in agreement, too

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Home : 2002 : September : 8

in agreement, too
By Carolyn

I had a boy in my class last year who was suspended for half of the school year when he was in fourth grade. The suspension was due to his severe behavior problems within all areas of the school and the school bus.

The
boy was placed in my fifth grade class last year. I nearly died when I saw his name on my student roster. When I saw it, I knew I had "fun" year ahead of me.
I started out the year speaking calmly with him and trying to get him to start a clean slate. I was extremely nice to him. However, the kids weren't going to allow him to start a clean slate. He was also back in his element

again, with the same kids, and it wasn't long before he was back to the same behavior he exhibited when he was in fourth grade. He also wasn't functioning in my classroom academically, because he missed so much the year before. He had been given all A's by the homebound tutor, and he was allowed to pass the fourth grade, even though his regular teachers had given him all F's for the rest of the year and opposed the promotion. It seems that our principal and guidance counselor were worried about legal problems if they retained this child.

My feeling is that by the end of the fourth grade, he should have been placed in a self-contained SPED room where he couldn't hurt or antagonize others. His documented behavior from the previous grades should have given the child study team enough evidence to place him in a setting where he wouldn't hurt others. Instead, he was placed in regular ed--my classroom--so that they could collect MORE data on the child. Guidance and our principal said we had to do this. Well, you know that we hadn't finished testing him when he was suspended last year. We don't have QUITE enough information on him. We can't just place him yet.

I wasn't happy having my room turned upside down every time he was in it. I tried all of the usual behavior modification plans which the guidance recommended, just to satisfy everybody, but I knew that the child was severely emotionally disabled and wouldn't respond to them. My principal kept telling me to send him to the office. He'd suspend him for a day, then the kid would be back for two days. He'd suspend him for two days, and he'd be back for three days. It was an endless cycle of suspension and in-school time. The kid, already emotionally disturbed, was living in an inconsistent on-again, off-again world.

The happy ending for all (if not for me, then for the middle school teachers), is that the child was finally placed at the end of the year in a self-contained classroom. I believe that in this classroom, he will be able to receive the small-group and individualized attention that he needs with a trained special education teacher.