd grader.

She was really upset because the boy wasn't part of the conversation, but interrupted them. The girl in the GenEd class had been telling them repeatedly that there was no difference between GenEd classes and AAP classes and that she was just as smart as they were, if not smarter. When they explained that the AAP classes are for the more academically advanced kids, the boy ordered them to stop talking and "bullying" the other girl.

My DD is just a 3rd grader, and she'd never had such a discussion with another student before, and she certainly never had been loudly reprimanded by a 6th grade patrol leader before. Now she is scared of the boy and doesn't want to get on the bus again. She wanted to know if he was going to report her to school administrators and why she did anything wrong telling the GenEd student that the more advanced kids had been selected for AAP.

Parents of GenEd kids: please stop telling your kids they are "just as smart" as the others. They will parrot this BS back, even if you think they won't, just leading to arguments that aren't very productive.

School counselors: if you happen to be reading this, please sit down with the GenEd classes at your school and make sure these kids know that there is nothing wrong about being in either a GenEd or an AAP class. And please ask the administration to remind safety patrols that they are there to help maintain order, not take sides on behalf of GenEd students or police what younger children say to one another about how kids are selected for AAP.

FCPS: please don't bend to the pressure to do away with centers or drastically cut back AAP admittance. You would be doing our communities a disservice by pretending that all the kids have exactly the same academic needs or abilities.

OP here. So many things to address here, where to start... First of all, in your entirely unimaginative copy and paste effort, you changed a few key points, bolded above. In the scenario that actually happened, the two girls weren't having a lovely discussion about "the differences between AAP and Gen Ed classes". Nice try, but these two girls were telling the third girl that she wasn't smart enough to be in AAP. Nothing nice about that. They didn't sweetly "explain that the AAP classes are for the more academically advanced classes". If you don't categorize that as bullying, then quite frankly, there is something wrong with you.

And yes, safety patrols are there to "help maintain order". Seeing two kids picking on another and intervening on behalf of the child being bullied is maintaining order. That's one of the things they're taught to do. If the kids had been picking on a child for any other reason, the safety patrols would hopefully have intervened in much the same way. Hopefully it's not your kid being treated this way one of these days. It would be such a shame if the patrol chose to ignore what was going on, wouldn't it? And I'm sure you'd march on down to the school to make the case that someone should have done something.

Again, you weren't there. Unless, of course, you're just the author of a fiction, in which case you can supply however many additional details you'd like and I apologize for not having bought the Cliff Notes sooner.

I don't think it's "bullying" for AAP kids to tell another kid she isn't "smart enough" to be in AAP. I wouldn't necessarily agree with it - AAP testing measures only certain abilities at a particular point in time - but I totally reject your rather transparent effort to create and/or massage a narrative simply because you don't like the fact that FCPS has determined that some kids, and not others, are eligible for AAP programs.

And, if an older patrol told a younger student to stop "bullying" another student in this scenario AND I was the parent of that student AND she felt intimidated by the older student as a result, I might very well march down to the school to complain about the older student's (i.e., your son's) behavior. He can certainly suggest that other kids should be kind to one another, but if he thinks it's his job to boss around younger kids and enforce his own (or, more accurately, your) rules of social interactions, we might have a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize the job description for "safety patrol" includes monitoring the editorial content of conversations of younger students for political correctness. Sign me up!

I'd like to take this seriously, but OP has layered on so much BS and made so many assumptions that it makes that all but impossible. But I'll reconsider when OP reports back that her kid has also laid down the law for the GenEd boys who make fun of the athletic skills of AAP kids on the bus, on the playground, and in the classroom.

OP here. The job description for patrols includes stepping in when students are being bullied. In my son's view, and mine, the one girl was being bullied by the other two. Imagine being told you're not "smart enough" to be in a certain class. I'm proud of him for intervening and telling them to cut it out. And of course he would step in (and has) if he saw bullying going on in any form, including non-athletic kids being bullied by the jocks. Wondering why you assume it would be the AAP kids who aren't athletic though. AAP includes so many children these days that it's hard to believe that old cliche about them not having athletic skills. In most ways, these kids are really no different from those in Gen Ed (which is kind of the point of this whole topic). He's had to speak up for several kids on the bus due to various types of similar behavior. This particular instance, however, was about two AAP girls trying to make another girl feel bad about not being in AAP. And if you and PP don't view that as bullying, then so be it.

It doesn't sound like bullying to me, and if my girls had been berated by a much older boy on a bus I might complain to the school to make sure it doesn't happen again. Your kid should check cross walks, not decide what people say about test results.

Are you really criticizing a kid who had the guts to speak up for another child being teased? The OP's son did exactly what I hope my child would do. Schools would be a better place if everyone stood up against mean kids. (regardless of safety patrol status).

Tell your girls to be nice, and it won't be an issue.

I'm basically just refusing to take OP's scenario at face value because she's layered it with so many assumptions and judgments as to what supposedly took place. And, even if one accepted it as wriiten, the mean AAP girls didn't call the GenEd girl stupid, hit her, or yell at her. They just said she wasn't smart enough to be in an AAP class, which is more or less what FCPS determined without using the word "smart."

So, hypothetically, yeah, if an older, larger boy tells my younger girl that this is "bullying" and she has to stop it, we might end up in the principal's office hashing it out. If he kindly suggests "hey, c'mon, be nice to each other," no worries.

Let's follow up on this hypothetical. Older boy - patrol on bus who is doing his job - witnesses two girls, one of them your daughter, telling another girl she's not smart enough to be in AAP. He tells girls to cut it out, that they are being hurtful and rude. Your daughter runs home to tell you what happened. You decide to "hash it out" in principal's office.
Principal: "So, girls, tell me what is was you said that got you in trouble."
Larla: "Well, all we did was tell Darla that she wasn't smart enough to be in AAP, like we are."
Principal: "You mean you were bullying her?"
Larla: "Well..."
Principal to Patrol: "Thank you for doing you job, ending this situation, and reporting it to us. We take bullying, in all its forms, very seriously here at school. Girls, what you said was unacceptable and you will have to apologize to Darla. Don't ever talk to someone like that again."
Larla: "But I was just repeating what my Mom and Dad tell me all the time!"

Of course, it's all hypothetical here, isn't it.

Principal: So, girls, tell me why you're so upset.
Larla: Darla and I were talking to Barla, and Biff told us to shut up and stop bullying her.
Principal: So what were you talking about with Barla?
Larla: Barla kept interrupting our conversation and telling us that her class was no different than ours, and that she's just as smart as we are. We told her that only the smarter kids with better test scores got into our class. That's what the teachers told us last year, so why did Biff get so mad? I'm scared to get on the bus with him again. He's really big and his voice is even starting to change!
Darla: I'm scared, too. He weighs three times as much as we do! Combined!
Principal: Girls, try to be sensitive to Barla's feelings. All students at this school work hard and should respect each other. But we'll talk to Biff and ask him to apologize for scaring you. Sometimes patrols overstep their responsibilities.

[Anonymous]

the patrol should keep his mouth shut. why on earth would a 6th grader get involved with three 3rd gr girls bitching about something sitting on a bus? totally not his business and inappropriate and an abuse of his duty. at most report it to whoever supervises him and be done with it. this is just nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize the job description for "safety patrol" includes monitoring the editorial content of conversations of younger students for political correctness. Sign me up!

I'd like to take this seriously, but OP has layered on so much BS and made so many assumptions that it makes that all but impossible. But I'll reconsider when OP reports back that her kid has also laid down the law for the GenEd boys who make fun of the athletic skills of AAP kids on the bus, on the playground, and in the classroom.

OP here. The job description for patrols includes stepping in when students are being bullied. In my son's view, and mine, the one girl was being bullied by the other two. Imagine being told you're not "smart enough" to be in a certain class. I'm proud of him for intervening and telling them to cut it out. And of course he would step in (and has) if he saw bullying going on in any form, including non-athletic kids being bullied by the jocks. Wondering why you assume it would be the AAP kids who aren't athletic though. AAP includes so many children these days that it's hard to believe that old cliche about them not having athletic skills. In most ways, these kids are really no different from those in Gen Ed (which is kind of the point of this whole topic). He's had to speak up for several kids on the bus due to various types of similar behavior. This particular instance, however, was about two AAP girls trying to make another girl feel bad about not being in AAP. And if you and PP don't view that as bullying, then so be it.

Good for him. I am proud that he stepped in and did this. There is a great Austin and Ally show on bullying that just came out. My 3rd grade has asked to watch it a bunch of times.

[Anonymous]

Patrols or any other student should report bullying. This behavior is bullying to this girl and will lower her self esteem.

It's hard to see this below, but here is a link to a great presentation at my school on bullying in FCPS.

http://www.fcps.edu/ForestvilleES/2012-13_Events/Forestville%20Parent%20PPT%20revised%20%20July%202012.pdf

Forestville’s Teaching Matrix
Respect Self Respect Others Respect the
Environment
Staff Expectations
Everywhere ?Report
bullying when I
see it
?Speak up for
myself
?Control my
own behavior
toward others
?Help students
who are bullied
?Seek help
from others
?Be a good
friend
?Include others
who are left out
?Behave in a way
so everyone can
learn and feel safe
?All students
belong to all staff!
Reinforce positive
behaviors and
respectfully address
undesirable
behaviors of ALL
students
?Reference the
yellow card for
what to do in
bullying situations
?Make
appropriate
report/referral as
incidents occur
?Involve
counselors/administ
rators as necessary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Patrols or any other student should report bullying. This behavior is bullying to this girl and will lower her self esteem.

enough said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
So my DS came home today and said that he had the distinct pleasure (not) of sitting behind two AAP 3rd grade girls who were crowing about the fact that they were in the "smart" classes at their center school. Apparently they were arguing with another girl, saying they were smarter than her because she is not in AAP.

Because my son is a 6th grader at this school (Gen Ed), he has heard these kinds of remarks countless times and knows just to roll his eyes at the ridiculous kids who blather on like this. But he's a patrol and he felt bad for the girl they were arguing with, so he stuck up for her and told the other two to pipe down, and that they were wrong.

Parents of AAP kids: please stop telling your kids they are "smarter" than the others. They will parrot this BS back, even if you think they won't, making them even more insufferable than usual.

School counselors: if you happen to be reading this, please sit down with the AAP classes at your school and make sure these kids know that they aren't any better, smarter, or more special than the Gen Ed kids. Please ask the administration to stop treating them as such.

[b]FCPS: please do away with centers and drastically cut back AAP admittance, or else open it up to all. You are doing our communities a disservice by dividing up kids in this way.[u]

I'm posting this on both the AAP and VA School forums because it's an issue that affects all kids in this area. Unfortunately.

What is bolded above shows that you also are perpetuating a wrong belief in your child just as an AAP parent is wrong to tell his/her kid that he/she is smarter than anyone else.

[Anonymous]

This is not an AAP issue as some have noted. It's just about standing up for other kids, older or younger, who are being hurt, physically or verbally. As part of the anti-bullying campaign in my DCs' school, they have been told to stand up for one another. I think that's what the Patrol was trying to do. I would hope my kids would do the same, stand up for someone who was being harassed. That would make me more proud than my kid being in AAP.

As an adult, when you hear a group of kids making fun of another child, your's or not, do you not feel it's right to put a stop to it? I don't see why it would be a wrong for a 6th grade to do the same to a bunch of 3rd graders, as long as the 6th grader says it tactfully.