Zero Tolerance Gone Wild?
October 13 the Christina School District of Delaware, aching from more than two weeks of derision on the part of the national press (check out the Today Show,) decided to cut first grader Zach Christie some slack.
On September 29 Zachary brought a lovely Swiss dining kit to school to eat his lunch. Hey, any former Cub Scouts out there? I remember how excited my boys were with all things camping and outdoorsy. By the time the school district was done, the school board was recommending Zachary attend a special school for problem behaviors for 45 day. The district changed its policy last night to permit principals to use their own discretion concerning individual cases. Well, duh . . .
Obviously, it's policy gone crazy. Zachary is obviously a lovely kid (check out Help Zachary) with parents who are committed and involved.
I remember well watching the news footage of Columbine in April, 1999 with my two boys, Zach and Nate, when they were 9 and 7 respectively. We spent a lot of time talking about how angry the two boys were and how they should have found someone to talk about how angry they were, instead of killing their friends. It became a really productive time for us to talk about violence and anger at school. We did talk, and a lot.
Little did I know that Zachary would get clobbered by Zero Tolerance. In fifth grade he took a large jack knife that had been his grandfather's (who had died two years earlier) on a school camping trip. Camping, get it? Jack knife, get it? He was suspended for a week, but threatened with expulsion and juvenile detention. We did accept the punishment, but as I look back at it, I should have insisted that Zach have a 504 plan, as it is now obvious that the impulsivity that came with his ADD was a problem.
A lot of the kids we special education teachers work with struggle with both ADD and the accompanying impulsivity. They just don't think! How do we advocate for our kids when they make bad choices? How do we keep childish antics from being criminalized?
So, what do you think?
Comments
I think we can overreact to any given situation. But when we are talking about kids with IEPS, well now that is a horse of a different color and species altogether!!! “Those” kids are no longer normal, with normal childhood and teenager pranks!! No sir!! They are now the future __________ ( fill in the blank with your favorite type of deviate)!!! “Those” kids have normal albeit odd senses of humor and pranks! But, our kids, I am a special ed teacher and proud of it!!, need more direction, and prompts in “normal” social cues, and so on. But they can handle any situation that comes their way in a “normal” way. We here at TEC take all of our boys on an all day FISHING and COOK OUT day! Knives, hooks, sinkers oh my!!! Our guys are told in advance what behaviors will and will not be tolerated! We are goin on Three years of doing this, with ZERO incidents. Our guys age from 9-17 years old, all have some kind of Diagnosis both SpEd and Mental Health!!! This student is being made an example of. I think the system is just so ready to “hang” the “next” one to do anything! We will show America we do not tolerate this kind of activity by God!! In so, overreacting that sytem is actually showing how not to behave and showing very little intelligence in this matter!! However, the parents of this child have been more informed on their childs behaviors based on his diagnosis. It is and was a school outing so they should have schooled him better on things (items) appropriate for school and such, even though it was a Camping trip. yeah I got that!! A school outing is a SCHOOL outing, and all rules apply. Our guys do not handle the knives, but they do handle the hooks, works, grubs, fish etc. I also help them with these tasks! Prior teaching of what is allowed and not may have saved this family some court time and costs, and saved his transcript from having on it a major infraction of the weapon kind!! This will stay with him forever!! Shame on the school and parents!! Think before hand!!
Suzanna Milligan
SPED @ TEC
The fact that 60-70% of children in juvenile detention centers are disabled students, that most of these cases been originated in schools(schoolhousing-jailhousing pipeline)because of student misconduct(zero tolerance), and about 8000 disabled children had been sent to correctional facilities per year, should alert the Dept of Special Education in Washington about the future consecuences such a big mistake will bring into our society. We are allowing school districts making wrong decisions that affect our special ed children and our families, building delincuent criminal records that will follow the disabled child for ever, facing jail and facing the juvenile courts. What can we expect getting back from a future generation of frustrated adults that were sentenced and sent to correctionals due to the lack of intelligence in our school professionals? Is any other interest covered that may substained all this arrest? Do the Philadelphia Judges prosecuted last Feb, 2009 for sending about 5000 youth to juvenile facilities, boot camps and special programs, getting aprox $2,000,000.00 in cash back for the barter. It will say something to us?(see-corrupted judges in Philladelphia)
As mother of a teen with Autism, now 15, I’m wondered: why he did not have the chance to attend a Private Therapeuric School before the school system failed and he was arrested?
Why blaimed a disabled child from school failures?
Where was the child study team and the IDEA(individual disability education act) instructions in order to protect the integrity of a disabled student?
We need to stand for our disabled children, raising our voice and get knowledgeable in terms of special education laws and the individual disability education act(IDEA), the free and appropiate public education(FAPE) that our children are entitled to received. Understand that a disabled student is under the Federal Government Laws, and as parents we have the right to advocate for them and as taxpayers the right to placed our children in a private therapeuric school that will provide all the medical needs each special ed student required for his developmental integration at this competitive society, and will prevent any special ed student the humiliation of been exposed to the juvenile court system or being incarcerated due to lack of common sence($$) from school districts or court authorities.
-Stop zero tolerance with Spec Ed Students-
I would like to open a pledge and consider the district child study team responsible for any disabled child’s failure with the juvenile court system or correctional facilities. I suggest that before any involvement between the special ed child and the juvenile court system, a committee of parents groups with board members search the child’s files and confirm that the ABA(applied behavioral analysis) had been followed according to the special ed student’s IEP(Individual Educational Plan) as of required by the Special Education Department under IDEA. Otherwise, the child study team professional responsible for not complied with the Federal Special Education Laws will be liable for due process, penalized and the possibility of their licenses revocation.
As a hard worker woman and proud mother of three boys, having an Autistic child, I feel strong enough to advocate for my son, his dignity as human been, his rights as a disabled child and all he is intitled as part of our future generation. My son is attending theater and breakdance school for the 2nd year.
I would like to bless and thank every teacher and school professionals that really understand the meaning of their careers and struggled in a system full of political corruption. I understand your frustration.