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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

I am going to speculate as a school psychologist why the teachers didn't search his backpack.

It is clear the assistant principal and principal are not at all supportive and downright callous as evidenced through out the grand jury report.

When he was in kindergarten, the student choked a teacher in September. After getting choked by the student the school counselor who had witnessed the incident took the child to the office and a couple of hours later the student was sent back to her class because allegedly no administrator was there to deal with it. That kindergarten teacher left her class with an aide, went to the office filled out an incident report AND kept a copy for herself (smart teacher!), then went to talk to both the principal and the vice-principal. After that incident there was a plan the student would no longer be in her class she saw the student eating breakfast with her class. So that K teacher confronted the Vice-Principal and said either she would leave or the student would leave but that they were NOT going to be in the same class together. Teachers who are able to assert their rights tend to be financially secure enough to quit, and/or savvy enough to go get medical treatment for their injury and go on leave and/or friends with the principal. It also could be the teacher is an amazing well-liked teacher and knows the principal will stick up for her. This situation of a teacher saying "it is me or the student, pick which one you want at school" is NOT common. A teacher can be reprimanded, written up and even fired for insubordination and not be willing to teach the class.

Most teachers need the paycheck, they teach because they want to be helpful, and aren't confrontational with callous administrators. So when there was a report of a gun on the child or in the backpack, logically you would think a 1st grade teacher would search the child's backpack and pockets. But when you have a really, really reactive student who can be very aggressive it isn't so easy. The first grade teacher needs to think of the whole class and keep the whole class safe. By searching his backpack, the student would most likely become really upset and aggressive. The teacher was not being supported at all by the administrators so if she called the office for help, it would be doubtful anyone would have come. And if the vice-principal would have come the teacher most likely would have been reprimanded for setting off the student. Many administrators put all the blame on teachers and their first question after a teacher has been hit, scratched, kicked, spat upon, bites, etc. is to ask what the TEACHER did to set off the student. So it is a catch-22 situation where a teacher can't win.

So if the teachers were really afraid to search the student, what the teacher needed is for someone to be more helpful and lure the student out of the classroom saying they had a prize for him for something in the office or the counselor office or wanted to show him something outside of the classroom and hope he left his backpack in the room. Same thing for searching pockets, you offer the kid something that is small enough that they can fit it in their pocket but large enough that you can usually tell if they have anything else in their pocket. Or you put on music and have a movement activity and see if the kid participates so it is easier to tell if something is in the pocket. If that doesn't work, if you are working with truly awful administrators who will go off the deep end if you search the backpack or student then for the good of the class you have to flat out lie and say you think saw something shiny and metallic (not a gun, but a description that could be something benign but could be a weapon) in the student's backpack or pocket and then email the admin so it is in writing then call the office. It is so tiring playing games with administrators who are lazy and only look out for themselves.

Both parents had been in the classroom with the student and I also wonder what the relationship between the teacher, the admin, and the parents was. Were the teachers afraid the parents would be upset if the student went home and complained he was searched? I can't imagine a teacher would want his parents in her classroom for a couple of hours every day.

The poster who said that perhaps he wasn't tested for special education because he is African-American has a point. Districts can get in trouble from the federal education department and state if they qualify too many students of any one race in a special education eligibility category compared to students from another race. There has been an over identification when you look at number of African-American students and the eligibility category of Emotionally Disturbed. What doesn't make sense is that the student began taking medication for ADHD, so they could have qualified him under Other Health Impaired due to ADHD. He really needed to be assessed at that point and I can picture a special education attorney reaching out to the parents to sue under Child Find. What also isn't clear is where he was after September of his kindergarten. The principal said Chicago, but that seems unlikely. The worse thing for the kid was to spend more time at home with family members who thought him being a tough guy was cute.

The district is completely at fault and I really hope the teacher gets millions. [/quote]

Thank you and the other PPs who provided some context for why the teachers handled this as they did. This makes a lot of sense. What a mess. This all makes me wonder how many other kids are falling through the cracks like this kid, but fly under the radar because they are not violent.

The grand jury did an amazing job explaining what went wrong here.

[/quote]

After he was pulled out of K I have read he attended a daycare program with a K component.

Wonder if those parents or caregivers were informed that he had tried to strangle an adult with a jump rope?

In 1st he also chased other kids with a belt on the playground and tried to touch the privates of a girl who had fallen on the playground whose dress rode up. Clearly he was exposed to and/or was a victim of violence and abuse. His father's socials were up for a very long time and it was clear the child was exposed to p*rn. One adult relative's social media showed him playing GTA on an iPad as a preschooler. [/quote]

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