Started working at an elementary school last week. Shocked and sad. AMA

[Anonymous]

Well per the abc news article I just read, Florida is one of only 3 states that do not have a state wide teacher shortage at the moment. So maybe the library banning thing isn’t as big an issue as you seem to think.

Your comment is exactly the type of message thats making it hard for change to happen. Everyone needs to rally behind teachers about the real problem - safety and order in the classrooms. Once we have that, we can argue about the politics and other less important stuff.

So what are you doing to rally behind teachers? Are you speaking out about safety at school board meetings? Have you written your representatives at the state house? Your Congressional representatives? Please share your actions so other parents will be encouraged as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol. Don’t you think we already refer kids? It takes a very long time for a student to get any additional help at all. Years, in some cases.

Nikolas Cruz was referred to admin for years by teachers. Teachers feared for their lives when they had him in their classroom. Restorative
justice was administered to Nikolas Cruz a number of times over the years. At one point he was approved for transfer to the special school
but his paperwork got lost and he stayed in the regular school district.

Sadly both teachers and students lost their lives in the Parkland school shooting.

So it would have been okay if he shot up a special school instead? I don't follythis logic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol. Don’t you think we already refer kids? It takes a very long time for a student to get any additional help at all. Years, in some cases.

Nikolas Cruz was referred to admin for years by teachers. Teachers feared for their lives when they had him in their classroom. Restorative
justice was administered to Nikolas Cruz a number of times over the years. At one point he was approved for transfer to the special school
but his paperwork got lost and he stayed in the regular school district.

Sadly both teachers and students lost their lives in the Parkland school shooting.

So it would have been okay if he shot up a special school instead? I don't follythis logic.

DP. No, of course not. I don't think anyone is saying that. I have worked at both regular and "special" schools. The stand alone special schools have supports in place that would have made it a lot harder for Cruz to do what he did. For example, higher staff ratios, smaller physical spaces so it's easier to keep eyes on students all the time, all staff equipped with a walkie, all staff trained in CPI, etc. Schools like Phillips and Alternative Paths deal with kids like that all the time and have never had a shooting to my knowledge. There are some kids who should not be on a campus with a thousand other students even if they're attending a "school within a school" type setting.

[Anonymous]

i'm late to the party but i'm confused what op thinks should happen? like - duh - yes obv children shouldn't hit their teacher. but in a world where things are not perfect, what is the solution? confused why you were surprised that happens.... 6 and 7 yos make awful choices all the time.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes the disruptive kids dont have SN or even mental health issues. they are a product of their upbringing or just jerks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i'm late to the party but i'm confused what op thinks should happen? like - duh - yes obv children shouldn't hit their teacher. but in a world where things are not perfect, what is the solution? confused why you were surprised that happens.... 6 and 7 yos make awful choices all the time.

Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i'm late to the party but i'm confused what op thinks should happen? like - duh - yes obv children shouldn't hit their teacher. but in a world where things are not perfect, what is the solution? confused why you were surprised that happens.... 6 and 7 yos make awful choices all the time.

Not OP but suspension and basic punishment is an obvious first step. Without negative consequences it's no longer an "awful" choice. Inadvertently rewarding "awful choices" is the underlying problem.

[Anonymous]

The issue is that schools are overwhelmed with behavior issues and won't enforce consequences on students who misbehave so that sends a message to kids they can do whatever they want

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The issue is that schools are overwhelmed with behavior issues and won't enforce consequences on students who misbehave so that sends a message to kids they can do whatever they want

I don’t understand how we’ve gotten to the place where schools can’t enact consequences for violent behavior. It’s utter insanity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is that schools are overwhelmed with behavior issues and won't enforce consequences on students who misbehave so that sends a message to kids they can do whatever they want

I don’t understand how we’ve gotten to the place where schools can’t enact consequences for violent behavior. It’s utter insanity.

When you lead people to believe that outside forces cause poor behavior, you cant blame or punish those people's behavior for which they are not responsible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is that schools are overwhelmed with behavior issues and won't enforce consequences on students who misbehave so that sends a message to kids they can do whatever they want

I don’t understand how we’ve gotten to the place where schools can’t enact consequences for violent behavior. It’s utter insanity.

They can enact consequences. It's just that you have to follow the laws if there's a documented disability and it takes time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is that schools are overwhelmed with behavior issues and won't enforce consequences on students who misbehave so that sends a message to kids they can do whatever they want

I don’t understand how we’ve gotten to the place where schools can’t enact consequences for violent behavior. It’s utter insanity.

When you lead people to believe that outside forces cause poor behavior, you cant blame or punish those people's behavior for which they are not responsible.

I see that this is the problem but I can’t see it changing anytime soon. The people who make these laws and decisions do not need to live with the consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol. Don’t you think we already refer kids? It takes a very long time for a student to get any additional help at all. Years, in some cases.

Nikolas Cruz was referred to admin for years by teachers. Teachers feared for their lives when they had him in their classroom. Restorative
justice was administered to Nikolas Cruz a number of times over the years. At one point he was approved for transfer to the special school
but his paperwork got lost and he stayed in the regular school district.

Sadly both teachers and students lost their lives in the Parkland school shooting.

So it would have been okay if he shot up a special school instead? I don't follythis logic.

DP. No, of course not. I don't think anyone is saying that. I have worked at both regular and "special" schools. The stand alone special schools have supports in place that would have made it a lot harder for Cruz to do what he did. For example, higher staff ratios, smaller physical spaces so it's easier to keep eyes on students all the time, all staff equipped with a walkie, all staff trained in CPI, etc. Schools like Phillips and Alternative Paths deal with kids like that all the time and have never had a shooting to my knowledge. There are some kids who should not be on a campus with a thousand other students even if they're attending a "school within a school" type setting.

And therapeutic schools typically all have metal detectors. They are there for a reason because many kids there are violent. When kids are violent, I think they should have a shot at "recovery" in a therapeutic school. But honestly, I think that at some point, some of these kids belong in a psych hospital or in juvie. And even if a kid has a disability, that should not give kids license to be violent. Violence doesn't belong in schools. Kids with disabilities should have every right neurotypical kids have....until they are violent or ruin learning for others. And yeah, if we have to go old school institutionalization, then I'm in favor of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The issue is that schools are overwhelmed with behavior issues and won't enforce consequences on students who misbehave so that sends a message to kids they can do whatever they want

I don’t understand how we’ve gotten to the place where schools can’t enact consequences for violent behavior. It’s utter insanity.

Parents look in a mirror because you're part of the problem. Principals are scared to punish kids because they don't want to be cussed out or assaulted by angry parents. On reddit r/teachers you see this constantly, principals are scared to confront parents and if a parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any statistics on how often this is happening in schools? Like is it once per week, or twice per day in every grade? My daughter is in 5th and I never hear anything like this happening. We're in a mid-size, high-SES/UPC public school. FCPS.

I'm a teacher and would love to know this. We are able to submit discipline referrals via our online system but we can't see what happens after that. Administrators do not like to have a high number of referrals so we're actively discouraged from submitting anything unless it's really serious. There's a lot of shaming at some schools and teachers are made to feel inadequate if they continuously refer students, even if it is egregious behavior. I suspect parents would be livid if they realized how often it's happening though.

ES teacher here and I avoid involving administrators for the reasons you mention.

This. Teachers get a "reputation" if they refer students to admin. Also, teachers get the better teaching assignments and better school assignments if they don't have a "reputation."

This really sucks. The public is the real employer of teachers, not the school admin. The school admin is only required to handle paperwork.

Teachers need to start bypassing admin somehow and reaching parents directly with their concerns and decisions. Perhaps anonymously through the media but ideally through lobbying government for the support that they need. Isn’t this what teachers unions should be doing?

Absolutely incorrect. But next time a cop pulls you over, be sure to tell them “I pay your salary!” Record it, so we can all watch how that goes for you.