Agreed, but with better training, too, and far more autonomy than they actually get. But we don’t value expertise (that isn’t related to, say, finance) in this country. We value what can make money over almost everything else.
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"Brookland School Officials apologize to the parents and students affected and want all parents to know that the safety of their students is of the utmost importance. "
Apparently not or this article would never have needed to be written.
Children need to learn discipline but that does not mean physical abuse like this.
Reads like a fifties prison movie: “OK, boy, into the box 'til you learn respect.”
Let’s go back to Bible based beatings since those are safe;
*Do not withhold discipline from your son; if you beat him with a rod, he will not die" (Prov 23:13)."
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My experience was the older teachers were the worst with ADD and ADHD kids in elementary school. Our son (fairly severe ADD) is finishing 7th grade next month, and it’s pretty much the same still. We have a 504 plan to mitigate the worst impulses of disciplinarian types, it’s a step beyond an IEP and necessary in some situations.
@danimagoo: the people who monitor the lunchroom and recess are low-paid district employees here, not teachers. It could be the same where the kids in the OP go to school. There’s not enough supervision of these employees - some are amazing, most are indifferent, but a select few are sadists.
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That sounds terrible. I went to public school a lifetime ago and I barely saw the light of day except from the classroom or school bus window during the school year because I was usually in detention during most recesses due to being very hyperactive. Needless to say, that’s a spiral it’s hard to get out of. Corporal punishment was also a thing, but usually also came with no recess also.
Luckily I was able to chill out enough to stay out of most trouble by mid-junior high, because that’s when the real sadism began from some teachers and administrators. Also: no recess and no leaving the building, period, for any reason, except gym and intramurals, so no real escape valve, especially for the hyperactive (I noticed nearly all the people in detention/getting paddled were boys; most of them were there for same kind of outbursts I had - and a system not really wanting to or knowing how to deal with kids, mostly boys, that just cannot stand still. I know it’s annoying AF as an adult, and I’m sure especially teachers, but sitting inside for the entire school year and writing mindless sentences over and over was not helping anyone.).
But that was so long ago, I would have thought we as a society might have learned something at this point? How removing the one thing that might provide the most therapy is expected to help your kids is the real question. I hope your schools get some enlightened people in there to fix things. I think my parents just sat by and heard what I told them with a mixture of disbelief and horror. They were not in much of a situation to do much about it even if they understood and believed all of it…I’m just glad I just barely missed the “let’s medicate the problem kids” that my youngest brother got to experience. Much of Gen X had that, but things came later to our schools, so thank goodness for small favors.
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IKR! Even in the backward school experience I described, I think kids doing that while they wait would be considered doing something constructive with their time. If she has ADHD and is still able to sit quietly and doodle, that’s even all the more impressive, IMHO.
Some teachers seem to have very weird hangups and power-trips, though, and I guess that still continues. Not sure how to put a check on that…
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Being ADHD myself, especially in childhood, I have all kindsa empathy for you and your child. I couldn’t sit still or concentrate on anything (other than a good book!) for more than a few moments w/o fucking ritalin. Being able to sit quietly and doodle w/o the drug would have been a major triumph.
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Holy cow, yes. And that applies to certain teachers, too, sadly. The stories I could tell…
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I know in the high schools where I taught the more experienced teachers seemed to be more likely to understand and successfully navigate IEPs and 504 plans. I think it helped that students had multiple teachers, so there was a type of healthy collaboration among the teachers for the best possible outcomes. I do remember hearing about one math teacher who was a bit of an ass from the parents of one of my students. He didn’t stay long and left for another district.
I really think that school districts and administrators set the tone. If they simultaneously prioritize positive student outcomes and support their teachers, it’s a win-win.
Yep. A good administrator can make all the difference by doing their job and making sure that the non-teaching staff are adequately supervised.
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Guys! I just found this out yesterday after I posted this, but next year it will be ILLEGAL to take away recess as punishment in the state of Georgia!!! To tell you my kid was excited would be an understatement.
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I’m a huge fan of adhd meds for myself, and my older kid, but this one is young and doesn’t want them (she has always been very weirdly against taking any medicine, ever). And with psychiatric medications in my house, they’re about making you feel better, not about fixing behavior, so that’s up to her. My older kid wanted to try the meds and says he feels better on them.
I do have a 504 plan in place and now she has a “wiggle seat” which is like a seat cushion that is good for fidgety kids, and it got her an OT evaluation for her handwriting and stuff. I’m pretty sure her teacher rolled her eyes at me about the 504 plan and the adhd diagnosis so I hope her kids don’t have any developmental disorders. My kid gets good grades so obviously nothing is wrong, nevermind the fact that my 6 year old asks for a mental health day every single morning because she hates school so much.
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Go Georgia!
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Oh, yes. I’m talking more about a period of time - and who knows, maybe it varies by area and who is running things, and so is still going on (we homeschool our kids now) - but definitely it seemed like in the late 80s/early 90s that many were being “diagnosed” with ADHD, and then the pressure was on to start giving kids Ritalin. My youngest brother was caught up in that, and if I had been just a few years younger, I would have as well. As you indicate, it should be about agency and what is best for the kids, but at the time, it did not seem to have that feel at all.
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Not everything that the legislature passes is shitty. I was glad about the mental health bill they passed this past year, too.
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Clap. Clap. 
{EXACTLY!}
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