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- DoubleTalkingJive
- Rep: 74
Re: Kindergartener Handcuffed At School For Acting Up
NYCLU Calls Incident Example Of 'Criminalization Of Classroom'
Reporting
John Slattery
NEW YORK (CBS) ? A Queens mother is demanding answers after her 5-year-old son was handcuffed at his public school for allegedly misbehaving.
The child, Dennis Rivera, a kindergartener at a Public School 81 in Ridgewood, was put on a chair after apparently acting up and handcuffed behind his back by a school safety agent, said Jasmina Vazquez, the boy's mother.
"I think it was excessive force. It was unnecessary what they did to my son," she told CBS 2.
Vasquez said her son, who suffers from asthma, has speech problems, and may have attention deficit disorder, was handled brutally.
The incident happened on Jan. 17 around 11 a.m., when the boy allegedly threw a tantrum and was taken to the principal's office where he apparently knocked items off of a desk.
"They were holding me again and didn't let me go," the child said.
Vasquez, who works in Manhattan, called her babysitter in Queens, who went to the school.
"He was sitting on a chair with handcuffs behind himself like a common criminal," Vasquez said.
According to the mother, school officials would not release the child to the babysitter. Rivera, who had two other tantrums in the previous week, was transported by EMS to Elmhurst Hospital, for psychiatric evaluation.
"I think that handcuffing a child to a chair is over the boundaries and it should never have gone that far," said Vasquez.
The Department of Education is investigating, as are the police who are responsible for school safety agents.
Rivera has now been enrolled in a private school in Manhattan. His mother says he's been suffering from nightmares since the incident. Their attorney is planning legal action.
Parents were stunned when they learned what happened to Rivera.
"How are you going to put handcuffs on? You know the impact that's going to have on his mind?" said Zenaida Medina, one concerned parent.
The police report says the child was "punching his teacher and swinging wildly at school aides, that he smacked the assistant principal in the face, ran into a corner, and began to throw things on the floor."
"The reality is something had to be done," said Gregory Floyd of the City Employees Union, which represents the school safety officer. Floyd said cuffing the child was the last resort.
CBS 2's Sean Hennessey asked Floyd how there was no other option, no other teachers or adults who could control the boy.
"I'm saying this 5-year-old, not every 5-year-old, this 5-year-old could not be controlled," Floyd said.
But critics laugh at that suggestion and say system wide, school officers have a history of going too far.
"The situation with school discipline is out of control," said Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Lieberman said the incident is another example of what the union calls the "criminalization of the classroom."
"There's something fundamentally wrong when school safety agents are handcuffing a kid who is 5-years-old for having a tantrum," she said.
New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein said cases like Rivera's involve judgment calls.
"I find it troubling when you see a young kid in handcuffs, it's got to bother you," he said.
Meanwhile, the female safety agent, who was substituting that day, is back on the job and her union said it doesn't expect any disciplinary action to be taken after the NYPD finishes its investigation
http://wcbstv.com/local/queens.child.ha … 38112.html
This is an outrage! If the child had the tantrum that the police report says, then keep the child confined in a room and call the mother and have the mother remove the child from the school.
Unbelievable 
- Communist China
- Rep: 130
Re: Kindergartener Handcuffed At School For Acting Up
That's just over the line. It can't help a kid to do that.
- Randall Flagg
- Rep: 139
Re: Kindergartener Handcuffed At School For Acting Up
I'm sorry, but I agree with the school. When I went through school, if a kid pulled that shit he'd have his ass paddled and be done with it. But you can't do that anymore because our society is oversensitized and too PC. I'd be damned if I let some little shit kick me, slap me and destroy my office. They restrained the child in a manner that couldn't cause him or others harm. This screams media whore to me and I hope the judge throws their eventual suit for millions out. I'd bet my left nut that child hasn't had a single nightmare from this. If he's that unstable, he needs to be removed from a public classroom and provided a unique education at the family's exspense. It's not the public's responsibility to provide education for every maladjusted child that comes through the system. The parents should heed my advice and spank some ass, then his problems will end real quick.
- DoubleTalkingJive
- Rep: 74
Re: Kindergartener Handcuffed At School For Acting Up
When you have a kid it's a different story. Kids that young get nightmares from traumatic experiences.
I agree that, that child needs alot of dicipline but also, there could be something seriously wrong with the child and the mother and the school should have evaluated this kid again with the other tantrums that happened before this one because a kid has to be evaluated now to get into a regular kindergarten. He could have autism, adhd or sensory intergration dysfunction, all disorders that can cause a child to have tremendous trantrums, now usually this stuff is caught before 5 years old. Who knows if this mother decided to miss the signs and never put him in preschool or he is just THAT kind of kid that is very difficult to handle and needs a stricter environment at home so that it carries over in school. The school will most likely pull him out of mainstream kindergarten and put him in a type of special ed class solely on his behavior because from what I know, at least out here in Long Island, behavior is not tolerated and will get your child pulled from the class. Even if he attends another school, he will surely be evaluated again and probably going to have progress reports and most likely will be in a special ed class for now where teachers are trained to deal with kids like this.
Handcuffs are going over the line, if your kid was handcuffed I'd bet dollars to donuts you'd be pissed off no matter how your kid was acting at 5 years old in Kindergarten.
Re: Kindergartener Handcuffed At School For Acting Up
Randall and I usually disagree on political issues and the like, but this is something I agree with. It's not like they physically harmed the child. It's a lot better than paddling him. It sounds like the kid has a lot of issues (many of which can be attributed to the parents) and maybe he isn't ready for public school. I don't believe that the parents should have to pay for alternative schooling (mandatory education is a right), but other arrangements must be made.
I hear more and more crazy stories about students being physically, sexually, and verbally abusive to fellow students and authorities in school. They get away with too much. A lot of that can be attributed to parental issues. My dad used to teach special ed in a small community and by the time he retired in 1999 he was teaching the kids of people he taught 15-20 years before. If anyone got out of line in the classroom, parents were called. Unfortunately, the parents either didn't care or approved their children's behaviour. It's completely backwards.
A lot of parents have the perception that their children can do no wrong and therefore have no control. When these children get to school, they are used to a borderless environment. When placed into a structured institution they tend to lash out against authority and fellow students. If a student places others at risk, he or she should be restrained using whatever means possible.
I know some of you have kids and think this is horrible because you'd never want them to do this with your child. But if that kid went to your child's school and put the safety of your child at risk, wouldn't you want the child restrained?
Re: Kindergartener Handcuffed At School For Acting Up
you guys are fucking insane....you dont handcuff a 5 year old child to anything....and why the fuck does a school have handcuffs anyway?
is it a school or a god damn prison? like dtj said what would you do if someone handcuffed your kid to a chair? or better yet your girlfriend or something...i mean lets look at this rationally here, the kid is 5 years old...there is ways to calm them down...and you'd figure that soimeone in the education system would be schooled in things like that. My kid freaks out too. they all do, whats next puth them in a straight jacket? sedatives? electroshock therapy? i mean that'll teach 'em
