Reply to Suing Parents for their child's violent behavior?

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Reply to "Suing Parents for their child's violent behavior?"

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[quote=Anonymous]I'm a teacher and we've had a few students with violent behavior in recent years. It seems as though different principals have the resources to fast track situations like these and others don't. In once case, the parents weren't on board with the process and "didn't understand what he/she had to be so angry about". Meanwhile this child was hitting, throwing things, biting, and generally causing destruction. Other children and staff members were getting assaulted. The classroom had to be evacuated multiple times because the student was so out of control. In the child's rage, they destroyed a lot of property that belonged to the school and to the teacher personally. Sometimes the child would leave the school and that was the only thing that had any impact on the parent because the police had to be called in those situations.

It took 2 years for the child to be placed in a more appropriate setting.

As a parent, if I had a child in that classroom I would be on the phone every day with the principal and the principal's boss asking how they were able to ensure my child's safety. I teach in a high FARMS school and the parents don't always know the power they carry and nothing happened. Since there was no pressure from other parents, the principal didn't feel pressure to fast track the situation.

I understand OP's dilemma about calling the union because in cases like these, a lot depends on your administration. Although it shouldn't happen, sometimes going to the union can backfire on you because principals hate having to deal with that if the union contacts them and they resent you for it which means you might win the battle but you'll lose the war. They take it as a blow to their ego that someone is telling them what they have to do because they think they have all the power over teachers and staff. A great principal would do what they need to do to protect the other students and the teacher and other staff. How do I know? It happened to me, but luckily not on this level.

I would tell OP to continue documenting and get to the doctor to have the injuries documented. It can wreak havoc on you mentally and emotionally because you never know what you're in for on any given day. And it's not like this student is the only one in the class--there are still 20 something other students to plan for and instruct every day. Once the injuries have been documented with the doctor, I would ask for a meeting with the principal to better understand what the timeline, contingencies and barriers are. If it is a long-term plan vs. a short-term plan then I would contact the union. If it's really impacting your mental health then see if your doctor will sign off on medical leave. If you remain in the classroom, request that another staff member be in your classroom with you at all times.

Teachers should not be martyrs and no job should allow physical and mental injury to occur, even if it's at the hands of a child. There should be procedures in place to safeguard against this when the issue first starts to present itself. [/quote]

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