Special Ed Student Allegedly Choked by Staff Member
I had heard about this earlier in the day and was waiting for more info but here's what the Times has learned.
A 10-old Hawthorne student was choked by an IA when he said, "I hate this teacher." The student also says the IA threatened him with another choking if the student said anything.
The child told his mother when he got home and she called police. The police saw scratching and bruising around the child's neck. There was no arrest reported in the story and the IA is on leave.
It is unclear if the teacher was around at all. The IA worked for the district for 19 years.
Baffling if entirely true. Obviously it is unclear if anyone else witnessed this incident. It would seem odd for the IA to react in this way because kids say things like that all the time.
But no adult has the right to lay hands on a child unless it is self-defense or defense of someone else or to move the child away from other students.
A 10-old Hawthorne student was choked by an IA when he said, "I hate this teacher." The student also says the IA threatened him with another choking if the student said anything.
The child told his mother when he got home and she called police. The police saw scratching and bruising around the child's neck. There was no arrest reported in the story and the IA is on leave.
It is unclear if the teacher was around at all. The IA worked for the district for 19 years.
Baffling if entirely true. Obviously it is unclear if anyone else witnessed this incident. It would seem odd for the IA to react in this way because kids say things like that all the time.
But no adult has the right to lay hands on a child unless it is self-defense or defense of someone else or to move the child away from other students.
Comments
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/10/13/seattle-public-school-teachers-aide-allegedly-chokes-student
with a few more details.
There are many times where children say something happened that did not really happen the way it did, so let the investigation run its course before passing judgement. (Not saying anyone has passed judgement.)
True.
But does it happen all the time?...
What do you think?
I would say no to emeraldkity's question. While we can rest assured that most certs (and IAs) know the law and the expectation, some are loose with it that others. Some step out for a minute, some go down the hall, and some go to a make copies or whatever.
Step out in the hall? 50% at a guess. DOWN the hall? 20%. Copies? 5%
With a B-Mod class one would hope that it's close to zero, but one would hope that in any class (tho' realistically stepping into the hall for a minute is USUALLY a pretty safe bet. USUALLY.
We could demand zero tolerance for even leaving the room, but I don't think that's viable. Educators might be expected to use good judgment on a case-by-case basis. But if the s*** hits the fan, they are liable, sooo....
Anyone wondering why there is a shortage of Sped BD teachers?
What has happened to the number of IA hours worked in recent years?
I wonder if BD teachers are overwhelmed with paper work? Do actual Behavior Modifications take a back seat to paper work?
If the story from the child is true, this is very sad.
I hear about high performing, highly qualified people wanting to leave the profession, because there are only so many hours we teachers can give in a day, and we'd prefer spending those extra hours we put in preparing for STUDENTS not ADMINISTRATORS who lack the ability to
know the curriculum we are expected to teach when the come in our classrooms, so we need to make and post things for them due to THEIR ineptness.
It would be interesting to hear what others think. Possibly on a different thread?
The Stranger article makes it sound like it went from being a classroom full of people to just this IA and the kid...confusing. Maybe the IA held the kid by the neck and roughly walked him into one of those "quiet rooms."
I've heard of IAs snapping in the heat of the moment (pushing a kid into a closet, duct-taping a kid's desk shut, leaving a little girl on a playground by herself). Bad choices, of course, but it doesn't make them bad people. They're untrained and overwhelmed, and sometimes they are being left alone with students because of funding/staffing issues (thank you, ICS).
It's funny...two of the kindest, smartest, most truly empathetic IA's we've had were subs. (The others have been fine too, but these subs just rocked.) I wonder if there's something to that. Are they less overwhelmed because there's less expected of them? Less burned out because they've done the work for shorter periods of time, with more breaks in between? Or did we just get lucky? Well...lucky until the school district took them away without warning. Oh, SPS.
It will be interesting to see what comes of this incident at Hawthorne. Keep us posted.
Particularly in middle or high school when the students can be physically strong and aggressive, it can be a dangerous situation for everyone.
Perhaps the IA subs are more idealistic ?
Also I wonder if when the teachers are new, the kids are on better behavior?
I have several friends with kids who were in self contained and they have some great attributes but also demand a lot of focus & energy from their teachers. ( admittedly- as do most kids)
Just an indicator of the ways that our most vulnerable children and those who teach them are neglected.
In the system
Nothing has been verified or reported by any witness to the events as far as I know so far.
Almost anything can happen in middle school. It is unfortunate that these kind of situations result in a blame-the-victim mentality.
I imagine both the student (and family) and the IA, as well as many others in the Hawthorne community, are all going through a very difficult time right now. No mattre how it comes out, the consequence/punishment phase has already kicked in, long before any guilt can be determined.
It was the end of the day & there were only a couple of kids ( about 2nd 3rd gd) in the classroom, I am sure the teacher was tired but she was gracious in answering my questions.
However, she used shaming to try and get the boys to do what she wanted & told them not only that they were bad were going to be punished by missing the bus and their parents would be angry at having to pick them up.
I was shocked- especially since I was observing & I wondered what she would say if I hadn't been there.
She didn't think she had said anything unusual, when they left she remarked to me that " boys" were difficult & since I had a daughter, she was sure that she was better behaved. what ever.
However, I was grateful to have that knowledge before I placed my child there.
I kept her in private school for another year & when she entered SPS, we chose an alternative school.
Anonymous