Make sure you use the "Lifebuoy" !
Posted on 06/01/2003 5:24:54 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Teacher sues over 'kindergartner from hell' Claims disruptive boy caused 'loss of enjoyment of life'
Posted: June 1, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
A veteran teacher has filed suit against Orange County public schools over the humiliation, emotional and physical distress, and "loss of enjoyment of life" she claims she suffered because the district failed to remove a disruptive child from her class, reports the Orlando Sentinel.
Teacher Cheri Dean (Courtesy: Orlando Sentinel)
"What I want out of this is justice," the paper quotes teacher Cheri Dean as saying. "What's so amazing is that these kinds of things are going on in other schools, and teachers won't say anything because they are intimidated."
The lawsuit contains multiple pages of examples of the boy's bullying and reportedly violent behavior at Lockhart Elementary in the fall of 2001.
Dean, 51, claims she kept a log of his misbehavior after the boy was reassigned to her classroom from another teacher's class.
Among the child's offenses, the suit details how he purportedly stabbed a classmate with a fork at lunch, started another fight and then told a teacher's aide to "kiss my butt."
On another occasion, according to the Sentinel, the boy hit two students, one in the back of the head and the other in the face, swung his fists at a third student and then punched a fourth who was reading, calling him an "ugly faggot."
Other students support Dean(Courtesy: Orlando Sentinel)
Dean said she repeatedly asked her principal to remove the child from the classroom, but was rebuffed.
"She was angry because no one was helping her or helping the child, who wasn't at a place where he should have been," Don Dean, the teacher's husband told the paper.
It is unclear to what extent the parents of the child were consulted on the matter.
Ultimately, Dean was reassigned to Catalina Elementary.
According to the Sentinel, school records indicate she had become disruptive to the school. She was reprimanded for filing a false complaint against her principal just before her transfer.
The school district's attorney defended the administration's handling of the matter.
Frank Kruppenbacher told the Sentinel a committee considered Dean's complaints, the child's behavior and how it affected the rest of the class before recommending that the student remain in the classroom.
Kruppenbacher also questioned the authenticity of Dean's log about the boy's actions.
"I find it incredible that anyone would put this kind of litany of student problems in a court case," he said.
As for the boy, he has mended his ways, according to his mother, who describes him as easily bored, wound-up and has trouble sitting still.
"There's been no fighting, no kicking and no punching at the new school," she told the paper.
At the same time Dean was transferred from Lockhart Elementary, the boy was transferred to a nearby school where certain teachers are certified to deal with challenging students.
Dean didn't fare as well from her transfer. The veteran of 18 years claims the events of the fall of 2001 so traumatized her she has been on medical leave since last fall, using all the sick days she had collected through the years, reports the Sentinel.
She has formed an informal group called Teachers Against Violence in Classrooms.
Supporters describe Dean as a good teacher. The week she left Lockhart Elementary, parents held signs in front of the school protesting her departure.
Don't you think a truely disturbed 5 year old couldn't come up with something worse than what's being described? Little boys sometimes like to fight ---it's not exactly unusual behavior ---never was. I know teachers expect all children to sit quietly at their desks with their hands folded and paying close attention ---but at 5 years old, many kids aren't ready to do that for hours on end.
It is very clear. Not at all. Either that, or the parents are the root of the problem and called the prinicpal an "ugly faggot" when he complained to them.
Obviously, the administrators at the Lockhart Elementary school have no tolerance for what they see as "troublemakers".
Methinks whistleblowers wouldn't fare much better.
Make sure you use the "Lifebuoy" !
The funniest home video we have is the one my wife made of our (then) 2 year old daughter throwing a hissy fit on the living room floor. It lasted for 15 minutes. She then went to sleep right where she lay.
To this day, we cannot figure out or remember what she was upset about. But we laugh until we cry when we watch the video.
I think he needs his head examined. Very carefully.
I know a couple where both like to pull out a camera when they are having a heated discussion and take a picture of the other looking angry. They have the funniest pictures you could imagine.
It's been my observations over the years that lead me to believe that a big part of the liberal mindset is "knowing" what's best for others, even though the liberal doesn't have a stinking clue about the subject matter. As long as they can rule what is going on, they're happy, and the final results really don't matter much. Because they care...
Mark
hummm.. No mention of the father.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. Single parent homes are "liberating" and stuff..
Otherwise there might be some terrible man there beating this kids a** for acting up, and we couldn't have that..
As a public school teacher, the quandary with this is how to balance the time it takes to POSSIBLY do the above without neglecting the other 90+% students? Supposedly, tolerance should not impose upon the education of the rest. In my classroom, if a student disrupts to the point my time is spent dealing with him/her rather than teaching those who truly try to learn, then he's out. Thankfully, I teach in a conservative system in VA who support me. Secondly, I teach in a technology HS where students apply for entrance and want to be. So, I deal with little of this. (We take students of all abilities, not just "gifted".)
Some little boys don't want to fight. Some little boys just want to be left alone and then are preyed upon for this very reason.
When I was in school there was this shy little guy with thick black frame glasses that caught hell from the bullys. One thing that Wayne forgot to do was to quit growing. By the time we were in the 10th grade he was a BIG boy!! One of the bullys started a fight with him and got his ass beat just about off.
Wayne felt terrible; his parents punished him; he just wanted to be left alone.
It said parents. I still think the teacher wasn't up to teaching 5 year olds because 5 year old boys can sometimes act up and be a little rowdy ----to me his language isn't all that unusual ---lots of 5 year olds try using phrases like "kiss my butt" ---they hear that on tv. I wonder if this was an all-day kindergarden and the child just wasn't quite mature enough to sit still for long periods of time. He may have been an only child so his social skills weren't developed. I remember some brats back when I was in kindergarden.
You're right.. I missed the "parents" reference.
Apologies.
Couldn't the little brat be suspended for committing a hate crime?
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