Our son is in the later grades now of a washington area K-6/8 (either: norwood, sheridan, nps, green acres, lowell)

in his small grade there have been 3 extremely disruptive students. two were repeatedly violent, one was not. the non-violent child and his sibling have ADHD and maybe some other LDs, and their parents pulled them and put them into MCPS where, I gather, their learning needs are better addressed. It was a two-fer: parents were told that school really wasn't able to serve the older child who wasn't disruptive and that kid wasn't welcome back. parents took kid out and the disruptive younger kid too, for good measure.

that leaves the two other disruptive kids in my son's grade. one has stopped being immaturely and gratuitously violent after -several- years of complaints by parents -- including me. this kid used to sucker punch other students, kick them in the head/face on the playground, knock them down. the school's response was that they were aware of it and working with this person and were pleased that we felt comfortable having these candid conversations. we responded that if they didn't intervene to guarantee our child's safety, we would withdraw him and expect full tuition back, contract notwithstanding. sounds hysterical, i know, but the other kid had drawn blood from more than one classmate. we were sick of this school's preaching of tolerance and differences.

the other kid is still unpredictably explosive but hurts other kids far less frequently during outbursts (as a non-psychiatrist, i'd guess this kid has emotional disturbance disorder.) this kid also gets to stay and is welcomed again with the mantra of "we celebrate all kinds of students." we stopped complaining about this kid when this kid stopped physically hurting our child a few years ago; however, i know that this kid still interrupts and sometimes the entire class comes to a standstill while teachers deal.

we put up with that, because there's some truth to the school's stance that it's good for all the kids to learn to deal with "all types." but the repeated physical violence thing really had to stop and the school needed to hear the words "lawsuit" and "safe" a few times.

I've seen this happen twice where kids were very disruptive in class and on the playground such that my children complained to us. In each case, it unfortunately took a physical act by the bad kid, one of which resulted in an injury (hospital) and the other that could have been bad had teacher and other kids not intervened, before the school kicked out the kids. In the former case, it was at year-end anyway and the kid didn't come back the following year; in the latter case, the kid was suspended for a week (supposedly) and then didn't come back.

Anonymous wrote:I am disappointed in my privates ability to handle disruptive behavior. The parent is very vocal that her child has ADHD and she is proud of the fact that she is not medicating. I'm not the person to tell her what to do. But having been in the classroom in multiple occasions, I have seen the child dominat the class with his behavior.

I don't want the child removed from the school and I don't want to remove my child. I would like the teachers to be more empowered to removed the child from the classroom until he can regain control and comply with social norms in the classroom.

I have a child in a private with ADHD and I would not consider sending him to school without his medication. Everyone would suffer, including him. Some parents of ADHD children can be in denial or averse to medicating for various reasons but they do a great disservice to their child and the overall learning environment if their child and others can't access the curriculum due to the child's behavior. Even with medication, some children with ADHD still need supports like the ability to stand and take breaks or extra time on tests or have tests administered in a quiet room. But, the behavior issue is the one issue that stands out for students and teachers and the parent of the ADHD child must deal with it first before the school does.

I am disappointed in my privates ability to handle disruptive behavior. The parent is very vocal that her child has ADHD and she is proud of the fact that she is not medicating. I'm not the person to tell her what to do. But having been in the classroom in multiple occasions, I have seen the child dominat the class with his behavior.

I don't want the child removed from the school and I don't want to remove my child. I would like the teachers to be more empowered to removed the child from the classroom until he can regain control and comply with social norms in the classroom.

Nope. Disruptive kids still there. We left as did many others.

This has been common at my child's progressive minded school. They spend far too long trying to work things out when in reality the child has needs that far exceed the school's capacity to help and the parents are in denial.

Many parents wrongly believe that progressive schools or education will be the answer when their child has problems in traditional classroom settings. They think their child is stifled, sits to much, doesn't have enough time to be creative, run around, - you get the idea. But progressive schools are actually bad for kids with unmediated ADHD, emotional regulation issues, or anything other than mild learning issues. there is a much higher expectation that a child be able to orient, regulate and schedule themselves in both academic and social situations which some guidance from teachers but without as much direct instruction. Most of the behavior problem kids need a much more structure, direct instruction and interventions than the school could ever provide.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for your thoughts. It seems there must be significant pressure from other parents when schools retain a disruptive student all year, or even multiple years, and the interventions provided are ineffective.

How is that your takeaway from what people wrote? No one said anything about pressure?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would like to know whether parents have experienced consistently disruptive behaviors by students in their child's classroom, and what strategies or actions were taken by the school to address the behaviors.

In your experience, do schools have the skills to address effectively the special learning needs, emotional traumas, or social deficits which often lead to disruptive student behavior? If not, do schools ask students to leave?

Do schools tend to take a "wait and see" approach, especially in the lower elementary grades, in an attempt to be as supportive as possible? If so, does that tend to perpetuate or to ameliorate the disruptive behaviors throughout the year or over successive years?

Is teacher time dominated by children with high needs, or does the classroom function in a more balanced manner?

I would be so grateful to hear your observations. I don't need to know the name of your school, just your observations. Thanks!

Our family experienced this, and here was our experience - the school tried VERY hard to address the issues. And they allowed the student to remain enrolled through several of the lower elementary grades. However, it became clear that the behaviors weren't a byproduct of regular immaturity, but rather were more deep-seated, and eventually, the child was (I believe) asked to leave.

I don't believe teacher time was dominated by this child, but they were removed from class often.

Unfortunately, there are going to be certain children who have needs that are too great for a school to address. I am not talking about something like supports for ADHD, but more when a child is obviously troubled, and the issues are not caused by school.

Ultimately, I know that the change was beneficial for the rest of the class, and I have heard that the child is doing a lot better in his new environment.

What is his new environment?

OP here. Thanks for your thoughts. It seems there must be significant pressure from other parents when schools retain a disruptive student all year, or even multiple years, and the interventions provided are ineffective.

Anonymous wrote:I would like to know whether parents have experienced consistently disruptive behaviors by students in their child's classroom, and what strategies or actions were taken by the school to address the behaviors.

In your experience, do schools have the skills to address effectively the special learning needs, emotional traumas, or social deficits which often lead to disruptive student behavior? If not, do schools ask students to leave?

Do schools tend to take a "wait and see" approach, especially in the lower elementary grades, in an attempt to be as supportive as possible? If so, does that tend to perpetuate or to ameliorate the disruptive behaviors throughout the year or over successive years?

Is teacher time dominated by children with high needs, or does the classroom function in a more balanced manner?

I would be so grateful to hear your observations. I don't need to know the name of your school, just your observations. Thanks!

Frankly, my observation is that, if you cannot change something in 3-6 months, you won't be able to change it all all. And then I'd be looking at a new school.

Anonymous wrote:Student is asked to leave and then the parents spin it as the school wasn't challenging enough for my child/brat. This is how it always plays out!

Well if that is how it "always" plays out, perhaps that is truly the problem? We were not asked to leave, but my ADHD DS had some issues in the school we eventually chose to leave mid year. I can tell you that the curriculum at the new school had a huge impact on his behavior. Much more challenging and engaging. We were in a Catholic elementary, and went to public.

Anonymous wrote:I would like to know whether parents have experienced consistently disruptive behaviors by students in their child's classroom, and what strategies or actions were taken by the school to address the behaviors.

In your experience, do schools have the skills to address effectively the special learning needs, emotional traumas, or social deficits which often lead to disruptive student behavior? If not, do schools ask students to leave?

Do schools tend to take a "wait and see" approach, especially in the lower elementary grades, in an attempt to be as supportive as possible? If so, does that tend to perpetuate or to ameliorate the disruptive behaviors throughout the year or over successive years?

Is teacher time dominated by children with high needs, or does the classroom function in a more balanced manner?

I would be so grateful to hear your observations. I don't need to know the name of your school, just your observations. Thanks!

Our family experienced this, and here was our experience - the school tried VERY hard to address the issues. And they allowed the student to remain enrolled through several of the lower elementary grades. However, it became clear that the behaviors weren't a byproduct of regular immaturity, but rather were more deep-seated, and eventually, the child was (I believe) asked to leave.

I don't believe teacher time was dominated by this child, but they were removed from class often.

Unfortunately, there are going to be certain children who have needs that are too great for a school to address. I am not talking about something like supports for ADHD, but more when a child is obviously troubled, and the issues are not caused by school.

Ultimately, I know that the change was beneficial for the rest of the class, and I have heard that the child is doing a lot better in his new environment.

Student is asked to leave and then the parents spin it as the school wasn't challenging enough for my child/brat. This is how it always plays out!

Yes I have seen students asked to leave, but it is usually at the end of a year. That means things can get pretty disruptive over the course of that year while they figure things out.

I would like to know whether parents have experienced consistently disruptive behaviors by students in their child's classroom, and what strategies or actions were taken by the school to address the behaviors.

In your experience, do schools have the skills to address effectively the special learning needs, emotional traumas, or social deficits which often lead to disruptive student behavior? If not, do schools ask students to leave?

Do schools tend to take a "wait and see" approach, especially in the lower elementary grades, in an attempt to be as supportive as possible? If so, does that tend to perpetuate or to ameliorate the disruptive behaviors throughout the year or over successive years?

Is teacher time dominated by children with high needs, or does the classroom function in a more balanced manner?

I would be so grateful to hear your observations. I don't need to know the name of your school, just your observations. Thanks!