Police Arrest, Handcuff 8-Year-Old For Tantrum
Child Charged With Disorderly Conduct, Assault, Battery

POSTED: 10:21 am CST March 4, 2005

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- Police arrested an 8-year-old boy who allegedly had a violent outburst in school, head-butting his teacher and kicking an assistant principal, when he was told he couldn't go outside to play with other students.

The 4-foot pupil was led away from Rawls Byrd Elementary School in handcuffs Tuesday and charged with disorderly conduct and assault and battery.

"It's not something that happens every day," Maj. Stan Stout said of what could be the department's youngest arrestee ever.

Stout said the chair-tossing, desk-turning outburst occurred after a teacher, and later the assistant principal, attempted to stop the boy from joining his classmates.

The child was later released to his parents.

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

This just makes me sooooooooo MAD!

I am surrounded by kids every day...... and even I can see with an untrained eye, when a child is feeling so frustrated to the point of bursting and have the tools to be able to calm a child down! Granted, I was not present, and the article doesn't explain any specifics as to what led up to the outburst or tantrum as they called it. But I would have hoped that PRIOR to the action taken (handcuffs? jail?) that the school system (teacher and asst.principal) could have somehow calmed this CHILD down.

OK.. off rant..

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

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What am I missing?

I don’t know if the police were stationed at the school, but they had to be called at some point…………… after the teacher couldn’t squelch the situation …….after the asst. principal was brought into it………..

Since our teachers are subject to being sued if they paddle a kids ass when they are totally out of control, what else would you suggest to get his attention?

Just a layman’s thought, but it seems being allowed to carryout such actions is what made an eight year old comfortable enough to take them to school.

Perhaps a crash course in Astronomy 101 would show him that the universe doesn’t revolve around his ass, ………… and a paddle can.


:cents:

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You are right on that one PF... teachers are subject to being sued by parents who think their little devil is actually an angel....

I guess I am a little over sensitive about drastic steps like this.. Again, like I said before the article doesn't say if this behavior is one that the kid exhibited before or what exactly led up to it, but I wonder if there were clues to this leading up to the outburst? That was what I was questioning and why I was so mad about it. Much, not all, of the behavior of a student can be predicted by what they are experiencing and can be curtailed prior to reaching eruption stage.

Upon reflection, I know that many districts call the police as a last resort. Maybe this behavior was typical of the child? I don't know, but it makes me sad and mad that it had to happen to an 8 year old. And hopefully this child will learn a lesson....

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.

Chey I 'm around that age group all day also and I would like to know how come he head butted a teacher, no parental guidence???

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We only have the action and reaction that had to be taken in this report. You are right about some sad conditions had to precede these final events. Short of Damion reincarnate, eight years of adult influence didn’t happen. Our vulnerable teachers are left to deal with the result.

Regardless of the facts that paved the way, the situation stated had to be ENDED!…… NOW!…….. and with consequences!... for the sake of our valuable teachers and every other child in the school.



:cents:



Now about your avatar....... :jump:
:drool: :drool:

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as a future head butt recipient I wonder if the school has a DARE officer there who got involved.

If the situation could not have been prevented by a proactive (as opposed to a reactive) teacher then someone who was properly trained in restraint should have dealt with the child. Then again liability is the single greatest threat to my profession.

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<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
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I consider the ratio of attention to “a DARE officer”, “properly trained in restraint”, “liability is the single greatest threat”, to TEACHING, a sin.


:cents:

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I know from some teacher friends of mine the ever increasing behavioral problems with "crack babies" seems to present problems like this one. No standard procedures can cover these kids. They're off the walls at times and the one who needs the real ass beating is the parent who did crack and became a parent. Just my 2 cents worth.

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As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will. He will be sure to repent - Socrates

Love is not looking in each other's eyes, but looking together in the same direction - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Unfortunately, things have become very sad in some school districts. Teachers are tormented by kids with no parental support or school board help. Everyone's afraid of being sued. I think there ought to be a hot line to the judges and attorneys that caused this situation and they be brought in to deal with the unruly kids.

Personally, I think the teacher should sue the parents!

But the answer to the woes of our education system is of course, testing and teacher accountability

__________________

The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there.~ Betty Grable

If I wanted your opinion, I'd remove the duct tape and ask you for it.~ Me
<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
One man's dream is another man's nightmare~~~~> §¤ Lilith ¤§
~>My Scribbles<~
==>Gone Shopping<== ~Just a Quickie~ *~A Celebration Vacation~* ~Surprises~ Sleeping With the Window Open
What Did You Do Today? Self Defense Class ~Short Sweet Snippets~ § Summer Spin § Story Challenge Submission Pajamas

Teachers today can only teach to the lowest common level of the students in their room. And they want to mainstream the EMH students.

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Do NOT get me started on testing and All Children Left Behind.

As a teacher, here's my thoughts.

First, the child was told he couldn't go out to play. What did he do to deserve this? Teachers don't just take away rewards indiscriminately.

Then he headbutted the teacher. In my state, all teachers are trained in crisis management and know how to physically and safely restrained children. I thought it was the same in all states but maybe not. Anywho, that's assult on a teacher, which is a felony in most states, I believe.

then he threw a chair at the principal. So now he's using weapons.

Understand if someone touches this child, they open themselves up to a mess of liability, personal and professional. Of course most teachers associations actually carry malpractice insureance for situations such as this (i.e. the teacher needs to defend herself and gets sued in the process).

That's alot to say a little, but I'm curious how much more teachers are going to be asked to take without any recourse available to them. In my school alone this year we ahve had $450 stolen from teachers, and three teachers wind up with injuries of some sort from breaking up fights. I do not work in an inner city school - it's in the burbs. We are kicked, hit, scratched, insulted, spit on, abused, lied to on a consistant basis. yet we are still required to educate these little darling not only in our subject matter but also in life skills, social skills, and family matters. And if it doesn't sink in, it could mean our jobs.

I'm not glad an eight year old had to get arrested, but it's high time for the kids to start being held accountable for their own actions. We are doing them no favors by making excuses and rationalizing their behavior. Maybe this will teach the kid that there are otehr ways to deal with problems. I hope he gets some counseling and I hope they get the whole family in on it.

Those of you still reading, thanks. I now officially step down off my soapbox, and leave it for someone else to pick up from here.

Problem is that the real culprits in these situations are never held accountable, the parents. There's now accountability for everyone, except the ones who matter most.

__________________

The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there.~ Betty Grable

If I wanted your opinion, I'd remove the duct tape and ask you for it.~ Me
<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
One man's dream is another man's nightmare~~~~> §¤ Lilith ¤§
~>My Scribbles<~
==>Gone Shopping<== ~Just a Quickie~ *~A Celebration Vacation~* ~Surprises~ Sleeping With the Window Open
What Did You Do Today? Self Defense Class ~Short Sweet Snippets~ § Summer Spin § Story Challenge Submission Pajamas