Scratch School-Teaching Off the List

What is happening down there in Florida?

While watching this incident on the tube a few hours ago, I remember thinking that, had I acted in this manner some thirty-nine years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to sit down for a week. (Remember that threat?)

The videotaped altercation with a 5-year-old girl who was hauled off in handcuffs following an extended tantrum at her St. Petersburg, Fla., school has led to questions about whether the police overreacted.[SNIP]

The footage starts in [teacher Christina] Ottersbach's classroom, where assistant principal Nicole Dibenedetto and teacher Patti Tsaousis were trying to calm the girl down and get her to clean up a mess that she had made.

Ottersbach is not in the room, having pulled her other students out of the classroom because of the girl's unseen outburst, leaving just the three.

"This is your mess to clean up. We need you to stop. You may not do this," Dibenedetto patiently but firmly told the girl, who stubbornly refused.

Eventually, the girl did start cleaning up the mess, but then she refused to leave the room. Only when Dibenedetto and Tsaousis asked her to make a choice before they counted to five did she finally leave with them.

Things evidently did not improve after that, however. The tape cuts to Dibenedetto's office, which has been trashed, apparently by the girl. She is seen ripping papers off the wall and refusing Dibenedetto's requests that she stay seated in a chair.

The girl even becomes violent at that point, taking numerous swings at Dibenedetto, who only puts her hands up to block the girl's punches.

The only other time the assistant principal touches the girl is when the child twice climbs onto a table, and the woman lifts her off and puts her back on the floor, on her feet.

Shortly after that, voices are heard saying that police have arrived. The girl sits down in the chair and remains there as three uniformed St. Petersburg police officers walk in.

"Do you remember me?" one of them asks the girl. "I'm the one who told your mom I'd put handcuffs on you."

When the little girl was handcuffed, she understandably began screaming and struggling with the officers. However, that last statement obviously suggests that the mother and the police have been called about this kid before.

(Was this a special education class? To my unlearned eye, this little girl is in need of special ed., in need of medication or both. Most normal five-year-olds don’t hit at the teacher and yell ‘no’ when the teacher asks her to clean up her own mess. This five-year-old sounded and acted like a toddler.)

One thing I find interesting is this next statement by the girl’s family attorney, John Trevena:

"I'm concerned that the educators shadowed and hovered around the young girl," he said. "It certainly gives credence to the argument that they may have been provoking her to act out more. To me, it didn't look like a de-escalation. It looked like an escalation, an attempt to get her to act out more. I just don't understand why they didn't distance themselves back further and allow things to cool off."

Attorneys. I suppose if the educators had backed off and let the girl injure herself, that it would have been just peachy keen and he would have never sued the school for negligence.

Yes, handcuffing a five-year-old is going overboard. But if that is certainly out of the question, what should the teacher do if the parent doesn't show up right away? They can’t spank the kids the way they could and did when I was a wee one. According to the attorney, the teachers can’t even “hover.” All of a sudden a kid is guaranteed her “space” when she disrupts the classroom so much that all of the other students have to be evacuated. Meanwhile, no one is learning.

And, as is evitable in stories like these, I find no mention of this little girl’s father.

Video

(Thanks to Wizbang)

Comments

[Solomon]

Handcuffing isn't neccessary in the slightest. Watching the video just makes we want to go in that office and "regulate". C'mon! 5-years old in handcuffs?? And what kind of school rules let children just do what the [BLANK] they want? If we want well-adjusted adults, we better be willing to "regulate" the little ones.

[baldilocks]

Solomon:

Agreed about the cuffs. The parent(s) has/have a case. The attorney's rhetoric is stupid however.

Let me ask this: have any of *your* children behaved in such a manner at school?

[m]

The problem if the teacher tried to "regulate" the problem the parents would definitely sue the district and the teacher for an ungodly amount of money.

I think the problem is that everyone is afraid to do what common sense dictates, in fear of some sort of legal action.

The irony here is that because the school did what they could do under that sort of litigious atmosphere, all they did was garner a possible law suit anyhow... it was a no win situation...

[baldilocks]

m: exactly my point

[Avedon]

When I was a kid it was illegal for teaachers to hit children, but we didn't know that. Usually threatening us was enough. My school principle once showed me a big wooden paddle she had in her drawer - that shut me up.

[Iron Mike]

H-O-M-E-S-C-H-O-O-L-I-N-G...And I don't mean her parent(s)...I mean the kids who missed class because of this crap.

As for the cops, I'll have to wait and hear from the officer that said, "Remember me?" There may be a history here. Sure I'm normally against handcuffs on 5-year olds, but what did this girl do before?

All I have to say is no kid of mine would be caught hitting an adult...unless that adult tried an "unsafe" touch!

[DarkStar]

My kid acted up in school and got regulated for it.

Something is wrong here. Either she was extremely tired, emotionally/mentally troubled, or bad parenting, or some combination.

[tomp]

Based upone the video and the statement by the Police Officer and fear of being sued, the school did the right thing. However, if this child is a special education student, she needs to be placed somewhere else.

I think about all of the money being spent on "special needs" children and look at the average to above average students who are way down the list of priorities.

[Jackalope]

As absurd as handcuffs are, I think that's the world our juries have created for these teachers. If one of the teachers had grabbed her wrists, the obvious response, the girl probably would have come away with some bruising, and the teachers would have been up on charges of aggravated child abuse, videotape or not. They dumped the problem off onto someone else. "Let the police defend against a lawsuit. We need our money to pay for assistant superintendents."

[Amy]

I don't think this is the first time it has happened. Based on the way they were using the video camera, the teachers were using it to cover themselves. Notice how they move the camera to the action? Here are the links about the previous incident that happened in March:

http://news.tbo.com/news/MGBFR3AVF6E.html

Here is where I read the original story;
http://zerointelligence.net/archives/000372.php

[Patrick]

THE problem is this little girl has not been taught respect for proper authority by her parents(in fact she has been encouraged the other way IMO)and as a result will live and die a miserable loser.

The cop over reacted of course,but this problem is not limited to Florida and it may be the most serious problem America faces in the future,our own group of "perfect" people who do not accept
the rules established by the majority of us.

[shari]

my three year old is "special needs" which is why I homeschool him. that child in the video was sitting calmy in the chari when the police came there was no need to handcuff her this is insane she was out of control but the teachers should have had a better plan of action to deal with five year old students who misbehave. this child needs a father. i would never leave my child in the hands of the government things like this is what you get and like that incident where teh special ed girl was sexually assulted by male students. get your kids outof the governmetn schools peole.

[Silicon Valley Jim]

had I acted in this manner some thirty-nine years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to sit down for a week.

Quite possibly. I'd guess, however, that that wasn't the actual reason that you didn't behave in that manner. It probably never even occurred to you to behave in that manner. It never occurred to me, and I was certainly not a model child.

the teachers should have had a better plan of action to deal with five year old students who misbehave.

And what plan of action would that be? My guess is that they have perfectly adequate plans of action for students who only misbehave. The phrase "running amok" seems to be a reasonable description of her misbehavior.

How many employee-hours of teacher, assistant principal, and police officer time were consumed by this one incident? Every one of those hours was paid for by Florida taxpayers (and perhaps some other taxpayers, to the extent that federal funding is involved), with the expectation that they be used for something else.

Mr. Trevena is beneath contempt.

[Solomon]

Naa.. My two daughters (2nd and 1st grade) have never behaved like that little girl. They get "regulated" for much less. They have their freedoms, but they know who runs things and where their place is. I'm just growing increasingly irritated at parents can't take care of business and schools that are neutered.

[StinKerr]

At first, I thought the cuffs were a ridiculous overreaction. Upon consideration though, it was really a self-defense measure on the part of the police. Why should they put up with being kicked and punched by anybody's kid, no matter how young?

I also thought that the school calling the police was ridiculous too, but given the conditions they operate under today, I guess they didn't have many options.

The whole thing could have been stopped early on with a swat on the rump. Unfortunataly none of these people are allowed to do that. It appears that this little one has already figured that out and is taking advantage of the fact.

[William]

All,
This is just the beginning of the problem with this kid. It's a problem that has been in the making for decades now. What will happen when this kid is in a middle school with many other kids that know also how to play the system against itself? By then she will be aware of when she is being taped/recorded, how many witnesses, which school employees will take her side (whether they were present or not...), just how far she can push a situation, etc... And God help the teachers if she is granted "special ed." status. They will have no backup. Everything is the teacher's (spelled s-c-a-p-e-g-o-a-t) responsibility (spelled f-a-u-l-t) regardless of the situation. All the Administration can do is distance themselves from the problem (sacrifice the teacher) in hopes of saving their own careers.... It just gets uglier from this point on. It took me a year and a half to talk my wife out of that line of work. It took her ten months to smile without grimacing after she left.... What can you do when the inmates are running the asylum? Right now it's just one big C.Y.A. drill. The real victims are the rest of the class that is quietly being robbed of their chance at an education. Why don’t parents sue about that?
My apologies for the short rant....

[black ambition]

She was just having a tantrum. If I had had a trantrum in kindergarten my parents would have disciplined me at home as I am sure her mother would have. The police were not accomplishing anything by handcuffing her since she was *already calm* by the time she got on the scene.

There is a trend that I have noticed: always suggesting "special education" when a child has behavioral problems. Why ruin her education over this incident? Putting her in special education, when she does not have a learning disability, will place her behind the other children academically. Once a child is put in a low tracking system it is hard for them to get out. They are always behind.

I am not suggesting that this child be allowed to disrupt classes. However, rather than everyone trying to punish the little girl with special education classes and wagging their finger at her, why now allow a counselor and the parents to figure out why the child is acting out and how they can change her environment? If it isn't a deeper issue, maybe she just needs to be disciplined. She's five. Tantrums happen. But special education classes? This is why so many black children are misdiagnosed and placed in special education classes. They will have some issue going on in their home life that will cause them to act out and everyone assumes "special education!"

[red]

baldilocks: The same thought occurred to me - that she was acting like a toddler, not a 5 year old.

[Paul Gross]

re: Williams comments.
"Acting out"???? No the problem is we have all these euphemistic names for what is either a special ed kid or an undisciplined brat. One of the problems today is that we expect counselors and teachers and even the police to do the job that parents are supposed to do. I am not speaking from a text book, but from having raised six of my own and from being part of a very large family. I was a bit of a trouble maker myself, but I would have never dared swing at a teacher. I was raised to respect those in authority and my parents backed it up as I have with my children. Children are all different and I have employed different techniques with all of my kids because they respond to different things. However, every child unless they are a “special” child can be raised to behave properly and to respect others. If they can’t do that when they enter school, it is the parents fault, period.

[Bonita]

It is way too easy to speculate on the determinents of this poor child's behavior. You will find that a collaborative approach between parents, teachers, counsellors, and the family doctor will help to strengthen the family dynamic so that more consistent parenting can effect positive changes in the child. Parents are foremostly responsible for children of this age, and they need help when outcomes are this bizarre.

["Edward Boyd"]

There's nothing wrong with handcuffing the little girl. You all concede too much in order to sound reasonable. The girl should have been swatted or paddled. Since the "sensible moderates" have taken away that option, handcuffing is about all that is left.

[William]

Paul,
From what I have seen, most of the "Special Ed." kids could make it in a normal classroom if they had proper discipline (that does not necessarily mean "let the beatings commence"). There are a lot of kids labeled "Emotional or Behaviorial handicap" that simply have not been taught how to behave at home. Given the current political enviornment, the school system is made responsible for these kids but not given the authority to punish for unacceptable behavior. What other options are available to the school facualty? Action=Lawsuit & Loss of career. Inaction=Lawsuit & possible Loss of carrer.
Pass the buck (call another agency - police in this case)= possible political survival. My question still stands. What about the twenty something other children who were behaved enough to maybe learn something? What have they learned from this? They have been robbed of that day's education. How often does this happen?

Bonita,
It does not take a village to raise a child. It takes a family. And the government has no place in the internal workings of this girl's family. If she will not behave in a manner that is acceptable, she should not be allowed in the school. If the parents need help, and they ask for it, that is one thing, but that is not the way Child Protective Services work......

[William]

Please accept my apologies for my spelling. I did not proof read my posting.

[Trish]

I'd say this is definitely a 'special needs' classroom, since I notice the teacher/aide using sign language everytime she is telling the little girl to stop. I worked in special ed classrooms and signing is used extensively with kids who have difficulty expressing themselves due to either physical or emotional problems.

[Trish]

I also noticed that the child sat in the chair as soon as she realized the police were there.

[Bonita]

William, I appreciate your opinion. I'm just presenting the position my husband takes as a child development specialist for a mental health agency contracted by the schools in this area. He treats the whole family, but his clients are children. He also trains the Head Start teachers to provide positive strategies for behavior management in classrooms, as frequently these skills can be poor. It is an ongoing challenge to everyone...(and excuse my poor spelling, too.)

[shari]

this is not a first for this school although i dont watch them my friend told me taht BET news reported that the school has hancuffed black children before not just the little girl this si wrong

[Strider]

Shari -- are you sure it wasn't a report about this _same girl_ being cuffed before? She was in the news before -- practically the same story -- just a couple months ago.

Raising a child without instilling some basic concept of right and wrong... is wrong.

[baldilocks]

I'm wondering whether or not it's the same kid also. The recorded incident happened in March.

[DWMF]

I would have dealt with this the old fashioned way. A couple of whacks on the kid's ass. And then take the mother (no father apparently) to task for not instilling basic good behavior in her children. Either she shapes up or they go into care.

[Iron Mike]

Forgot to mention how sorry I felt for the teacher and principal who to all the world look like a bunch of morons who can't control a 5-year old's tantrum. This of course is because we've hobbled educators in this country.

My grandmother (R.I.P.) was a teacher back "in the day" (1930s and 40s) and she told a story of a little brat disrupting class who wouldn't shut up. My grandmother, a stout Irish woman, picked him up and hung him in the coat closet in the back of the class and shut the door.

The little boy made an appearance the next day at class with his father. The boy apologized to my grandmother, then the father, hat in hand, apologized.

[James M. Barber]

I was that age in the 1940's but had parents, mainly my mother, who believed in discipline. Most of the problems are caused by male students. My wife has been recently teaching in the elementary school area. So my sympathy goes to the teacher. Most of the public schools are largely minority, meaning black or hispanic. The mother of this child needs spanking more then the child. Do you realized that one child can distrupt a whole classroom? Some mainly black school districts have better discipline because the parents demand it. Students are not permitted to speak improper English (Ebonics today) but bad English years ago. My mother had a switch to show me that I was not in charge at home or school. I was scared to act up in school because my mother would have given me 10 times what school could have done. Pity the teacher!
James M. Barber

[JSAllison]

A little more than a decade ago I lived in the country west of Ft Knox, Ky on a couple acres of dirt. Had a dog, lab/aussie sheppard mix. Had neighbors, including a couple of single-digit aged younguns. Came home one evening to find the younguns calling our dog over to the fence and then proceeding to try to poke him in the eye with sticks. I shooed the dog away and explained to the kids that I'd appreciate it if they didn't poke at the dog through the fence. (civilly, by the way)

They ran off before I could finish and in about a minute their mom came out ranting and cussing about how dare I yell at her whelps (which I hadn't) and followed shortly after by hubby who said my dog just might wind up shot one of these nights.

If I'd done that as a kid the only yelling would've been me as my hide got worn down by my dad.

The following weekend I invited a dozen guys over from my unit for some target shooting in the back yard, no booze involved, much ammo was expended and the backstop suitably suppressed. I guess neighbor got a clue, kids stayed clear of the dog til we moved out.