MCPS policies for parental notification when children are hit in school

[Anonymous]

Fwiw, we had a kid with severe issues at our school. He had violent outbursts and the classroom was evacuated regularly. Nobody was ever notified. One parent met with the principal based on what her child was telling her, and the principal enthusiastically welcomed the parent's concern. In fact, she suggested that she should tell other concerned parents to email the teacher and principal indicating their concerns so she would have a paper trail to try to get the kid removed from the school. It took nearly three quarters of the year to get him removed.

Bottom line: voice your concern. That kid doesn't belong in the classroom. Send an email to the principal and request a meeting. You aren't asking to confront the kid or his parents; rather, you are demanding assurance that your child is safe in the classroom.

The kid at our school flipped desks and chairs and threw things like scissors. They got to the point where they had to have a second adult in the room at all times so they could quickly evacuate the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I dont have a child in MCPS but will do in Sept.
This scares me, I have a friend with a 3rd grader being bullied at a MCPS, She didnt know half of what was going on until the kid told her.
I think the schools should spend more time teaching kids about respect and kindness, and then enforcing it.

It wouldn't matter since there are quite a few kids who come from violent homes. We have a student in my school who is out of control a few times each week. Once his mother came in to pick him up after a 2 hour long incident where he tore quite a few classrooms apart and she laid into him in the lobby. Now I see where he gets it from. Poor kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would a class need to be evacuated? No judgement, just curious.

One of my kids isn't much of a talker so DH and I would probably be the only parents who had no idea that there was an evacuation!

When I student taught, my classroom had to be evacuated every once in a while when a student started throwing desks and chairs around. He was pretty strong for a kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, we had a kid with severe issues at our school. He had violent outbursts and the classroom was evacuated regularly. Nobody was ever notified. One parent met with the principal based on what her child was telling her, and the principal enthusiastically welcomed the parent's concern. In fact, she suggested that she should tell other concerned parents to email the teacher and principal indicating their concerns so she would have a paper trail to try to get the kid removed from the school. It took nearly three quarters of the year to get him removed.

Bottom line: voice your concern. That kid doesn't belong in the classroom. Send an email to the principal and request a meeting. You aren't asking to confront the kid or his parents; rather, you are demanding assurance that your child is safe in the classroom.

The kid at our school flipped desks and chairs and threw things like scissors. They got to the point where they had to have a second adult in the room at all times so they could quickly evacuate the kids.

I'm a school staff member and there's a student with severe anger issues in my school. We have not had enough parents voice their concern about the situation. There is a lengthy history of violent incidents where both students and staff have gotten hurt, but "they" (the people who make placement decisions) maintain that the current school is the most appropriate placement and that we just need to avoid any of the triggers that might set the student off.

As much as I feel terribly sad for the student that they are not getting what they need in terms of appropriate services, if my kid was in that classroom I would have had enough and would be contacting admin and the appropriate higher-ups in writing so there is a paper trail. The classroom has had to be evacuated many times. This has been ongoing for almost 2 years. Administration says their hands are tied. They don't send home notices to parents when these events occur. I believe they have been advised not to. They only send home notices if the police had been involved.

I think that if more parents voiced their concern then that might make a difference to help this child since "they" don't trust the teachers and school staff when we tell them that this child is suffering and so are the other 20 something students in the class when there is an incident. If there was enough parent concern voiced then "they" would have to take the other students' safety into account. Two years worth of logs, photo evidence and injured staff and students just haven't been enough to get a student like this the support they truly need and to ensure the other students' safety as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter's in first grade and has been hit several times in class last year and this year -- by three different kids, each of whom it seems like is struggling with some level of behavioral issues. The latest incident seemed pretty out of control. From what the kids are saying, one of their classmates had a meltdown, tore apart the classroom and hit several kids. The class was then evacuated and the kids spent the day in another room.

I've never gotten notified about these incidents from the teachers or the school.

I shrugged off the first two incidents (although I did reach out to the teachers to say: my daughter says she got hit, is that right? and talked to my child about always letting an adult know if someone hits you). But this latest incident has me concerned and questioning what the MCPS policy is around violence in school and notifying parents. It seems like this latest incident should rise to the level of parental notification.

Does anyone have a resource or MCPS policy they can point me to? I'm going to reach out to the teacher and principal, but I want to have some facts on hand.

Thank you!!

My child is in first and this is just run of the mill at our school. Behavioral issues, special needs, etc.. are all combined in the classes now. Some kids get a 1on 1 aide and some don't. But either way, it can be very dangerous and challenging because the aide is just some joe smoe and doesn't have a special ed or behavioral degree. If you try to speak up in favor for more info or complain, they will tell you, you are against special needs assimulation and a horrible person. It is a no win situation. I am sorry this has happened. I would not be surprised if you don't get any info about the class evacuation.

This has been my experience as well.
But let's face it, the MCPS budget has been cut year after year after year. Hogan cut our budget by 50% this year. (Did he think the kids were sitting on piles of money at school?) So that is why the school system has to hire people who are 100% not qualified to handle this type of thing.

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like there is a conflict between what you expect and what the school can provide without compromising the privacy of a child with special needs. Was your child injured when this kid acted out? Did she go to the nurse?

Sometimes this does get tricky. My kid was injured by a child with special needs (like, marks left on her body several days later), and no the school did not notify me. It was roughly the fifth or sixth time. I lost count, to be honest.

I don't want to violate anyone's privacy fwiw. I just want, like every other parent wants, my kid to be safe at school.

There has to be a way to balance things more effectively.
Let's be real: the needs of the kid who is melting down and lashing out and causing an unsafe environment are clearly not being met either, or that situation would not be happening.

Hogan did not cut the county budget. He cut 50% of the increase they were asking for. So he actually raised the budget but not enough for the county standards. Before complaining about the governor, I encourage you to research and think about the wasted $$ MCPS spends and how they never look to cut unsuccessful bloated programs or their overpaid administrative staff, but continue to increase student/teacher ratios for the political agenda of getting parents to complain on their behalf.

+1 The MCPS budget has done nothing but go up year after year. The PTAs were fed this bull this year and now walk around repeating it like zombies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, we had a kid with severe issues at our school. He had violent outbursts and the classroom was evacuated regularly. Nobody was ever notified. One parent met with the principal based on what her child was telling her, and the principal enthusiastically welcomed the parent's concern. In fact, she suggested that she should tell other concerned parents to email the teacher and principal indicating their concerns so she would have a paper trail to try to get the kid removed from the school. It took nearly three quarters of the year to get him removed.

Bottom line: voice your concern. That kid doesn't belong in the classroom. Send an email to the principal and request a meeting. You aren't asking to confront the kid or his parents; rather, you are demanding assurance that your child is safe in the classroom.

The kid at our school flipped desks and chairs and threw things like scissors. They got to the point where they had to have a second adult in the room at all times so they could quickly evacuate the kids.

Thank you for this perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, we had a kid with severe issues at our school. He had violent outbursts and the classroom was evacuated regularly. Nobody was ever notified. One parent met with the principal based on what her child was telling her, and the principal enthusiastically welcomed the parent's concern. In fact, she suggested that she should tell other concerned parents to email the teacher and principal indicating their concerns so she would have a paper trail to try to get the kid removed from the school. It took nearly three quarters of the year to get him removed.

Bottom line: voice your concern. That kid doesn't belong in the classroom. Send an email to the principal and request a meeting. You aren't asking to confront the kid or his parents; rather, you are demanding assurance that your child is safe in the classroom.

The kid at our school flipped desks and chairs and threw things like scissors. They got to the point where they had to have a second adult in the room at all times so they could quickly evacuate the kids.

I'm a school staff member and there's a student with severe anger issues in my school. We have not had enough parents voice their concern about the situation. There is a lengthy history of violent incidents where both students and staff have gotten hurt, but "they" (the people who make placement decisions) maintain that the current school is the most appropriate placement and that we just need to avoid any of the triggers that might set the student off.

As much as I feel terribly sad for the student that they are not getting what they need in terms of appropriate services, if my kid was in that classroom I would have had enough and would be contacting admin and the appropriate higher-ups in writing so there is a paper trail. The classroom has had to be evacuated many times. This has been ongoing for almost 2 years. Administration says their hands are tied. They don't send home notices to parents when these events occur. I believe they have been advised not to. They only send home notices if the police had been involved.

I think that if more parents voiced their concern then that might make a difference to help this child since "they" don't trust the teachers and school staff when we tell them that this child is suffering and so are the other 20 something students in the class when there is an incident. If there was enough parent concern voiced then "they" would have to take the other students' safety into account. Two years worth of logs, photo evidence and injured staff and students just haven't been enough to get a student like this the support they truly need and to ensure the other students' safety as well.

I find this entire thread sad and scary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

+1 The MCPS budget has done nothing but go up year after year. The PTAs were fed this bull this year and now walk around repeating it like zombies.

But the MCPS enrollment has also done nothing but go up year after year.

[Anonymous]

Interesting comments on this thread. My child is in an ED cluster school. He says that all of the bad behaviors he sees come from mainstream kids, not the ED kids. The ED kids have highly qualified paraeducators who keep them in line. I am wondering what ED clusters you all attend who claim the paraeducators are unqualified Joe Schmoes. That would raise my hackles a bit if I knew the people who were supposed to be helping special needs kids were just brought in off the street. I wouldn't feel comfortable with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1 The MCPS budget has done nothing but go up year after year. The PTAs were fed this bull this year and now walk around repeating it like zombies.

But the MCPS enrollment has also done nothing but go up year after year.

The budget increase has not matched the student enrollment increase. MCPS is spending less per student. So while the budget has technically increased, there are many more brains to feed.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, this is the MCPS regulation that seems to dictate parental notification when there is a "serious incident" at a school:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/cobra.pdf

It says that when there is a "serious incident that threatens the health, safety, or security of students or staff, or there is the likelihood of community concern about the incident," the principal or designee should notify the parents.

They include in the definition of "serious incident" destruction of school property that results in disruption of a school day, and also "serious" physical assault.

Seems like many of the incidents described in this thread rise to this standard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1 The MCPS budget has done nothing but go up year after year. The PTAs were fed this bull this year and now walk around repeating it like zombies.

But the MCPS enrollment has also done nothing but go up year after year.

The budget increase has not matched the student enrollment increase. MCPS is spending less per student. So while the budget has technically increased, there are many more brains to feed.

Well that is not the state's fault. It is the county's fault for their overbuilding of the county and not making the county housing/building departments and building contractors (which make millions in profit by the way) accountable in securing AND building new schools while new construction is going up. Instead the county lets it all fall in the hands of the education budget and tells them to go get the budget increased after they build.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry this happened, OP.
I completely agree with you there should be a policy in place to notify parents of classroom evacuations and children being hit or otherwise bullied.

I would also like to interject here that people shouldn't lump "special needs" with "aggression" or "behavioral issues"!
My oldest child has an IEP, has special needs, has an aide come to the class, and HE was the one being bullied in early elementary school! I had to intervene because the teachers had not seen it. When I did, they were very responsive. The sad thing is that my child never talked about it, and it took a chance observation on my part to realize that a group of boys was bullying him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To be clear, I think all children have the right to go to school and expect not to be hit. I would hope that all schools are doing what they can to keep kids safe, and to deal with perpetrators appropriately.

I still don't think schools need to inform parents every time something happens. Basically, I think that parents ought to let the school deal with it with the hitter and the hitter's parents/guardians. The hittee is the victim, and should be cared for, but the parents don't NEED to be involved unless there was an injury or unless the school isn't dealing with it.

The school isn't dealing with it if the victim's family does not get notified. Sorry but this could seriously come back and get the school in financial trouble. If my child was being hit multiple times and I was not notified (which by the way lets the victim think it is no big deal and no need to inform you, which is scary in itself) and then she gets a laceration from scissors or sprains/breaks something from that same child, THEN I hear about all the harassing, I would be suing the school for neglect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To be clear, I think all children have the right to go to school and expect not to be hit. I would hope that all schools are doing what they can to keep kids safe, and to deal with perpetrators appropriately.

I still don't think schools need to inform parents every time something happens. Basically, I think that parents ought to let the school deal with it with the hitter and the hitter's parents/guardians. The hittee is the victim, and should be cared for, but the parents don't NEED to be involved unless there was an injury or unless the school isn't dealing with

Well you are correct that the child being physically assaulted is the victim here. Fort his or her parents not to be informed that their child has been assaulted is in my view ridiculous. The child who was hit clearly knows he was hit, and, if he were an adult and permitted to make his own choices as to how to respond and more mature enough to do so, he could take any number of steps. The schools are simply relying on the fact that kids won't tell their parents that they have been assaulted in their classrooms. This is not at all about student privacy. If Jack hits Jane, Jane knows it. Privacy blown right there. Jane doesn't need to know why Jack hit her, any underlying private issues, or anything about his mental or medical state. She does know, though, that her school was holy unable to protect her from violence. Sometimes this violence is small, and sometimes big. But don't let schools hide behind a shield of privacy in telling you you are not permitted to know of an act committed in public. Imagine if this happened and an adult workplace. If you were hit or taunted in front of your supervisors, who then turned around and said that, due to privacy concerns, they would be unable to prevent it from happening in the future. You might not expect your company to tell you how they are addressing the problem, but to put a stamp of approval on it and the name of privacy for a child they cannot control, that's just bullshit.