Violence in Kindergarten- Sligo Creek Elementary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not true.
OP is a troll.
I just called the school and asked.
I then called multiple news orgs not one will has heard this either.

It's true. The school did not send out an email, but I personally read the letter from the K teacher to the class, as the other K classes passed it around. She gave 0 days notice. She did not name the child (I just went back and checked) but she did say that she was leaving due to "unsafe, disruptive behavior by one student."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not true.
OP is a troll.
I just called the school and asked.
I then called multiple news orgs not one will has heard this either.

This is absolutely true about this scenario in K. The staff member injured needed substantial medical help yesterday as a result of their injury. Just because you aren’t in the loop I would highly recommend not calling names and putting people on blast. The OP reached out as a parent who is desperate to get help in a situation that shouldn’t be happening but is unfortunately too common in our schools these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No dog in this fight, but what do you want the school to actually do? If the parents don't agree their child is special ed/or has mental health issues, the school has to legally give that child an education, and can't just yank them out of class.

And, I agree it's a huge problem. I just don't know what the solution is

I don’t care if the parents of the violent child agree or not. MCPS has programs for children with emotional disabilities. They have great teacher-student ratios and the staff know what they’ve signed up for. The child will get an education. The school should transfer him tomorrow.

The problem is kids come into Kindergarten with no prior experience in MCPS, and it takes time to move them. Things have to be documented, etc. It is a process. Combine this with parents who are reluctant to address the issues, and it can be a real problem. My kids are old (youngest in HS), and they each had at least one violent kid in their grade when they entered Kindergarten. In my younger son's class they could not leave out pencils, scissors, etc. (basically anything you could use to poke or stab someone). We had a lot of paras in that school (large ESOL and learning center programs) so, the school was able to put another adult in the room for some of the day, but now with staffing issues, I can imagine it is brutal in those Kindergarten classrooms.

I just want to reiterate this. If a child has attended PEP or HeadStart or is otherwise in the system, it's much easier to get services and/or an appropriate placement. However, if the child is brand new to MCPS on Day One of Kindergarten, there are so many steps, observations, and meetings that would need to take place. Moreover, staff is already allocated. With notice, a school might be able to break free part of a paraprofessional's time, but that's not possible when the need wasn't known until the child was already in the school.

[Anonymous]

I live right down the street from SCES. This is crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not true.
OP is a troll.
I just called the school and asked.
I then called multiple news orgs not one will has heard this either.

Employee at SCES that can confirm all of this PLUS more is true. And yes all coming from one student and happening since the first day of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live right down the street from SCES. This is crap.

Look, I haven't heard all of the details from OP's post, but the teacher who quit citing a specific kid's behavior is 100% true, as is the news about a teacher being injured yesterday. Both are from kindergarten.

Sometimes a kid has needs that MCPS can't meet in a mainstream classroom. That's not the fault of this specific school, but the lack of urgency in getting the child a more appropriate placement is sadly on the administration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in K at Sligo. The first year teacher who quit in OP told the kids she was quitting bc of [named K student] and that she didn't feel like she couldn't keep the kids or herself safe. It was completely inappropriate, but it also sounds like she was desperate. Kids in her class had gotten concussions and black eyes.
Since the teacher left, the child who has had violent outburst was transferred to my kid's class. Today the class received an email from the Principal saying our child had witnessed a violent incident where a child hurt an adult. Our kid said that the child had taken a water bottle and thrown it at a teacher's head, sending her to the hospital. It's not good for the kids, the teachers or the kid who keeps acting out--he's obviously not getting the support he needs.

Sounds like CPS might need to be involved.

This isn't a CPS issue. Child isn't being abused or neglected, they are out of control. That is juvenile justice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in K at Sligo. The first year teacher who quit in OP told the kids she was quitting bc of [named K student] and that she didn't feel like she couldn't keep the kids or herself safe. It was completely inappropriate, but it also sounds like she was desperate. Kids in her class had gotten concussions and black eyes.
Since the teacher left, the child who has had violent outburst was transferred to my kid's class. Today the class received an email from the Principal saying our child had witnessed a violent incident where a child hurt an adult. Our kid said that the child had taken a water bottle and thrown it at a teacher's head, sending her to the hospital. It's not good for the kids, the teachers or the kid who keeps acting out--he's obviously not getting the support he needs.

Sounds like CPS might need to be involved.

This isn't a CPS issue. Child isn't being abused or neglected, they are out of control. That is juvenile justice.

There really isn't such a thing as "juvenile justice" for a 5 year-old. That's good, actually. A child who is that dysregulated at that age needs intensive intervention, including psychological help, small ratios, and trauma-informed approaches.

The shocking thing here isn't that a child that young can be violent, it's that the child has not yet been moved to an environment better suited to their specific needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't just transfer a student to an emotional disabilities program. It's for kids with IEP's. If the student doesn't have an IEP, it takes months to get one - there are laws in place to prevent someone from "labeling" a child. Literally takes months even if you fast track it. My daughter had a child removed from her classroom and placed in a specialized program pretty quickly but that child already had an IEP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don’t care if the parents of the violent child agree or not. MCPS has programs for children with emotional disabilities. They have great teacher-student ratios and the staff know what they’ve signed up for. The child will get an education. The school should transfer him tomorrow.

They can make an IEP happen pretty quickly IF they want to. It's March already. They should have had one in place by now.

eh....not as quick as you would think. My kid started in PEP but then MCPS determined he no longer needed an IEP for K (ha ha ha). So I put him in a small private. That worked for K and 1, but by second it was obvious he needed an IEP and the private could no longer support him. I met with the principal the week before enrolling him, shared the PEP IEP, and recent teacher incident reports. I told the principal that my kid was going to need an IEP. Principal said my kid needed to be observed in the classroom prior to starting the process. I can understand that but I did want to give him and my sons teacher a heads up.

3 hours into his first day of school the principal called me and said we'd like to schedule the IEP meeting. It took 3 months to get the IEP and then another 2 months to get placed in a self contained class. I offered to speed things up by getting a private neuro which I was able to get done faster than the school psychologist would be able to do it. So, the principal was on board, as the parent, I was on board, and yet it still took 5 months. There were days that I was called into school to pick up my kid and I would beg the principal to please speed up the process. Since the principal effectively had become my kids 1:1, I'm sure he was anxious to get my kid out of the building so he could get back to his job.

I wish there was a emergency process that could fast track everything. But if it took 5 months for a willing family, can you imagine how long it take for a family that is in denial or cannot afford a private evaluation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not true.
OP is a troll.
I just called the school and asked.
I then called multiple news orgs not one will has heard this either.

There is absolutely no way the school speak to these issues, especially over the phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't just transfer a student to an emotional disabilities program. It's for kids with IEP's. If the student doesn't have an IEP, it takes months to get one - there are laws in place to prevent someone from "labeling" a child. Literally takes months even if you fast track it. My daughter had a child removed from her classroom and placed in a specialized program pretty quickly but that child already had an IEP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don’t care if the parents of the violent child agree or not. MCPS has programs for children with emotional disabilities. They have great teacher-student ratios and the staff know what they’ve signed up for. The child will get an education. The school should transfer him tomorrow.

They can make an IEP happen pretty quickly IF they want to. It's March already. They should have had one in place by now.

eh....not as quick as you would think. My kid started in PEP but then MCPS determined he no longer needed an IEP for K (ha ha ha). So I put him in a small private. That worked for K and 1, but by second it was obvious he needed an IEP and the private could no longer support him. I met with the principal the week before enrolling him, shared the PEP IEP, and recent teacher incident reports. I told the principal that my kid was going to need an IEP. Principal said my kid needed to be observed in the classroom prior to starting the process. I can understand that but I did want to give him and my sons teacher a heads up.

3 hours into his first day of school the principal called me and said we'd like to schedule the IEP meeting. It took 3 months to get the IEP and then another 2 months to get placed in a self contained class. I offered to speed things up by getting a private neuro which I was able to get done faster than the school psychologist would be able to do it. So, the principal was on board, as the parent, I was on board, and yet it still took 5 months. There were days that I was called into school to pick up my kid and I would beg the principal to please speed up the process. Since the principal effectively had become my kids 1:1, I'm sure he was anxious to get my kid out of the building so he could get back to his job.

I wish there was a emergency process that could fast track everything. But if it took 5 months for a willing family, can you imagine how long it take for a family that is in denial or cannot afford a private evaluation.

Thanks for this. It also tracks with what I've heard from other parents, where even willing parents and a savvy administration can't typically get things moving for almost a full school year.

Imagine then all the things that can slow the process down, including unwilling parents/guardians, inexperienced administrators, and kids was are "on the bubble" in terms of what they need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No dog in this fight, but what do you want the school to actually do? If the parents don't agree their child is special ed/or has mental health issues, the school has to legally give that child an education, and can't just yank them out of class.

And, I agree it's a huge problem. I just don't know what the solution is

I don’t care if the parents of the violent child agree or not. MCPS has programs for children with emotional disabilities. They have great teacher-student ratios and the staff know what they’ve signed up for. The child will get an education. The school should transfer him tomorrow.

The problem is kids come into Kindergarten with no prior experience in MCPS, and it takes time to move them. Things have to be documented, etc. It is a process. Combine this with parents who are reluctant to address the issues, and it can be a real problem. My kids are old (youngest in HS), and they each had at least one violent kid in their grade when they entered Kindergarten. In my younger son's class they could not leave out pencils, scissors, etc. (basically anything you could use to poke or stab someone). We had a lot of paras in that school (large ESOL and learning center programs) so, the school was able to put another adult in the room for some of the day, but now with staffing issues, I can imagine it is brutal in those Kindergarten classrooms.

I just want to reiterate this. If a child has attended PEP or HeadStart or is otherwise in the system, it's much easier to get services and/or an appropriate placement. However, if the child is brand new to MCPS on Day One of Kindergarten, there are so many steps, observations, and meetings that would need to take place. Moreover, staff is already allocated. With notice, a school might be able to break free part of a paraprofessional's time, but that's not possible when the need wasn't known until the child was already in the school.

You are greatly exaggerating the difficulty and procedural complexity. The school could have put in a request for critical staffing with central as soon as there was a problem. There's no requirement for an IEP to get a para hired and assigned to a classroom.

[Anonymous]

DP. I can’t speak to every single detail mentioned but broadly speaking this is true. I just heard the water bottle story today from a neighbor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not true.
OP is a troll.
I just called the school and asked.
I then called multiple news orgs not one will has heard this either.

This is absolutely true about this scenario in K. The staff member injured needed substantial medical help yesterday as a result of their injury. Just because you aren’t in the loop I would highly recommend not calling names and putting people on blast. The OP reached out as a parent who is desperate to get help in a situation that shouldn’t be happening but is unfortunately too common in our schools these days.

Did they *need* substantial medical help, or did they *seek* substantial medical attention to build a worker's comp claim?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had issues with the SCES principal last year for a different issue and she was awful to work with—gaslighting, offering empty solutions that sounded good but in reality did nothing, miscommunications galore. Eventually a group of parents in the class went above her head to complain to her supervisor. It was a well organized effort with more than a dozen parents behind it, and the issue was resolved within days of going over the principal’s head. I would recommend the K parents begin organizing and advocating in a similar way to get the kid removed or get a full time aid placed with him/her at all times. I can’t emphasize this enough: the principal will not do it on her own. You need to go above her.

There is no real going over the principal's head in this matter. There is a process to follow for this kid to get accommodations or be moved to a different program. Going over the principal's head isn't going to speed it up.

You would be surprised how fast MCPS can move when it wants to avoid bad press or litigation. This is worth a shot.