In addition to previous problems mentioned in this thread, Eastern a few weeks ago had 2 students who brought BB guns to school. I believe these kinds of incidents automatically trigger bringing in the police and a recommendation for expulsion.

On the down side, is the presence of weapons in the schools. On the plus side is that someone reported it.

I don't mean to put you personally on the defensive by using the term "scapegoat". My apologies.

But, I used the phrase because I have personally heard the principal try to attribute the increased behavior problems at EMS to this population of students (which she said was only about 10 for 6th grade and that was described as an unusually large intake in any one year). When asked if the specific discipline issues being discussed were committed mostly or exclusively by these students, as she seemed to be suggesting, she backed down and acknowledged that the acts were really committed by a broader cross-section of students.

Our DC's experience has been that a broad range of students misbehave at EMS mostly because there is an absolute lack of real consequences for anyone -- ED students or otherwise.

I'm the PP who posted this and I'm not scapegoating the program! However, this was unknown to me before. My DC does indeed point to just a small handful of kids creating the kinds of behavior issues that are mentioned, and his observations are consistent with the idea of a program.

I will say that the fact that the school at a glance sheet says "Emotional Disabilities" doesn't give a lot of information.