FL - Girl, 6, Charged With Felony For Kicking Teacher's Aide

Girl, 6, Charged With Felony For Kicking Teacher's Aide



POSTED: 7:25 am EDT May 31, 2006


NAPLES, Fla. -- A 6-year-old special education student who kicked a Naples teacher's aide and spent several hours in juvenile jail is facing felony battery charges.

Her mother, however, wants to know why the case has gone so far.

Takovia Allen suffers from behavioral problems and attends a special class at Lely Elementary in Naples.

According to an arrest report, on May 2 a teacher was trying to line up students to go to music class. Takovia refused to go and kicked the teacher's aide in the ankle.

After a discussion among school officials and two law enforcement officials called to the school, the girl was arrested.

Takovia was taken to juvenile jail and held there for several hours before being released to her mother. :doh:

She is being charged with battery on a public education employee.

It's possible she will enter a program that includes counseling. If she completes the program successfully the charges could be dropped.
When my son was in kindergarten ,he accidentally tripped his elderly teacher; and she fell to the floor .
Thank God it was the 70's before political "correctness"/zero tolerance.As it was , he came out of school that day white as a sheet and mortified . Had he been taken to jail , he could have been scarred for life ..
They "jail" a six year old ;and a would be murderer sits at home after repeated attemps to murder a child .

Dear Lord, give me strength.

You know it is a shame when hard nose criminals are treated with "kid gloves" and a six year old that kicks a teacher's aid in the ankle is treated as if she has committed a homicide. :doh:

Good Gravy!!!

This is rediculous!!!

Let's worry about and spend our money on the REAL criminals in the world, not a 6 year old special ed child!!

I seem to have a different take on this as others.

The child has behavourial problems, and has displayed "violence towards" an authority figure. The teacher needs to have control of her students and their respect to do a proper job of a teacher. Especially in a "special needs" class when behavoir and conduct would be "challenging" for her to deal with.

This was done in front of other students. if this child was allowed to do this without any consequences "the other students" may just feel that they can also.

The child is held responsible for her conduct, lest she "harms" the teacher again, as now the teacher would be "seen as" a potential assault victim for just about anyone, as she did nothing when she was "harmed" the first time.

The child would have no consequences of her actions, so she is more likely to do it again. Who knows this time with a "weapon".

So the child is taken off to jail, where most likely she will be told "not to be violent" or use violence tor "solve our anger" or act out in anger and "harm" another person. Violence would not be seen as acceptable to "act" out when you feel hurt, angry, or do not want to do something your teacher wants and expects you to do.

If this was another student, do you think that student and that particular students parents would say: Oh, that is O.K., this little girl is "allowed" to use violence at anytime against anyone and there will be no consequences to her actions.

Who knows what is the history of his child. Who knows if this child has been violent towards others.

Now she has learned that people will and do hold her responsible when she chooses to act in a violent and agressive manner. Hopefully she will learn this lesson. because if she does not get the "help and guidence" she needs, well one day, the consequences could be tragic and fatal for another person.

Accidently tripping a K teacher is not agressive, violent or intentional and I am sure the student felt badly and espressed that to the teacher.

This is a whole different story with this little "felon in the making".

CyberLaw said:

I seem to have a different take on this as others.

The child has behavourial problems, and has displayed "violence towards" an authority figure. The teacher needs to have control of her students and their respect to do a proper job of a teacher. Especially in a "special needs" class when behavoir and conduct would be "challenging" for her to deal with.

This was done in front of other students. if this child was allowed to do this without any consequences "the other students" may just feel that they can also.

The child is held responsible for her conduct, lest she "harms" the teacher again, as now the teacher would be "seen as" a potential assault victim for just about anyone, as she did nothing when she was "harmed" the first time.

The child would have no consequences of her actions, so she is more likely to do it again. Who knows this time with a "weapon".

So the child is taken off to jail, where most likely she will be told "not to be violent" or use violence tor "solve our anger" or act out in anger and "harm" another person. Violence would not be seen as acceptable to "act" out when you feel hurt, angry, or do not want to do something your teacher wants and expects you to do.

If this was another student, do you think that student and that particular students parents would say: Oh, that is O.K., this little girl is "allowed" to use violence at anytime against anyone and there will be no consequences to her actions.

Who knows what is the history of his child. Who knows if this child has been violent towards others.

Now she has learned that people will and do hold her responsible when she chooses to act in a violent and agressive manner. Hopefully she will learn this lesson. because if she does not get the "help and guidence" she needs, well one day, the consequences could be tragic and fatal for another person.

Accidently tripping a K teacher is not agressive, violent or intentional and I am sure the student felt badly and espressed that to the teacher.

This is a whole different story with this little "felon in the making".

Click to expand...

This "little felon in the making" is a 6 year old child with serious enough behavior issues to put her in a special education class. There most deffinitly should be consiquences for such actions. However the consequences should be appropriate. A school that has a class for children with serious behavior problems must have a discipline system in effect for said class. As it is not at all uncommon for students in special schools and classes with serious emotional / behavioral issues to be agressive. I hope and pray calling the police to take 6 years olds to jail is not there system. It is by no means acceptable to kick a teachers aid or to kick anyone. It is also It is equaly unacceptable to haul an emotionaly distrubed 6 year old off to Jail.

mjak

Cyber, there is a WORLD of difference between allowing this little girl to "get away with it" and charging her with a felony. None of us are saying that there should be no intervention here. Its plain, however, that she's got some mental deficiencies. Adults with low IQs are not held responsible, so why on earth anyone thinks that a six-year old with "behavior problems" should be charged in the criminal courts is beyond my comprehension. Get the kid (and her family) some help. That won't happen in the justice system.

Jeana (DP) said:

Cyber, there is a WORLD of difference between allowing this little girl to "get away with it" and charging her with a felony. None of us are saying that there should be no intervention here. Its plain, however, that she's got some mental deficiencies. Adults with low IQs are not held responsible, so why on earth anyone thinks that a six-year old with "behavior problems" should be charged in the criminal courts is beyond my comprehension. Get the kid (and her family) some help. That won't happen in the justice system.

Click to expand...

Right on! :clap: :clap: :clap:

I have a special needs stepchild, makes me sick how people just disregard these types of children. Obviously these people were not trained to handle "special" kids.

I am willing to "bet the farm" there is much more to this story that meets the eye. I am not so willing to say that this is unfair. I think much more has gone on with this child. JMO.

Alot of kids with special needs have issues transitioning from one activity to another and can becoming anxious. I would also bet that this teacher aide has absolutely NO training on how to redirect these children when this happens.

That being said, to ARREST a 6 yr old for kicking is just ridiculous. I'm sure the school could have given this child an appropriate punishment. Give me a break.:doh:

I have a grandson in a special charter school for children with serious problems. Thank God for that school! The teachers, etc. there are trained to handle such problems when they occur (and they DO occur). Of course there must be consequences and surely no one would dispute that, but taking a 6 y.o. with problems to jail and talking about filing felony charges is just beyond the pale to me. If there is a reasonable explanation for what appears to be unreasonable actions on the part of the school in the article, I definitely want to hear it.

mjak said:

This "little felon in the making" is a 6 year old child with serious enough behavior issues to put her in a special education class. There most deffinitly should be consiquences for such actions. However the consequences should be appropriate. A school that has a class for children with serious behavior problems must have a discipline system in effect for said class. As it is not at all uncommon for students in special schools and classes with serious emotional / behavioral issues to be agressive. I hope and pray calling the police to take 6 years olds to jail is not there system. It is by no means acceptable to kick a teachers aid or to kick anyone. It is also It is equaly unacceptable to haul an emotionaly distrubed 6 year old off to Jail.

mjak

Click to expand...

You are so right. It seems to me there are a lot of ways this incident could have been handled. Putting a 6 yr old girl in detention shouldn't be one of them. I don't know if she would even have the understanding of what detention is all about. And charging her with a felony????? That is bizarre.

Of course she shouldn't get away with kicking anyone but the punishment has to fit the age for pity sake.

What next? Try her as an adult?? It's apparent to me that this school/classroom is not equipped to handle special needs children with behavioral problems.

chicoliving said:

What next? Try her as an adult?? It's apparent to me that this school/classroom is not equipped to handle special needs children with behavioral problems.

Click to expand...

Well they're certainly not teaching her how to deal with confllict, that's for sure.

I think that even 10 years ago this problem would have been handled by making her sit in the corner or do some sort of time-out. Certainly not by arresting her for heaven sake. Talk about over-reacting. Little kids (especially special needs) may kick, bite or slap but it's often not something that is brought about by an intent to be "violent". It's just that their mental systems haven't learned how to handle frustration. This should be a learning/teaching point, not an arrest! My goodness, my brother and his wife drive severely handicapped kids to school on the bus and both have been "knocked around" a bit when the kids "go off". Some bus drivers have actually been injured, but no one at the district has ever suggested pressing charges against someone not fully in control of their faculties.

I work at a daycare - and I get kicked all the time.... It comes as part of the job I think. One girl I worked with actually had a filling knocked out of her tooth one time... Yay!

I found this at naplesnews.com. I wanted to know more.


By Chris W. Colby (Contact)
Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Takovia Allen is 6 years old. She’s a special education student at her elementary school. And for about four hours several weeks ago, she was a juvenile jail inmate.

Her mother wants to know why.

Tamara Williams, 30, said Tuesday she wants to understand how the problem went that far, so far that Takovia is now charged with a felony.

Her daughter suffers from behavioral problems and attends a special class at Lely Elementary. On May 2, before the teacher began trying to line up the students to go to music class, Takovia refused to go. According to the arrest report, the girl demonstrated that refusal by kicking Debra Dolan, the teacher’s aide, in the right ankle and trying to trip her.

~snip~

Williams was called and came down to the school, where she and the deputy led Takovia to the patrol car to be taken to juvenile jail. The girl was held there for about four hours, after which she was released to her mother’s custody.

~snip~

Takovia has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, in which children have difficulty paying attention and focusing on tasks. And she has trouble with authority figures if problems aren’t handled a very specific way.

What started the conflict that led to the arrest involved another student and the teacher’s aide’s failure to follow Takovia’s “behavior plan,” Williams said.

Each student in the ESE program has a plan for how to handle each student’s behavioral quirks. In Takovia’s case, she gets upset if a problem happens and isn’t dealt with fairly, and immediately. And she doesn’t like to feel threatened, Williams said.

So when another student intentionally broke her pencil, and Dolan ignored that and insisted all the students line up for music class, Takovia was upset, Williams said.

“She told the aide, who told her to line up, that she’d deal with it later. But she never dealt with it,” Williams said. “Takovia ended up kicking her when she didn’t resolve the problem.”

This whole story is very strange. Link:http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/may/31/6yearold_goes_classroom_jail/

The 4th comment under the story is especially strange.

Adults with low IQs are not held responsible:

Well low I.Q is a very subjective term it could be 55-99. The person may be "slow" and below average intelligence, but as long as they know right from wrong, that would be criteria of laying criminal charges.

There are many, many, people in prison, and they were even on death row who have a low I.Q. Did the person know that robbing someone and killing them was wrong. If yes, well then you are held responsible.

Williams was called and came down to the school, where she and the deputy led Takovia to the patrol car to be taken to juvenile jail.

Now the Mom says: Why was my daughter taken to jail, when she lead the child to the Patrol car with the Police. It is not like this child was hauled out of school, handcuffed, mug shot, and then the Mom called. Mom knew what was happening, and what was going to happen.

And she has trouble with authority figures if problems aren’t handled a very specific way.

Well I do hope that anyone, man, women or child in any capacity in life at any stage of this child life, "knows" to "learn" how to handle her problems.

You never know, maybe one day, a child in say grade 3 may not ""handle" her problems in a specific way. Lets hope that this little "future felon in the making" is not armed or violent that particular day.

Eveyone throughout her life, should learn how to "handle" this child and god forbid that one day, she might break the law, again, and have a confontation with the Police, or security guard, or bus driver, or lunchroom lady, or whomever she feels is an authority figure.

This child is going to grow up, I have heard other instances of 6 years old bringing drugs to school, knives, crack, booze, guns, and even shoot other children. Should we also not hold these children responsible and say: Well they are only 6 years old.......

In Takovia’s case, she gets upset if a problem happens and isn’t dealt with fairly, and immediately.

Well I hope that she does not plan to live in the real world one day, amongst real people and face real problems. Because life is just not fair.......

And she doesn’t like to feel threatened, Williams said.

Well if she feels threatened and is actually "threatened" are too different things. She may feel threatened by being told what to do, conflict with other students, or maybe one day the lunch lady, may refuse the request for a second helping of whatever and now this "little future felon" sees the lunch lady as a)threatening b)she is not being fair because the lunch lady is not doing what she wants and c)the lunch lady is an authority figure. So she picks up a knife to "express" her "threatened" state. Walks towards the "authority" figure who is not being "fair".

After discussion among the school dean and principal, the deputy and a detective, both of whom were called to the school to respond to the battery call, and a Collier County Sheriff’s Office supervisor contacted by phone, 3-foot, 9-inch, 50-pound Takovia was to be arrested and charged with battery on a public education employee. That’s a felony.
Williams was called and came.

So it was not a "knee jerk" reaction all of the responsible adults decided with thought and deliberation, that a battery of a teacher is just not going to be O.K.

Williams said she was told the deputy arrested her daughter because she has a history of pushing the teacher’s aide in the past.

So now the "violence" has escalated.........

This child's problems stem from some parents leaving it up to the schools to raise their children and attempt to correct years of no discipline and a poor behavioral example at home.

Gettting the attention of the parents though the court system will hopefully precipitate a change in their parenting methods before their child seriously hurts someone. The teacher is a victim.

So whom do I blame for this childs behavoir, not the ADHD. The blame lies with the parents and the "wonderful" job they have done "raising" a child like this little girl. Obviously her "behavorial" problems can be traced back to her Mother and the child has learned by example.

Usually when someone has a problem with authority figures, they end up in jail. Opps that is exactly, where she landed. Plus they can't keep a job, or be told what to do by anyone in any capacity.

Well lets hope her Landlady does not tell her to turn down her music, or the person in line tells her she can't go ahead of her, or she has to pay for something that she bought that she now does not want to pay for, or that the other drivers on the road are in her way........

What do you think the chances of this "child" deciding it is open season on her teacher now, do you think she may think twice before committing a battery on a teacher. Criminal consequences to criminal conduct, despite her age.

I think that was the point of the arrest.......I doubt she will kick her teacher again.