A friend of mine is an elementary school teacher in the Madison school district. A couple of weeks ago she stepped out of her classroom and some kid barreling down the hall at full speed crashed into her, knocked her over and broke her arm. He then ran away without stopping to see if she was hurt. I should start by saying that this kid deserved punishment, even though no one is suggesting that it was a deliberate or malicious act – a suspension for reckless behavior that caused injury wasn’t out of line.
But that’s not why they suspended him. They suspended him because he was in school later than he was supposed to be. It turns out that he stays in school an hour or so late every day because his parents aren’t yet home from work, and otherwise he’d be wandering the streets. (Why his parents won’t give him a house key is a mystery the school hasn’t investigated.)
The school apparently prefers that he wander the street. It’s not that the school is closed or anything. The kids start at staggered times, and he starts with the first “shift”, so the place was still open and mostly full of kids when the accident happened.
I’ve never heard of a student being suspended for spending too much time in school.
Even though everyone would like them to be, teachers are not parents and are not responsible for your kids after school hours. Yes, teachers and admins may be in the building, but when the bell rings, it’s time to leave. Sure, there may be other kids in the building that are pefectly legit, maybe for an after school activity, but I saw no evidence of this kid having one. So maybe he should join one.
This is one of those scenarios where not knowing all the details makes all the difference.
Has the boy been warned before about being on school grounds after his dismissal?
Does he have a history of behavior issues leading up to this?
Quite frankly having a kid on school grounds when they’re not supposed to be there IS a big deal. Who is liable for the student? If the kid hurts himself, is the school held liable because he is on their grounds? Just because the school is still “open” does not necessarily mean that there are personnel available to watch the halls for kids who are not supposed to be there.
Quite frankly…since suspension reasons are actually confidential, you only know what either (a) the kid said, or (b) other teachers may have inferred, without necessarily knowing all the details.
I agree, you can’t have a kid sitting in the school after school hours, if he’s not supposed to be there. Indeed, who is liable?
When you use the word ‘wander’, I think you over-dramatize the situation. You make it sound like he is forced to roam the streets in some god-awful section of town, as if he were a vagrant. Can it be that bad? Does he live in a horrible area? Couldn’t he go over a friend’s house, or ‘wander’ the street with a friend? That is not an altogether terrible way to spend an HOUR.
I think we need to know the full details…i myself am curious.
When a kid is in the school building, the school is responsible for him.
That means that when any kid is in the school building, he must be in the knowing care of some specific adult. The school’s responsibility means they can’t allow kids to simply hang around in the hallways amusing themselves in whatever way they see fit.
Such kids, as shown in the example above, also have a tendency to be getting into mischief, getting in the way of teachers who need kid-free time to plan and grade, damaging property, and generally getting on everyone’s nerves.
I think this rant is sort of a Bush-like misrepresentation. When I saw the title, I was expecting to see a kid thrown out of school for staying extra hours to study in the library or seek help from teachers in subjects of interest.
Right, because there are no public libraries in town, no after-school activities he could join, no community centers and no friends’ homes he could go hang out at. His parents are stupid for not allowing him access to his own home after school, but that hardly leaves “wandering the streets” as his only other option. That’s just silly.
If the kid’s school day runs from 8am to 3pm, for example…then the school is responsible for him for those 7 hours.
They’re sure as HELL not responsible for him from 3pm-4:30pm, for example, unless he’s supposed to be there (for some sport, after school activity etc…)
The elementary schools around here (Baltimore) offer an after-school day care program for kids whose parents work. It’s completely separate from the school system, meaning it’s a for-profit, privately-run program.
The kids aren’t wandering the halls (it’s in the cafeteria), and they get some outside playground time, some homework time, snacks and supervised activities. Sounds like the OP’s school district needs this.
I inly know what the teacher knows, which I’m sure is not the whole story. She knows what she knows based on a conversation with the principal, and some kind of written incident report she received stating the school’s official response to the incident. She was told the kid didn’t have a house key, but she doesn’t know if this is a verified fact or just the kid’s story, only that her principal stated it as if it were a fact. She doesn’t know whether he has a history of disciplinary problems, though the principal didn’t indicate any. But it was news to the principal that the kid was staying late on a regular basis – so presumably he wasn’t running around causing trouble before as he kept a low profile.
I still maintain this was not a justification for suspending him, certainly not for a first offense. It’s the kind of thing they should have called in the parents to find some alternate resolution. It’s even possible that this is in process, and the teacher is not aware of it. It’s even possible that they’re cutting the kid a break – if they had to officially recognize that he injured a teacher, they might have to punish him more severely. I will aske her this question, as I don’t think it’s occurred to either of us previously.
She found this report in her mailbox last week, and hasn’t yet discussed it with her principal. She’s rather upset that, on paper at least, his punishment is not directly related to his actions or her injury. She feels that the school is not standing behind and protecting its teachers.
I agree that a suspension could’ve waited until after talking with the parents about the issue. That kinds stuff goes on a kids record, not the parents.
Quote:
Oops. I went back to read FisherQueens post, It took a second reading, but I understand now.
When I was in high school I got a day of “in school suspension”. My crime? Being late to homeroom (an 8 minute class used for the purposes of taking attendance) 3 times. For this I missed an entire day of study. Being a student that actually went to school with the intention of learning, my teachers were ticked off at my homeroom teacher for taking things so far.
Now, if this kid is doing what his parents tell him to do, and is not causing trouble in school, I do not see that his punishment is any more helpful than mine was. Were he being punished for running in the halls (generally a no no in any school), or for hitting the teacher (albeit unintentionally) I could see that the suspension could hold some merit. But is making a kid stay home from school really a “punishment”? Not for most kids. So, if he should be punished, I would say that suspension is over the top.
He basically just got in trouble for following his parents’ rule.
Exactly. While I do agree the suspension was a bit over the top, having the parents telling their kid to hang out at school while they’re at work is just taking advantage of the fact that there are teachers still at the school after 3:00. It’s sort of like those parents who drop their kids off at the toy store in the mall to play while they go off to shop.
I have to admit, I spent a LOT of time after school hanging out in a public library. But this was in high school, and I was actually reading, studying, or otherwise using the library as a library should be used. I also used to go to the school library every chance I got. But I’m a bookworm. Having said THAT…I’m aggravated at parents who use libraries as daycare services. The branch that I would prefer to go to is often overrun by unsupervised kids, who are noisy and active. They disturb the other patrons, and mess up the library. The librarians want the kids to enjoy their time at the library, but they are not babysitters and should not be held responsible for the well-being of kids who are running wild in the library. The library is not a playground, and I’m tired of people dropping off their kids to let them run wild.
I do see some unsupervised kids who are quiet, and who are using the library to find new books to read, or who are studying. Unfortunately, they are in the minority.
Don’t even get me STARTED about the kids whose parents ARE in the library and yet those parents let the kids run wild.
Our elementary school has an after-care program that kids can go to until their parents pick them up. I thought this was pretty much the standard. Does this school not have such a program?
If the schools run two shifts (presumably because of overcrowding?) there may not be facilities available to house an after school programs after the first shift.
If the student had been warned previously about remaining on school grounds or if students in general had been told to clear the building after school, then the suspension was appropriate. But some children think of school as a second home – and don’t really think about the appropriateness of hanging around. I wouldn’t suspend him for being on school grounds unless proper notice had been given.
But he should be disciplined for his unthinkable failure to stop when he injured the teacher. There was no excuse for that. Both the school and the parents should be legally responsible for failure to provide a safe environment for the teacher.
I was beaten at school once by trespassers during regular school hours. I was in the emergency room for seven hours, hospitalized for three days and missed two weeks of school. The principal was extremely angry with me because it was bad publicity for the school. Just before the trial, he would not allow me to miss 45 minutes of one class to meet with the prosecuting attorney. (It took a phone call from his boss to get me released from my post of duty.)
Boyo Jim, I understand your friend’s bewilderment at the administration’s priorities. My best to her for a quick mend and a more compassionate administrator.
