Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/05/08/preschool-teacher-fired-for-dr.html
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A Directory of Wonderful Things
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Yeah! We didn’t see what happened before the picture was taken! What did the little criminal do to deserve this?
(Am I doing it right?)
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I don’t know, preschoolers can be pretty horrible sometimes. I have definitely dragged both of mine in a similar fashion before but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be happy with their teacher doing it.
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That doesn’t mean we should ignore the problems in our society.
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In New Jersey she’d get Teacher of the Year, back in the loe century that is.
Wonderful = “Filled with Wonder.” Nowhere did the term include “Nice” or “Happy.”
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Regarding the actual issue…
The teacher claims she wasn’t dragging him, and that no investigation was done by the school. (Oh, and and she wasn’t “fired”, according to the administration–just “told not to come back”-- evidently on the basis of just the picture. Whatever in the hell that means.)
http://www.vindy.com/news/2017/may/06/i-would-never-hurt-any-child/?mobile
At first I thought, based on her stance, she had to be lying, but I don’t know. The casual way she’s holding something (water bottle?) with one hand, and not really straining with the one holding the child’s hand, makes it plausible she’s just standing in that position, balancing against the kid pulling on her (or maybe she is moving a step or two but not actively pulling him down the hall).
In any case, like someone else has said–I’ve definitely done some child dragging when mine engaged in the “go limp” strategy. I’d guess it’s very few parents of young children who haven’t engaged in this particular form of “abuse”. And while I wouldn’t exactly love a teacher doing that to mine (if indeed this one did)–if my child ran away down the hall, hit the teacher, and went limp–as the teacher said happened here–I would be more concerned about the cause of my kid’s behavior than outraged about him being eventually pulled back to class across a smooth floor after throwing a tantrum and refusing to get up.
And, no, I wouldn’t blame those issues on the"abusive environment" that could allow a child to be dragged back to class, either. Calling this abuse if indeed that’s all that was happening here is pretty histrionic in my opinion and has that internet witch hunt vibe.
From the article:
After her termination Tuesday for allegedly dragging a 4-year-old preschooler, Jenn Lohr and her lawyer question why her former employer, Alta Head Start, did not conduct an investigation.
Lohr, employed by Alta for two years, was fired by Alta after she reportedly dragged the preschool student down the hallway Monday at Programs of Promise at Wilson, in the former Wilson school building on Gibson Street. The episode was captured in a photo by a Youngstown City School District employee.
Lohr said she’s devastated by the outcome.
“I’ve worked very hard to become a teacher, and I would never hurt any child,” she said. “I have always been an advocate for children, and I’m being destroyed in the public for a snapshot.”
The city schools’ preschool program started collaborating with Alta Head Start in December to offer all-day preschool five days a week in the district’s six elementary schools. School district spokeswoman Denise Dick said the 69 students there have “behavioral or emotional issues who have difficulty in traditional classrooms or schools.” It houses students from preschool through 12th grade.
Lohr said her termination as co-teacher was immediate and done without investigation by Alta or the city district.
“It is truly a disservice to my client by her own employer not investigating the incident,” said Lohr’s attorney, Albert Palombaro of Youngstown.
Joe Shorokey, Alta Behavioral Health chief executive officer, said he would not comment on the lack of an investigation. “We made what we thought was the best decision for our organization,” he said.
Dick said the city district didn’t terminate Lohr. It simply asked her not to return to the school.
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Lohr said the student in the photo had a history of “unfortunate emotional issues and anger issues” since he started preschool at Wilson.
“We had been continuously working with him and his family throughout the school year,” Lohr said.
To help with the student’s aggression problems, Lohr said they figured out the student could sometimes be calmed by singing his favorite song, tearing paper, yelling on the playground or having stuffed animals nearby.
Lohr said the student in question already had started Monday angry.
“He didn’t want to come inside [the school], so he just sat on the ground outside,” she said.
Shortly after she got him to come inside, the boy began acting out and was removed from the classroom by another worker, she said.
He was returned to the classroom for nap time, and due to rules set by the state, he was to remain on a cot for the duration of the nap.
But Lohr said the student acted up past the point in which she could ignore it when he took off, running out of the classroom and down the hall.
“I took off running after him,” she said. “I figured it was better to let him run and get out that energy while I keep him in sight.”
Lohr said several teachers, principals and police officers witnessed the student running. No police report was filed.
“I was calling out to him: ‘Stop, stop, let’s talk about this and let’s figure out what’s going on,’” she said.
The student rounded a corner and ran into an assistant principal who put an end to the chase by picking up the student, Lohr said.
The assistant principal handed the boy to Lohr, she noted.
As she began walking him back to class, the student began hitting her chest, so she put him down – which is when he lay on the floor, in another fit, she continued.
She then grabbed his wrist and began to talk to him. “He wouldn’t get up and wouldn’t stop screaming, so I just kept talking to him and telling him he needed to get up and walk with me back to class,” she said.
Lohr said she did not drag the student.
While Lohr talked to the child, another principal grabbed his other wrist, taking him into the cafeteria to calm down, Lohr said.
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To me, she appears caught in mid stride, look at her right heel. There’s not that much drag on a tiny kid sliding on a smooth floor.
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Tbh, without knowing the circumstance, this picture doesn’t particularly shock me and certainly doesn’t register as child abuse with me. He could just be a little pest, as children are wont to be at times, especially if they know they are in a position to get the teacher in trouble, and refuse to get up from the floor. The floor is not rough, so he couldn’t even have been hurt.
Now, if she knocked him out first and then dragged him down the hallway, that would be an entire different story.
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This topic is temporarily closed for 4 hours due to a large number of community flags.
To be clear (and I’m not sure why I need to add this) - it is, at bare minimum, offtopic to discuss the attire of the teacher when discussing her actions towards the child in question. At worst, it runs counter to a large part of FAQ point 1.
Apologies to those who had comments eaten that may have addressed the actual topic as collateral damage.
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If the child wasn’t hurt, then this is completely a ‘big whoop’ moment. Smooth clean floor, and what child doesn’t love being drug along like that? I’m with the crowd that’s more curious about the incident that led up to this.
Oh! The school district spokesperson specifically stated that the disctrict didn’t terminate Lohr. If so, and if applicable, she should still be receiving any pay & benefits.
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I’m speculating here, not being privy to the specifics of her employment contract, but I suspect the distinction hinges on what she’s considered to be and how she is paid.
If she’s an hourly employee or her compensation is based on class load, then the district can strike the perfect balance between not getting sued (“you can’t sue us for wrongful dismissal since we didn’t fire her!”) and getting rid of her (“yes, you’re still employed; we’re just assigning you zero classes for the rest of your natural lifespan”).
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A small child’s shoulder can be seriously (and occasionally permanently) hurt by actions like this teacher took. I believe firing her for this was the appropriate action.
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I remember we had such a good custodian at our grade school, you could have just sent me sliding down the hall, like curling.
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CrossFit ?
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A good effort, but next time try to blame the liberals, or at least claim the child or the teacher was secretly related to Obama, k?
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