Posted on 05/29/2008 6:02:52 AM PDT by yankeedame
Parents Sent 5-Year-Old to School With Tape Recorder
By JONANN BRADY
May 27, 2008
Ignorant. Pathetic. Self-absorbed.
Those are some of the harsh names an Indiana kindergarten teacher called one of her students, and the boy's parents captured it all on tape.
Five-year-old Gabriel Ross complained over the school year that his teacher, Kristen Woodward, was being mean to him, said his mother Tabitha McMahan and stepfather J.R. Edwards. Gabriel told them other kids didn't like him because he was "bad and stupid."
When he began acting out at home, they decided to take action and try to find out what was going on in the classroom. So in mid-April, McMahan and Edwards sent Gabriel to school with a tape recorder in the pocket of his cargo pants.
What they heard over four hours of tape shocked them. Woodward can be heard telling Gabriel that he had "tortured and tormented" her and other teachers all year.
"I've been more than nice to you all year long and you've been ignorant, selfish, self-absorbed, the whole thing! I'm done!" Woodward says to Gabriel on the tape.
She continues: "Something needs to be done because you are pathetic! If me saying these words to you hurt, I hope it does because you're hurting everyone else around you."
Gabriel can be heard crying on the tape.
"You think it's bad when you see it on paper, but when you are hearing the way she says it to him. I can't even talk about it," McMahan told ABC affiliate WHAS, breaking into tears.
Edwards said that the worst part of the tape was when Woodward singled Gabriel out in front of the whole class.
"So you guys think, is that somebody you want to be with?" Woodward asks the class.
In unison, the other students reply, "Noooo." "See, your friend doesn't want to be with you. I don't know what else to tell you. So you're not going to have friends because of your actions."
Teacher Suspended
After 13 years of teaching, Woodward has been suspended indefinitely, according to the Indiana State Teachers Association.
The teachers' association is defending Woodward, saying that she "lost her cool" that day and hasn't had a chance to tell her side of the story.
Carol Mooney, a spokeswoman with the Indiana State Teachers Association, told the New Albany News and Tribune newspaper that Woodward is well liked by co-workers, parents and students and that she had trouble with Gabriel all year.
"What do you say to a kid who's rolling around, punching, biting, kicking? What can a teacher do?" Mooney said to the newspaper.
Woodward did not respond to phone messages from ABC News.
The New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. issued a statement saying, "Privacy issues and policy prohibit school officials from discussing ongoing investigations of employee misconduct."
Parents Worry About Long-Term Effect
Gabriel's stepfather, J.R. Edwards, told ABCNEWS.com that all the children in the class are given weekly progress reports and have frequent meetings with the teacher. He said Gabriel's reports had both "smiley faces" for good behavior and "frown faces," which indicates the student needs help in a certain area.
Gabriel's reports said he was sometimes "disruptive" and didn't keep his hands to himself.
Two weeks into the school year, Edwards said Woodward talked about setting up a "behavioral plan" for Gabriel, but when he approached Woodward to discuss the plan, she allegedly said, "I don't have time for this."
Edwards also said that Gabriel's behavior at home didn't make them think he was acting up at school.
"He's not perfect, but he's not out of control," Edwards said.
After hearing the tape, Edwards and McMahan pulled Gabriel out of school and are trying to figure out which school to send him to next year.
They are also exploring the possibility of pursuing a civil or criminal action against Woodward and the school district.
But Edwards said they are most concerned about the psychological impact the entire situation has had on Gabriel.
"I hope this doesn't affect him long-term, in his feelings about school or teachers," Edwards said. "We're going to seek some kind of help for him."
Life would be so nice if we could all find the job that best suits us.
“The teachers’ association is defending Woodward, saying that she “lost her cool” that day and hasn’t had a chance to tell her side of the story.”
Why do you think the boy brought in a tape recorder? For the fun of it? It just happened to be on the SINGLE day that the teacher made an outburst? Come on!
“stepfather J.R. Edwards. Significant? “
Broken families always impact the children, always. Also, in todays America they are the norm instead of the exception. How is that a reflection on this 5 year old child?
It was a joke...didn’t you see the “winkie?” ;)
And you’re right, 5 year olds aren’t pathetic....but their parents very well might be.
It increases my sympathy for the child. Crazy teacher, probably crazy parents.
It’s amazing, but every day there seems to be some story that just confirms that when I have kids, they’ll be homeschooled. Just like I was and my husband was.
Ok, so sure there were some days my teacher yelled at me or even physically punished me but moms are allowed to do that. Some government provided baby sitter should not.
This woman should never work with kids again.
My wife has immeasurable patience given some of the stories she tells me. She teaches 3rd grade.
Teachers rarely single out a child the way this teacher did without reason. Having said that, the teacher is clearly wrong in what she did, but I would really like to hear the other side of the issues and think ABC is, once again, reporting only half the story. While they did make an attempt to talk to the teacher and school officials who declined, they could have talked with other kids in the class to get some idea of what triggered all of this.
It really does take all kinds.
Sounds like the boy (and probably all the boys in the class) need to go out for some laps around the schoolyard. With a man teacher.
Or go out and do some jumping and running and throwing balls.
I bet that would calm them down.
Just logical.
Because the teacher's unions are one of the Dem Party's biggest contributors.
And because it's a great patronage system.
>>”What do you say to a kid who’s rolling around, punching, biting, kicking? What can a teacher do?” Mooney said to the newspaper.<<
The woman needs Psychological help but she also has been cut off at the knees by the administration in discipline. I’m sure she tried all the nice-nice stuff and it didn’t work with this kid. I’ve seen it.
So now, what does she do? The kid is a danger to the other children. How does she handle it?
This is why I don’t send my kids to school. The teacher cracked because the kid is uncontrolable. Then my kid gets hurt and the school does nothing. It’s Lord of the Flies there.
The child looks as if he could have been in diapers little more than 18 months earlier. He is evidently not adapting well to being institutionalized, in the prison-like structure of a school. Gee! Maybe, my parents generation ( aged 95) had it right when their parents didn't send kids to school until age 7 or 8. Kindergarten didn't exist.
If these parents absolutely **must** institutionalize their child, my advice would be to take the child out, wait a year or two for him to mature, and then enroll him in kindergarten when he is 6 or older.
As for the teacher, it is evident she simply couldn't control the child and she, herself, was out of control as well. (Possibly, no teacher could have controlled him in this Prussian-style military setting.) I doubt though that her abuse was merely a one time event. I'm willing to bet that she was badgering the child daily. I also wonder if every year there was one or two children this teacher singled out to emotionally abuse.
Why oh why cannot our country admit public schools are a failure.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Because our citizens in every class ( upper, middle, and lower) are completely addicted to the free babysitting.
Government schooling is government welfare.
Good point.
Children in the “five year old” age range (with few exceptions) are VERY full of energy and have short attention spans. Boys more so than girls, in most cases.
My six year old is MUCH calmer, and ready to concentrate on math or reading or whatever study he needs to do, AFTER some hard outdoor playing (tag, foorball, climbing and jumping out of trees, etc.) or bike riding than when he’s been cooped up due to rain or other bad weather.
And most public schools don’t allow ANY sort of agressive or truly ACTIVE play any more; IF they have outdoor recess at all.
Just one of the reasons why my son attends a Lutheran private school.
Sounds like the Alec Baldwin approach to teaching children.
I think the teacher may be saying the right things, but to the wrong age group. Thankfully, I never went to something called kindergarten, but as I remember, primary teachers tended to turn me off because they were so condescending. This teacher does not sound like she is talking to a five or six year old, but someone much much older.
First of all, girls get better grades than boys on average, so the discrimination entails giving them better grades.
Second, most teachers are women, so if it is discrimination against girls, it is mostly perpetrated by women.
Third, more girls go to college than boys these days, so the discrimination isn't very effective.
Finally, the only measure of Academics that boys regularly outperform girls in is Standardized Testing; despite having a lower GPA on average.
So if girls are being “shortchanged” in school it is perpetrated mostly by women, it isn't very effective as more of them go on to college, and they get a higher GPA than might be warranted from ability as measured by standardized testing.
If that is discrimination then SIGN ME UP!
My wife teaches 3rd grade. They took one of her kids out of class yesterday in handcuffs because she was threatening to kill herself. This girl has been a serious problem all year long yet no one will step up and recognize that she has needs that the public school setting can’t satisfy.
So while what this teacher did was clearly wrong, we don’t know about this kid’s behavior all year long that precipitated the teacher’s response.
So while it’s easy to just poo-poo the public school system (and yes, I believe it’s broken as well), in a lot of cases the problem is parents and their inability or apathy in raising their kids.
Sure, your kid might be doing quite well but his/her teacher 20 other kids in the class, 10 of which may be serious discipline problems. And often the school system does nothing to address them...and it all comes to a head for better or for worse, as in the case of this teacher.
Thanks.
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