Escuela Key

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like APS is doing an investigation, which is appropriate. When investigations happen, the relevant staff are put on leave with pay, also appropriate. Imagine if they didn't!!!

Yes, of course they are. So many of the people demanding more info NOW obviously have never been part of a leadership team or crisis management team. So much goes on behind the scenes and you have to keep certain critical info close to the chest at first. I think to the horrible murders at that college group house recently where the community was bashing law enforcement for not doing enough. Then when they caught the guy, they were able to say what they had been doing which was actually quite sophisticated. These parents just have no idea.

Yes, but you have to admit that this is different - a murder case investigation by a PD vs. how a public school system handles violent threats. I don't know the Key principal OR the Taylor principal the parents are mentioning, at all, but I'm disturbed that there are two separate issues which are being conflagrated here: The principal question, and the child threatening to kill another with a gun. As a parent of a third grader who believes this could happen anywhere, I'm highly disturbed, if this child is allowed to stay in the general population at school, or moved to another elementary (like they apparently did with the student at Swanson!) and it's all hushed up. I cannot imagine how the parent (and child!) must be feeling who were the target of the murder/gun threat. There is only one answer; it must be crystal clear to all, including to children, that making a weapon or murder threat at school will be handled with the same seriousness as making a threat at an airport. It will be dealt with swiftly, and with the gravity it deserves. Elementary school students in Newport News have to have clear backpacks now and walk through metal detectors... never mind that this 6 yr old should have never been allowed to remain in a general population classroom. And that is the question that matters; will the next violent student be allowed to terrorize his classmates as well?

What do you think should have happened with that Swanson student? Shipped to the island of misfit kids? FWIW, the student is now at my students' school.

Expulsion might not be the answer, but clearly something is better than nothing, and at least an in-school suspension should certainly be considered over any of the softer approaches that I've read about. With third graders and younger, the kids learn a lot, if not most, from.....parents or what's going on in their homes. I have no problem with making life a little bit more difficult for the parents of these children as well. Sorry if that's not a digestible approach, but along with pretending that these problems can never happen in Arlington, maybe we should also acknowledge that not ALL [North] Arlington kids are incapable of such acts as racism and gun threats....and that maybe parents can and should suffer some of the consequences too.

God forbid your child ever make a mistake, and if they do, you may be happy that there’s privacy around disciplinary action. Not knowing does it mean nothing happened. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like APS is doing an investigation, which is appropriate. When investigations happen, the relevant staff are put on leave with pay, also appropriate. Imagine if they didn't!!!

Yes, of course they are. So many of the people demanding more info NOW obviously have never been part of a leadership team or crisis management team. So much goes on behind the scenes and you have to keep certain critical info close to the chest at first. I think to the horrible murders at that college group house recently where the community was bashing law enforcement for not doing enough. Then when they caught the guy, they were able to say what they had been doing which was actually quite sophisticated. These parents just have no idea.

Yes, but you have to admit that this is different - a murder case investigation by a PD vs. how a public school system handles violent threats. I don't know the Key principal OR the Taylor principal the parents are mentioning, at all, but I'm disturbed that there are two separate issues which are being conflagrated here: The principal question, and the child threatening to kill another with a gun. As a parent of a third grader who believes this could happen anywhere, I'm highly disturbed, if this child is allowed to stay in the general population at school, or moved to another elementary (like they apparently did with the student at Swanson!) and it's all hushed up. I cannot imagine how the parent (and child!) must be feeling who were the target of the murder/gun threat. There is only one answer; it must be crystal clear to all, including to children, that making a weapon or murder threat at school will be handled with the same seriousness as making a threat at an airport. It will be dealt with swiftly, and with the gravity it deserves. Elementary school students in Newport News have to have clear backpacks now and walk through metal detectors... never mind that this 6 yr old should have never been allowed to remain in a general population classroom. And that is the question that matters; will the next violent student be allowed to terrorize his classmates as well?

What do you think should have happened with that Swanson student? Shipped to the island of misfit kids? FWIW, the student is now at my students' school.

Expulsion might not be the answer, but clearly something is better than nothing, and at least an in-school suspension should certainly be considered over any of the softer approaches that I've read about. With third graders and younger, the kids learn a lot, if not most, from.....parents or what's going on in their homes. I have no problem with making life a little bit more difficult for the parents of these children as well. Sorry if that's not a digestible approach, but along with pretending that these problems can never happen in Arlington, maybe we should also acknowledge that not ALL [North] Arlington kids are incapable of such acts as racism and gun threats....and that maybe parents can and should suffer some of the consequences too.

God forbid your child ever make a mistake, and if they do, you may be happy that there’s privacy around disciplinary action. Not knowing does it mean nothing happened. Period.

My child has made mistakes, and will make more. There were also consequences too, and he knows that as well. I really could care less about privacy, but to each their own. Super glad though that we're teaching our entitled kids that they can do no wrong, and that there won't be any consequences, if god forbid, they did. The Arlington Way. Got it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like APS is doing an investigation, which is appropriate. When investigations happen, the relevant staff are put on leave with pay, also appropriate. Imagine if they didn't!!!

Yes, of course they are. So many of the people demanding more info NOW obviously have never been part of a leadership team or crisis management team. So much goes on behind the scenes and you have to keep certain critical info close to the chest at first. I think to the horrible murders at that college group house recently where the community was bashing law enforcement for not doing enough. Then when they caught the guy, they were able to say what they had been doing which was actually quite sophisticated. These parents just have no idea.

Yes, but you have to admit that this is different - a murder case investigation by a PD vs. how a public school system handles violent threats. I don't know the Key principal OR the Taylor principal the parents are mentioning, at all, but I'm disturbed that there are two separate issues which are being conflagrated here: The principal question, and the child threatening to kill another with a gun. As a parent of a third grader who believes this could happen anywhere, I'm highly disturbed, if this child is allowed to stay in the general population at school, or moved to another elementary (like they apparently did with the student at Swanson!) and it's all hushed up. I cannot imagine how the parent (and child!) must be feeling who were the target of the murder/gun threat. There is only one answer; it must be crystal clear to all, including to children, that making a weapon or murder threat at school will be handled with the same seriousness as making a threat at an airport. It will be dealt with swiftly, and with the gravity it deserves. Elementary school students in Newport News have to have clear backpacks now and walk through metal detectors... never mind that this 6 yr old should have never been allowed to remain in a general population classroom. And that is the question that matters; will the next violent student be allowed to terrorize his classmates as well?

What do you think should have happened with that Swanson student? Shipped to the island of misfit kids? FWIW, the student is now at my students' school.

Expulsion might not be the answer, but clearly something is better than nothing, and at least an in-school suspension should certainly be considered over any of the softer approaches that I've read about. With third graders and younger, the kids learn a lot, if not most, from.....parents or what's going on in their homes. I have no problem with making life a little bit more difficult for the parents of these children as well. Sorry if that's not a digestible approach, but along with pretending that these problems can never happen in Arlington, maybe we should also acknowledge that not ALL [North] Arlington kids are incapable of such acts as racism and gun threats....and that maybe parents can and should suffer some of the consequences too.

God forbid your child ever make a mistake, and if they do, you may be happy that there’s privacy around disciplinary action. Not knowing does it mean nothing happened. Period.

My child has made mistakes, and will make more. There were also consequences too, and he knows that as well. I really could care less about privacy, but to each their own. Super glad though that we're teaching our entitled kids that they can do no wrong, and that there won't be any consequences, if god forbid, they did. The Arlington Way. Got it.

That's your takeaway? You didn't hear through the gossip mill so there were no consequences? When a child is essentially expelled from one school there are certain things that happen once at the new school - psych/counseling services, behavioral plan, monitoring, regular family check-ins, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like APS is doing an investigation, which is appropriate. When investigations happen, the relevant staff are put on leave with pay, also appropriate. Imagine if they didn't!!!

Yes, of course they are. So many of the people demanding more info NOW obviously have never been part of a leadership team or crisis management team. So much goes on behind the scenes and you have to keep certain critical info close to the chest at first. I think to the horrible murders at that college group house recently where the community was bashing law enforcement for not doing enough. Then when they caught the guy, they were able to say what they had been doing which was actually quite sophisticated. These parents just have no idea.

Yes, but you have to admit that this is different - a murder case investigation by a PD vs. how a public school system handles violent threats. I don't know the Key principal OR the Taylor principal the parents are mentioning, at all, but I'm disturbed that there are two separate issues which are being conflagrated here: The principal question, and the child threatening to kill another with a gun. As a parent of a third grader who believes this could happen anywhere, I'm highly disturbed, if this child is allowed to stay in the general population at school, or moved to another elementary (like they apparently did with the student at Swanson!) and it's all hushed up. I cannot imagine how the parent (and child!) must be feeling who were the target of the murder/gun threat. There is only one answer; it must be crystal clear to all, including to children, that making a weapon or murder threat at school will be handled with the same seriousness as making a threat at an airport. It will be dealt with swiftly, and with the gravity it deserves. Elementary school students in Newport News have to have clear backpacks now and walk through metal detectors... never mind that this 6 yr old should have never been allowed to remain in a general population classroom. And that is the question that matters; will the next violent student be allowed to terrorize his classmates as well?

What do you think should have happened with that Swanson student? Shipped to the island of misfit kids? FWIW, the student is now at my students' school.

APS has a program for students in elementary school for children who need extra support for behavioral challenges. They move to the school that has the program.
Unfortunately, sometimes parents refuse to send their kid there when they really need it.

Does this not exist at the MS and HS levels?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like APS is doing an investigation, which is appropriate. When investigations happen, the relevant staff are put on leave with pay, also appropriate. Imagine if they didn't!!!

Yes, of course they are. So many of the people demanding more info NOW obviously have never been part of a leadership team or crisis management team. So much goes on behind the scenes and you have to keep certain critical info close to the chest at first. I think to the horrible murders at that college group house recently where the community was bashing law enforcement for not doing enough. Then when they caught the guy, they were able to say what they had been doing which was actually quite sophisticated. These parents just have no idea.

Yes, but you have to admit that this is different - a murder case investigation by a PD vs. how a public school system handles violent threats. I don't know the Key principal OR the Taylor principal the parents are mentioning, at all, but I'm disturbed that there are two separate issues which are being conflagrated here: The principal question, and the child threatening to kill another with a gun. As a parent of a third grader who believes this could happen anywhere, I'm highly disturbed, if this child is allowed to stay in the general population at school, or moved to another elementary (like they apparently did with the student at Swanson!) and it's all hushed up. I cannot imagine how the parent (and child!) must be feeling who were the target of the murder/gun threat. There is only one answer; it must be crystal clear to all, including to children, that making a weapon or murder threat at school will be handled with the same seriousness as making a threat at an airport. It will be dealt with swiftly, and with the gravity it deserves. Elementary school students in Newport News have to have clear backpacks now and walk through metal detectors... never mind that this 6 yr old should have never been allowed to remain in a general population classroom. And that is the question that matters; will the next violent student be allowed to terrorize his classmates as well?

What do you think should have happened with that Swanson student? Shipped to the island of misfit kids? FWIW, the student is now at my students' school.

Expulsion might not be the answer, but clearly something is better than nothing, and at least an in-school suspension should certainly be considered over any of the softer approaches that I've read about. With third graders and younger, the kids learn a lot, if not most, from.....parents or what's going on in their homes. I have no problem with making life a little bit more difficult for the parents of these children as well. Sorry if that's not a digestible approach, but along with pretending that these problems can never happen in Arlington, maybe we should also acknowledge that not ALL [North] Arlington kids are incapable of such acts as racism and gun threats....and that maybe parents can and should suffer some of the consequences too.

Why not? I worked in at ES for years in this area and the lack of actual consequences just led to worse and worse behavior.

[Anonymous]

Correct PP and I bet that that’s in part what led this school into this situation in the first place - inadequate response to other behavior issues (see in the news article that the graffiti had been appearing for weeks, for ex)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like APS is doing an investigation, which is appropriate. When investigations happen, the relevant staff are put on leave with pay, also appropriate. Imagine if they didn't!!!

Yes, of course they are. So many of the people demanding more info NOW obviously have never been part of a leadership team or crisis management team. So much goes on behind the scenes and you have to keep certain critical info close to the chest at first. I think to the horrible murders at that college group house recently where the community was bashing law enforcement for not doing enough. Then when they caught the guy, they were able to say what they had been doing which was actually quite sophisticated. These parents just have no idea.

Yes, but you have to admit that this is different - a murder case investigation by a PD vs. how a public school system handles violent threats. I don't know the Key principal OR the Taylor principal the parents are mentioning, at all, but I'm disturbed that there are two separate issues which are being conflagrated here: The principal question, and the child threatening to kill another with a gun. As a parent of a third grader who believes this could happen anywhere, I'm highly disturbed, if this child is allowed to stay in the general population at school, or moved to another elementary (like they apparently did with the student at Swanson!) and it's all hushed up. I cannot imagine how the parent (and child!) must be feeling who were the target of the murder/gun threat. There is only one answer; it must be crystal clear to all, including to children, that making a weapon or murder threat at school will be handled with the same seriousness as making a threat at an airport. It will be dealt with swiftly, and with the gravity it deserves. Elementary school students in Newport News have to have clear backpacks now and walk through metal detectors... never mind that this 6 yr old should have never been allowed to remain in a general population classroom. And that is the question that matters; will the next violent student be allowed to terrorize his classmates as well?

What do you think should have happened with that Swanson student? Shipped to the island of misfit kids? FWIW, the student is now at my students' school.

APS has a program for students in elementary school for children who need extra support for behavioral challenges. They move to the school that has the program.
Unfortunately, sometimes parents refuse to send their kid there when they really need it.

Does this not exist at the MS and HS levels?

Yes, the program is at all MS and HS as well. It is at one elementary school but honestly the county probably needs to have the program in 1-2 more schools. There's no way for the program to house all the kids in APS that need it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like APS is doing an investigation, which is appropriate. When investigations happen, the relevant staff are put on leave with pay, also appropriate. Imagine if they didn't!!!

Yes, of course they are. So many of the people demanding more info NOW obviously have never been part of a leadership team or crisis management team. So much goes on behind the scenes and you have to keep certain critical info close to the chest at first. I think to the horrible murders at that college group house recently where the community was bashing law enforcement for not doing enough. Then when they caught the guy, they were able to say what they had been doing which was actually quite sophisticated. These parents just have no idea.

Yes, but you have to admit that this is different - a murder case investigation by a PD vs. how a public school system handles violent threats. I don't know the Key principal OR the Taylor principal the parents are mentioning, at all, but I'm disturbed that there are two separate issues which are being conflagrated here: The principal question, and the child threatening to kill another with a gun. As a parent of a third grader who believes this could happen anywhere, I'm highly disturbed, if this child is allowed to stay in the general population at school, or moved to another elementary (like they apparently did with the student at Swanson!) and it's all hushed up. I cannot imagine how the parent (and child!) must be feeling who were the target of the murder/gun threat. There is only one answer; it must be crystal clear to all, including to children, that making a weapon or murder threat at school will be handled with the same seriousness as making a threat at an airport. It will be dealt with swiftly, and with the gravity it deserves. Elementary school students in Newport News have to have clear backpacks now and walk through metal detectors... never mind that this 6 yr old should have never been allowed to remain in a general population classroom. And that is the question that matters; will the next violent student be allowed to terrorize his classmates as well?

What do you think should have happened with that Swanson student? Shipped to the island of misfit kids? FWIW, the student is now at my students' school.

APS has a program for students in elementary school for children who need extra support for behavioral challenges. They move to the school that has the program.
Unfortunately, sometimes parents refuse to send their kid there when they really need it.

Does this not exist at the MS and HS levels?

Yes that program is at TJ

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like APS is doing an investigation, which is appropriate. When investigations happen, the relevant staff are put on leave with pay, also appropriate. Imagine if they didn't!!!

Yes, of course they are. So many of the people demanding more info NOW obviously have never been part of a leadership team or crisis management team. So much goes on behind the scenes and you have to keep certain critical info close to the chest at first. I think to the horrible murders at that college group house recently where the community was bashing law enforcement for not doing enough. Then when they caught the guy, they were able to say what they had been doing which was actually quite sophisticated. These parents just have no idea.

Yes, but you have to admit that this is different - a murder case investigation by a PD vs. how a public school system handles violent threats. I don't know the Key principal OR the Taylor principal the parents are mentioning, at all, but I'm disturbed that there are two separate issues which are being conflagrated here: The principal question, and the child threatening to kill another with a gun. As a parent of a third grader who believes this could happen anywhere, I'm highly disturbed, if this child is allowed to stay in the general population at school, or moved to another elementary (like they apparently did with the student at Swanson!) and it's all hushed up. I cannot imagine how the parent (and child!) must be feeling who were the target of the murder/gun threat. There is only one answer; it must be crystal clear to all, including to children, that making a weapon or murder threat at school will be handled with the same seriousness as making a threat at an airport. It will be dealt with swiftly, and with the gravity it deserves. Elementary school students in Newport News have to have clear backpacks now and walk through metal detectors... never mind that this 6 yr old should have never been allowed to remain in a general population classroom. And that is the question that matters; will the next violent student be allowed to terrorize his classmates as well?

What do you think should have happened with that Swanson student? Shipped to the island of misfit kids? FWIW, the student is now at my students' school.

Expulsion might not be the answer, but clearly something is better than nothing, and at least an in-school suspension should certainly be considered over any of the softer approaches that I've read about. With third graders and younger, the kids learn a lot, if not most, from.....parents or what's going on in their homes. I have no problem with making life a little bit more difficult for the parents of these children as well. Sorry if that's not a digestible approach, but along with pretending that these problems can never happen in Arlington, maybe we should also acknowledge that not ALL [North] Arlington kids are incapable of such acts as racism and gun threats....and that maybe parents can and should suffer some of the consequences too.

Why not? I worked in at ES for years in this area and the lack of actual consequences just led to worse and worse behavior.

Oh, I'm for it....was just acknowledging that the trend seems to be shifting away from such "harsh" consequences for our little snowflakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like APS is doing an investigation, which is appropriate. When investigations happen, the relevant staff are put on leave with pay, also appropriate. Imagine if they didn't!!!

Yes, of course they are. So many of the people demanding more info NOW obviously have never been part of a leadership team or crisis management team. So much goes on behind the scenes and you have to keep certain critical info close to the chest at first. I think to the horrible murders at that college group house recently where the community was bashing law enforcement for not doing enough. Then when they caught the guy, they were able to say what they had been doing which was actually quite sophisticated. These parents just have no idea.

Yes, but you have to admit that this is different - a murder case investigation by a PD vs. how a public school system handles violent threats. I don't know the Key principal OR the Taylor principal the parents are mentioning, at all, but I'm disturbed that there are two separate issues which are being conflagrated here: The principal question, and the child threatening to kill another with a gun. As a parent of a third grader who believes this could happen anywhere, I'm highly disturbed, if this child is allowed to stay in the general population at school, or moved to another elementary (like they apparently did with the student at Swanson!) and it's all hushed up. I cannot imagine how the parent (and child!) must be feeling who were the target of the murder/gun threat. There is only one answer; it must be crystal clear to all, including to children, that making a weapon or murder threat at school will be handled with the same seriousness as making a threat at an airport. It will be dealt with swiftly, and with the gravity it deserves. Elementary school students in Newport News have to have clear backpacks now and walk through metal detectors... never mind that this 6 yr old should have never been allowed to remain in a general population classroom. And that is the question that matters; will the next violent student be allowed to terrorize his classmates as well?

What do you think should have happened with that Swanson student? Shipped to the island of misfit kids? FWIW, the student is now at my students' school.

Expulsion might not be the answer, but clearly something is better than nothing, and at least an in-school suspension should certainly be considered over any of the softer approaches that I've read about. With third graders and younger, the kids learn a lot, if not most, from.....parents or what's going on in their homes. I have no problem with making life a little bit more difficult for the parents of these children as well. Sorry if that's not a digestible approach, but along with pretending that these problems can never happen in Arlington, maybe we should also acknowledge that not ALL [North] Arlington kids are incapable of such acts as racism and gun threats....and that maybe parents can and should suffer some of the consequences too.

Why not? I worked in at ES for years in this area and the lack of actual consequences just led to worse and worse behavior.

Oh, I'm for it....was just acknowledging that the trend seems to be shifting away from such "harsh" consequences for our little snowflakes.

So a 3rd grader gets expelled, then what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like APS is doing an investigation, which is appropriate. When investigations happen, the relevant staff are put on leave with pay, also appropriate. Imagine if they didn't!!!

Yes, of course they are. So many of the people demanding more info NOW obviously have never been part of a leadership team or crisis management team. So much goes on behind the scenes and you have to keep certain critical info close to the chest at first. I think to the horrible murders at that college group house recently where the community was bashing law enforcement for not doing enough. Then when they caught the guy, they were able to say what they had been doing which was actually quite sophisticated. These parents just have no idea.

Yes, but you have to admit that this is different - a murder case investigation by a PD vs. how a public school system handles violent threats. I don't know the Key principal OR the Taylor principal the parents are mentioning, at all, but I'm disturbed that there are two separate issues which are being conflagrated here: The principal question, and the child threatening to kill another with a gun. As a parent of a third grader who believes this could happen anywhere, I'm highly disturbed, if this child is allowed to stay in the general population at school, or moved to another elementary (like they apparently did with the student at Swanson!) and it's all hushed up. I cannot imagine how the parent (and child!) must be feeling who were the target of the murder/gun threat. There is only one answer; it must be crystal clear to all, including to children, that making a weapon or murder threat at school will be handled with the same seriousness as making a threat at an airport. It will be dealt with swiftly, and with the gravity it deserves. Elementary school students in Newport News have to have clear backpacks now and walk through metal detectors... never mind that this 6 yr old should have never been allowed to remain in a general population classroom. And that is the question that matters; will the next violent student be allowed to terrorize his classmates as well?

What do you think should have happened with that Swanson student? Shipped to the island of misfit kids? FWIW, the student is now at my students' school.

APS has a program for students in elementary school for children who need extra support for behavioral challenges. They move to the school that has the program.
Unfortunately, sometimes parents refuse to send their kid there when they really need it.

Does this not exist at the MS and HS levels?

Yes, the program is at all MS and HS as well. It is at one elementary school but honestly the county probably needs to have the program in 1-2 more schools. There's no way for the program to house all the kids in APS that need it.

They absolutely do. My school could fill two classrooms (1 upper, 1 Lower)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like APS is doing an investigation, which is appropriate. When investigations happen, the relevant staff are put on leave with pay, also appropriate. Imagine if they didn't!!!

Yes, of course they are. So many of the people demanding more info NOW obviously have never been part of a leadership team or crisis management team. So much goes on behind the scenes and you have to keep certain critical info close to the chest at first. I think to the horrible murders at that college group house recently where the community was bashing law enforcement for not doing enough. Then when they caught the guy, they were able to say what they had been doing which was actually quite sophisticated. These parents just have no idea.

Yes, but you have to admit that this is different - a murder case investigation by a PD vs. how a public school system handles violent threats. I don't know the Key principal OR the Taylor principal the parents are mentioning, at all, but I'm disturbed that there are two separate issues which are being conflagrated here: The principal question, and the child threatening to kill another with a gun. As a parent of a third grader who believes this could happen anywhere, I'm highly disturbed, if this child is allowed to stay in the general population at school, or moved to another elementary (like they apparently did with the student at Swanson!) and it's all hushed up. I cannot imagine how the parent (and child!) must be feeling who were the target of the murder/gun threat. There is only one answer; it must be crystal clear to all, including to children, that making a weapon or murder threat at school will be handled with the same seriousness as making a threat at an airport. It will be dealt with swiftly, and with the gravity it deserves. Elementary school students in Newport News have to have clear backpacks now and walk through metal detectors... never mind that this 6 yr old should have never been allowed to remain in a general population classroom. And that is the question that matters; will the next violent student be allowed to terrorize his classmates as well?

What do you think should have happened with that Swanson student? Shipped to the island of misfit kids? FWIW, the student is now at my students' school.

APS has a program for students in elementary school for children who need extra support for behavioral challenges. They move to the school that has the program.
Unfortunately, sometimes parents refuse to send their kid there when they really need it.

Does this not exist at the MS and HS levels?

Yes that program is at TJ

Is it at all middle schools and high schools like the previous poster wrote or not?

[Anonymous]

I don’t see anywhere in the Arlnow article where it says the graffiti threats were a repeated problem, as a PP says upthread. If that’s in a different article, will someone please link it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see anywhere in the Arlnow article where it says the graffiti threats were a repeated problem, as a PP says upthread. If that’s in a different article, will someone please link it?

From ArlNow: “After winter break ended, students at the dual-language, Spanish immersion school, also called Escuela Key, began noticing “bad words,” or “malas palabras,” on the bathroom stall. Katherine says her child and a friend formed a detectives club to figure out who wrote them.

It had been going on for weeks.

[Anonymous]

How do the other students ever feel safe again with that child in the classroom?