Police handcuff kindergartner for tantrum

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm OK with what the school and police did. If it was my own child, I think that would have been the best option since it also restrains the child from hurting him/herself.

Obviously you don't have a child with special needs - or emotional problems. Schools need to be able to handle situations like this. The little girl was SIX.

I'm curious - did you read the article? You don't even know if it was a boy or girl.

Im sorry but if your child has severe emotional or special needs to the point where they could physically go off and harm an adult then your child needs to have their own 24-7 supervision of some sort if they are not at home. Do not put that on the school principal. I think they handled it the best they could given what happened.

You should read up on applicable laws. It is the schools job to provide an education to everyone, even those with special needs. If the school said she needed a chaperone, it would be the responsibility of the school (and, ultimately the principal) to provide her one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was probably some latent racism and glee when the school got to call the cops and the cops got to handcuff their youngest black criminal. I can see it now. The nod and wink. The cops laughing that they had "caught one so young". It's Georgia. I bet if her name was Susan Johanssen and she was pearl white they would have waited until she calmed down and then waited for mommy in her big SUV to come pick her up.

You have a real career writing fiction.

[Anonymous]

What this little girl did is beyond the definition of "typical" six year old behavior. If the school had no other way to restrain her than handcuffs, then fine, although I think public elementary schools should have at least one staff trained in more appropriate restraint. But she could have hurt herself or someone else, so fine, she had to be restrained.

But jail? Why are there so many people here saying she is just a 'brat?' Normal kids don't act like this. So something more is going on. Maybe she is being abused, or neglected, or her family is setting terrible examples for her, or she has an abusive sibling, or she has undiagnosed special needs. I'm not saying this means NOTHING gets done, or that she can be allowed to stay in a typical classroom with those behavioral problems. But jail? So we've just given up on the six year old? She's a lost cause at six?

Educators and psychologists should want to get to the bottom of why she is behaving this way. Wouldn't it be better for all of us? Someday she'll be a grown up. Step in now, maybe prevent an adult who is a nightmare. Give up now, she isn't going to be easier to handle in an adult sized body.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What this little girl did is beyond the definition of "typical" six year old behavior. If the school had no other way to restrain her than handcuffs, then fine, although I think public elementary schools should have at least one staff trained in more appropriate restraint. But she could have hurt herself or someone else, so fine, she had to be restrained.

But jail? Why are there so many people here saying she is just a 'brat?' Normal kids don't act like this. So something more is going on. Maybe she is being abused, or neglected, or her family is setting terrible examples for her, or she has an abusive sibling, or she has undiagnosed special needs. I'm not saying this means NOTHING gets done, or that she can be allowed to stay in a typical classroom with those behavioral problems. But jail? So we've just given up on the six year old? She's a lost cause at six?

Educators and psychologists should want to get to the bottom of why she is behaving this way. Wouldn't it be better for all of us? Someday she'll be a grown up. Step in now, maybe prevent an adult who is a nightmare. Give up now, she isn't going to be easier to handle in an adult sized body.

Of course educators want to figure out why she's behaving that way. They can't do that in the middle of her meltdown. What would you expect them to do in that moment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What this little girl did is beyond the definition of "typical" six year old behavior. If the school had no other way to restrain her than handcuffs, then fine, although I think public elementary schools should have at least one staff trained in more appropriate restraint. But she could have hurt herself or someone else, so fine, she had to be restrained.

But jail? Why are there so many people here saying she is just a 'brat?' Normal kids don't act like this. So something more is going on. Maybe she is being abused, or neglected, or her family is setting terrible examples for her, or she has an abusive sibling, or she has undiagnosed special needs. I'm not saying this means NOTHING gets done, or that she can be allowed to stay in a typical classroom with those behavioral problems. But jail? So we've just given up on the six year old? She's a lost cause at six?

Educators and psychologists should want to get to the bottom of why she is behaving this way. Wouldn't it be better for all of us? Someday she'll be a grown up. Step in now, maybe prevent an adult who is a nightmare. Give up now, she isn't going to be easier to handle in an adult sized body.

Um, she didn't stay in the jail so let's stop acting like they locked her up and threw away the key. If what you're saying is true and she IS being abused and it's causing her to act out like this, maybe the fact that she was taken to jail will actually make someone dig deeper to find out what's really going on and get her the help she needs. Could be a good thing in the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm OK with what the school and police did. If it was my own child, I think that would have been the best option since it also restrains the child from hurting him/herself.

Obviously you don't have a child with special needs - or emotional problems. Schools need to be able to handle situations like this. The little girl was SIX.

I'm curious - did you read the article? You don't even know if it was a boy or girl.

Im sorry but if your child has severe emotional or special needs to the point where they could physically go off and harm an adult then your child needs to have their own 24-7 supervision of some sort if they are not at home. Do not put that on the school principal. I think they handled it the best they could given what happened.

You should read up on applicable laws. It is the schools job to provide an education to everyone, even those with special needs. If the school said she needed a chaperone, it would be the responsibility of the school (and, ultimately the principal) to provide her one.

There are some children with such severe needs that they should not be in a public school. It is not the schools responsibility to care for a violent child.

[Anonymous]

This is ridiculous. What should happen is that the teacher or principal should physically restrain the child. Involving the police is ludicrous. Of course, they can't restrain her without getting sued, so they call the police... Who will probably be sued instead. Not blaming the teachers, but our system and screwed up way of viewing things related to kids in school these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup, I'm fine with this. Act like a criminal, get treated like a criminal. As for being "traumatized" I'm sure the other kids who witnessed her acting her were traumatized as well. Then again, take this all with a grain of salt because my hometown is only about 40 minutes from Milledgeville, so it's possible I have just have the same mentality as the cops and we're all Southern bumpkins.

Yes, that would certainly make you a Southern bumpkin (or a redneck, given your comments).

She was having a tantrum of some sort. She's six. She wasn't "acting like a criminal" as you put it.

Will you please share some of your well-considered suggesions and interventions? I'd like to hear how you think school personnel should safely handle a child who's angry enough and strong enough to turn over a bookshelf on an adult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is ridiculous. What should happen is that the teacher or principal should physically restrain the child. Involving the police is ludicrous. Of course, they can't restrain her without getting sued, so they call the police... Who will probably be sued instead. Not blaming the teachers, but our system and screwed up way of viewing things related to kids in school these days.

I've known special education teachers who were trained in appropriate restraint get bitten, kicked, have their glasses broken, etc. Some children do not belong in a public school setting. A psychoeducational setting is sometimes more apprpriate for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm OK with what the school and police did. If it was my own child, I think that would have been the best option since it also restrains the child from hurting him/herself.

Obviously you don't have a child with special needs - or emotional problems. Schools need to be able to handle situations like this. The little girl was SIX.

I'm curious - did you read the article? You don't even know if it was a boy or girl.

Im sorry but if your child has severe emotional or special needs to the point where they could physically go off and harm an adult then your child needs to have their own 24-7 supervision of some sort if they are not at home. Do not put that on the school principal. I think they handled it the best they could given what happened.

You should read up on applicable laws. It is the schools job to provide an education to everyone, even those with special needs. If the school said she needed a chaperone, it would be the responsibility of the school (and, ultimately the principal) to provide her one.

There are some children with such severe needs that they should not be in a public school. It is not the schools responsibility to care for a violent child.

The Supreme Court disagrees with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm OK with what the school and police did. If it was my own child, I think that would have been the best option since it also restrains the child from hurting him/herself.

Obviously you don't have a child with special needs - or emotional problems. Schools need to be able to handle situations like this. The little girl was SIX.

I'm curious - did you read the article? You don't even know if it was a boy or girl.

Im sorry but if your child has severe emotional or special needs to the point where they could physically go off and harm an adult then your child needs to have their own 24-7 supervision of some sort if they are not at home. Do not put that on the school principal. I think they handled it the best they could given what happened.

You should read up on applicable laws. It is the schools job to provide an education to everyone, even those with special needs. If the school said she needed a chaperone, it would be the responsibility of the school (and, ultimately the principal) to provide her one.

There are some children with such severe needs that they should not be in a public school. It is not the schools responsibility to care for a violent child.

The Supreme Court disagrees with you.

Nope incorrect pp. I think you are mis- interpreting the "all children" regardless of what disability law you have cited. There are exceptions to every "all" and with severely violent and/ or emotional children there is no law protecting ALL behaviors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Nope incorrect pp. I think you are mis- interpreting the "all children" regardless of what disability law you have cited. There are exceptions to every "all" and with severely violent and/ or emotional children there is no law protecting ALL behaviors.

Are you trying to argue that a kid who throws a tantrum and knocks over a bookshelf at age 6 is "too violent" to be entitled to a public education?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Nope incorrect pp. I think you are mis- interpreting the "all children" regardless of what disability law you have cited. There are exceptions to every "all" and with severely violent and/ or emotional children there is no law protecting ALL behaviors.

Are you trying to argue that a kid who throws a tantrum and knocks over a bookshelf at age 6 is "too violent" to be entitled to a public education?

I'm not arguing. I'm not saying that at all children with violent tendencies are not entitled to a public education. But no not 100% of them are and that why there are psychologists who make that determination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
But jail? Why are there so many people here saying she is just a 'brat?' Normal kids don't act like this. So something more is going on. Maybe she is being abused, or neglected, or her family is setting terrible examples for her, or she has an abusive sibling, or she has undiagnosed special needs. I'm not saying this means NOTHING gets done, or that she can be allowed to stay in a typical classroom with those behavioral problems. But jail? So we've just given up on the six year old? She's a lost cause at six?

Educators and psychologists should want to get to the bottom of why she is behaving this way. Wouldn't it be better for all of us? Someday she'll be a grown up. Step in now, maybe prevent an adult who is a nightmare. Give up now, she isn't going to be easier to handle in an adult sized body.

She wasn't thrown into jail and just left there. It sounds like they had to keep her somewhere and she was wrecking the school, so they put her somewhere that she couldn't destroy things.

Yes, there's obviously something else going on here. Hopefully this will get her the attention she needs. Unless her dad decides to just defend her behavior, as he's been doing.

[Anonymous]

I'm not saying that at all children with violent tendencies are not entitled to a public education. But no not 100% of them are and that why there are psychologists who make that determination.

They are in fact all entitled to a free and appropriate public education. But whether they are too violent and aggressive to receive that education in the context of a regular public school classroom with other students is a different question. If a child inflicts serious bodily injury on someone at school, they can be placed in an "interim alternative educational setting" for up to 45 days. 20 U.S.C. 1415(k)(1)(G)(i)-(iii). A permanent placement in an alternative setting requires notice, the right to a hearing etc.