Author: Hilary

Mexico: Teacher suspended for student death for failure to protect

A teacher and the assistant principal at a junior high school where a student was thrown against a wall by four classmates and later died of his injuries have been suspended pending an investigation, education authorities in a northern Mexico border state said.

The Tamaulipas education department said in a statement that the 12-year-old boy died Tuesday after being hospitalized for almost a week.

The ninth grade student’s Spanish teacher and the assistant principal have been suspended at the Eleazar Gomez Junior High School in the capital city of Ciudad Victoria and students have been offered counseling, state Education Secretary Diodoro Guerra said.

The boy’s parents said witnesses described how four of his classmates grabbed him by each extremity and threw him against a classroom wall several times last week.

His father, Javier Mendez, said the teacher didn’t stop the assault even though his son pleaded with her to intervene.

“I want justice done against the teacher who didn’t act. She had my son’s life in her hands,” Mendez told Milenio Television on Wednesday.

The federal Education Department said in a statement that it had requested a complete report from Tamaulipas authorities on the boy’s death.

HWC Newsletter – Spring 2014

Inspirational Stories

Handle With Care added an inspirations category to our blog.  The first story is about a woman Bruce met while doing a training in Albany, NY.  Bruce writes, “Today, I found a hero while I was training folks in Albany. I doubt I will ever forget her. She is young, pretty and all of 100 lbs. although, if you weighed her heart it would be every bit of 95 pounds and another 5 pounds of smile. Like many of you, she is a teacher who works with a population of severely disturbed and extremely violent little ones.  The school’s and her  first time being trained in HWC. The first thing I noticed behind her smile were her hands, which were utterly ravaged by bites, scratches and deep gouges. Some of her wounds were as fresh as yesterday and some were scars that, that like her smile, will likely never go away or fade from sight. I was told that she actually takes over whenever her co workers are performing a hold with one of their violent little children so that her co worker won’t be subjected to the same painful injuries as she.”  We added the category to give her and others recognition for their heroism and selflessness by dedicating a new “Inspirational” section on our HWC blog.
Read the full story

Story update: HWC did a follow-up with the staff featured in the story.  Two weeks after being trained, hold times have decreased by 2/3, incidents have decreased, and staff are no longer being injured.

HWC’s Preschool and Early Elementary Aged: Small Child Program

HWC has been training nursery and preschool teachers and psychiatric hospitals serving children as young as 3 for three decades.  This youngest age group represents an ever-growing segment of agencies HWC currently serves and trains.  In 2011, we decided to create a separate “standalone” program designed specifically for pre-school and early elementary children.  The specialized collection of techniques in this new program has enabled us to create a combined “Basic”/Instructor Certification Program that can be delivered in just one day.  It is designed for everyone caring for very young or very small children from ages 3 to early elementary grades.

Parent Training:

HWC is also the only crisis intervention training company in the world that is providing parents with access to these same methods when their children are home. Learn More

Question and Answer

Q. I have been a certified HWC instructor since 2008 and a very big advocate of the program. I work in a public school which services students on the Autism Spectrum from ages 3-21. While using the PRT procedure I have seen that some of our students with sensory integration disorder are actually requesting the PRT because the proprioceptive input they are receiving while in the seated position. One of our verbal students actually asked to be “squeezed tighter” because he liked the way it felt. He also began to request to be restrained so he was put on a sensory diet to help satisfy his sensory needs and ward off behaviors, teaching him how to request hugs or squeezes when he felt that he needed the input.  Have you seen this before?

A. Yes.  First, what an outstanding plan for this child! You’re top loading him with sensory input during his best moments to extinguish a pattern of setting the stage to get it with the hold.  

We have always made the distinction between “tentative” touch (which can produce over stimulation) and “definitive” touch, which is what is perceived during a PRT when dealing with the assertion by many that touch is over stimulating to children with autism and, thus, restraint should be avoided at all costs.  When you  are able to convince people that all touch is bad, people become tentative when using it which reinforces the original assertive that it is overstimulating.  It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Definitive touch creates the opposite effect.

A place in our hearts – what makes a hero?

I’ve been doing this for a long time. Forty years is long enough to become jaded and cynical if you allow the negative circumstances of your professional life to overtake you. I’ve been way too blessed and buoyant to just sink like that. I, for one, would rather swim. Every now and then you meet someone who shows you how.

Bravery takes many forms. There are the obvious physical acts of bravery we’ve witnessed on the battlefield and by first responders chasing felons and fires for a living. There are also acts of bravery that occur every single day in agencies and schools just like yours that go largely unnoticed.

Today, I found a hero while I was training folks in Albany. I doubt I will ever forget her. She is young, pretty and all of 100 lbs. although, if you weighed her heart it would be every bit of 95 pounds and another 5 pounds of smile. Like many of you, she is a teacher who works with a population of severely disturbed and extremely violent little ones.  The school’s and her  first time being trained in HWC.

The first thing I noticed behind her smile were her hands, which were utterly ravaged by bites, scratches and deep gouges. Some of her wounds were as fresh as yesterday and some were scars that, that like her smile, will likely never go away or fade from sight. I was told that she actually takes over whenever her co workers are performing a hold with one of their violent little children so that her co worker won’t be subjected to the same painful injuries as she. I have never met anyone so visibly scared and yet so happy with her job and her young life. I am crying as I write this. She has no idea how deeply she affected me.

I am using this space in our newsletter to give something back to her and others in the HWC family above and beyond a physical way of holding the children she loves that will keep her hands out of harm’s way. HWC wants to give her and others recognition for their heroism and selflessness by dedicating a new “Inspirational” section on our HWC blog.

We are asking you to nominate someone who you work with who you feel has shown an act (or acts) of true dedication, selflessness, love, inspiration or bravery in the field. Give us the person’s name and a description of why you are making the nomination. A picture would be great, as long as your nominee gives us permission to publish it with his or her story.

BC

“Do Right And Fear No One”

US. Government offers recommendations to discipline to slow school-to-prison pipeline

Today the Feds will be issuing recommendations to stop the school-to-prison pipeline encouraging schools to deal with disciplinary infractions internally, rather than involving law enforcement and the criminal justice system.

The Government’s recommendation encourage schools to ensure that:

– school personnel are trained in classroom management, conflict resolution and approaches to de-escalate classroom disruptions.

– there are clear distinctions about the responsibilities of school security personnel.

– schools establish procedures on how to distinguish between disciplinary infractions appropriately handled by school officials compared with major threats to school safety.

We’ve been warning that the laws and rules being passed restricting the ability of teachers and people in direct contact with students to maintain a safe and effective learning environment would result in an increased use of law enforcement and perpetuation of the school-to-prison pipeline. Just look at NYC schools.

New York City Schools have a strict hands off policy for teachers. So rather than schools handling the behavior, law enforcement is called when students (including 5-year-olds) have behavioral issues or emotional meltdowns.

Teachers and school staff need to be trained how to manage a specialized population and need to act diligently and responsibly to ensure that the school is a safe and conducive learning environment. Relying solely on law enforcement and not having access to effective and safe behavior modification measures can create more risk for students and staff. Not intervening when a therapeutic response is called for is not so much prevention of restraint as it is an abdication of adult responsibility.

What is completely ironic is that the restraint-free movement, whose policies and ideology have necessitated the increased use of law enforcement are now calling the manifestations of their own policies “inconsistent with any notion of how we should be dealing with children.”

In the words of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, when it comes to routine discipline the “first instinct should not be to call 911 when there’s a problem.”

TN. Multimillion dollar suit filed against school for failure to protect, bullying, assault and battery

The court-appointed guardian of a 16-year-old Washburn School student has filed a $30 million dollar lawsuit against more than a dozen parties.

The case, filed last month by the victim’s court-appointed guardian, Katherine Parks, said the then 15-year-old was brutally attacked by four classmates, leaving her with injuries to the face and head, it said.

Parties in the suit named include director of schools Edwin Jarnagin, the Grainger County Board of Education, and all the named attackers’ families.

The suit says one of the four classmates confronted the victim, identified as “SL,” hit her head on a metal pole several times, and then the other three girls kicked and punched the victim several times.

“While this beating was going on, S.L. remembers seeing a teacher walk by. The teacher took no action to stop the assault on S.L. or to help her in any way,” the suit said.

After the victim’s foster mother picked the girl up to take her to a hospital, she spotted an ambulance and stopped for help. The suit added “The workers at the substation examined S.L., determined her condition to be one of life and death…”

The severity of the injuries is reason why, according to lawyers from the plaintiff at the Vogel Law Firm, so much and so many people were named in the suit.

“We send out kids to school not to fail to be protected — to go and to learn and have a positive experience,” said associate attorney Rosie Brown. “If teachers and administrators and other school supervisors are turning a blind eye to situations that could lead to an incident so serious as this, then there’s something that needs to be done about that.”

Student attacked on a school bus. Driver may face charges for failure to protect.

For the last two decades, HWC has been arguing that school  administrators and school bus drivers have an ethical and legal duty to  protect every single child on the bus as if they were in the school building. We assert it is the administrator’s duty is to create and supervise a  reasonable effort to observe and identify problems and problem  children before they are allowed on the bus.  Some of these bus incidents  arise spontaneously and without warning.  However, when children telegraph their  intentions (and they almost always do) the adults in charge need to be proactive.

If a child, or group of children in this case, is likely to present  a risk to safety on the bus, either the child’s parents should be responsible  for providing the trip home or the school must provide enough monitors on the  bus to ensure everyone’s security.

A driver should never be put in the position  of driving a bus on our streets with children that the administrators and  faculty know are likely to present a threat to safety, whether it is a special  education student in emotional turmoil or young criminals.

The bus driver’s main priority is to operate the bus safely.  In order of  priorities for the driver: 1) make sure the bus is pulled over and parked  safely, 2) communicate the problem to the police so they can provide backup and  3) intervene when necessary to protect the safety of children on the bus,  provided they have the physical capability and the training to do so.  As you  can see on this video, the driver was faced with multiple assailants.  HWC has a  strategy for clearing the narrow center isle, using a force level that is  appropriate and lawful given the severity of this beating.

Three students are accused of beating a younger student aboard a Pinellas County school bus.

A student exiting the school bus was viciously attacked by three other classmates. The bus driver called for help but did not intervene to protect the student to stop the beating. The student had his arm broken and the driver is being investigated.


WFLA-TV News Channel 8

The youths have already been charged.

Cited reason for the attack? The victim did not want to buy drugs from the attackers and instead turned them into the school. An investigation revealed one of the suspects had tried to sell drugs to the victim in a school bathroom. The victim notified officials at the school. Later that day, the suspects and victim rode the same school bus home.

Officials said the bus driver from Lealman Intermediate School called for help when three students “ganged up” on a 13-year-old student, kicking and punching the victim. Officials said the victim tried to crawl under a seat on the bus as the suspects punched and kicked the victim for roughly a minute, police said.

The victim suffered a fractured arm. Police say one of the suspects, Joshua Reddin took the victim’s money after the beating.

All three teens are charged with aggravated battery. Reddin is also charged with unarmed robbery. All three have been released from police custody.

MI. Michigan courts give teachers right to sue if school system fails to discipline students who are safety risks

The Michigan Supreme Court overturned a 2001 decision and loosened the standard for people who want to file some civil lawsuits.

The decision gives teachers the standing to take legal action when schools intentionally disregard or are deliberately indifferent to the unsafe conditions in the classroom.

The standard of deliberate indifference applies to both inadequate
training and inadequate supervision. It requires evidence that the school knew of a safety risk and failed to train, supervise or effectively discipline in a particular area. Now schools can be held liable by teachers for turning away from a situation that should have been addressed.

In a 4-3 ruling, justices said Lansing teachers had a right to sue the school district over how it disciplined students. The case trumps a series of opinions over the last decade that had restricted the ability to go to court in a variety of disputes unless someone could show an actual injury.

“By reinstating the decades-old precedent … we are restoring, not departing from, the fabric of the law and this court’s fidelity to the Michigan Constitution,” Justice Michael Cavanagh wrote in an opinion released Sunday night.

Four teachers and their union, citing state law, sued the Lansing School District, saying it should have automatically expelled four students, not suspended them, for violence. They were accused of throwing chairs at teachers, slapping one and striking another in the face in 2005 and 2006.

Lower courts ruled against the teachers. They said school boards had discretion in how to handle students and teachers had no standing to sue.

The Supreme Court did not rule on the merits of the case. But the majority said teachers have a “substantial interest” in how the district follows the law regarding student discipline.

“The [law] is intended to not only make the general school environment safer but additionally to specifically protect teachers from assault and to assist them in more effectively performing their jobs,” Cavanagh wrote.

HWC Newsletter – Winter 2013

This past year has been an interesting one.  The recent wave of violence in schools has brought reality and a realization of the intense need for safety in schools and human services to the forefront.  For the first time, we are seeing school boards, school superintendents, educators, principals, and human services providers all pushing back against continued attempts to place absurd restrictions on common sense responses to violence.

Bruce Chapman - Founder of Handle with Care

As we embark on this new year, we will continue our efforts to ensure that any legislation, regulation or policy that is passed provides for equal rights and equal safety for all.  We want to thank our clients for their continued support.  Always know that we are here if you need us.

Current Events

What’s new across the USA

Maine: Maine passed a regulation limiting the use of restraint only in instances where the student posed an imminent risk of physical injury.  The regulation has resulted in increased assaults, increased classroom disruption and increased property damage.  All the Maine school associations including Maine’s Educational Association, Superintendent’s Association, Principal’s Association and School Boards have issued public statements requesting that Maine’s DOE voluntarily change the regulation or face an administrative challenge.  Read Maine’s letters. Read Maine Press.

The Art of Limit Setting

Not too hard, not to soft . . . just right.

Boundaries based on overcontrol, undercontrol, and inconsistent control actually inhibit healthy testing, and reduce opportunities for learning and accepting personal responsibility. Limits are meant to provide clear and definitive answers to children’s questions about what is acceptable. They teach responsibility by holding students accountable for their choices and behavior. To do this effectively, limits must be clear, consistent, reasonable, appropriate and enforceable.

Question and Answer

Does HWC offer a comprehensive behavior management training that includes a classroom model with strategies for children between the ages of 3-7 years old with moderate to severe behaviors?

A. HWC might be the only company that can help you with a comprehensive training specifically designed specifically for this (3-7) age group.

HWC’s “Modified PRT for Smaller Children®” is a physical holding method specifically designed for small children. The hold is used at some of the most prestigious hospitals and agencies serving children and adolescents. Nursery schools across the country have been using HWC for nearly 15 years.

With respect to pre-school and early elementary (including early intervention, special education, head start, early head start and discovery preschools (TANF)), we have a stand-alone basic and instructor program specifically designed for use with 3-7 year olds. The HWC small child program includes a carry method which can be used to both safely restrain a child, and/or move him to a quieter area. It offers far more mechanical advantage (and stability) than the basket hold.

For more information

The Art of Limit Setting

Students want and need to understand the rules of their world.  They want and need to know what is expected of them, i.e. who is really in control, how far they can go, and what happens when they go too far.

The limits and corresponding consequences put into place must be sufficiently significant and tailored to the individual student.  Limits that are under or over significant (i.e. too lenient, inconsistent or strict) will not produce the desired behavior.  The outcome will manifest as an inhibition of learning, and excessive testing of the limits.

Limits are meant to provide clear and definitive answers to children’s questions about what is acceptable and who is in charge.  They teach responsibility by holding students accountable for their choices and behavior.  The failure to set reasonable and appropriate limits because of fear, guilt, love or simply an aversion to conflict, is not helpful to the student.

The long-term goal of the school should be to help the student develop a sense of personal responsibility, character and the capacity to manage their own emotions and behaviors. To do this effectively, limits must be clear, consistent, reasonable, appropriate and enforceable.

Oregon. Lincoln County School District sued $2.9 million for failing to protect students against 6-year-old

A Federal lawsuit filed on behalf of five Lincoln County elementary students accuses local school officials of failing to report and prevent “sexual harassment and assault” by a 6-year-old boy who they said touched their genitals, hit them in the crotch and exposed himself.

The lawsuit says “sexual touching” occurred in classrooms and on the playground. It contends that school officials knew about the behavior and did not notify the plaintiffs’ parents about the ongoing sexual molestation.

The suit also alleges a pattern of repeated sexual abuse, physical abuse, and bullying behavior that was repeatedly brought to the attention of the school.  That the school did nothing to protect these kids from further assault, stop the ongoing abusive behavior or even notify the parents.

The lawsuit further alleges that the school employees did not comply with mandatory reporting requirements. There is no mention in the lawsuit whether the 6 year old boy was a victim of sexual abuse or assault himself.

In fact, the school only acknowledged the 6-year-old boy’s behavior after one the parents heard about it and confrnted the school district.

The suit is alleging emotional and economic damages, totaling about $2.9 million plus attorney and court costs.