True, but I don’t think that’s covered under special ed. Usually, they’re sent to alternative schools and what not.
Reform school? I didn’t think that existed anymore.
Yeah, but it’s now called “alternative”.
Back in the olden days, (late 70s and early 80s) if a kid was doing bad in school and disruptive, they would indeed be classified as Special Ed. I have no idea if this still happens, but it was common back then. It was also not on a whim, some kids just prevent the rest of the class from having a chance to learn.
I have no clue if this covers the child in the article. Neither article tells us much about her and what led up to the police being called in. I am imagining a very thick folder and a kid that is near constant trouble. Probably would have been two grades behind back in the day when schools did this.
Jim
I don’t think they’re termed “special ed” anymore-usually special ed nowadays refers to kids with learning disabilities-ones severe enough to be in a separate class entirely-not just someone who might need some remedial help here and there.
As for alternative schools, they’re usually for students who, for some reason or another, need to be placed in a more restrictive environment-no, they’re not reform schools, but they wouldn’t send a trouble maker in with special needs students, I wouldn’t think.
The term “Special Education” is still used. Special Ed covers kids with a wide variety of learning problems. A kid has to be “qualified” to recieve Special Ed. services and there are state and Federal guidelines as to who can be included. Kids with dyslexia, major differentials between IQ and achievement scores, and kids with certain psychiatric diagnosis (ex: Depression, ADHD) can get services. Assessments need to be done and a special committee (called an ARD meeting) comes together to decide whether a kid should get the services. The services can range from a self contained classroom, to a few special ed classes with some mainstream classes, to all mainstream classes with minor modifications (such as reduced homework or books on tape). I think that kids with just pure behavior problems can get in to special ed, but they have to get qualified under something called a “504” designation, which is some civil rights/education thing. Keep in mind that kiddos with psychiatric diagnosis frequently have behavior problems as well.
Alternative school is where they send kids who have done bad things at school. It is usually a separate campus with stricter rules and more supervision. Kids usually spend a set time there depending on what they did.
What used to be called Reform Schools are now Residential Treatment Centers or Detention Centers.
I have witnessed a few of these “adults calling the cops on kids” scenarios and I think I could divide the cop’s responses into two general catagories. The first and most common catagory is that the cop is super nice to the kid- like a big brother with a badge: “Hey little man, what is going on? What are you so mad about today, huh? It looks like we got a little bit of a mess today with these broken windows and glass, why don’t we go outside and talk about it for a little bit, OK- You can tell me everything that happened.” The second catagory is the “no nonsense” cop. I remember this one situation where a parent called the cops because her 11 y.o son had torn up the house and beat his little brother and his friend up pretty good. The mother met the cops outside and said that she wanted him to scare the kid- maybe put the cuffs on and put him in the car. The cop responded with the driest, deadpan “My job is not to scare kids, my job is to determine if a law has been broken” and he just walked by the mother (the kid ended up spending the night in Juvenile Detention).
“Special Ed” is such a broad term that it’s hard to know, but I will say this: when you are dealing with a kid who is severely emotionally disturbed, after a while you are willing to try anything. Because sometimes you’ve tried all the logical, rational approaches and they haven’t worked, and at some point you start shooting in the dark and hoping. When it works, you are a genius and everyone’s amazed, and when it fails, everyone looks at that one act and wonders what the hell you were thinking.
Again, we really don’t have the context here, and yes, this could be a horrible, powermad administrator run wild. Or it could be a child that is right on the borderline between “so emotionally disturbed she needs to be in a seperate facility” and staying at a regular school, and the adults involved–parents and teachers both–are trying everything they can to keep her on the “regular school” side of the line. Which may, at times, mean trying crazy things.
In a cycling publication it went into this issue, as cyclists don’t always have the option to make it to facilities, and it’s not like they can just park their $1000 bike and run into the service station, well they can but with a good chance that they won’t be riding that bike home without a good lock.
Their suggestion to avoid trouble with the law is to take a bottle that they can slip into their biker shorts when needed, and with a wide enough opening so they can insert their penis, also enough capacity as not to overflow. IIRC it said that females are SOL here. It would seem by the column that as long as you don’t expose yourself you are OK, so peeing your pants would also seem to be OK, though one can make the case if the urine is not totally absorbed in your pants.
The cops better get busy and start busting all the surfers who pee in their wetsuits, then.
“Shooting in the dark” is never a good plan. The problem may be intractable - doesn’t mean you should try random solutions.