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I applaud this Father. He was concerned about his son's education. He took steps to monitor the situation. I wish all SPED parents, and regular ed parents were this proactive. I have frequently said here, that constant webcam streaming should be in the classroom. For monitoring, supervision, and to protect the teacher. This way, nothing would be "out of context".
Most likely she is still teaching because she has tenure.
Unlikely, she is still teaching b/c the tape is poor evidence that the teacher did anything wrong. The audio is poor, there is so much background noise that it really makes it difficult to clearly hear who is saying what. I actually can't hear all the words father claims was said. On You tube the father types what he thinks is said, but I'm not convinced that it's clear enough to understand. Even the audio on the fathers website isn't very clear.
As far as firing the aide who said what was on this part of the tape, that is no excuse for the teacher who was in charge of the class not to have stopped the aide from this behavior.
Aside from that, the aides were apparently talking about inappropriate subjects in front of the kids (non-verbal does not mean that they didn't understand what was being said).
I actually think there should be cameras in all special education rooms so that parents can check in from time to time, like they can in many daycares nowadays. When a child is nonverbal and cannot tell you what is happening to him during the day, you need a way to check.
How in the world do you know if the teachers is even in the classroom when these comments were said? You've assumed far too much on the little evidence that has been presented. The aide was clearly heard discussing inappropriate topics and fired. That is evident. Everything else is unclear especially without listening to the full tape.
My sister is a Special Ed teacher in Southern California and she knows what her aids are doing and saying in her classroom. She actually had the school replace one of her aids a few years ago because of how she treated her students. Ignorance is not an excuse. It is the teachers responsibility to make sure everyone is treated and educated correctly.
I highly doubt that. There's a big difference from what's directed and what is done. Yes, we don't renew 3-4 para's in our school every year. I caught a para, behind a bookshelf on her phone when I gave her directions to work with a student. I guess I need to be fired I should have known that she wouldn't follow my instructions, right?
I work with students all day and my focus is on them, there are up to 4 different groups going on at the same time. How in the world can you hear what the student you are working with is saying and what 3 different para's are saying across the room?
I highly doubt that. There's a big difference from what's directed and what is done. Yes, we don't renew 3-4 para's in our school every year. I caught a para, behind a bookshelf on her phone when I gave her directions to work with a student. I guess I need to be fired I should have known that she wouldn't follow my instructions, right?
I work with students all day and my focus is on them, there are up to 4 different groups going on at the same time. How in the world can you hear what the student you are working with is saying and what 3 different para's are saying across the room?
You can doubt what you want, but I know that she is in control of her aids/para's. She has had more issues with them not doing what she has requested and she had to have one taken out of her room, never to return.
The decision to not fire this teacher likely looked at everything. The vigalante injustice that most of you here want to commit DOES NOT!!!!. People deserve their day in court. They deserve to have both sides heard before they are pronounced guilty. There is a reason it is illegal to slander someone. people running off half cocked can do irrepairable damage they cannot take back. Even if this teacher is exhonerated of all wrong doing, that tape is out there and her name has been damaged. This bully of a father did not have the right to do that.
I am not sure that any crime has been committed by anyone here, unless it is illegal in NJ to verbally abuse a student in a public school. Since the events took place in a public area, I am not sure that the people being taped had any reasonable expectation of privacy. Anyone could have come in at any time.
Mr. Chaifetz is not a bully. He is more properly termed a whistle blower, and I am wondering whether there may not be some legal protection for him in that regard.
It is really interesting that you feel that the feelings of the teachers carry more weight than the feelings of the children in that classroom.
The word "slander" is inappropriate. No one has been slandered. The women said what Chaifetz alleges they said.
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Seriously, I see a bunch of bullies on this board standing behind another bully (the father in this case). What he did is wrong. It was one thing to bring this to the attention of the school board and get his son reassigned and quite another to launch a public smear campagaign when he didn't get what he determined to be enough blood. He's a bully and so are you for supporting this kind of smear campaign.
You do realize that a majority of the people who are disagreeing with you are teachers, do you not? There is no "smear campaign." The people you are calling bullies have done nothing except express their opinions that what went on in that classroom, evidenced by what was recorded on the tapes, is wrong. I doubt that anyone here is calling or writing to the parties involved. No one is being bullied.
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As a human being who is not perfect, I identify with the idea of recording my day and choosing my worst 5% of moments and using that to define me. It doesn't define me. It doesn't determine if I'm qualified to do my job or if I should be fired. There's a lot more to this.
As has been repeatedly pointed out to you, it was not five minutes or five percent. It was six and a half hours. The abuse of this child started the minute he set foot off the bus and continued all day long. Would you feel differently if you had a transcript proving that to you? Right now we have only Chaifetz's word. Since I see no reason for him to lie, I choose to believe him.
WHAT????? I am from NY, not too far from where this happened. The only thing "east coast" on those tapes is the accent. I don't talk like that, my friends and former classmates don't talk like that. We don't say "shut up" or any of that stuff any more than people do here. Those people on the tape had a regional accent for sure, but the rest is not in any way excusable or explainable because they are from New Jersey.
Like I said, I hear people talking like this on TV shows from NY and NJ all the time. "Shuddup" "Getouttahere" "Whadayouse want"- I'm not making this up- Jersey Shore? Real Housewives?
I understand that they still exist, I'm just saying that with what we knwo about the various challenges to learning that there would all be titled specific to the type of student they work with.
In other words, I would hope that if I had a dyslexic child that he or she would be assigned to a teacher who is familiar than that disorder rather than some "one size fits all" teacher.
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In my state and many others, special education certifications are divided into several categories by which various types of disabilities are designated. I work in a system that deals almost exclusively with one family of disorders...but that's because I work in the private sector. Public schools aren't going to fund a whole fleet of special education teachers, each with a different specialty...here's the autism specialist, the Down Syndrome specialist, the spina bifida specialist, the traumatic brain injury specialist, etc. for each student you might possibly get. People who work in Special Education are typically trained for cross categorical disabilities.
Overall, if you are a special Ed teacher, and you get a student on your caseload whose needs are ones you are not familiar with, it is your job to get prepared. I got a student last spring with a rare chromosomal disorder I hadn't even heard of, so I had to do my homework to program for her. That's how you do your job.
How in the world do you know if the teachers is even in the classroom when these comments were said? You've assumed far too much on the little evidence that has been presented. The aide was clearly heard discussing inappropriate topics and fired. That is evident. Everything else is unclear especially without listening to the full tape.
Aides in special education classrooms cannot be left alone in the classroom for more than a few minutes.
Tell them you have already looked into it and it is clear that paraprofessionals cannot run anything per No Child Left Behind (NCLB) guidance.
Their daily lesson plans must be made up by a teacher.
Student progress on those lesson plans must be assessed by a teacher.
They may not do one-on-one tutoring at a time when a teacher would otherwise be available (i.e. during school hours).
Note: It would be important to follow the same rules for paraprofessional qualifications for disabled children and non disabled children to avoid discrimination.
In the regular classroom, you cannot leave the aide in charge of your class either for more than a few minutes. They don't have the expertise needed to handle a classroom.
Teacher aides may not even have college hours though I suspect that most do in special ed classrooms. The requirement for an aide is a high school diploma and on the job training. It is irresponsible to leave them in charge of a classroom where there are behavioral problems.
In the regular classroom, you cannot leave the aide in charge of your class either for more than a few minutes. They don't have the expertise needed to handle a classroom.
Teacher aides may not even have college hours though I suspect that most do in special ed classrooms. The requirement for an aide is a high school diploma and on the job training. It is irresponsible to leave them in charge of a classroom where there are behavioral problems.
Very good Nana, so glad you did your homework. Para's cannot teach new concepts to students since they are not teacher. They can however review concepts and help finish classwork in the resource room, with or without a teacher there. For example, I teach a reading lesson & a para can take one child to practice the concept while I work with another.
You other posts clearly show your bias and believe they all should be fired. I certainly hope you have all the facts & both sides of the story to make an intelligent conclusion. Based on the audio, firing the para was obvious. Your jump to blame the teacher without any proof is absurd.
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I should have known that she wouldn't follow my instructions, right?
