Reply to Suspending PreK Students?

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Reply to "Suspending PreK Students?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I do think there should be some program for pre-K and other students who are harming other students either emotionally or physically. I met one DC teacher who told me that they had a pre-K kid who continually exposed and touched themselves inappropriately in classroom as well as hit other children and threw chairs and what not around. This teacher said that this was happening on an almost daily basis and the Children and Youth and the parents were called multiple times to no avail. I do not think the other students should be subjected to this behavior at all. DCPS should have separate classrooms and better yet separate schools for these emotionally disturbed children.[/quote]

I'm one of the PPs with a daughter in PK4. My child has been "the victim" of one of the children you're describing. While the protective parent in me wants that child removed from her classroom and put into a special class where he can't hurt anyone, the rational part of me knows that that's not possible. That that child will benefit from being in a classroom with other children who do know how to respect boundaries. I was satisfied with the steps the school took to supervise that child more closely and ultimately am glad that he is able to remain in a classroom with other children. That normal experience is a counter to whatever else he has going on in his life that is aggravating the problematic behavior.[/quote]

Yes, ideally all children should be kept in the classroom. However, it is not the job of other kids to fix students with behavioral issues. Also, how did the school fix it without depriving all of the other students of the teacher's time and attention? Did they provide a 1 on 1 aide for this out of control child? if not then I think it would be unacceptable to keep such an out of control child in a regular classroom at the expense of all of the other students.[/quote]

The school addressed the problem by keeping the child closer to the teacher and intervening if there were problems. There have not been any that I have been made aware of (either by the classroom teacher, the boss or my child, who is pretty good at reporting what happens in class). The reality is that next year, that child will have a right to attend this school, the same as my child.

I do not like your solution of locking up all children with behavioral problems in special schools one bit, as it absolutely smacks of the terrible educational past.  And where do you draw the line? How do you determine when a child's behavior is so egregiously out of control that s/he cannot be in class with other kids? What standards do you use? Who agrees? Is it a three strikes policy, or does the child get sent to the special school the first time? How do you determine if the child is making enough progress at behavioral improvement to stay in "regular class"? What happens if the kid has a crappy week and behavior backslides?

I haven't seen Grosso's bill. There have been stories recently about the harsher punishments meted out to young boys of color than children of other social groups. It's not a liberal conspiracy to keep abusive kids in the classroom. It's a liberal desire to actually help kids who need help, which cannot happen if the solution is "Throw those problem kids out of the classroom!"[/quote]

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