abuse by substitute teacher

Yesterday my 5th grade son was grabbed by his arm and drug to his chair by a substitute teacher. He was in the process of cussing, yes... cussing them out, calling them idiots and saying he wished there was a law that allowed him to beat the hell out of them. This was at the end of the day and my son is in a rambunctious class, but the children said my son was not misbehaving at the time, only not moving fast enough to his seat. They also only have this teahcer for 1 hour. The teachers were shocked that my son was manhandled, because he is one of the best students in the class, their words not mine, I am not one of those parents that believes my children are perfect, we all make mistakes. If this wasn't bad enough, I was not even called by the school. My son was scared to tell me because he was so upset, we had to hear it at the football game last night. When we asked him about what we had heard he just started crying because he said he wanted to forget about it. We have called the principal and asked he apologize to the students involved and that he not return. She has assured us he will not be back. What would you do? I hate that we have been put in this situation. We don't want it to become a huge issue, as we think that would make things worse on our son. But, we want him to know that this is unacceptable and we we always stand up for him. Any advice or similar stories would help. Thanks for listening. Sorry so long, I'm venting!!!!!!!

This post has been edited by tigers 40 on Oct 28 2006, 01:43 PM

PLEASE, isn't there anyone who can give me advice or feedback?

What action did the principal take with this substitute? Did he report him? I think that would be an absolute must. That person should be removed from the call list. What would you like the school to do at this point? If it would be helpful, maybe your son, his guidance counselor and you can sit down and work through this..letting him know that the behavior of the teacher was inappropriate. Someone other than you telling him that might be helpful.

I wish I had some advice ..sending hugs, what happened to your son was terrible!

press charges I dont what else to say
But I can tell you this if a teacher ever touches my children like that in any way I would be on him like flies on doo or talks to them the he did there would be a lot to pay for.

File police report and go to the school board

Personally I would call the police and report this man. This man DOES NOT need to be around children period. Your son was manhandled by an adult who had no business placing his hands on him, AND those children were verbally abused. I would also SERIOUSLY march my butt into the next school board meeting, PTO meeting and schedule a meeting with the superintendant of the schools and make some SERIOUS noise about this.

This isn't a high school class (not that it would make it any better) but these are elementary age children who DO NOT need to be exposed to foul language and are still extremely impressionable.

Also - Placing your hands on a person in that manner is also battery (or assult) I can't remember right off the top of my head - It's been a long day for me.

I also have some contact numbers for this kind of thing, PM me if you want them.

ITA!!!

Honestly, it's so hard to say not being in that situation. My cousin works at an inner city school in Milwaukee. She constantly has to handle children who are cussing at her, trying to hit her, etc. Sometimes there is no other way for her to protect herself and get her point across unless she sometimes physically handles them. Not hitting them, but sometimes she has to physically remove them from her classroom if they wont go, break up fights, etc. I'm only bringing this up because some people do not understand having to deal with violent inner city kids.

HOWEVER...assuming this is NOT the case and...

Assuming your son did nothing wrong and he was only trying to get to his seat like you mentioned, I would press charges and go to the school board. From what you said it seems like he was being punished in a wrongful way for doing nothing, being physically handled in a way that should not have been used. The teacher lost his cool and seems to me he needs to find a new profession working away from kids. Perhaps he's burnt out, but nonetheless, it is inexcusable. Good luck!

I feel that the issue should be escalated to the higher authorities/principal and the necessary action taken, so that no other kid goes through the same.

I would start by making sure that the school district is taking it seriously. I, like Jamison'smom, believe that the first and most important remedy should involve a meeting between the principal, a guidance counselor, and yourself. Your child needs to get the message that that adults sometimes make mistakes or do inappropriate things, and there are proper channels to follow. Your child's feelings need to be acknowledged and validated. If the school doesn't take you seriously, or you are not satisfied with their response, go to the board and as a last resort, the police.

And no offense to anyone here, but if you can't get your point across to a group of chidren verbally, you really don't belong in a classroom.

This post has been edited by jcc64 on Dec 7 2006, 07:31 AM

I'm with Jeanne 100% on this one. I'm not sure filing a police report at this point is appropriate. What is appropriate is making sure your son doesn't feel bullied by the people that are supposed to be protecting his dignity. Going to the police at this point, especially since your child has already said he just wants to forget the whole thing, might upset him further. A meeting with the principal and counselor is definitely the right move. If you're unhappy with the outcome, consider further steps to make sure this guy never sees a classroom again.