5-Year-Old Cuffed, Arrested in Florida

[Zep 0]

It seems to me that none of you have thought that in your lawsuit ridden country the school teacher
did'nt want to leave herself open for a lawsuit if she accidently hurt the child whilst trying to restrain or reason
with her, Just maybe your judicial system needs looking at.

Gone fishing

[tigra 0]

Yes, I am sure there is more to the story and no, I wasn't there. Yes, the "tantrum" described sounds pretty serious- kicking, hitting and throwing things. Clearly unacceptable behaviour that indicates something is not right at home. I also agree about the potential danger to the other children in the classroom. I STILL find it hard to believe that calling the police and having the child restrained and arrested was the best or most appropriate action. If you can't control a 40 pound 5 year old child, you shouldn't be teaching kindergarten!

What probably happened is that neither the teacher nor the assistant principal wanted to be accused of "manhandling" the child, so they called the police instead. That's pretty sad.

[justinb138 0]

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Holy Moses, what was that? A complete indictment?
A five years old little girl is charged with beeing danger to 30 others of same age, her teacher(s), the entire school, her home town: Only the sheriff and his equipment can solve that terrible situation.....? It's so sad but, I prefer to LMAO.

It's not that the teachers/staff couldn't handle it, it's that they probably couldn't handle it without being sued.

[justinb138 0]

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What probably happened is that neither the teacher nor the assistant principal wanted to be accused of "manhandling" the child, so they called the police instead. That's pretty smart.

I fixed it for you.

[lawrocket 3]

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Only the sheriff and his equipment can solve that terrible situation.....?

Had the teacher and assistant principal dealt witht he situation, we'd be reading about a lawsuit against the teacher, AP, school, and school district for doign whatever was necessary to calm the kid down.

Headline: "5 year-old, 40 pound weakling restrained by teacher and assistant principal in classroom."

So, they called the police, who are the only agency authorized to use force to stop the sitaution, who face the same headlines.

The likely scenario? That teacher and assistant principal were probably bound by the rules from doing anything other than attempting to reason with a five year old to stop the situation to avoid liability.

The AP could have defended him/herself from gettign kicked, but didn't because of the great potential for liability from the mere act of self defense.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[tigra 0]

Nope- its SAD! On so many levels.

[Trent 0]

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If you can't control a 40 pound 5 year old child, you shouldn't be teaching kindergarten!

What probably happened is that neither the teacher nor the assistant principal wanted to be accused of "manhandling" the child, so they called the police instead. That's pretty sad.

What's sad is that it has to be like this in our lawsuit happy society. I don't know if you meant it was sad that the teacher and prinicpal called the cops, or that they had to due to the possibility of a suit. I think it's sad that parents don't discipline their kids, then sue people who have to put up with them. I'm sure that some of the stuff teachers did to us and our parents would be scandalous lawsuits today.

Oh, hello again!

[christelsabine 1]

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Only the sheriff and his equipment can solve that terrible situation.....?

Had the teacher and assistant principal dealt witht he situation, we'd be reading about a lawsuit against the teacher, AP, school, and school district for doign whatever was necessary to calm the kid down.

Headline: "5 year-old, 40 pound weakling restrained by teacher and assistant principal in classroom."

So, they called the police, who are the only agency authorized to use force to stop the sitaution, who face the same headlines.

The likely scenario? That teacher and assistant principal were probably bound by the rules from doing anything other than attempting to reason with a five year old to stop the situation to avoid liability.

The AP could have defended him/herself from gettign kicked, but didn't because of the great potential for liability from the mere act of self defense.

C'mon. "Bound by rules"... We have rules too, in our schools.

If this little devil of 5 yrs is going to strike her head against a wall, again and again... The teacher is going to call the sheriff? In order not to break "a rule"?

Ridiculous. If a teacher is incapable to deal the situation with such a little girl, he/she should go home. What will happen one day if this girl is 15 y/o? Teacher will enter the class room in the morning with an AK-47??
Help me out, please.

dudeist skydiver # 3105

[lawrocket 3]

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If a teacher is incapable to deal the situation with such a little girl

Oh, trust me. The teacher and AP each have sufficient mental, emotional and physical capability to deal with the kid.

But, thanks to members of my profession, they do so at their own risk.

I'll put it this way. You are capable of killing another person. It's actually quite simple. Simply take your car and plow it into a bus stop. Hell, you may WANT to do something like that.

However, there will be consequences for you to face. The adults were fully capable of handling this situation, but did not out of fear for their jobs and livelihoods had they handled it as it SHOULD be handled by pragmatism, regardless of rules.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[justinb138 0]

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If this little devil of 5 yrs is going to strike her head against a wall, again and again... The teacher is going to call the sheriff? In order not to break "a rule"?

This 5yr old was attacking other teachers and could have injured other students.

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Ridiculous. If a teacher is incapable to deal the situation with such a little girl, he/she should go home.

Not incapable, just that the task is better handled by someone else. If the principal/teacher had tried to stop her, he'd probably be sued and out of a job.

[tigra 0]

They're probably going to be sued anyway for causing emotional trauma, right? I don't know what the answer is, but shackling a 5 year old and hauling her off to jail can't be it! Maybe "Super Nanny" needs to pay a visit to this school!

[lawrocket 3]

Hey, folks,

I still haven't gotten an answer from anyone to my question. It was:

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what steps would you have taken to ensure that this child did not harm herself or other 5 year-olds?

I've seen that it is ridicululous, and that the teacher and assistant principal should have handled it, cops were unnecessary, blah blah.

Well, those of you who think or feel this was excessive, tell us all what you would have done to stop it. Many of us would love to hear some thoughts on this.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[tigra 0]

I don't know. Luckily, I'm not a teacher or a parent. If I were, hopefully I'd have a better answer than that.

[wmw999 2,155]

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what steps would you have taken to ensure that this child did not harm herself or other 5 year-olds?

The only thing I could think of would be to remove the child, with people not involved in the classroom, to a "quiet room" (maybe the nurse's office) that's for that purpose. And monitor the child continuously until the parent comes, because of course you'd call the parent immediately. And if they refused to come, then you'd have to suggest that the child would not be able to return the next day, or until they had alternate care who COULD pick them up immediately set up and confirmed.

Of course, only schools with well-developed emotional-disturbance programs will have those resources. It's overkill for the average school. It does sound like an extreme tantrum for a child that age.

You can't dedicate the nurse, because, well, what if the nurse is needed for another child.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[peregrinerose 0]

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The only thing I could think of would be to remove the child, with people not involved in the classroom, to a "quiet room" (maybe the nurse's office) that's for that purpose.

How is it possible to move a screaming, kicking, violent child to a quiet room without touching them? If the child truly was that out of control, the teacher/principal would just be asking to be sued to lay even one finger on the kid.

It is idiocy to have to resort to handcuffing a kid by the police. But lawsuits have forced that necessity.

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[wmw999 2,155]

You can't avoid touching the child. But an experienced adult can pick up most 5-year-olds around the waist, point their head away from anything that can get bitten, and move them out.

In the case of the school, unless they have all those resources, calling the police is very possibly the best thing they could have done to assure the safety of everyone involved.

It's a pity it made the papers. The mother's probably an idiot. And I'm quite sure there's more to the story.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[blackdog 0]

I am not a teacher or a parent, but one thing I am sure of, NEVER put a handful of sugar in front of a 5 year old, and THEN try to take it away.

[Jib 0]

A friend of mine is a teacher in a bad school in Florida. When he's tried to call a parent to discuss a student's behavior, he is frequently called a racist. It's no wonder why we have out of control kids with parental attitudes like that.

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the depth of his depravity sickens me.
-- Jerry Falwell, People v. Larry Flynt

[Lindsey 0]

Despite how ridiculous it seems for this to have happened, it's the parent's reaction now that can determine what kind of effect it has on the child. A parent can teach the child that she is a victim or that this was a consequence of her behavior. Unfortunately, it'll probably the former that the child learns.

--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

[billvon 2,436]

The answer here is clear.

Congress must immediately enact emergency legislation to make 5 year olds immune to punishment, and Bush must sign it into law before this goes any further. That way federal judges, rather than the parents, the teachers or police, can decide the best course of action.

[MarkF 0]

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I am not a teacher or a parent, but one thing I am sure of, NEVER put a handful of sugar in front of a 5 year old, and THEN try to take it away.

Especially if that sugar comes with food dye...

One of my nephews, years ago now, was a pretty rational child UNTIL he had a dose of sugar with food dye commonly used in lollies. A couple of jelly beans or suchlike and he was an uncontrollable monster. My sister removed as much sugar and food dye as she could from his diet and the problem was solved. To this day he steers well clear of food dye and sugar as much as possible and has no problems. A handfull of lollies and he turns into a right prick.

In the light of _MY_ experience I'd suggest that the child in question had a gut full of sugar and food dye. I bet the child liked the RED jelly beans....

Ooroo
Mark F...

[macondo 0]

I’m not familiar with rules in Florida schools but as a Michigan teacher I can tell you that picking the child up to move her is not as simple as it sounds. You can not touch a child in anyway that could be construed as causing physical harm. In fact, in all of the schools I’ve worked in, there is a “squad” of teachers that are called on to deal with violent children. These teachers have to undergo special training on how to handle or restrain children. How sad is it that this has become a necessity in our schools?

[mikkey 0]

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The answer here is clear.

Congress must immediately enact emergency legislation to make 5 year olds immune to punishment, and Bush must sign it into law before this goes any further. That way federal judges, rather than the parents, the teachers or police, can decide the best course of action.

The news I see from the States at the moment and the stories I see here remind me of the old saying "only in America.."

Well, its time to pack for my scuba trip to the Maldives and no dropzone.com for me the next 2 weeks. Suffer..

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When people look like ants - pull. When ants look like people - pray.

[Botellines 0]

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Hey, folks,

I still haven't gotten an answer from anyone to my question. It was:

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what steps would you have taken to ensure that this child did not harm herself or other 5 year-olds?

I am aware of all the problems that could arise if a teacher lay a hand at an student, but what about if it was a teenager beating the rest of the class? would the teacher do something or give the teenage monster 10 full minutes to kill someone before the police arrives? I bet that the teacher would do something even phisically stop him, if not he could be sued for not doing anything.

Actually what Wendy proposed seems to me like the most sensible way to handle the situation. After all, it is VERY possible to lift a 40 poung little girl without harming her in the slightest. If they have no nurse, the principal will do, if not any other teacher that have some time off.

Again, people seems to forget that we are talking about a 40 pound 5 years old girl. If we were talking about a 200 pounds senior at highschool, to call the police seems about right (plus pepper spray and a tazer if you like)

[adobelover 0]

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What probably happened is that neither the teacher nor the assistant principal wanted to be accused of "manhandling" the child, so they called the police instead. That's pretty smart.

AND SAD...
I VIVIDLY remember one of my teachers, a nun, spanking a misbehaving student (not me) with a paddle in front of the class...student was very embarrassed & the rest of us were afraid one of us might be next! END of problem for the rest of the year.

Not now of course, now you don't DARE touch the little darlings or someone will be suing for LOTS of money & another attorney will have a brand new boat paid for!

_________________________________________


Old age ain't no place for sissies!

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