Violence in Kindergarten- Sligo Creek Elementary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like a staff member is posting on this board to get parents in an uproar. I highly doubt this person is a parent. Bad things happen at all schools. Yes, those bad things can be crazy. Yes, some kids need more help than others. Yes, the school system is required to educate all students be it thugs, health problems, etc. Yes, resources are limited. I do not think that staff sweep things other than rug. It is a process. No one is allowed to kick students out between k-3. You can do in school and out of school but NOT kick them out. This is public school people. We are required by law to teach these children.

What can you do as a parent? Ask you student how their day went. Document what was said. Follow up with any concerns IF they pertain to your child or the majority of the student body. Keep things in an email so you have a paper trail. Attach everyone possible to the thread; superintendent, CEO of I do not know, principal, Area office, etc. Show up and show out in numbers to board meetings. Be a presence within your school so you can have first hand proof, volunteer, sit in on your students class, etc

As a teacher, you can keep documents, put the student up for needing additional services, to get tested, etc. Continue to speak with the parents of those children. Keep a log of everything. YOU are also required to go to work in a safe and healthy working environment. If it is not safe, do not return and document. Reach out to HR.

I have a student in 2nd grade (academy) and another in 6th at SSIMS. I’m in enough uproar for everyone, I don’t need your help. My 2nd grader is home today until I can get answers from this principal about her plan to keep my son safe as parent communication has been vague. This is not a joke. You all can troll on this post all you want but I’m not nor do I have a reason to. I can only go off what my child says when he comes home but it’s my job to advocate for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like a staff member is posting on this board to get parents in an uproar. I highly doubt this person is a parent. Bad things happen at all schools. Yes, those bad things can be crazy. Yes, some kids need more help than others. Yes, the school system is required to educate all students be it thugs, health problems, etc. Yes, resources are limited. I do not think that staff sweep things other than rug. It is a process. No one is allowed to kick students out between k-3. You can do in school and out of school but NOT kick them out. This is public school people. We are required by law to teach these children.

What can you do as a parent? Ask you student how their day went. Document what was said. Follow up with any concerns IF they pertain to your child or the majority of the student body. Keep things in an email so you have a paper trail. Attach everyone possible to the thread; superintendent, CEO of I do not know, principal, Area office, etc. Show up and show out in numbers to board meetings. Be a presence within your school so you can have first hand proof, volunteer, sit in on your students class, etc

As a teacher, you can keep documents, put the student up for needing additional services, to get tested, etc. Continue to speak with the parents of those children. Keep a log of everything. YOU are also required to go to work in a safe and healthy working environment. If it is not safe, do not return and document. Reach out to HR.

I don't understand what you're arguing here. As a parent of a different school who has done all of the things you suggested, it hasn't changed anything.

Why? Because the school system does in fact want to sweep things under the rug, which you assert they do not. That has not been my experience nor the PP's.

You can email, complain, and show up to the school board all you want. You'll be stonewalled, gas lit or told that it's out of their hands as they fingerpoint at someone else within the system or point fingers at the state or the police.

Okay - then do you have constructive feedback about what would be useful? Because I'm a parent at SCES and reading about what you say *doesn't* work is not really helpful.

What would be helpful is not dismissing mine and the PP's assertion that the principal or MCPS overall are prone to sweeping things under the rug in the attempt to preserve the reputation of MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Part of the problem at the school is that the principal is not honest. It was not just a steak knife. It was a sharp, straight edge, knife. Another student’s life was threatened if he told. Fortunately, older kids saw the knife and told the teacher. .

I also have child in the school and would like to know more. Was the kid in the immersion program? I saw the police in the school and nothing was done to warn the school. There was a STEAM fair going on so there were lots o f parents inside the school presenting.

A couple of things:

1) They will never tell you whether it was an immersion kid or an Academy kid, nor should they.

2) There was no threat once the knife was confiscated. I don't think it would have made sense to disrupt the STEAM fair to say that a thing happened and was over, coming from the perspective of someone at another school.

3) There is an open question about why this is all happening at SCES this year. If PP is to be believed, this is a different kid than the one creating chaos earlier in the year. SCES is not a school that usually has multiple highly disruptive violent kids. I do have a theory, but I'd be curious to hear from the "insider" on this thread about where these kids are coming from. Are they coming in from other schools?

I ask because the school where I work is the "twinned" school to a dual immersion program. When this was rolled out five years ago, we were told that we would receive kids who couldn't access the bilingual curriculum due to learning differences. However, we're actually receiving kids who can't access the curriculum because they are extremely violent. Since SC shares a middle school with a dual immersion program, part of me wonders if that's happening there as well.

Interesting theory, but SCES is not a "dual immersion" program with a "bilingual curriculum." The French immersion program is full French immersion. There is no English (except for specials, and except for English reading starting in 4th grade). So this probably has no relevance to your example.

And yes, the earlier issue in the thread involved a K student and the recent issue with the steak knife that was allegedly a butcher knife was a 2nd grader. BTW, there may be other incidents not mentioned on this thread but those two specifically were in the Academy program. Just troubled kids who obviously need more/different interventions than the school can provide. But there is nothing unique about SCES.

Just to be clear, the theory was not that Sligo Creek was dual immersion. It was that Rolling Terrace is dual immersion and paired with Sligo Creek in the sense that both articulate to Silver Spring Middle School. If it's anything like my school, they are shunting kids over to the English program because they weren't successful in dual immersion, but the issue isn't actually learning differences, it's violence.

[Anonymous]

There’s a student in K who has injured multiple students and staff (as previously mentioned in this thread). A first grader who absolutely does not belong in general education that elopes and has incidents of physical aggression, has eloped the building multiple times, on one instance all the way to the neighborhood and was found by neighbors. Another first grader that is constantly sent home because of outbursts and physical aggression that cannot be handled by teachers. The second grader who brought the knife to school, that has also been having serious incidents since in K. A fourth grader who elopes the building, had fire dept called because they refused to get out of a tree, refuses to go to class and can be found literally HANGING from the counselor or on the floor outside her office. A girth grader who has frequent outbursts of physical aggression towards teachers and students. All of this is not including the autism program (full of students who don’t fit the criteria for it, but are dumped there because no other schools know what to do with them). The students in that program are in constant crisis and destroying classrooms, hallways, etc., as well as injuring the staff members who work with them. Thankfully the program is moving to a new school next year where they will have the support they so desperately need.

You wanted details and proof? There you go

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone in this thread denying the truth of these incidents is simply brain dead. If you don’t work at or have children attending the school please be quiet. The school is full of very troubled and DANGEROUS children. The soon to be ex principal has downplayed and swept everything under the rug, so much so that you people find it unfathomable for these things to be true. The email describing the knife incident was so watered down. That child had every intent to harm and has been making verbal threats as well as been involved in other physical incidents. He is troubled as needs help that the school system cannot provide, much like dozens of other students attending SCES. Hopefully the new principal will prioritize the safety of the staff and students over their own public image and the image of the school.

I have a child in this school and asked for more details above. If you have them and are not providing them, it raises questions about your motives. Please answer the request for more details.

Raise whatever questions you want about my motives that has nothing to do with me. Like I said, the email was watered down compared to the truth of the situation and the child had every intent to harm bringing the knife to school. Ask your principal if you want more details.

You claim to know and you also don’t want to say (even anonymously)! Why is that?

DP. People don’t have to share if they don’t want to. JC.

The person is criticizing parents as credulous and incapable of/unwilling to hear relevant facts. If they know relevant facts and will not disclose them, it makes me doubt their veracity generally. JC.

That is totally fine with me! You can doubt the validity of whatever you want. We are here everyday seeing it with our own eyes. It’s not my job to disclose details that’s the job of the principal and the administration team. If you need proof to validate the facts that are coming from the mouths of the people in the building with your child everyday then you can reach out to the principal. You are no one to me to demand I give details on something I’m physically experiencing every single day. Believe or don’t believe. Maybe ask your kids because I’m sure they can validate everything being said.

If you are covering for violence taking place in a school—by refusing to provide details sufficient to enable real action about it—you are complicit in it.

I guess it doesn’t bother you. It would bother me if I were you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s a student in K who has injured multiple students and staff (as previously mentioned in this thread). A first grader who absolutely does not belong in general education that elopes and has incidents of physical aggression, has eloped the building multiple times, on one instance all the way to the neighborhood and was found by neighbors. Another first grader that is constantly sent home because of outbursts and physical aggression that cannot be handled by teachers. The second grader who brought the knife to school, that has also been having serious incidents since in K. A fourth grader who elopes the building, had fire dept called because they refused to get out of a tree, refuses to go to class and can be found literally HANGING from the counselor or on the floor outside her office. A girth grader who has frequent outbursts of physical aggression towards teachers and students. All of this is not including the autism program (full of students who don’t fit the criteria for it, but are dumped there because no other schools know what to do with them). The students in that program are in constant crisis and destroying classrooms, hallways, etc., as well as injuring the staff members who work with them. Thankfully the program is moving to a new school next year where they will have the support they so desperately need.

You wanted details and proof? There you go

We haven't heard of any of this. DC hasn't noticed anything and no parents or teachers have ever mentioned an issue. Are you talking about Sligo Creek?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a student in K who has injured multiple students and staff (as previously mentioned in this thread). A first grader who absolutely does not belong in general education that elopes and has incidents of physical aggression, has eloped the building multiple times, on one instance all the way to the neighborhood and was found by neighbors. Another first grader that is constantly sent home because of outbursts and physical aggression that cannot be handled by teachers. The second grader who brought the knife to school, that has also been having serious incidents since in K. A fourth grader who elopes the building, had fire dept called because they refused to get out of a tree, refuses to go to class and can be found literally HANGING from the counselor or on the floor outside her office. A girth grader who has frequent outbursts of physical aggression towards teachers and students. All of this is not including the autism program (full of students who don’t fit the criteria for it, but are dumped there because no other schools know what to do with them). The students in that program are in constant crisis and destroying classrooms, hallways, etc., as well as injuring the staff members who work with them. Thankfully the program is moving to a new school next year where they will have the support they so desperately need.

You wanted details and proof? There you go

We haven't heard of any of this. DC hasn't noticed anything and no parents or teachers have ever mentioned an issue. Are you talking about Sligo Creek?

BECAUSE IT IS BEING SWEPT UNDER THE RUG AND KEPT QUIET!!!! That’s why you haven’t heard of it. Yes I am talking about Sligo Creek ES please be serious. You asked for the details and they were provided. If you simply wish to believe none of it is true then go right ahead. We are living it in real time every single day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone in this thread denying the truth of these incidents is simply brain dead. If you don’t work at or have children attending the school please be quiet. The school is full of very troubled and DANGEROUS children. The soon to be ex principal has downplayed and swept everything under the rug, so much so that you people find it unfathomable for these things to be true. The email describing the knife incident was so watered down. That child had every intent to harm and has been making verbal threats as well as been involved in other physical incidents. He is troubled as needs help that the school system cannot provide, much like dozens of other students attending SCES. Hopefully the new principal will prioritize the safety of the staff and students over their own public image and the image of the school.

I have a child in this school and asked for more details above. If you have them and are not providing them, it raises questions about your motives. Please answer the request for more details.

Raise whatever questions you want about my motives that has nothing to do with me. Like I said, the email was watered down compared to the truth of the situation and the child had every intent to harm bringing the knife to school. Ask your principal if you want more details.

You claim to know and you also don’t want to say (even anonymously)! Why is that?

DP. People don’t have to share if they don’t want to. JC.

The person is criticizing parents as credulous and incapable of/unwilling to hear relevant facts. If they know relevant facts and will not disclose them, it makes me doubt their veracity generally. JC.

That is totally fine with me! You can doubt the validity of whatever you want. We are here everyday seeing it with our own eyes. It’s not my job to disclose details that’s the job of the principal and the administration team. If you need proof to validate the facts that are coming from the mouths of the people in the building with your child everyday then you can reach out to the principal. You are no one to me to demand I give details on something I’m physically experiencing every single day. Believe or don’t believe. Maybe ask your kids because I’m sure they can validate everything being said.

If you are covering for violence taking place in a school—by refusing to provide details sufficient to enable real action about it—you are complicit in it.

I guess it doesn’t bother you. It would bother me if I were you.

It must not bother the principal since that’s the person covering it all. It bothers us all and that’s why many teachers and staff are not planning to return to SCES

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The principal stated in the email that there was no intent to harm students. However, my son who is in this second grade class with the student told me the day before that the class had to evacuate because this student was threatening to kill students and destroying the classroom. Us parents were never notified about this and that’s terrifying. I am currently awaiting a response from the principal on why parents in that class were not notified of this situation immediately and where is the support for the students who were afraid. So if that happened (and my kid wouldn’t lie about something like that) and the following day this kid has a knife, i don’t see how there was no threat. My son is terrified of this student as I’m told on a weekly basis they are having some type of dangerous or distracting episode at school.

Your child is absolutely right these things did happen the day prior that’s why the principal is a liar and tries to make things seem like everything is rainbows and unicorns. Everyone is very much upset and the principal needs to be reported immediately.

[Anonymous]

For the people that have kids at SCES, I would recommend to also reach out to your room parents and brainstorm on how you all collectively write a letter. Also, it is my understanding there there is a slack group /whatapp for the cohort. I am sure the PTA has the contact information on how to get on these groups.
Make community and get all in the same page!! This needs to stop

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like a staff member is posting on this board to get parents in an uproar. I highly doubt this person is a parent. Bad things happen at all schools. Yes, those bad things can be crazy. Yes, some kids need more help than others. Yes, the school system is required to educate all students be it thugs, health problems, etc. Yes, resources are limited. I do not think that staff sweep things other than rug. It is a process. No one is allowed to kick students out between k-3. You can do in school and out of school but NOT kick them out. This is public school people. We are required by law to teach these children.

What can you do as a parent? Ask you student how their day went. Document what was said. Follow up with any concerns IF they pertain to your child or the majority of the student body. Keep things in an email so you have a paper trail. Attach everyone possible to the thread; superintendent, CEO of I do not know, principal, Area office, etc. Show up and show out in numbers to board meetings. Be a presence within your school so you can have first hand proof, volunteer, sit in on your students class, etc

As a teacher, you can keep documents, put the student up for needing additional services, to get tested, etc. Continue to speak with the parents of those children. Keep a log of everything. YOU are also required to go to work in a safe and healthy working environment. If it is not safe, do not return and document. Reach out to HR.

I don't understand what you're arguing here. As a parent of a different school who has done all of the things you suggested, it hasn't changed anything.

Why? Because the school system does in fact want to sweep things under the rug, which you assert they do not. That has not been my experience nor the PP's.

You can email, complain, and show up to the school board all you want. You'll be stonewalled, gas lit or told that it's out of their hands as they fingerpoint at someone else within the system or point fingers at the state or the police.

Okay - then do you have constructive feedback about what would be useful? Because I'm a parent at SCES and reading about what you say *doesn't* work is not really helpful.

What would be helpful is not dismissing mine and the PP's assertion that the principal or MCPS overall are prone to sweeping things under the rug in the attempt to preserve the reputation of MCPS.

I didn’t dismiss anyone or anything, I was only responding to your post complaining about rug-sweeping and gaslighting and asking if you had any constructive feedback about what parents *should* be doing. But I guess you don’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Part of the problem at the school is that the principal is not honest. It was not just a steak knife. It was a sharp, straight edge, knife. Another student’s life was threatened if he told. Fortunately, older kids saw the knife and told the teacher. .

I also have child in the school and would like to know more. Was the kid in the immersion program? I saw the police in the school and nothing was done to warn the school. There was a STEAM fair going on so there were lots o f parents inside the school presenting.

A couple of things:

1) They will never tell you whether it was an immersion kid or an Academy kid, nor should they.

2) There was no threat once the knife was confiscated. I don't think it would have made sense to disrupt the STEAM fair to say that a thing happened and was over, coming from the perspective of someone at another school.

3) There is an open question about why this is all happening at SCES this year. If PP is to be believed, this is a different kid than the one creating chaos earlier in the year. SCES is not a school that usually has multiple highly disruptive violent kids. I do have a theory, but I'd be curious to hear from the "insider" on this thread about where these kids are coming from. Are they coming in from other schools?

I ask because the school where I work is the "twinned" school to a dual immersion program. When this was rolled out five years ago, we were told that we would receive kids who couldn't access the bilingual curriculum due to learning differences. However, we're actually receiving kids who can't access the curriculum because they are extremely violent. Since SC shares a middle school with a dual immersion program, part of me wonders if that's happening there as well.

Interesting theory, but SCES is not a "dual immersion" program with a "bilingual curriculum." The French immersion program is full French immersion. There is no English (except for specials, and except for English reading starting in 4th grade). So this probably has no relevance to your example.

And yes, the earlier issue in the thread involved a K student and the recent issue with the steak knife that was allegedly a butcher knife was a 2nd grader. BTW, there may be other incidents not mentioned on this thread but those two specifically were in the Academy program. Just troubled kids who obviously need more/different interventions than the school can provide. But there is nothing unique about SCES.

Just to be clear, the theory was not that Sligo Creek was dual immersion. It was that Rolling Terrace is dual immersion and paired with Sligo Creek in the sense that both articulate to Silver Spring Middle School. If it's anything like my school, they are shunting kids over to the English program because they weren't successful in dual immersion, but the issue isn't actually learning differences, it's violence.

Sorry, this still doesn’t make any sense. Sligo Creek has a French immersion program within the school and a totally separate non-immersion neighborhood English program. No one is being shunted there from other schools. Kids in the English program all live in the catchment area. The immersion program draws from a region in the county. Kids who leave the French program would go back to their local ES, which is not necessarily Sligo Creek unless they already live in the catchment area. And there is no indication the problem kids mentioned left the immersion program for the academy program at the same school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The principal stated in the email that there was no intent to harm students. However, my son who is in this second grade class with the student told me the day before that the class had to evacuate because this student was threatening to kill students and destroying the classroom. Us parents were never notified about this and that’s terrifying. I am currently awaiting a response from the principal on why parents in that class were not notified of this situation immediately and where is the support for the students who were afraid. So if that happened (and my kid wouldn’t lie about something like that) and the following day this kid has a knife, i don’t see how there was no threat. My son is terrified of this student as I’m told on a weekly basis they are having some type of dangerous or distracting episode at school.

There are only around 12 days of school left. Why send him back to that classroom so he can spend 6 hours in fear of another student? Maybe if parents protested by holding their kids out of school and calling in they are too afraid to go to school, something might happen. You can't expel or suspend second graders so the violent kid is going to be back in that class next week.

MCPS discipline procedures state:
Except as provided in this section, a student enrolled in Pre-K-Grade 2 may not be suspended or expelled from school.If the behavior of a Pre-K-Grade 2 student warrants suspension in accordance with the MCPS Student Code of Conduct, the following applies:

1. The principal/designee must consult with a school psychologist or other mental health professional to determine if there is an imminent threat of
serious harm to other students or staff that cannot be reduced or eliminated through interventions and supports.
If the school principal/designee decides to proceed with the suspension or expulsion, the principal/designee must then promptly contact the appropriate director in the Office of School Support and Improvement for approval, and the parent/guardian of the student.
3. If a suspension is approved, the length of suspension may not exceed five school days per incident.

So notice the principal is already announcing there was no threat despite what your child is telling you. At most the violent kid can get five days suspension if there is an "imminent threat of serious harm", but chances are no one is going to approve a five day suspension and might not even approve one day. No way would I be sending my kid back to that classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Part of the problem at the school is that the principal is not honest. It was not just a steak knife. It was a sharp, straight edge, knife. Another student’s life was threatened if he told. Fortunately, older kids saw the knife and told the teacher. .

I also have child in the school and would like to know more. Was the kid in the immersion program? I saw the police in the school and nothing was done to warn the school. There was a STEAM fair going on so there were lots o f parents inside the school presenting.

A couple of things:

1) They will never tell you whether it was an immersion kid or an Academy kid, nor should they.

2) There was no threat once the knife was confiscated. I don't think it would have made sense to disrupt the STEAM fair to say that a thing happened and was over, coming from the perspective of someone at another school.

3) There is an open question about why this is all happening at SCES this year. If PP is to be believed, this is a different kid than the one creating chaos earlier in the year. SCES is not a school that usually has multiple highly disruptive violent kids. I do have a theory, but I'd be curious to hear from the "insider" on this thread about where these kids are coming from. Are they coming in from other schools?

I ask because the school where I work is the "twinned" school to a dual immersion program. When this was rolled out five years ago, we were told that we would receive kids who couldn't access the bilingual curriculum due to learning differences. However, we're actually receiving kids who can't access the curriculum because they are extremely violent. Since SC shares a middle school with a dual immersion program, part of me wonders if that's happening there as well.

Interesting theory, but SCES is not a "dual immersion" program with a "bilingual curriculum." The French immersion program is full French immersion. There is no English (except for specials, and except for English reading starting in 4th grade). So this probably has no relevance to your example.

And yes, the earlier issue in the thread involved a K student and the recent issue with the steak knife that was allegedly a butcher knife was a 2nd grader. BTW, there may be other incidents not mentioned on this thread but those two specifically were in the Academy program. Just troubled kids who obviously need more/different interventions than the school can provide. But there is nothing unique about SCES.

Just to be clear, the theory was not that Sligo Creek was dual immersion. It was that Rolling Terrace is dual immersion and paired with Sligo Creek in the sense that both articulate to Silver Spring Middle School. If it's anything like my school, they are shunting kids over to the English program because they weren't successful in dual immersion, but the issue isn't actually learning differences, it's violence.

Sorry, this still doesn’t make any sense. Sligo Creek has a French immersion program within the school and a totally separate non-immersion neighborhood English program. No one is being shunted there from other schools. Kids in the English program all live in the catchment area. The immersion program draws from a region in the county. Kids who leave the French program would go back to their local ES, which is not necessarily Sligo Creek unless they already live in the catchment area. And there is no indication the problem kids mentioned left the immersion program for the academy program at the same school.

DP. I think PP was pointing out that kids zoned for dual immersion schools can be sent elsewhere if immersion isn’t working out. But I don’t think PP is correct that Rolling Terrace kids are getting sent to SCES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Part of the problem at the school is that the principal is not honest. It was not just a steak knife. It was a sharp, straight edge, knife. Another student’s life was threatened if he told. Fortunately, older kids saw the knife and told the teacher. .

I also have child in the school and would like to know more. Was the kid in the immersion program? I saw the police in the school and nothing was done to warn the school. There was a STEAM fair going on so there were lots o f parents inside the school presenting.

A couple of things:

1) They will never tell you whether it was an immersion kid or an Academy kid, nor should they.

2) There was no threat once the knife was confiscated. I don't think it would have made sense to disrupt the STEAM fair to say that a thing happened and was over, coming from the perspective of someone at another school.

3) There is an open question about why this is all happening at SCES this year. If PP is to be believed, this is a different kid than the one creating chaos earlier in the year. SCES is not a school that usually has multiple highly disruptive violent kids. I do have a theory, but I'd be curious to hear from the "insider" on this thread about where these kids are coming from. Are they coming in from other schools?

I ask because the school where I work is the "twinned" school to a dual immersion program. When this was rolled out five years ago, we were told that we would receive kids who couldn't access the bilingual curriculum due to learning differences. However, we're actually receiving kids who can't access the curriculum because they are extremely violent. Since SC shares a middle school with a dual immersion program, part of me wonders if that's happening there as well.

Interesting theory, but SCES is not a "dual immersion" program with a "bilingual curriculum." The French immersion program is full French immersion. There is no English (except for specials, and except for English reading starting in 4th grade). So this probably has no relevance to your example.

And yes, the earlier issue in the thread involved a K student and the recent issue with the steak knife that was allegedly a butcher knife was a 2nd grader. BTW, there may be other incidents not mentioned on this thread but those two specifically were in the Academy program. Just troubled kids who obviously need more/different interventions than the school can provide. But there is nothing unique about SCES.

Just to be clear, the theory was not that Sligo Creek was dual immersion. It was that Rolling Terrace is dual immersion and paired with Sligo Creek in the sense that both articulate to Silver Spring Middle School. If it's anything like my school, they are shunting kids over to the English program because they weren't successful in dual immersion, but the issue isn't actually learning differences, it's violence.

Sorry, this still doesn’t make any sense. Sligo Creek has a French immersion program within the school and a totally separate non-immersion neighborhood English program. No one is being shunted there from other schools. Kids in the English program all live in the catchment area. The immersion program draws from a region in the county. Kids who leave the French program would go back to their local ES, which is not necessarily Sligo Creek unless they already live in the catchment area. And there is no indication the problem kids mentioned left the immersion program for the academy program at the same school.

DP. I think PP was pointing out that kids zoned for dual immersion schools can be sent elsewhere if immersion isn’t working out. But I don’t think PP is correct that Rolling Terrace kids are getting sent to SCES.

In theory, this could be happening. The COSA would be for a student not well attuned to the dual-immersion model, which is a whole-school approach that teaches half of the time in English and half in Spanish. Though language exposure is a wonderful option, not every kid thrives with that, and not every family wants it. Many have non-English, non-Spanish home languages (e.g., Amharic, Korean, Vietnamese, French, etc.), and might prefer to have schooling focused on the single standard language. SCES is reasonay nearby, has separate Immersion and Academy (MCPS. standard/English curriculum) programs, and the Academy classes nearly always have room (Immersion gets booked, pretty much, from the demand/waitlist drawing from half of the county).