Posted on 01/25/2008 5:28:47 AM PST by fweingart
A 5-year-old boy was handcuffed and hauled off to a psych ward for misbehaving in kindergarten - but the tot's parents say NYPD school safety agents are the ones who need their heads examined.
"He's 5 years old. He was scared to death," Dennis Rivera's mother, Jasmina Vasquez, told the Daily News. "You cannot imagine what it's done to him."
Dennis - who suffers from speech problems, asthma and attention deficit disorder - never went back to class at Public School 81 in Queens after the traumatic incident.
His mom and a school source said Dennis threw a tantrum inside the Ridgewood school at 11 a.m. on Jan. 17.
Dennis was taken to the principal's office, where he apparently knocked items off a desk.
Rather than calling the boy's parents, a school safety agent cuffed the boy's small hands behind his back using metal restraints, the school source said.
The agent and school officials then called an ambulance to take the tot to Elmhurst Hospital Center for a mental evaluation.
Vasquez was stunned when a guidance counselor called her at work to say her son was being taken to the psych ward.
Vasquez rushed to the school from her job as a patient representative at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. On the way, she called Dennis' baby-sitter, who was closer to PS 81, and asked her to hurry over to the school.
When baby-sitter Sandy Ortiz arrived, Dennis was still handcuffed, she said. School safety agents also were holding his elbows even though the boy was calm, Ortiz said. Dennis is about 4-feet-3 and weighs 68 pounds.
"I hugged him. I said, 'OK, release the cuffs, I'm taking him,'" she recalled. "They told me, 'No, Miss. You're not taking him anywhere.'"
Ortiz routinely picks up Dennis from class. She said she's never seen him behave in a way that would require him to be restrained.
"I was so upset. There's no reason to handcuff a baby of 5 years old, traumatize him that way," she said.
The handcuffs were removed before Dennis was walked out of the school and driven by ambulance to Elmhurst Hospital Center. He was evaluated at the hospital and released about four hours later, his mom said.
School sources said Dennis had punched an assistant principal the day before he acted out in class. The sources also said he broke glass in an office door a week earlier.
A spokeswoman for the city Education Department declined to comment on why school safety agents needed to handcuff Dennis, saying the incident was under investigation.
The NYPD, which oversees school safety agents, also declined to discuss specifics. Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said, "We hope common sense would prevail and we are looking at what happened."
Vasquez immediately withdrew Dennis from PS 81 and enrolled him in a private school, Grand Street Settlement.
"I asked him, 'Do you want to go back to that school?' He broke down in tears," Vasquez said. "He said, 'I don't want to go! I don't want to go!'"
***Now, I can’t comment on this particular child, but I will say that there are kids with special needs that should not be in standard schools.***
THAT’S IT! You are totally correct. I would hate to be a teacher today.
The kid has apparently been physically acting out for a while, and now he's gone into a full-blown tantrum, and he's breaking things. He needs to be restrained -- there's no question about that.
The options are three: lock him in a closet, have an adult grab him and hold him down, or restrain him some other way.
Of the three, handcuffs really do seem to be the most humane alternative.
The poor little guy undoubtedly really does have problems, and needs some help. But you can't allow him to go nuts.
His last day I overheard one of the kids in the group class saying, "He's the meanest kid ever." He had acted up just a little and I had taken him out in the hall long enough to remind him that he wanted to be in the room when his birthday was announced. When it was he had this incredible smile and it was obvious he was only a little boy who did not yet know how to express himself and would act out when other people could not take the time to understand him.
Why? I have a great-grandchild in primary school, he hates school, they treat him badly and think he is dumb.
He is a very well disciplined, well-mannered and not dumb child. If they are being harsh and mean, he will just not listen, therefore the dumb part.
I took care of he and his sister for 2 months, when his dad was severally injured in Iraq, I can attest to his mental fitness, he did well with his homework, et al with me, but in school he did not. He was good, polite, kind, helped me in house work, certainly was not dumb or uncooperative.
I cannot go into all the details but schools suck and some children get the raw end of the deal. Especially one who is not a mind numbed robot, a unique individual. If you do not fit into their mold, you are in trouble.
His parents are being transferred to a new military base, thus we are hoping for better school, no, they are not able to afford private schools.
Public schools were designed to teach academics not to raise kids into becomming upstanding citizens. When parents for whatever reason decline to complete their parental responsibilities; they should be held accountable. Otherwise, you end up with what we have today; playing right into the Dems hands and defaulting into their social engineering dreams out of necessity.
I really don't think teachers should be required to deal with or teach social skills. It all starts in the family.
Thank you. I myself am frustrated at how schools seem to over-react to situations nowadays...all the PC crap going on...
Sure, one could say there isn’t enough discipline at home or the father is missing from the picture, etc., but we don’t know that. And it’s very normal for 5-6 year old boys to have a lot of energy, it’s unfortunate schools and teachers don’t seem to realize or have any tolerance for that.
My 6 year old just started kindergarden this year and it’s amazing what he’s expected to learn at his age. I remember kindergarden being fun, doing crafts, arts, like fingerpainting and paper mache stuff. Not math, english and grammar. And I certainly don’t remember having homework in Kindergarden.
The school my son is going to over-reacts on issues as well. He broke a piece of wood off the kitchen toy in his classroom (by accident) and they called me in because he was destroying school property. Good Lord, it was an accident, on a toy that looked like it was going to break apart anyway. I know my son is not the type of child to purposely be destructive and break things.
Then they call me in because he smacked another student on the bum. Granted, especially with the way schools react, he shouldn’t be touching other kids, but I’m sure, knowing my son, it was a playful swat...but the school calls me up, like it was this huge incident that he “hit” another kid.
The school has this stupid policy (IMO) that for everyday a kid misbehaves in class, a notice is sent home to the parent, marking off what they weren’t doing right. To me, it’s normal behaviors of a 6 year old boy...but to the school it’s wrong. Simple things, like making noises, talking at inappropriate times, getting up from their desk, not standing in line, etc.
I understand kids need to learn rules, etc., and I know they need to learn not to be disruptive in class, but I feel his teacher is a bit intolerant. After all, for 4 months he was in a different class and had no behavior problems, no notices sent home, with his teacher there. But then we moved and he went into this new class with a new teacher and now I’m getting a notice almost every other day.
And after talking to his new Kindergarden teacher (who doesn’t have any kids of her own) and who admitted that sometimes her class is boring, I’m thinking maybe my son acts out because A) he’s 6; B) he’s bored and expected to sit the majority of the time at a desk, from 8:30am to 3:45pm, learning skills that I feel are kind of advanced for his age; and C) he isn’t given much time to release any energy, except recess and PE.
They expect him to be able to make and write sentences, when he doesn’t really know how to read (he’s barely learning) and he certainly doesn’t know how to spell yet.
I don’t know...I feel and think that schools are growing up our children faster than they should be and I think with all the PC crap it is hurting the way our kids are treated in school as well as what is expected of them. After all, look at the incidents where the 5 year old got suspended for kissing another student (they called it sexual harassment), and the kid that got in trouble for drawing a gun.
If I could, I would homeschool, but that’s a whole other issue....
wow, you’re right. I just went and looked at a growth chart.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhanes/growthcharts/set1clinical/cj41l021.pdf
This kid, if 5, is a Godzilla sized child.
You’re right. It’s not the teacher’s job.
The people who want to reason with out-of-control kids and don’t believe a teacher should touch a child would be the first to complain/sue if their child were endangered by a little kid like this. Who would even want their child seated next to this kid?
Thanks for the chart.
The kid weighs 45% more than average and is almost 20% taller than average.
But he is average height for an eight and a half year old and average weight for a 10 year old.
That's an enormous 5 year old.
My dad used to teach choir at a high school in Phoenix, AZ...he’s retired now.
But he told me about a time when it was really cold outside (like mid-30’s) and one of his girl students came in wearing only a halter top (no jacket) and he just said, “whoo, put some clothes on”...
Well he reported her to the administration, because she was not dressed to code and healthwise, it wasn’t very smart of her to be wearing hardly anything in such cold weather.
The next day, wouldn’t ya know it, he got a call from this students dad, going on about sexual harassment, calling his lawyers, etc. And all my dad did was tell her to put more clothes on because it was cold.
Luckily, nothing happened, because my dad had the school backing him, but that student was a thorn in his side the rest of the year and he did his best to not talk to her and just get by.
So unfortunately, you’re right...instead of students being afraid of the teachers and officials, it’s the other way around.
“If you don’t want us spanking your children, take them elsewhere.”
And before the school has finished that sentence, mom is threatening a lawsuit if anyone even *thinks* about touching her little angel.
I think they need to have work study programs for kids like this so they can learn to sweep floors and dig ditches right at an early age.
I’m for that!!
See posts 167 and 169.
LOL
Sometimes just the threat of it (corporal punishment) at our home does the job...sometimes not.
Because he is not specifically mentioned and the principal is still alive.
Then Mom can take her little angel elsewhere.
If the school is actually going to be In Loco Parentis, or whatever the legal term is, then they should have the right to discipline with corporal punishment wherever that is allowed by law.
It’s not a matter of discipline. You can’t “discipline” some of these special needs kids, not the way you think of discipline, anyway. I’ve encountered several kids in the public schools whose behavior necessitated a police call, mostly for their own safety, as well as others. It was usually because the kids were running from the teacher and wouldn’t let anyone get near them, one was jumping across the top of the lunch tables, screaming, and another climbed up on the baseball back stop and wouldn’t come down. When you consider the fact that some of these kids have histories of attacking school personnel, you understand why the police are called in.
A friend of mine, an assistant school principal, was signing in a new boy that social services had transferred to the district, when the kid reached over and grabbed a handfull of her hair and pulled it right out of her head. Thankfully, she had left the door open and two men teachers were outside to help pull the kid off of her.
I think you handled those situations appropriately for a 7 and 8 year old. I do think the situation is different for a child as young as five. And, of course, you didn’t take them to a psych ward. You let them know that the situation was in their control.
Here’s what amazes me about these stories of kindergartners arrested: Imagine a PARENT handcuffing an out-of-control five year old. It would’ve been the headline story on the news, and the child would’ve been removed from the home. So, the “authorities” are doing what would be a crime for a parent to do.
In your case, the parents asked for your help. In this case, the babysitter sent by the parent wasn’t allowed to take the child home. The police and the school took control. That’s the scary part to me. It’s like the children are wards of the state. The state can exercise more control over the child than the parent can.
The "A" in ADD is "attention". Some kids need lots of it and it has to be the right kind of attention or they get "addicted" to any attention, even negative and will do whatever is necessary to bring about their next "fix".
I've worked with 3 and 4 yr olds whose moms are thinking of having them tested. For the moms and for other adults they're quite the handful, but most of the acting out is a cry for attention-any attention. They're smart little buggers and they know what buttons to push and the moms "reward" them by getting into the same clashes again and again. I can get these kids playing and yes, they require tons of interaction at first, but you can develop routines of play that once they're established, only need to be tweaked here and there and they do just fine. Proper play can give them the chance to practice life skills over and over to the point where they are transferrable to other situations. (Little kids LOVE repetition)
Most adults, however, are unwilling to enter into the child's world-instead, they leave it all upon the child to dwell in the adult realm without having built the skills necessary to live in that world.
Attention Deficit Disorder is sometimes the right name, but the interpretation is often wrong - the child's attention span is not the problem-it's the lack of the right kind of attention that he/she is receiving that causes the problems.
That's the bottom line of this story.
Carolyn
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