KY - Third Graders Handcuffed in School, Covington, Federal Lawsuit Filed Aug 2015

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BlueShoe said:
If I were in this school, I would run in and try to stop this cop. I'd probably be beaten and bruised and some on this thread would think I got my just deserts. I think this cop is torturing this kid. This is a young child and although apparently described as "special needs," I know plenty of children who would react this way. He tried to kick the cop? Call his parents to come get him. Explain to them that this behavior cannot continue. But put him in handcuffs and listen to him scream? Just no!
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Maybe this was filmed while waiting for the parents to arrive. What would you suggest that the LE do to deal with this child? Do you think that the child would sit in the chair quietly if he weren't handcuffed. He wasn't handcuffed on the trip to the restroom .. that didn't work so well then. How would you have handled this if you were there from the beginning instead of the LE?
 
bluesneakers said:
It bothers me "what he knows" is how to abuse a child. IMO that's not a skill necessary in law enforcement.

I hold the school responsible for putting him in this position, but he's a grown man, an officer of the law, and there's absolutely no excuse for what he did to this child. NONE.
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I'd like to ask you the same questions I just asked BlueShoe, if you don't mind.

What a world! So glad that I attended school years ago, when no one wanted to have to "stay in" or meet with the principal's paddle! A little fear is a good thing. There was discipline, too. Peeps, I saw Blackboard Jungle when it first came out - 1955 - and was shocked by it. I didn't believe it, had no idea that students would act that way.
 
Yup. This where I'm from. Good ole Kenton County. So proud....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
teedie2 said:
bbm

That used to be called "time out" and used to be initiated by the teacher. Is time out no more? Instead it is now called seclusion/isolation and imprisonment? Or is it time out when called by a teacher, and called harsher names if an officer is involved? (Why does it take an officer to do what a teacher used to be able to handle?)

Why wasn't the 3rd grader put on time out? Time outs I've seen involved padded walls so a child couldn't hurt him/herself, and a sparse amount of furniture, iirc. Why is LE involved anyway, especially with children that young.
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No--IMO, seclusion/isolation are not the same as time out. The purpose of time out is to remove the child from whatever is happening, allow them time to calm/regroup and be able to rethink their behavior, articulate better choices and then rejoin the group. While it may well take place in an identified area (perhaps as simple as a chair, or a marked area on the floor), it DOES NOT require placing a chlld in a padded cell, with or without locked door. These kinds of rooms are contraindicated by mental health professionals across the board as traumatizing, harmful, unhealthy, dangers and at a minimum serve as a replacement for effective solutions.

In my own district there was an investigation by the state not to long ago--reported on by the local papers. At the outset, the school refused cooperation in even identifying the buildings in which such isolation cells existed. One of these was a brand-new building with a large population of students with disabilities--the so-called "respite room" was clearly planned for and built--not simply some carryover from an earlier time. Think any parents were involved in making those plans? Getting down to evidence of actual district policies governing these chambers was equally difficult, and of course documentation to establish that even the school policies were being followed was another molar being pulled. There was apparently a flurry of activity removing locks from the things just before they were viewed by officials (wonder how long that lasted). Some were not even actual rooms, but rather plywood enclosures in a classroom.

Existing laws are pretty minimal. The use of seclusion/isolation requires parental approval/notification as a part of a "behavior plan." There is supposed to be reporting/documentation. A couple of aides ended up losing jobs because of an "inappropriate" use of one of the rooms (use of restraint by one of them--incident not reported). I consider them to be merely tip of the iceberg. These things should not exist in schools. And handing their use off to cops and aides is truly reprehensible.

I agree with your question--why is LE involved anyway. But I know the answer. It is because teachers and admins want LE to be there, and to "handle" children in exactly the way that this cop did.
 
teedie2 said:
Maybe this was filmed while waiting for the parents to arrive. What would you suggest that the LE do to deal with this child? Do you think that the child would sit in the chair quietly if he weren't handcuffed. He wasn't handcuffed on the trip to the restroom .. that didn't work so well then. How would you have handled this if you were there from the beginning instead of the LE?
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First we would need to understand what WAS the beginning.

All we know is that the child was not doing what the teacher told him to do.
 
For the record what the cop did was clearly illegal under Kentucky law. He should be arrested and charged.

704 KAR 7:160. Use of physical restraint and seclusion in public schools.

Section 1. Definitions. (1) "Aversive behavioral interventions" means a physical or sensory intervention program intended to modify behavior that the implementer knows would cause physical trauma, emotional trauma, or both, to a student even when the substance or stimulus appears to be pleasant or neutral to others and may include hitting, pinching, slapping, water spray, noxious fumes, extreme physical exercise, loud auditory stimuli, withholding of meals, or denial of reasonable access to toileting facilities.

(13) "School personnel" means teachers, principals, administrators, counselors, social workers, psychologists, paraprofessionals, nurses, librarians, school resource officers, sworn law enforcement officers, and other support staff who are employed in a school or who perform services in the school on a contractual basis.

Section 3.

(1) Physical restraint shall not be used in a public school or educational program:
(b) To force compliance or to retaliate;

(2) School personnel shall not impose the following on any student at any time:
(a) Mechanical restraint;
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704 KAR 7:160. Use of physical restraint and seclusion in public schools.
 
I would like to know what the teacher did to help this child before getting anyone else involved.
Did she/he call the child's parents???
Why was the resource officer even called?
IMO this teacher should not be teaching!
 
I do not in anyway approve of the way this was handled.
Does anyone know who recorded this? Did the teacher just give up on the kid?
 
I just became aware of this incident following the clip on yesterdays NBC evening news.

Not every situation calls for the intervention of a uniformed police officer. I realize some people would disagree but such extreme measures should only be resorted to if a child is posing a threat to himself or to others and I see nothing in this story to indicate that he was. There seems to be a dangerous trend in this country to militarize everyday problems. I somehow doubt this kid learned much of anything in this other than to fear authority and the police in particular. I have to wonder what is happening in this country.
 
Snick1946 said:
I just became aware of this incident following the clip on yesterdays NBC evening news.

Not every situation calls for the intervention of a uniformed police officer. I realize some people would disagree but such extreme measures should only be resorted to if a child is posing a threat to himself or to others and I see nothing in this story to indicate that he was. There seems to be a dangerous trend in this country to militarize everyday problems. I somehow doubt this kid learned much of anything in this other than to fear authority and the police in particular. I have to wonder what is happening in this country.
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That's what concerns me. What kind of message are we sending our children.
 
Nana said:
I do not in anyway approve of the way this was handled.
Does anyone know who recorded this? Did the teacher just give up on the kid?
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The following is solely my own opinion, informed by my experience as the parent of a student with disabilities as well as sharing with other parents/professionals in similar situations at conferences, etc.

Frequently a student with disabilities (SWD) or having an individual education plan (IEP) has something of a target on their back. Back in the day, such children were frequently, and quite easily, moved into "special" situations (room down the hall, other building, and shockingly for some, no education at all). The term disability is fairly loose, encompassing a wide range of conditions that interfere with the educational process, or learning. These conditions may be cognitive (relating to intelligence or learning ability), physical (including asthma, blindness, deafness, paralysis, etc, etc). The largest category of SWD is those with a Specific Learning Disability (SLD)--something I find ironic because these are anything but specific. Then there is the grouping of emotionally or behaviorally disordered (with their own alphabet soup of categories).

As I said, historically there has been a preference for geographic, out-of-sight-out-of-mind, cures. Identification was merely the preamble to moving the kid along. Unfortunately this did little to ensure that SWD as a group were well, or even adequately educated. And I would suggest that this was despite some incredibly caring and dedicated professionals working in those hideaways down the hall with all the kids from grades 3-6, with all kinds of diagnoses, and precious little in the way of resources.

Some schools and districts have paid attention to the research and done very well at moving those kids back with their peers, supported by those same trained and caring professionals. In other instances there have been stand-offs. The special ed teachers fear becoming irrelevant. The regular ed teachers fear being overwhelmed. But the laws regarding education in the "least restrictive environment" (LRE) offer some broad loopholes. One of these is that if the district can make a case that a kid "needs" a more restrictive environment, then they are back on the track to the old traditional special ed room (sometimes now cleverly renamed the "resource room."). All of which leads to my general observation that sometimes there are some profound factors at play that lead to kids being escalated rather than de-escalated in their classrooms. Or learning needs being ignored, leading to frustration, leading to acting out, etc. Send the kid to the office. Call the resource officer. Restrain. Handcuff.

This folks, is not about an officer out of line. It is about a system.
 
Fwiw, I think you are great Margo/Mom - you have a fantastic grasp imo of the system where these special needs children are concerned and what should happen and what would work best - I believe you. In fact, imo, if anyone could make a meaningful long term difference - it's you. It's possible you could sell sand to the Arabs and water to any island surrounded by water.

But, I don't quite get your stance at the moment where LE is concerned - what I get is a mixed message. On one hand you appear not to like that LE is involved and what LE is doing - but on the other hand it seems it's OK with you - as long as LE is there.

Imo, if you are going to condemn on behalf of those that cannot condemn the behavior they face with LE, then condemn LE for using and or abusing the behavior. I don't mean to sway you to condemn LE overall, but if you don't like how they are handling this type of situation - don't blame someone else. Jmo.

You could sway me in a heartbeat to kick LE out of this system - buy my vote counts for nothing. Just not quite getting what you want - but I bet it's a good thing!
 
Woodland said:
Fwiw, I think you are great Margo/Mom - you have a fantastic grasp imo of the system where these special needs children are concerned and what should happen and what would work best - I believe you. In fact, imo, if anyone could make a meaningful long term difference - it's you. It's possible you could sell sand to the Arabs and water to any island surrounded by water.

But, I don't quite get your stance at the moment where LE is concerned - what I get is a mixed message. On one hand you appear not to like that LE is involved and what LE is doing - but on the other hand it seems it's OK with you - as long as LE is there.

Imo, if you are going to condemn on behalf of those that cannot condemn the behavior they face with LE, then condemn LE for using and or abusing the behavior. I don't mean to sway you to condemn LE overall, but if you don't like how they are handling this type of situation - don't blame someone else. Jmo.

You could sway me in a heartbeat to kick LE out of this system - buy my vote counts for nothing. Just not quite getting what you want - but I bet it's a good thing!
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Well, getting LE out of the schools would be a good start.

My point is, however, that they never stormed the doors asking to be let in. School districts go begging for LE to put officers in schools in order to do exactly the kinds of things this officer did.
 
In that case, you sound resigned to the situation as it is. Too bad - you sounded kick *advertiser censored* to me.

You won't mind me and others b*tch*ng about what LE does then?
 
Have not watched the video and will never watch it. Cannot stomach movies with fake torture so will not watch the real thing.

Did this staff member say anything during the time they were filming? Or stand by complacently? There is a difference - I would actually film it if I had to, screaming my objection the whole time and attempt to intervene.
 
Margo/Mom said:
BBM

One issue is labeling children as BEING problems, rather than HAVING problems.

Another is our willingness to believe every meme about schools that come down the pike--such as "teachers aren't allowed to touch children anymore."

And finally, there is the subtext that children need to be corporally punished in order to learn correct behavior. IOW, if only teachers were allowed to give out swats then these kinds of things wouldn't happen.

Here are a few facts about this story:

"A federal lawsuit says the boy - 3 feet 6 inches tall and 52 pounds - was removed from class last August because he was not following his teacher's directions. The boy then tried to leave the principal's office but was physically restrained by school administrators until Sumner arrived to escort the boy to the bathroom.

On the way back from the bathroom, the boy tried to hit Sumner with his elbow, according to a report from the Kenton County Sheriff's office cited in the lawsuit. That's when Sumner put him in handcuffs." http://www.dispatch.com/content/sto...4-handcuffed-disabled-kids-case-kentucky.html

Now, those are the bare facts, missing is any information about setting conditions or emotional involvement (such as, what was the teacher instructing the child to do and how--why the child was not following through, how long was he restrained before the cop arrived to take him to the bathroom and what sorts of routine expectations were in place for this police officer in an elementary school). What was the role of the administrator (beyond filming the incident)?

In my experience, adults in schools are not always the best at de-escalating angry situations. In particular when dealing with children who are defined as being (not having) behavioral issues. Ignoring a child's legitimate needs (which are frequently diagnosed and documented via an IEP process) can be a handy means by which to move a kid into somebody else's realm of responsibility--simply by allowing behavior (or sometimes encouraging behavior) to escalate.

BTW--another lawsuit against the same officer in the same school involves another child with special needs. She was placed in seclusion/isolation and the cop used to keep her imprisoned there.
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What? I'm not "believing every meme", I've lived this. I have an extremely close relationship with my kid's schools, and I know moms on field trips can hang on to kids, but teachers can't. A teacher can literally not hold a child's hand who is likely to dart out into traffic as they load the bus.

And who said anything about corporal punishment? I couldn't be more against that than I am. I'm for teachers being able to hold on to kids, hold them in chairs gently, get down on their level and hold them by the shoulders to indicate seriousness.

Next time, if you don't understand what I'm saying, ask rather than assume.
 
That's what I was trying to say.
Woodland, sorry it didn't quote.
 
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