Both children were punished for behavior related to their disabilities.
August 4, 2015 10:28 AM Subscribe
Yesterday, the ACLU filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Kentucky in the case S.R. v. Kenton County Sheriff's Office on behalf of two elementary school children, aged eight and nine, who were restrained in handcuffs because of behavior related to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and a history of trauma. Video footage (trigger warning)
One recent report found that while 8.6 percent of public school children have been identified as having disabilities that affect their ability to learn, these students make up 32 percent of youth in juvenile detention centers.
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund: Ending the School-to-Prison Pipeline
One recent report found that while 8.6 percent of public school children have been identified as having disabilities that affect their ability to learn, these students make up 32 percent of youth in juvenile detention centers.
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund: Ending the School-to-Prison Pipeline
one would think that about the time you're wrapping a small child's biceps in handcuffs humanity would kick in, but apparently, no.
posted by nadawi at 10:46 AM on August 4, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by nadawi at 10:46 AM on August 4, 2015 [10 favorites]
"Resource Officer"? God good. Orwell couldn't have done better.
There was a time when I thought that "schools are prisons" was just a hyperbolic slogan.
posted by entropone at 10:50 AM on August 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
There was a time when I thought that "schools are prisons" was just a hyperbolic slogan.
posted by entropone at 10:50 AM on August 4, 2015 [7 favorites]
I wonder how a society can keep running that hates its kids so much.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 10:58 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by a lungful of dragon at 10:58 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
My son is autistic. My wife is a special education teacher. Sadly, very sadly, there do come points where you must restrain children with special needs as they work through emotional flare-ups. There are specific, trainable holds to use to minimize the risk to both the child and the adult, and me and my wife have used them on both our child and, in her case, other children. I'm not at all kidding; I'd be happy to show you the marks on my hands left from the bites that drew blood. In this video, the handcuffs? Where he places them is not that dissimilar from an appropriate restraining hold.
Many of MeFi will bristle at the police action here. At this point, given recent events, some will bristle at any police action, anywhere, of any kind. Maybe you'll tell me that, at some point, you were that kid and you struggled to be understood. I will say, you're likely bringing a pre-existing emotional viewpoint into the mix and it doesn't line up with ugly reality.
It breaks my heart to see this video and hear the child saying it hurts. The officer saying, "You don't get to swing at me," belies a lack of training and experience (although I've heard loving, effective parents use those exact words). Emotionally, if I saw that video and it was my son, I would lose it, period. They'd need to send in the police for me.
But that's emotion. That's why trained, dispassionate individuals are necessary. I do not begrudge those individuals at all. They need better training. They need bigger budgets. They need accountability and occasionally, teachers and cops need to be fired with prejudice. But they need to exist.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:05 AM on August 4, 2015 [37 favorites]
Many of MeFi will bristle at the police action here. At this point, given recent events, some will bristle at any police action, anywhere, of any kind. Maybe you'll tell me that, at some point, you were that kid and you struggled to be understood. I will say, you're likely bringing a pre-existing emotional viewpoint into the mix and it doesn't line up with ugly reality.
It breaks my heart to see this video and hear the child saying it hurts. The officer saying, "You don't get to swing at me," belies a lack of training and experience (although I've heard loving, effective parents use those exact words). Emotionally, if I saw that video and it was my son, I would lose it, period. They'd need to send in the police for me.
But that's emotion. That's why trained, dispassionate individuals are necessary. I do not begrudge those individuals at all. They need better training. They need bigger budgets. They need accountability and occasionally, teachers and cops need to be fired with prejudice. But they need to exist.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:05 AM on August 4, 2015 [37 favorites]
Do they need handcuffs, though?
posted by Sys Rq at 11:14 AM on August 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Sys Rq at 11:14 AM on August 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
Most schools are run as jails and both are indistinguishable from the outside.
posted by The Whelk at 11:16 AM on August 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 11:16 AM on August 4, 2015 [9 favorites]
I was hate watching Fox News in a motel this morning and even their legal analysts thought this was beyond the pale. The soulless creature in a suit moderating tried to play Devil's Advocate, but without much luck. The video is revolting; I'm fairly inured to this shit (I work in advocacy for disabled children so I see a lot), but I could barely watch it.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 11:17 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 11:17 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
In this video, the handcuffs? Where he places them is not that dissimilar from an appropriate restraining hold.
How about it is never appropriate to have law enforcement restraining children in a classroom ?
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:19 AM on August 4, 2015 [11 favorites]
How about it is never appropriate to have law enforcement restraining children in a classroom ?
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:19 AM on August 4, 2015 [11 favorites]
I do not begrudge those individuals at all.
Why do cops need to be involved? It's perfectly reasonable to have people with the training and physical capability to restrain someone safely if the situation demands it, but under almost no circumstances should that person be a cop. A school has a duty to protect and care for children; part of that should be minimizing children's exposure to cops and the criminal legal system, who are dangerous in a variety of physical and fuck-your-life-up ways, except in the most extreme situations.
(The existence of "resource officers" is absolutely insane [in principle and in my experience of going to schools with them]. Schools should have a parallel disciplinary system that's totally inaccessible to the criminal justice system, and totally unable to follow children into post-school life, except in cases of really egregious violence, e.g. sexual assault, murder etc.)
posted by busted_crayons at 11:20 AM on August 4, 2015 [10 favorites]
Why do cops need to be involved? It's perfectly reasonable to have people with the training and physical capability to restrain someone safely if the situation demands it, but under almost no circumstances should that person be a cop. A school has a duty to protect and care for children; part of that should be minimizing children's exposure to cops and the criminal legal system, who are dangerous in a variety of physical and fuck-your-life-up ways, except in the most extreme situations.
(The existence of "resource officers" is absolutely insane [in principle and in my experience of going to schools with them]. Schools should have a parallel disciplinary system that's totally inaccessible to the criminal justice system, and totally unable to follow children into post-school life, except in cases of really egregious violence, e.g. sexual assault, murder etc.)
posted by busted_crayons at 11:20 AM on August 4, 2015 [10 favorites]
This is in Kentucky. The relevant law is here.
Section 1.8, definitions:
Section 3.2 "School personnel shall not impose the following on any student at any time:"..."(a)Mechanical restraint;"
What I saw was a sworn officer of the law ("school personnel") applying a mechanical restraint (handcuffs) to a student to force compliance (wouldn't sit in a chair), which seems to be a direct violation of the law. Maybe more if he hasn't had training, but that's on the district.
About 10 years ago, I was trained in proper child restraint and the recommended way is a basket hold (YouTube, instructional video). I've had to do this precisely once as a last resort and it does work, but a very angry child can fight it effectively. Besides the actual hold, the things the video doesn't highlight which are very important is standing with your side to the back to the person being restrained (unless you want a broken nose) and that it is tiring, so you have to be prepared to hold it for a while.
Done right, it doesn't restrict breathing and gives the person a hugging sensation which, in itself, can be effective in calming the individual.
What should have been done was a basket hold to calm and then an escorted walk to a calming down spot (seclusion) until the child is ready to return to class or needs to be excused from school.
posted by plinth at 11:24 AM on August 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
Section 1.8, definitions:
(8) "Mechanical restraint" means the use of any device or equipment to restrict a student’s freedom of movement, but does not include:Section 1.13:
(a) A device implemented by trained school personnel or utilized by a student that has been prescribed by an appropriate medical or related services professional that is used for the specific and approved purposes for which the device was designed;
(b) An adaptive device or mechanical support used to achieve proper body position, balance, or alignment to allow greater freedom of mobility than would be possible without the use of the device or mechanical support;
(c) A vehicle safety restraint if used as intended during the transport of a student in a moving vehicle;
(d) Restraint for medical immobilization; or
(e) An orthopedically prescribed device that permits a student to participate in activities without risk of harm.
(13) "School personnel" means teachers, principals, administrators, counselors, social workers, psychologists, paraprofessionals, nurses, librarians, school resource officers, sworn law enforcement officers, and other support staff who are employed in a school or who perform services in the school on a contractual basis.Section 3.1: "Physical restraint shall not be used in a public school or educational program:" ... "(b) To force compliance or to retaliate;"
Section 3.2 "School personnel shall not impose the following on any student at any time:"..."(a)Mechanical restraint;"
What I saw was a sworn officer of the law ("school personnel") applying a mechanical restraint (handcuffs) to a student to force compliance (wouldn't sit in a chair), which seems to be a direct violation of the law. Maybe more if he hasn't had training, but that's on the district.
About 10 years ago, I was trained in proper child restraint and the recommended way is a basket hold (YouTube, instructional video). I've had to do this precisely once as a last resort and it does work, but a very angry child can fight it effectively. Besides the actual hold, the things the video doesn't highlight which are very important is standing with your side to the back to the person being restrained (unless you want a broken nose) and that it is tiring, so you have to be prepared to hold it for a while.
Done right, it doesn't restrict breathing and gives the person a hugging sensation which, in itself, can be effective in calming the individual.
What should have been done was a basket hold to calm and then an escorted walk to a calming down spot (seclusion) until the child is ready to return to class or needs to be excused from school.
posted by plinth at 11:24 AM on August 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
i was at a school when we went from no "safety resource officers" to one, to an entire office. it was explained that it was to introduce us students to how helpful cops were, to keep non-custodial parents and the like away from kids, and to deal with the occasional fight. what it ended up being was 12 year olds getting stalked through the halls by cops, continuously having your shit searched, and being threatened when a kid would do normal kid mouthing off stuff. it taught me and anyone i've talked about it with to fear cops and not trust their judgements.
i do know that sometimes restraining kids with certain medical conditions has to be done but i absolutely refuse to accept that this is the way to go about it ever.
posted by nadawi at 11:27 AM on August 4, 2015 [32 favorites]
i do know that sometimes restraining kids with certain medical conditions has to be done but i absolutely refuse to accept that this is the way to go about it ever.
posted by nadawi at 11:27 AM on August 4, 2015 [32 favorites]
They need bigger budgets.
And that is where the system fails.
posted by Gelatin at 11:36 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
And that is where the system fails.
posted by Gelatin at 11:36 AM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Sadly, very sadly, there do come points where you must restrain children with special needs as they work through emotional flare-ups.
In order to prevent them from harming themselves and others. Not as punishment.
I read your comment before I watched the video. I expected to see a child lashing out, in danger and dangerous. I expected to feel conflicted and unsure about what I saw.
What I saw and heard was a helpless child pleading not to be hurt.
The reason why seeing this done to your child would fill you with rage is that the child is not resisting. He's begging. He's not fighting and risking hurting himself and others. He's begging an adult to stop hurting him.
Apologetics means never having to say you're sorry. Society could do with fewer apologia for state violence and many more apologies to its victims.
posted by howfar at 11:41 AM on August 4, 2015 [37 favorites]
In order to prevent them from harming themselves and others. Not as punishment.
I read your comment before I watched the video. I expected to see a child lashing out, in danger and dangerous. I expected to feel conflicted and unsure about what I saw.
What I saw and heard was a helpless child pleading not to be hurt.
The reason why seeing this done to your child would fill you with rage is that the child is not resisting. He's begging. He's not fighting and risking hurting himself and others. He's begging an adult to stop hurting him.
Apologetics means never having to say you're sorry. Society could do with fewer apologia for state violence and many more apologies to its victims.
posted by howfar at 11:41 AM on August 4, 2015 [37 favorites]
Many of MeFi will bristle at the police action here. At this point, given recent events, some will bristle at any police action, anywhere, of any kind. Maybe you'll tell me that, at some point, you were that kid and you struggled to be understood. I will say, you're likely bringing a pre-existing emotional viewpoint into the mix and it doesn't line up with ugly reality.
It breaks my heart to see this video and hear the child saying it hurts. The officer saying, "You don't get to swing at me," belies a lack of training and experience (although I've heard loving, effective parents use those exact words). Emotionally, if I saw that video and it was my son, I would lose it, period. They'd need to send in the police for me.
But that's emotion. That's why trained, dispassionate individuals are necessary. I do not begrudge those individuals at all. They need better training. They need bigger budgets. They need accountability and occasionally, teachers and cops need to be fired with prejudice. But they need to exist.
Metal handcuffs shouldn't be used on kids under any circumstances because they can bruise and cut ones wrists even under ideal circumstances. If they’re on too tight, metal cuffs can cause serious and lasting damage to the superficial radial nerve -- and if restraining a child proves necessary, the ideal way to do so is without causing lasting nerve damage. There are better restraint methods which would be less likely to traumatize or injure a child.
One doesn't need to engage in an "emotional reaction" to understand this and take a stand against it. To think that the cop should be fired over this incident. You don't use metal police cuffs on a child. Period.
posted by zarq at 12:04 PM on August 4, 2015 [21 favorites]
It breaks my heart to see this video and hear the child saying it hurts. The officer saying, "You don't get to swing at me," belies a lack of training and experience (although I've heard loving, effective parents use those exact words). Emotionally, if I saw that video and it was my son, I would lose it, period. They'd need to send in the police for me.
But that's emotion. That's why trained, dispassionate individuals are necessary. I do not begrudge those individuals at all. They need better training. They need bigger budgets. They need accountability and occasionally, teachers and cops need to be fired with prejudice. But they need to exist.
Metal handcuffs shouldn't be used on kids under any circumstances because they can bruise and cut ones wrists even under ideal circumstances. If they’re on too tight, metal cuffs can cause serious and lasting damage to the superficial radial nerve -- and if restraining a child proves necessary, the ideal way to do so is without causing lasting nerve damage. There are better restraint methods which would be less likely to traumatize or injure a child.
One doesn't need to engage in an "emotional reaction" to understand this and take a stand against it. To think that the cop should be fired over this incident. You don't use metal police cuffs on a child. Period.
posted by zarq at 12:04 PM on August 4, 2015 [21 favorites]
Six years ago, the NYPD switched from using metal to velcro cuffs when restraining kids. They are rarely used, and the restraint/seclusion policy is now under review.
posted by zarq at 12:18 PM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by zarq at 12:18 PM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
The fact that anybody would argue in favor of cops in elementary school is crazy. Decades (centuries?) of childhood education did quite fine without involvement of state-sanctioned killers. It's just absolutely crazy.
posted by the lake is above, the water below at 12:26 PM on August 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by the lake is above, the water below at 12:26 PM on August 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
mygoditsbob: "I am starting to think that no amount of training will be sufficient to allow the individuals who are choosing to go into police work to do the job in a sane and humane fashion.
We need to attract people from a different part of the population spectrum to this career path."
You mean people too smart to put their life on the line for peanuts?
posted by Splunge at 12:51 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
We need to attract people from a different part of the population spectrum to this career path."
You mean people too smart to put their life on the line for peanuts?
posted by Splunge at 12:51 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Years ago i worked at a "home for troubled boys". They could leave anytime they wanted, we didn't lock them in but they had fairly strict rules to follow and could end up in court again if they ran away or became violent. I was trained how to safely restrain boys aged 8 to 16. I only had to do it a few times. It was a last resort. It was for their safety. Talking them down or letting them cool off usually worked. If I, a then 28 year old, 110lb woman can do it so can a police person.
Sheesh.
posted by futz at 1:02 PM on August 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
Sheesh.
posted by futz at 1:02 PM on August 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
You mean people too smart to put their life on the line for peanuts?
Setting aside the fact that "putting their life on the line" is hyperbole, that resource officer is probably making more than most of the teachers in the same school, and he didn't have to go to college.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 1:31 PM on August 4, 2015 [12 favorites]
Setting aside the fact that "putting their life on the line" is hyperbole, that resource officer is probably making more than most of the teachers in the same school, and he didn't have to go to college.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 1:31 PM on August 4, 2015 [12 favorites]
(Plus teachers face the same deadly eight-year-olds, but without weapons.)
posted by Pater Aletheias at 1:32 PM on August 4, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by Pater Aletheias at 1:32 PM on August 4, 2015 [11 favorites]
You mean people too smart to put their life on the line for peanuts?
But smart enough not to join the loggers, fishers, refuse collectors, roofers, truckers, taxi drivers, labourers or any of the other dozen (mostly lower paid) jobs that are more dangerous than police work.
If a logger drops a tree on someone's head, or a truck driver ploughs into a family, we don't throw our hands up and say "well what can you expect? It's a dangerous job, you know? And they don't get paid that much...."
posted by howfar at 1:35 PM on August 4, 2015 [14 favorites]
But smart enough not to join the loggers, fishers, refuse collectors, roofers, truckers, taxi drivers, labourers or any of the other dozen (mostly lower paid) jobs that are more dangerous than police work.
If a logger drops a tree on someone's head, or a truck driver ploughs into a family, we don't throw our hands up and say "well what can you expect? It's a dangerous job, you know? And they don't get paid that much...."
posted by howfar at 1:35 PM on August 4, 2015 [14 favorites]
I used to work in a high school in Virginia. One of my jobs was to produce the form letters administrators sent home with kids who had been put in detention or suspension.
One time, one of the administrators gave a kid a ten-day suspension, then changed it to a five-day, then changed it back to a ten-day. He had both letters on his desk, signed the five-day and sent the kid home with it, but registered the ten-day in the computer system.
The kid came back after the five-day period his letter stated was over. The principal confronted him in the halls before school started. The kid ran away. The principal called in the resource officers who chased the kid and eventually cornered him. When the kid told the resource officers he'd "steal" them, they moved in with their batons and beat him down. Kids moving between rooms saw the beating and the blood on the floor and came into the office freaked out.
The resource officers at that school seldom beat people down, but they weren't a positive presence. They walked the halls a lot, confronting kids and occasionally bringing them into the office for "defiance of authority," which could mean anything from walking away when summoned all the way down to sucking their teeth/rolling their eyes. They hung out in the admin office passing along urban legends as things the school needed to be concerned about. One of them once busted in and told everyone to absolutely under no circumstances ever flash your headlights at someone after dark because they had good intel that gangs were executing motorists as part of an initiation ritual.
Worse, they'd sometimes walk through the office and try this whole tough talk thing with the kids waiting to talk to a principal. So, some kid who'd been sent out of class would come down, the staff would get them calmed down and into a state where a principal could work with them, and in would come Officer Brown who'd say stuff like, "what are you down here for this time?" and "why do you keep turning up down here?" and "what seems to be the problem?" Then the kid rolls his eyes or sucks his teeth and Officer Brown wants a writeup for "defiance of authority."
They made nothing better. They made a lot worse.
posted by mph at 1:36 PM on August 4, 2015 [27 favorites]
One time, one of the administrators gave a kid a ten-day suspension, then changed it to a five-day, then changed it back to a ten-day. He had both letters on his desk, signed the five-day and sent the kid home with it, but registered the ten-day in the computer system.
The kid came back after the five-day period his letter stated was over. The principal confronted him in the halls before school started. The kid ran away. The principal called in the resource officers who chased the kid and eventually cornered him. When the kid told the resource officers he'd "steal" them, they moved in with their batons and beat him down. Kids moving between rooms saw the beating and the blood on the floor and came into the office freaked out.
The resource officers at that school seldom beat people down, but they weren't a positive presence. They walked the halls a lot, confronting kids and occasionally bringing them into the office for "defiance of authority," which could mean anything from walking away when summoned all the way down to sucking their teeth/rolling their eyes. They hung out in the admin office passing along urban legends as things the school needed to be concerned about. One of them once busted in and told everyone to absolutely under no circumstances ever flash your headlights at someone after dark because they had good intel that gangs were executing motorists as part of an initiation ritual.
Worse, they'd sometimes walk through the office and try this whole tough talk thing with the kids waiting to talk to a principal. So, some kid who'd been sent out of class would come down, the staff would get them calmed down and into a state where a principal could work with them, and in would come Officer Brown who'd say stuff like, "what are you down here for this time?" and "why do you keep turning up down here?" and "what seems to be the problem?" Then the kid rolls his eyes or sucks his teeth and Officer Brown wants a writeup for "defiance of authority."
They made nothing better. They made a lot worse.
posted by mph at 1:36 PM on August 4, 2015 [27 favorites]
The resource officer where I went to school, which was by no means inner-city but also not WASP-y and elitist (figure half white and half minority with gang fights in the hall being rare but not unheard of), was the guy who went around to classrooms and did the D.A.R.E. talks, warned kids not to be violent/truant or the consequences would be X or Y, and offered himself as an ear for anyone that wanted to talk about legal things of any type as long as it was understood that he had to act on certain things if he was told about them.
I guess this is maybe a different position or situation than what I'm seeing described above, which is basically an adult hall monitor on a power trip but this gentleman was employed by, or at least associated with, the local/county PD and acted as a liaison between students and the same for our school and maybe a few others. He was great and I never heard a complaint.
Weirdly enough where I went to schools it was the principals and/or coaches (of various flavors/sexes) that were the enforcers/punitive forces to be reckoned with if someone needed to be restrained or a fight/brawl/riot broken up. It didn't seem odd then but it does seem a bit off base in hindsight. I only recall the resource officer getting involved when there were rumors of drugs, weapons, or bombs. Well that and anything else that would justify a straight up police presence or investigation or counseling...
posted by RolandOfEld at 2:20 PM on August 4, 2015
I guess this is maybe a different position or situation than what I'm seeing described above, which is basically an adult hall monitor on a power trip but this gentleman was employed by, or at least associated with, the local/county PD and acted as a liaison between students and the same for our school and maybe a few others. He was great and I never heard a complaint.
Weirdly enough where I went to schools it was the principals and/or coaches (of various flavors/sexes) that were the enforcers/punitive forces to be reckoned with if someone needed to be restrained or a fight/brawl/riot broken up. It didn't seem odd then but it does seem a bit off base in hindsight. I only recall the resource officer getting involved when there were rumors of drugs, weapons, or bombs. Well that and anything else that would justify a straight up police presence or investigation or counseling...
posted by RolandOfEld at 2:20 PM on August 4, 2015
As someone who has also been through clinical restraint training, I can say that restraints are used as an absolute last course of action. Kids lose control all the time. If you can't handle that concept or find some sort of solution without applying brute force then you have no business working with children.
posted by Blue_Villain at 2:26 PM on August 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by Blue_Villain at 2:26 PM on August 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
Also, second linked video at the 0:04 second mark... the guy on the left hand side checking his watch. Dude, if you don't want to be here then go somewhere else. He's actively making the problem worse. Kids pick up on EVERYTHING, and this kid just picked up on the fact that the people in this room don't care about him.
Honestly, as someone who was one of "those" kids growing up, I see no way possible that the "adults" in these incidents are anything less than monsters.
Seriously, what a terrible thing to do to someone who OBVIOUSLY is not having the greatest day.
posted by Blue_Villain at 2:34 PM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Honestly, as someone who was one of "those" kids growing up, I see no way possible that the "adults" in these incidents are anything less than monsters.
Seriously, what a terrible thing to do to someone who OBVIOUSLY is not having the greatest day.
posted by Blue_Villain at 2:34 PM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
We have a child with severe trauma whom occassionally we need to constrain. It hurts our heart to do it, but we do it with love and soft words. Physical constraint using our bodies is different than non-personal means. It means that we are with our child closely to help self-regulate through patient and encouraging prompts: try your breathing, take deep breaths, we're never going to leave you no matter how angry you get. What breaks my heart watching this, setting aside initially the question of possible necessity (and it's really hard to argue that watching the first video; the boy seemed compliant from the threat of cuffs alone), is that no one is with that child loving him. His arms are unreasonably cuffed behind his back in a way that is obviously uncomfortable while the officers look on in a way that communicates to him that he is very alone and uncared for. I'm obviously not going to argue that restraint isn't always necessary, and sometimes it's probably dispassionate because it's not everyone's job or responsibility to engage children in an ideally loving way. But holy hell, this seems like overkill and divorced from at least a minimal amount of genuine sympathy. I just want to give that kid a hug.
posted by SpacemanStix at 3:21 PM on August 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by SpacemanStix at 3:21 PM on August 4, 2015 [6 favorites]
Yeah, I was pretty much labeled a "problem child" for pretty much all of my public school career on a weekly (if not daily) basis.
What did I get in trouble for? Mainly for correcting my teachers when they were gratuitously wrong about very basic facts. Like the sun revolving around the Earth and other science-related facts.
Yeah, that's disruptive, but fuck teachers who can't stay up to date on facts that had been confirmed hundreds of years before they were even born themselves.
As punishment I was locked in a closet or office supply storage room or other inappropriate places so many times I couldn't even count them all.
My most frequent "punishment" was being made to copy pages out of the dictionary, which I rightly decided was a bunch of happy horseshit, so I'd just sit there and read the dictionary over and over again. (This probably explains some things.)
Another frequent punishment for most of grade school was sending me to the incredibly verbally abusive and sadistic school psychiatrist, who mainly taunted and teased me with fucked up shit like "You gonna cry? Cry, baby, cry!" like he was a grade school bully himself. (I generally reacted to this by, of course, bawling my eyes out, but once or twice I ended up flipping the table at him, because what the fuck is wrong with you, adult human?)
Meanwhile this is all happening while I was experiencing an incredible amount of physical and psychological abuse at home from my jerk-ass fuckwad of a step-dad. (This also explains some things.)
Point being is that if I had a school cop try to handcuff me like that as a young grade-schooler with all of that going I would have flipped the fuck out and probably would have tried to kick his teeth in, well above and beyond "defiance of authority".
Grar, I'm gritting my teeth and actually totally stressed out just recalling and recounting all of this. That video is a total trigger.
posted by loquacious at 3:38 PM on August 4, 2015 [10 favorites]
What did I get in trouble for? Mainly for correcting my teachers when they were gratuitously wrong about very basic facts. Like the sun revolving around the Earth and other science-related facts.
Yeah, that's disruptive, but fuck teachers who can't stay up to date on facts that had been confirmed hundreds of years before they were even born themselves.
As punishment I was locked in a closet or office supply storage room or other inappropriate places so many times I couldn't even count them all.
My most frequent "punishment" was being made to copy pages out of the dictionary, which I rightly decided was a bunch of happy horseshit, so I'd just sit there and read the dictionary over and over again. (This probably explains some things.)
Another frequent punishment for most of grade school was sending me to the incredibly verbally abusive and sadistic school psychiatrist, who mainly taunted and teased me with fucked up shit like "You gonna cry? Cry, baby, cry!" like he was a grade school bully himself. (I generally reacted to this by, of course, bawling my eyes out, but once or twice I ended up flipping the table at him, because what the fuck is wrong with you, adult human?)
Meanwhile this is all happening while I was experiencing an incredible amount of physical and psychological abuse at home from my jerk-ass fuckwad of a step-dad. (This also explains some things.)
Point being is that if I had a school cop try to handcuff me like that as a young grade-schooler with all of that going I would have flipped the fuck out and probably would have tried to kick his teeth in, well above and beyond "defiance of authority".
Grar, I'm gritting my teeth and actually totally stressed out just recalling and recounting all of this. That video is a total trigger.
posted by loquacious at 3:38 PM on August 4, 2015 [10 favorites]
RolandOfEld: "I guess this is maybe a different position or situation than what I'm seeing described above"
Typically a truant officer is a police officer from the local force who is assigned to the schools; a school resource officer is a security officer (frequently retired police) who is meant to serve as a combination security officer and social worker -- that's why he's called a resource officer. They're meant to offer resources for kids who are acting out in a violent or otherwise problematic way -- to not JUST punish (although punishment is often mandated by zero tolerance rules) but to also provide connections to community services that can help kids in trouble. Eventually my district just started hiring social workers (mostly women!) who were willing to take police training, because it worked out way better than hiring police willing to do a few social work hours.
The roughest rule of thumb is that if a "school cop" has a gun, he's a truant officer employed by the local police department; if he doesn't, he's a school resource officer employed by the local district. But this is not a very reliable rule; many southern states want resource officers to carry after Sandy Hook and Columbine; a handful of districts nationwide have their own chartered police forces; and some truancy officers may not carry.
Some school resource officers are fan-fucking-tastic -- our "chief" was an ex-police-chief who turned up to help in the auto shop so often they eventually paid for him to get a teaching certificate and become a co-teacher. He was down-to-earth and easy to talk to and had a great rapport with everyone (from the AP students to the kids who were flunking out). As a black man from our own city, who grew up in some of the really bad neighborhoods, he was someone some of our kids who had no male authority figures in their lives could look up to as a success story, and as someone who understood their lives and knew how to help them. He'd move mountains to get troubled kids into classes they could be engaged with -- most particularly auto shop, but also other things -- and would sit for hours after school working through algebra equations with a sophomore who couldn't stay in auto shop if he couldn't pass algebra.
But the sad fact is that there are plenty of school resource officers who are wannabe cops and view it as a lower-requirements-for-entry form of policing, who are super-excited they get to lord their authority over little kids and teenagers. And while most truancy officers are police officers who are really moved by working with young people and take lots of special training to become truancy officers and work with kids full-time, some of them are just dicks.
We spent more than two years negotiating whether our school cops would wear "uniforms" or polo shirts, and whether they would carry guns. (They wanted tasers; we said no, because they were not super trustworthy with their batons to begin with.) I have a lot lot lot of stories of school police who are the best people in the entire world and who deal sensitively with seriously disturbed, seriously violent children; and I have a lot lot lot of stories about absolute dickheads with guns who are terrified of 14-year-olds and beat them with batons on the slightest provocation.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:14 PM on August 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
Typically a truant officer is a police officer from the local force who is assigned to the schools; a school resource officer is a security officer (frequently retired police) who is meant to serve as a combination security officer and social worker -- that's why he's called a resource officer. They're meant to offer resources for kids who are acting out in a violent or otherwise problematic way -- to not JUST punish (although punishment is often mandated by zero tolerance rules) but to also provide connections to community services that can help kids in trouble. Eventually my district just started hiring social workers (mostly women!) who were willing to take police training, because it worked out way better than hiring police willing to do a few social work hours.
The roughest rule of thumb is that if a "school cop" has a gun, he's a truant officer employed by the local police department; if he doesn't, he's a school resource officer employed by the local district. But this is not a very reliable rule; many southern states want resource officers to carry after Sandy Hook and Columbine; a handful of districts nationwide have their own chartered police forces; and some truancy officers may not carry.
Some school resource officers are fan-fucking-tastic -- our "chief" was an ex-police-chief who turned up to help in the auto shop so often they eventually paid for him to get a teaching certificate and become a co-teacher. He was down-to-earth and easy to talk to and had a great rapport with everyone (from the AP students to the kids who were flunking out). As a black man from our own city, who grew up in some of the really bad neighborhoods, he was someone some of our kids who had no male authority figures in their lives could look up to as a success story, and as someone who understood their lives and knew how to help them. He'd move mountains to get troubled kids into classes they could be engaged with -- most particularly auto shop, but also other things -- and would sit for hours after school working through algebra equations with a sophomore who couldn't stay in auto shop if he couldn't pass algebra.
But the sad fact is that there are plenty of school resource officers who are wannabe cops and view it as a lower-requirements-for-entry form of policing, who are super-excited they get to lord their authority over little kids and teenagers. And while most truancy officers are police officers who are really moved by working with young people and take lots of special training to become truancy officers and work with kids full-time, some of them are just dicks.
We spent more than two years negotiating whether our school cops would wear "uniforms" or polo shirts, and whether they would carry guns. (They wanted tasers; we said no, because they were not super trustworthy with their batons to begin with.) I have a lot lot lot of stories of school police who are the best people in the entire world and who deal sensitively with seriously disturbed, seriously violent children; and I have a lot lot lot of stories about absolute dickheads with guns who are terrified of 14-year-olds and beat them with batons on the slightest provocation.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:14 PM on August 4, 2015 [5 favorites]
Also if you catch me in chat you can ask me about my BAMF police story which is my funniest school police story, but I'm not going to tell it here, it's too inappropriate.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:26 PM on August 4, 2015
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:26 PM on August 4, 2015
Submitted by MetaFilter's own disability rights lawyer, ClaudiaCenter!
posted by heatherann at 5:46 PM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by heatherann at 5:46 PM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
AMERICA ARE YOU OK
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 6:02 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 6:02 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
howfar has it. This video made me straight up sob. I've never had to restrain anyone bigger than a toddler, but I know kids can do serious damage when they're out of control.
But the kid in the video isn't out of control, he's cowering and sobbing and begging someone not to hurt him. Which is not a thing kids should need to do at school, especially not at the hands of adults.
Mad props to the school staffer brave enough to videotape this.
posted by telepanda at 7:09 PM on August 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
But the kid in the video isn't out of control, he's cowering and sobbing and begging someone not to hurt him. Which is not a thing kids should need to do at school, especially not at the hands of adults.
Mad props to the school staffer brave enough to videotape this.
posted by telepanda at 7:09 PM on August 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
I notice that the video has not yet been uploaded to the school's website.
posted by fredludd at 7:36 PM on August 4, 2015
posted by fredludd at 7:36 PM on August 4, 2015
AMERICA ARE YOU OK
Just a slight fever. I'm sure it's nothing. *violent coughing*
posted by Token Meme at 7:39 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Just a slight fever. I'm sure it's nothing. *violent coughing*
posted by Token Meme at 7:39 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I cannot bring myself to watch the video because I think my heart might just up and die. My son just came home after a six week stint in the hospital on a psychiatric placement. Both my wife and I have had to restrain him many times in the past. I just cannot adequately express my gratitude at how well he was cared for while in hospital. And it saddens me greatly that so many kids out there are being failed over and over again by school systems and by mental health care systems that should be helping them.
Hugs to everyone out there with kids who have a disability or are mentally ill. And hugs to everyone who grew up with adults in their lives who failed to care for them as they should have.
posted by rbellon at 8:09 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Hugs to everyone out there with kids who have a disability or are mentally ill. And hugs to everyone who grew up with adults in their lives who failed to care for them as they should have.
posted by rbellon at 8:09 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
Why do cops need to be involved? It's perfectly reasonable to have people with the training and physical capability to restrain someone safely if the situation demands it, but under almost no circumstances should that person be a cop.
You mean the teachers should have restrained him?
And risk being sued by some stupid-ass parents? And lose their job?
Or worse, a messy restraining action being caught on camera and going viral?
I mean, can you imagine a teacher not losing their job after being caught on camera while doing what the cop does in that video?
posted by sour cream at 10:45 PM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
You mean the teachers should have restrained him?
And risk being sued by some stupid-ass parents? And lose their job?
Or worse, a messy restraining action being caught on camera and going viral?
I mean, can you imagine a teacher not losing their job after being caught on camera while doing what the cop does in that video?
posted by sour cream at 10:45 PM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
Some background information: According to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Educatin (which are widely viewed as an undercount*), more than 50,000 children with disabilities are physically restrained at school each year, and almost 4,000 children with disabilities are "mechanically restrained," meaning handcuffed. Some students are restrained repeatedly. Students with disabilities make up about 12 percent of the student population, and 75 percent of those who are physically restrained at school.
We know what is most effective for students with behavioral disabilities -- for example, trauma-informed care, positive behavior supports, de-escalation, helping students self-regulate, and more. These approaches are safer for students and for school staff. We know what makes things worse -- escalation, demands for compliance, resort to physical force without necessity. There are schools that have eliminated physical restraint for students with disabilities.
*Many school districts do not comply with the restraint and seclusion reporting elements of the U.S. Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection. For example, the Los Angeles Unified School District -- one of the largest school systems on the planet! -- has since 2009 reported 0 incidents of physical restraint, mechanical restraint, and seclusion. Further, the CRDC does not yet collect data on the restraint and seclusion experienced by students placed by public school districts into private special education schools, also called "nonpublic schools." These students experience restraint and seclusion at levels that are magnitudes higher than students at public schools.
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 11:18 PM on August 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
We know what is most effective for students with behavioral disabilities -- for example, trauma-informed care, positive behavior supports, de-escalation, helping students self-regulate, and more. These approaches are safer for students and for school staff. We know what makes things worse -- escalation, demands for compliance, resort to physical force without necessity. There are schools that have eliminated physical restraint for students with disabilities.
*Many school districts do not comply with the restraint and seclusion reporting elements of the U.S. Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection. For example, the Los Angeles Unified School District -- one of the largest school systems on the planet! -- has since 2009 reported 0 incidents of physical restraint, mechanical restraint, and seclusion. Further, the CRDC does not yet collect data on the restraint and seclusion experienced by students placed by public school districts into private special education schools, also called "nonpublic schools." These students experience restraint and seclusion at levels that are magnitudes higher than students at public schools.
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 11:18 PM on August 4, 2015 [8 favorites]
Neither of the video links work for me. They say that the link I followed must be broken. Weird.
posted by guster4lovers at 5:51 PM on August 5, 2015
posted by guster4lovers at 5:51 PM on August 5, 2015
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We need to attract people from a different part of the population spectrum to this career path.
posted by mygoditsbob at 10:41 AM on August 4, 2015 [22 favorites]