How tied are teachers hands? (private school, classrooms, exam, course)
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I was listening to the local radio morning show and they had a a teacher e-mail the show about how her hands are tied to do anything really in terms of discipline, putting certain students in specialized classes. I don't remember how the entire email went, but basically she said that because certain students are diagnosed with certain, and severe behavioral problems that they had to keep these students in with the "regular" kids, and are not allowed to punish these students. One example is when a student with some kind of disorder which causes him to lash out at authority figures pulled a knife on this teacher, and despite her best efforts couldn't get this student transferred to a different school let alone to a class better equipped to handle these kind of problems. I don't think that teachers should be trying to diagnose the mental state of their students but if a child is willing to threaten the teacher with a knife don't you think they should be given some kind of authority to have that child removed, and put in specialized classes?
Teachers have no authority to do that. Any teacher in my school who even suggested that a student should be removed because they were dangerous would be immediately labeled a lazy, maybe racist, classist, disability-ist, generally discriminatory person who simply didn't know how to handle the child and had basically failed. Often they would be made to seem that they were looking out for themselves or trying to hurt that student on behalf of more privileged students. It was a death sentence. A teacher could only request a meeting with special ed or some committee, and delicately try to suggest that the student might need "additional support," and couch it all in a language that suggested it was all for the benefit of the student and mainly related to academics, not behavior. This would have to happen maybe 100's of times, by different teachers, before any administrator would be willing to consider removing the child from mainstream. And if the child had a parent who objected, no matter who the parent was, that child was sure to be terrorizing classrooms and teachers for many years to come.
They were discussing on the radio kid A with the problems brandishes a knife to the teacher threatening to kill her and he gets a free pass, but kid B with no problems leaves his pocket knife in his pants pocket and forgets about and he's treated like a criminal.
And my mom has had to deal with this too. She works in a special ed school teaching younger adults life skills. One day one of the kids decided he didn't want to do what any one said anymore and head butted my mom she said she had no idea how to react.
Keep in mind that even the kid who is "treated like a criminal" is going to get, at most, a 10 day suspension without the school board taking a vote. Unless it is a firearm, most states no longer allow districts to expel. Many states no longer allow schools to expel (in other words, not only does the student have to stay in the district, but the district cannot even transfer them to another school). Firearms are the only exception because of school law; and the recent shooting may lead to that law being repealed.
Mine are not remotely tied...mostly because I choose not to work for a public district, but rather for a private school where the model is much different.
And my mom has had to deal with this too. She works in a special ed school teaching younger adults life skills. One day one of the kids decided he didn't want to do what any one said anymore and head butted my mom she said she had no idea how to react.
I've been a special education teacher for a while. Honestly, if your mom works for a specialized school that deals with this particular population, and has not been trained and supported in safely dealing with noncompliant and aggressive behavior, something is not right about how the program is being run. No special education teacher should ever be in a position where he or she has no idea how to react to a student's behavior and has no support in response. Behavior intervention plans exist for precisely such a reason...particularly in specialized schools.
In Virginia, teachers do have the authority to remove a student from the classroom. I have used this once.
The teacher shall have initial authority to remove a student from class for disruptive
behavior that interrupts or obstructs the learning environment as provided for by Section
22.1-276.2 of the Code of Virginia. The removal of students from class under this
regulation relates to a decision by the teacher that a student should be discharged and
not returned to the classroom for an indeterminate time longer than one school day.
In my district, you start by sending the student to the office with a note that reads, "Removed from class under regulation 2606" and that is enough to keep the child out for a minimum of 24 hours.
Of course you will need to be able to show what you tried with the child prior to his/her removal, but I would assume the removal of the student would happen when the teacher is at wit's end.
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