We're getting pretty good at this:
Avon Park, Fla., is a zero-tolerance kind of place.On March 28, Desre'e Watson, a 6-year-old kindergarten student at Avon Elementary School, had a bad morning. She cried. She wailed. She kicked. She scratched. She hit a teacher. That's what the police say, anyway.
The police? That's right. To subdue the unruly kindergartner, school officials phoned Avon Park's police department ("committed to enhancing the 'Quality of Life' of the community"). When the cops arrived, young Desre'e attempted to resist arrest by crawling under a table. But Avon Park's finest pulled her out, cuffed her, put her in a police cruiser, drove her to the county jail, and charged this 50-pound menace with a felony and two misdemeanors.
It sounds as if Slate disapproves. They've included a photo of the arrest record for those who are presumably too shocked and incredulous to believe mere words. Yes, in schools here they do arrest kids that young -- as a last resort. They should watch the video of the 2005 tantrum bust in Tampa and describe how they'd be able to handle it better than the clearly calm and professional educators who were on the scene.
Whether the people at Desre'e's school are as skilled at de-escalation as those in the Tampa incident, I don't know. But I do know all they have to work with is words.
"...I do know all they have to work with is words..."
yeah the first time my wife took an unruly 8th grader and MADE him sit down, she almost lost her job.
She is so much happier now that she lets other, more
adept folks 'manage' the children.
Soon we can just rename all the schools to stuff like Avon Park Correction and Instruction center.
I love dropping my girls off at school..I get to see actual well behaved children going to class. The Principal is a pastor, and if he needs to, has permission to use corporal punishment...just like the good ol days..when I got my ass kicked.
Is the kid's mug shot on the Smoking Gun website yet?
As a former public school teacher I can attest that teachers today are handcuffed (pardon the pun) in regards to school discipline. It's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. If a kid gets completely out of hand and the teacher intervenes, they can and do get sued and possibly lose their job. And if they don't intervene then they can and do get sued and possibly lose their job. I know of many current and former teachers that hope that nothing happens in their classroom to put them in a lose-lose situation.
Posted by: Carl at April 17, 2007 05:50 PM"...I know of many current and former teachers that hope that nothing happens in their classroom to put them in a lose-lose situation..."
and that sounds ,*to me*, a lot like kissing some kid ass... It would have to be really worth it, and only once.
Posted by: csason at April 18, 2007 06:24 AMFriend of mine is a teacher, and giving it up. Kids mouthing off, threatening, etc., and if you send them to the OFFICE too many times the principal chews you out; God forbid you should even think of planting their butt in a corner or anything else.
Posted by: Firehand at April 21, 2007 08:21 PM