Reply to Violence in Kindergarten- Sligo Creek Elementary

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I work at a different nearby elementary, and I can believe this all occurred. The thing is, the vast majority of our kindergartners and 1st graders are great. There are just a handful — maybe a couple in some classes, none in others — with serious emotional issues or undiagnosed disabilities. Yes, it’s more than we used to see. It’s hard. [/quote]
I agree. There was a girl in our K who was out of control—threw a heavy object at the teacher who had to go to the hospital as a result, explosive tantrums, threw metal water bottle (missed the student in this case), physically attacking other students. So all the same behaviors on this thread, though a different ES. The principal in this case however handled this situation well and the girl is no longer terrorizing the school. I like the girl and the family but she needs intervention. The principal can make a difference in how these cases are dealt with.

A full metal water bottle is like a kettlebell.[/quote]

What did the principal do that you felt was effective? It’s very hard for parents to respond to the principal’s vague reassurance she is “handling it” and doing everything she can when we hear about these incidents over and over. Most of us don’t have the sort of in-depth knowledge of MCPS’s Byzantine system that would be required to know whether that’s pure BS or something is actually being done. I understand that privacy rules mean she can’t say much more, but it leaves us in a position of feeling like our only solution for *our kid* is to flee the system. [/quote]
The principal is very professional, communicative, and handles any serious problem themself instead of handing it to the AP never to be heard from. With this student, there were many incidents and now she is at a different school. So it is possible.[/quote]

Not the original PP who said they saw a principal handle this well, but...

I'm a SCES parent and have seen a bit of how this is being handled. We also moved from elsewhere in MCPS, so I saw a similar situation at our former school, also with a kid in early elementary.

The SCES principal is not super new, but she has the same "eduspeak" defensiveness that a lot of newer MCPS principals have. Everything they say sounds like it makes sense, but you walk away without actually knowing anything. Not just about this particular case (where the general parent community doesn't need to know anything) but about related issues like the lack of a special education specialist. The messaging is all shiny and focused grouped, but not informative.

What I saw work at a previous school may only have been possible with an older principal. He spoke to parents like we were all in it together, without defensiveness. He refused to talk about specific kids, but explained the expectations for behavior for all kids, as well as how kids who need more help get it. He walked us through his commitment to keeping everyone safe, including kids who were having trouble regulating their emotions, as well as staff. Finally, he encouraged us to "go over his head" if we felt it necessary, and hinted that it might help.

It was a combination of working the system, not getting defensive, and engaging parents as allies that felt different. But, again, maybe he had the latitude to do that as a result of age and time in the system.

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