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Video shows policehandcuffing 5-year-old on video(Florida
St. Petersburg Times ^ | 4/22/05 | THOMAS C. TOBIN

Posted on 04/22/2005 11:55:08 AM PDT by Sertorius

The girl's teacher videotaped her class that day as a self-improvement exercise. An attorney calls the arrest "absurd" and "excessive."

(Excerpt) Read more at sptimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: florida; handcuffs; kindergartener; students; whereisthedad
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To: skr
This kid is an example of the epidemic in the school system caused by the touchy feely NEA. She is a product of what was caused by the 60's generation that enlisted in the "IF it feels good just do it" philosiphy. Which I am a member of that generation, but that is not my philosiphy.

I wouldn't be surprised if the routine of this child was to go home and watch Oprah, Jerry Springer, etc. Her mother is at the root of this childs problem, because of the laws that have to be followed, there is nothing that can be done insure the child is led in the right direction. The teacher/super in the video looked as if she was incompetent, when in fact she was following policy as it is written. The only hope for the kid is that DCF takes the kid from the home, but we all know where that will lead.

181 posted on 04/23/2005 4:47:29 AM PDT by ThreePuttinDude (The US needs to pull the feeding tube from the UN)
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To: ExPatInFrance
I have been in the area of this school in St. Pete, and the neighborhood is nothing but trash. The kids stand in the middle of the street and dare you to hit them. The adults stand around and hope you stop to avoid hitting the kids, I've never stopped but have avoided the little punks.

The kids in this area are nothing but the next generation of welfare whores and druggies and pimps. Sure there is the exception, but the actions of this girl tells me that she has already been shown the dark side and likes it.

182 posted on 04/23/2005 4:53:36 AM PDT by ThreePuttinDude (The US needs to pull the feeding tube from the UN)
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To: Sertorius
Same child, last month.

ST. PETERSBURG - The pupils were counting jelly beans as part of a math exercise when one of them started acting silly. Mrs. Ottersbach decided to take away her jelly beans.

The 5-year-old didn't like that.

She terrorized Room 13 at Fairmount Park Elementary, trashing Mrs. O's desk, smashing a candy dish and kicking another teacher in the shins, officials said.

At the principal's office, it got worse. The girl threw books and boxes, climbed atop the desk and started stomping. She drew on the walls, hit the assistant principal in the stomach.

Minutes later, the girl was in the back of a police cruiser, under arrest for battery. Her hands were bound with plastic ties, her ankles in handcuffs.

"I don't want to go to jail," she said moments after her arrest Monday.

An overreaction by frazzled adults? Or an appropriate response in a time when younger students are becoming more violent?

While police say their actions were proper, school officials were not pleased with the outcome. "We never want to have 5-year-old children arrested," said Michael Bessette, the district's Area III superintendent, who oversees a number of schools, including Fairmount Park. He said the district's campus police should have been called to help. The assistant principal was in the process of doing just that, he said, but another in a series of outbursts by the girl interrupted her in mid call. When she asked the secretary to call for help, the secretary called city police instead.

Bessette said campus police routinely deal with children and are trained to calm them in such situations. The school, he said, will take several steps to strengthen its procedures. Next time, Bessette said, "They can even call me," instead of calling city police.

The incident highlights a continuing problem for educators, who are required to use only nonviolent tactics as young students increasingly resort to violence.

The number of Pinellas students referred to administrators for discipline was down slightly in 2003-04 from the previous academic year. But referrals for student violence, such as battery on adults and fighting, are way up.

Pinellas elementary schools reported 406 referals for batteries on adults last school year, up from 272 the year before.

Another discipline category is suspensions. Last semester, the district reported 91 suspensions of elementary school children who had commited battery on an adult. That was more than the total for middle and high schools, which have more students.

Hillsborough County sees the problem too. Last year, that district reported 99 battery cases in elementary school, 467 in middle schools and 212 in high schools.

"We're just seeing more and more children at younger ages displaying very, very violent behavior," said Pinellas school spokesman Ron Stone. Pinellas has no written policies for physical contact when a student shows aggression.

As a rule of thumb, teachers and school administrators are counseled to avoid touching children. Beyond that, the district expects educators to protect children from hurting themselves and others, said Jim Lott, administrator of the district's Office of Professional Standards.

The district's contract with the teachers union allows teachers to use "such reasonable physical restraint as is necessary" to protect themselves and others.

Teachers should first try to talk the student into stopping bad behavior, Stone said. If it escalates to a dangerous level, Stone said, the teacher can try wrapping a student in her arms, perhaps getting on the ground with the teacher's legs over the student's legs.

Stone said he was told those strategies were tried with the Fairmount Park girl.

Under the district's code of student conduct, students are to be suspended for 10 days and recommended for expulsion for unprovoked attacks, even if they don't result in serious injury. But Stone said that rule wouldn't apply to kindergarteners.

"She's been appropriately disciplined under the circumstances," he said.

The girl was to return to the classroom today, but her mother said that won't happen. "She's never going back to that school," Inda Akins said Thursday evening from her apartment on 39th Lane S. "They set my baby up."

The 31-year-old single mother of three said she is consulting an attorney. Akins, whose last name is different from her daughter's, blamed the assistant principal, Nicole Ross Dibenedetto. She accused Dibenedetto of harping on the girl to the point where she "acted up" in class. "Ever since I told her to stay away from my daughter, there's been problems."

The police reports on Monday's incident raised some questions. The girl is described as wearing a "tan dress, white shirt, white shoes. Hair in braids." Height: 4 feet 6 inches. Weight: 60 pounds.

Akins laughed at the last part. Her daughter, she said, weighs 40 pounds. The girl stood next to a reporter and measured about 31/2 feet. "She's just a regular girl," Akins said.

As she spoke, her three children rambled through the apartment. The girl, the oldest child, rode a pink bicycle through the living room, one of the training wheels missing. Her brother got up on a table and swatted a light fixture, laughing.

"I wanted to play the jelly bean game," the girl said when asked what upset her at school Monday.

She said the handcuffs - "handcutters" in her words - hurt her and she was afraid. Then she bound off after her brother.

None of the four officers who showed up at the scene on Monday have been disciplined, police spokesman Bill Proffitt said.

He acknowledged the unusual nature of the arrest, but said: "Our policy very clearly gives officers the discretion to use handcuffs or other restraining devices for juveniles, regardless of their age if they are unruly or showing the propensity for violence." An officer used handcuffs on the girl's ankles because she was kicking him in the car, he said.

"Is it safer to put them in handcuffs and seat belt them in the back seat of a cruiser with an officer watching? Or is it better to physically struggle with the child?"

The reports contained some discrepancies.

One states Dibenedetto wanted the girl prosecuted. Another said she told the School Board she did not want that, but officers on scene told her to. Police spokesman Bill Proffitt said she, indeed, wanted prosecution.

Dibenedetto did not return a phone call Thursday.

In the end, it didn't matter. The state attorney's office said no charges would be filed. And the girl went home from school with her mother.

I wonder what the father has to say about all this?

183 posted on 04/23/2005 5:01:31 AM PDT by JesseHousman (Execute Mumia Abu-Jamal Today)
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To: JesseHousman; Sertorius

Posts #174 & #183 Bttt.


184 posted on 04/23/2005 5:37:57 AM PDT by DoctorMichael (The Fourth Estate is a Fifth Column!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: Sertorius

Can you imagine acting like that in elementary school?

Our Principal, Mr. Boyd, had a paddle in his office, and would use it, and we all knew about it. I know, I got it once or twice myself.

Of course, this was 1975.


185 posted on 04/23/2005 5:47:15 AM PDT by trillabodilla (Pray for President Bush!)
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To: Sertorius

"This little girl should have been physically restrained long before she made it to the principal's office."

I agree but teachers are usually the ones caught between a rock and a hard place getting no support from parents or the administration. Catch 22

If parents are going to raise their brats like wild animals they should expect them to be treated as such. Schools are suppose to teach reading math history science physical education art and music. Parents are suppose to teach their kids how to respect, responsibilty, obedience, compassion, kindness, hygiene, etc.
Out of control kids with no structure or boundaries at home grow into a problem the rest of the community should not have to deal with but we do and will!

Just say no to negligent, abusive, absentee parents!
People complain about "government" run schools but there are just as many parents to blame too. Balance, it's all about balance.


186 posted on 04/23/2005 5:49:49 AM PDT by SunnySide (Ephes2:8 ByGraceYou'veBeenSavedThruFaithAGiftOfGodSoNoOneCanBoast)
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To: ThreePuttinDude

"I have been in the area of this school in St. Pete, and the neighborhood is nothing but trash. The kids stand in the middle of the street and dare you to hit them"

Even in third world countries the kids don't act like this! Only in America, where the diseased minds of the politically correct (code for divide & conquer with chaos) left communists/anarchists have nurtured chaos.

- Lord of the flies -


187 posted on 04/23/2005 6:00:11 AM PDT by SunnySide (Ephes2:8 ByGraceYou'veBeenSavedThruFaithAGiftOfGodSoNoOneCanBoast)
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To: ThreePuttinDude

philosiphy = philosophy......shessh


188 posted on 04/23/2005 11:02:37 AM PDT by ThreePuttinDude (The US needs to pull the feeding tube from the UN)
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To: ThreePuttinDude

I am very sorry you feel the way you do towards childrren. I know about "tough" children. 2003-3004 my daughter taught in the toughest school in America. It was on the Front page of the NY Times,toughest school in America. Yeah it was a tough neighborhood and some real tough kids were her students. My daughter had the cops called on a 4th grader, took him away in the patrol car in handcuffs, just like this little girl. The kid punched her in the chest. And this was a BIG 4th grader, since he had already flunked twice, so really he was age wise a 6th grader.

In tough neighborhoods with little parenting, yeah lots of kids have disciplin problems in school and outside of school. Teachers are not paid to physically risk their own bodies and physically restrain students and risk getting fired and or sued.

Better to arrest a kindergardener, hopefully by the time she makes it to 4th grade she will know the boundries of what is and what is not acceptable in school. With all that said I never once heard my daughter speak about any of her students as "trash." She always said, "that kid has problems."

Teachers cannot overcome EVERY case of poor parenting. They are there to teach and maintain disciplin in order to teach. If disciplin cannot be maintained without physical restraints, guess what, it is NOT the teachers job. Not anymore. Used to be, but it isn't any more, even for kindergardeners.

I saw the videos of the classroom and it looked awfully nice to me. My daughter taught art, to kids who never had an art teacher before, never. When she arrived there were NO art supplies. I sent a fat check and so did my mother and between the two of us, we personally paid for the whole school's art supplies for the worst school in America. Kids who were flunking everything blossemed in art. They had one class where they were proud of their work.

I heard many many stories from my daughter, and this little girl has problems, but she is not trash. Now her mother may be trash, that I'll give you, but not a 5 year old, no.


189 posted on 04/23/2005 12:05:17 PM PDT by ExPatInFrance (Terri's Starfish- 1 Mrs. Ora Mae Magouirk, 2 Clara Martinez)
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To: jonsie

You are right that it may cost lawsuits, but this policy of not touching students, almost without exception, is essentially telling them to misbehave all you want because as adults, we don't have authority over you. It's an excuse and is the reson this girl carried onlike she did. The teachers didn't do anything.


190 posted on 04/23/2005 1:34:07 PM PDT by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what and Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: Swordmaker

You are right on. You can see in the video that she only calms down and sits in the chair provided when she sees the police through the window. When you hear their voices on the tape, you also see an immediate change in the little child's behavior. It goes from out of control to calm in no time. It is sad that the child is so manipulative, pressing the limits of the teachers one minute and sitting like a little lady the minute she sees the police. It makes one wonder if she has not seen the police more than once in her short life . . .


191 posted on 04/23/2005 6:05:25 PM PDT by adacrace
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To: ExPatInFrance

" In tough neighborhoods with little parenting, yeah lots of kids have disciplin problems in school and outside of school. Teachers are not paid to physically risk their own bodies and physically restrain students and risk getting fired and or sued. "

You're right, kids aren't trash they are our future. All children are born innocent. Unfortunetly it's the immediate environment they are born into, generations of a dysfunctional cycle that keeps churning out bad seeds with zero coping skills for the world outside their home.
Too many people assume schools and school teachers are suppose to be juvenile detention centers, rehab centers, psychiatric wards or boot camp all wrapped up in one neat and tidy educational system. The school system can't help children if negligent or uninvolved parent(s) won't help their own children grow into productive adults. No wonder we have so many kids confused about what is right and wrong.


192 posted on 04/24/2005 3:19:42 AM PDT by SunnySide (Ephes2:8 ByGraceYou'veBeenSavedThruFaithAGiftOfGodSoNoOneCanBoast)
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To: Sertorius

You see, this is why I got out of teaching. And where was this child's mother? If this mother really had any interest in her child's education or behavior, why wasn't she present? Regardless of work (etc), she had no right to leave the school teachers and administrators in that situation (which has apparently happened previously) and tell them they cannot "touch her child" (and then not even bother to be present), without expecting the school to take some action to try to calm the child down.
Besides that fact, let's look at the REAL issue here. A child throwing a temper tantrum in a classroom is not only a problem for the teacher, but a huge distraction for the rest of the students. It really makes you wonder why we are so far behind the rest of the world in education, hmm? Ask yourself if, in all the video clips of Asian schools you've ever seen and all the press reports you've ever read, has there been one incident that you can recall of an Asian student misbehaving in the classroom. (Answer: not one) Now why is that? The schools discipline their students misbehavior. The students WANT to learn, and WANT to be in the classroom rather than playing video games or watching TV; and this is also because the students' parents make it SO apparent to their children how important their education really is. Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees the pattern here. When did a child's education take a backseat to schools becoming daycare centers for children of parents who really don't care what their child does at school so long as that child is away from them for several hours a day?


193 posted on 04/25/2005 8:40:56 AM PDT by mnpblackburn
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To: mnpblackburn
A child throwing a temper tantrum in a classroom is not only a problem for the teacher, but a huge distraction for the rest of the students.

Wholehearted agreement.
194 posted on 04/25/2005 11:12:55 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (FR profiled updated Monday, April 11, 2005. Fewer graphics, faster loading.)
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To: mnpblackburn

"Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees the pattern here. When did a child's education take a backseat to schools becoming daycare centers for children of parents who really don't care what their child does at school so long as that child is away from them for several hours a day?"

You are not the only observer of this American epidemic. The problem is on both sides of the fence. PC schooling system and too many parent(s) who like the "idea" of having children (playing house) but fall short when 18 child rearing years of reality linger over their head. So on goes the tv sets, the video games etc., as instant cheap in house nannies and teachers are left with a mess to deal with in a no win situation. Parents, TURN OFF the darn tv sets and turn on your involvement with your children. Life isn't about 24/7 entertainment (frontal labotomy) for the unimaginative and lazy.


195 posted on 04/25/2005 12:41:28 PM PDT by SunnySide (Ephes2:8 ByGraceYou'veBeenSavedThruFaithAGiftOfGodSoNoOneCanBoast)
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To: mnpblackburn

Thanks for the post and welcome to FR. I am still plugging away in the education field, but it is very tough. We are handed all of the responsibility of raising these children, but none of the authority. I personally don't want that authority, but I refuse to allow children to hurt themselves or others.


196 posted on 04/25/2005 1:13:30 PM PDT by Sertorius (A hayseed with no Greek and dam^ proud of it)
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To: flashbunny
Just finished watching it. The child wasn't hurt in any way by being handcuffed. The only reason she's crying is that she's finally seeing the consequences of her actions and can't continue to act like a little monster.

Bingo. With liberals wrecking our public schools, authorities have been reduced to this. Enjoy it through all 12 grades!

197 posted on 04/25/2005 1:16:44 PM PDT by KC_Conspirator (This space outsourced to India)
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To: Sertorius

That's the main reason I left education and now am working towards my doctorate of optometry. I wanted to be able to help and teach kids, but in my second year of college, our state and others began pushing through legislation with regards to discipline in the classrooms. Effectively, they tied our hands. No teacher wants to have to resort to what these teachers and administrators in Florida had to do, but we really are left with no other recourse. Every other option we have tried has later been labeled child abuse (which by the way for any teacher is the absolute LAST thing that any of us want, and we go out of our way to avoid). We are there to help these kids and to teach them, but if we don't have the tools to teach and help effectively, we ultimately are useless. You might as well take away our white boards and pencils. Not only that, but if you teach an upper level grade (which I did, sophomore thru senior political sciences and history) you run the risk of an unruly student pulling a gun on you or worse. I remember my first semester in the education program and in the classroom, three kids and a teacher at one of the local junior highs were shot by another student, and, this was pre-Columbine. Is it not better to stop these children's tantrums when they are younger rather than possibly having them end up the next major high school shooter? I mean, what else can we do, especially now that nearly all of our rights as teachers no longer exist thanks to our friendly state legislators?


198 posted on 04/25/2005 5:48:45 PM PDT by mnpblackburn
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To: fella

If I had acted like that when I was young there would be one FReeper who wouldnt have lived long enough to register, much less see the internet...JFK


199 posted on 04/25/2005 6:01:33 PM PDT by BADROTOFINGER (Life sucks. Get a helmet.)
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To: G.Mason

Update--I just saw the girl's mother on TV.
She's filing lawsuits against the cops, school and anyone else who abused her precious daughter.
ONLY IN AMERICA !


200 posted on 04/25/2005 8:47:49 PM PDT by CharlieChan
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