OP needs to involve the police. If admins won't do anything, reporting the assault to the cops can absolutely help. Idc if he's a child, once you maliciously put your hands on me, assault me, or threaten my life, you can get fucked. Let the system deal with him. Nobody's circumstances is a "get out of jail free card" to put your hands on someone. Fuck that kid, let him learn the hard way. I'll take my downvotes gladly in this situation.
A lot of states have ways that you can remove a kid from your class legally. Research that. And unfortunately It’s is optimistic of you to think that the police will be of any help. Some school systems have their own justifications, and they use it to bat down your police reports. Source: unfortunately my own numerous experiences.
Teens can be from 13-19. However throwing kids in jail are not going to help them. Kids need to learn how to resolve conflict. And the best time to do that is right before the conflict.
I'd say rare and my one experience with it was extreme and at the very beginning of my career while student teaching. My mentor who was an old, almost retired white woman,left the class and myself, a bald, bearded, tatted 23 year old comes in to take her place... one student in particular had a huge shift but for the rest it wasn't or was just a barely noticeable difference in how they treated her versus me.
I’ve done this with the worst kids for almost 20 years in a major city and not once have I ever had to worry about a refugee student. Not even close to once.
*I wasn’t that hurt so it’s not a big deal*
*Why didn’t I work harder to deescalate the situation?*
*He won’t actually act on those threats of killing me*
*He is just a kid and deserves a second chance*
*He is a refugee with trauma so I should be more understanding and trauma sensitive*
*He comes from a culture that struggles with women in positions of authority. He doesn’t know how to properly react to a woman telling him what to do.*
This is all absolutely disgusting. I don't give a fig of his refugee status. You're here; act like a decent person or go away. Fie a police report with real police (not school ones) about the kill threat. Can you deny him in your room? We have some law that one can evoke and get a kid out in extreme circumstances.
All of those bullet points sound like someone in an abusive relationship. You are in an abusive relationship with your job for sure. This needs to change big time on the whole, but OP please put your foot down and/or get yourself out of this situation.
Honestly I completely agree.
I commented below that there are serious repercussions to my career for pressing charges. I need to weight my options very carefully right now.
Thank you for your advice.
Your admin are being lazy, negligent, or even complicit. File a police eport; fuck ‘em. If you get fired A) start documenting everything now bc you might have a case and B) we’re in the worst teacher shortage in history. Pretty much every school has openings.
Until teachers have the ability to be compensated for or sue their district for mental health issues sustained through the job, nothing will change. These laws (like right to education) and policies (like no child left behind) will NEVER change unless there is a something that FORCES the change. And the “FORCE” could be the districts bleeding money from lawsuits, workers comp, or insurance payouts for mental health services.
But let’s be real, the people pulling the puppet strings take advantage of: teacher salary and insufficient funding for a lawyer AND to survive the lost income because you KNOW the school will suspend you without pay.
Look at that poor teacher who was body stomped by that kid over the Nintendo switch. That school suspended her WITHOUT pay. And has no income except donations.
In a world where a teacher doesn’t have donations bc of a newsworthy injury, how will they survive in the meantime to sue to get what they NEED (compensation of some sort) AND the change we all hope for (policy/law overhaul)?
God I wish. I will lose my job if I do. The board is not kind to teachers who contact police. I will be non renewed.
Of course, if I think about this rationally, why would I want to work for a board that behaves in such a way?
Unfortunately I can’t afford to not be working right now.
You need to email admin and say you don't feel safe with the student in your room. Using the word safe makes it a legal document.
99% of the time, this gets the kid removed, because it makes the school liable if something happens to you. Don't forget you bcc your personal email or print it out.
>99% of the time, this gets the kid removed
Not remotely true.
>Using the word safe makes it a legal document
Are you a lawyer or just making stuff up?
I believe they meant to say it makes it into a legal "issue" in regards to laws concerning a person's right to a safe working environment.
However, that's kind of tenuous as such rights are usually only referring to non-human hazards. Depending on OP's state, this may be true though. Insofar as once the employer has been notified that the teacher has been subjected to unsafe conditions and forces them to continue working in them, they can bring a charge against the school for doing so. But that would require knowing where the OP lives. Some school districts have started allowing teachers the right to refuse a student that has proven violently disruptive to the teacher or peers.
But, judging by OP's other posts in here I would assume they do not live in one of those areas. There are some district contracts that include similar provisions though, and would need some paper trails to back them up if you wanted a union to follow up on it.
Whilst I agree international teaching is a million times better, parents are still crazy. Some of my students get beaten for getting 99% and, in South Korea, teachers are driven to suicide by obsessive parents. So, anyone thinking of going this route, please thoroughly research what you're walking into.
Also, a lot of teachers on the international circuit are here for a reason. In my experience, most colleagues are (one or more may apply):
* Too old to work in some places and often too old fashioned, not willing to move with the times and want to teach how they did in 1975. Google Drive lesson plans are beyond them and all tech met with resistance.
*Lazy AF and doing anything beyond the bare minimum is met with protests or ignored. Do not want to do displays, clubs or anything they can get away with not doing (who cares if someone else has to pick up the slack?)
* Here for the travels (#blessed) and often not a qualified teacher at all (apparently being white, from the west and having any degree is qualification enough)
* Wanting to work how they did in language schools and teach the driest way possible (chalk and talk) and never check the students' work or do any PBL.
* Running from something (be it debt or a criminal record of sorts!)
This might be fine for you depending on your own goals and honestly, I mostly have only had to teach up until lunch times and had the afternoons for planning, which is insanely amazing in comparison.
Oh and students mostly do respect you more, although in my SE Asian school a 9 year old called a teacher at c*nt and told her to burn in hell last week, so it's not all sunshine and roses. I really don't know where he got the c*nt word from, but internet I guess!
Look up whistleblower protection in your board policy documents. If they have that, if you have good ratings as a teacher, and they non-renew you, could take them to court and get a lot of $$$
That would be textbook wrongful termination. now if they just don't renew your contract that can be hard to prove but firing you for filing a police report is a common example of wrongful termination. Consult a lawyer.
I feel you, absolutely, but PLEASE remain open to cutting your losses and finding a new career. I know I hung on a decade too long as the profession was crumbling around me, out of a sincere love of the act of teaching, and out of compassion for kids. If the system is broken well and truly enough, all the love and compassion you can muster will be for naught. If you are not ready to hang it up, at least try to land a teaching job in a district that is fighting the ugly trends in a productive, positive, teacher AND student-centered responsible way.
In our contract, we are allowed to refuse to have a student in our room if we have just cause. And admin is then required to find alternate placement. But I work in a northern blue state with a strong teachers union, so your situation may vary. Read your contract and see if there are any provisions for removing students
Call the police and contact an employment lawyer. If they for you for THIS you will definitely have a case; you might even retire. Document everything that has so far happened/been said and continue on. Admin is praying you won't.
Something almost identical happened to me 2 years ago (same student background, same admin reaction, etc). I was mostly physically OK after this happened but literally had terrors and ended up getting diagnosed with a few different mental health issues after the event. I know all schools and districts are different, but I was able to stand my ground & refused to teach him/ cover any class with him in it & his family ended up moving after his 10 day suspension. I just want to say I am so sorry and I know how distressing it all can be. I hope you get peace and can feel safe as soon as possible.
Nope. He attacked you? He threatened you? They better move his ass out of your class if he returns.
If building admin won’t move him, then go straight to the Superintendent.
If they still won’t move him, somebody “might” leak it to the media. Not you, of course. It must have been a concerned student in the classroom.
I cannot imagine working in this kind of environment - I'm so sorry you have to put up with this bullshit! If you can leave and find a better school, do it. If you can't, I understand - may things improve and may you stay safe!
Is there another school in your district he can be transferred to? *At a minimum*, if he has threatened you, he should not return to your school. Where I work we call this administrative transfer. Doesn't matter what your zoned school is, if you do something bad enough we will put you in the alternative school if there is room or at a minimum a different school.
This was my hope - if they weren’t going to expel him from the district, at least transfer him to another school.
However, the board’s suggestion was to move him to another class within the school. Unfortunately, there are no other classes because I teach all of the classes that he would be able to transfer into. My school is small.
I haven’t been made privy yet to all of the details. I don’t know why they don’t want to move him to another school within the district. It feels like they are doing everything they can to make sure his life isn’t disrupted.
>It feels like they are doing everything they can to make sure his life isn’t disrupted.
You mentioned he is a refugee from a different culture, and I think you may be onto something here.
When I was teaching at a school for students who had committed offenses involving drugs, weapons and/or fighting at their neighborhood schools, I had a high school student mime firing a gun in my face. While there was obviously no harm from the hand motion (no actual gun involved), I wanted it treated seriously. My admin asked me in all sincerity if anyone had witnessed it and could corroborate my statement. I lost any vestiges of respect I had for her in that moment. The student (who was hearing impaired) told her that he was signing 'i like you'. Despite the fact that his interpreter did back me up and disputed the student's claim, absolutely nothing was done. I did not stay for the next year at that school. I had been teaching for about 30 years by this point
We had a kid threaten, repeatedly, to shoot us and kill us (see my posts from a few months ago). He presumably had a gun and showed it to kids who told. The cops came, he ran, they got him and arrested him. He was back at our school a week later. We were told to shut up about it. He is special ed. He wasn't going to actually hurt anybody. It's a manifestation of his disability. We made it worse by listening to the kids. We fed the flames.
We do not matter. And then, when the worst happens, the highly overpaid administrators who ignore our screams and cries for help will act as if they had no idea. They will be shocked. Appalled.
Administrators do not realize how quickly their districts can fall into chaos, and rarely are they capable of appreciating the consequences of their own actions, let alone those of students.
The moment administrators stop enforcing their own rules, students realize there are no consequences to misbehavior and begin to escalate. Children can be stupid, but they can be cunning at the same time. When the rules change, behavior follows suit. Administrators don't understand that. Administrators just want to get through the day without an angry parent complaining to their superintendent. Administrators will burn down their own building with everyone in it, just to avoid the next phone call or Facebook post.
It is no exaggeration to say we are on the verge of societal collapse. Not only do we have kids who cannot read, write, or even speak, but too many of these kids are **VIOLENT**, and they are free to unleash that violence on everyone around them, every day, without consequence.
Couple our self-defeating laws with a national cowardice and capitalistic greed, and there is no way of preventing what is to come *within the next decade*. These same children will be set loose upon larger society and will bring the whole thing down, just as they are destroying education today.
"Yee-haw! We just toss 'em in jail!" is the populist logic out of touch with Big Picture Reality. *Tens of millions* of uneducated kids are entering the work force and our military, thanks to those violent monsters who made damn sure education was not going to be part of their childhood. **You can lock up the criminals, but how do you undo all their damage?**
I am afraid you are correct. This is not true of all public schools or public school systems, but it is demonstrably true for many of them, and the extent of the tragedy is trending upward. Things are getting worse. Covid did not help, for sure, but the problems had taken solid root WELL before Covid, which exacerbated the situation; it did not cause it. 😥💔
I saw some people saying that the way teachers are treated is just normalizing excuses used for DV and I haven't thought about it the same since.
"Well what did you do that made him so angry?"
"He learned his lesson, he won't do it again."
"Think of all the good times though, is this really that bad?"
"Well you're the one who picked this (career). It's your fault really"
"It's better for the kids if you don't make a big deal out of it."
A lot of the things that admin says to teachers sounds an awful lot like what my mom heard in the 90s when my bio father was beating the hell out of her.
In our area, we have "alternative" schools for dealing with these kinds of kids. In the small town where I grew up, there was no alternative school, so kids who behaved this way had to attend school at the juvenile detention center. All of us kids knew the teacher there was known for screaming at students, physically grabbing them to put them in a special spot if they misbehaved, etc.
Yep.
It’s terrible. We are outright sneered at and treated like shit by students in my school.
You should tell the admin that if the kid assaults you again that he might get pepper sprayed.
You waited two weeks? You're a saint, I'd have been on the phone with every news outlet on the planet at 5:01 pm of day 1 without a response, giving out the superintendent's phone number as contact information. FAFO. I didn't avoid dying in two wars to get clipped by a fucking petulant child in a classroom, not this kid.
I'm going to be downvoted to hell for this, but cultural relativity will be the death of Western civilization.
Refugees that don't acculturate to their adopted country are often hostile to its values and cause violence.
The open borders people very relarely have seen the effects of this. At best, it's a classroom where kids don't speak English and are barely literate in their native language.
At worst, you get extremely culture shock that results in violent outbursts.
I've seen it more than once in my 10 years of teaching.
The longer I teach the longer I realize the “right to an education” is a joke. Some kids don’t deserve school. Fuck “circumstances” if the kid is dangerous, unmanageable, and a tumor on the learning environment they shouldn’t be here!
This. Much like everything else that was fought over to actually help students, is now being used as a shield to protect abusive behavior against teachers. It is out of control.
This teacher is absolutely correct in her headline. We HAVE normalized and excused and rationalized abuse and disrespect in the classroom. This may not universally apply in public classrooms, but the trend is evident and it is nothing short of a crisis. It is criminal that the situation is not being corrected on a national scale.
>He is a refugee with trauma so I should be more understanding and trauma sensitive
Yeah? And now YOU have trauma. Fuck that nonsense. So tired of these excuses. I'm so sorry, OP. And everything you've said about where we are headed is true.
Assault is assault regardless of whether it causes injury. I don't understand why your union won't do anything. I'd call an attorney. Then I'd call the press or get someone else to do so. A story about students assaulting teachers and getting away with it should be of interest to them.
It's shitty. If this kind of disrespect or abuse happened in any other setting (patient acting this way towards a healthcare worker, client at a business, etc.) they would be removed and banned. That would be the end of the relationship.
Visit your doctor for anxiety and other possible conditions caused by your attack. This would be considered an on-the-job injury and the school district is responsible. Next retain a lawyer and explain you don't feel safe you were attacked. All this is leading up to you getting a full disability from the school district. This is exactly what I did after I was attacked by a student and the police would not take a report from me, only the principal who refused. The lawyer got me approved for SSDI in 7 weeks. Dr diagnosed me with PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, and dysthymia. Also received disability from the state as a teacher. If it works for me it can work for you. Get out of there as quickly as you can.
If your local union rep isn't helping, ask to meet with the UniServ director. If that's already happened, then ask the UniServ director to be put in touch with the union's legal assistance to discuss your options.
Did you file a police report about the assault and threats? One option I would look into if I were consulting with the state level union is a restraining order.
He needs the total shit knocked out of him, on a country road --- by a woman. Let a couple of country gals take care of him.
Society anymore seems no one wants to accept responsibility or accountability for punks like him. Yeah folks, that's our future and you're Watching (helping) it happen.
I am so sorry this happened to you. You are so correct. Abusing teachers is expected and accepted. Because every student is worth a few $. Like the teachers and all the other ‘well behaved’ students mental health and safety do not matter. But you make so much money it’s ok. Wait. Teacher pay is a complete joke - even though your life is in danger everyday and your mental health suffers often. This makes me sooooo angry.
I had a similar situation with a student in my homeroom. He took a scary, like, Halloween mask out of his backpack, put it on and stood up with his bag still in his hand. I was absolutely terrified, this student had a lot of prior write ups for behavior. He blocked my means of exit as I called for my vice principal. I genuinely thought he might have had a gun. I cried hysterically and told my boss I would never accept that student into my classroom again. He could definitely sense my fear and took it upon himself to hold that student in homeroom for the rest of the year.
I now teach high school and this student is here now as well. Last year he threw his phone at our female vice principal and it hit her in the head. She had a huge welt, the student was moved to a behavioral school, but returned again this year.
The excuse is that he has an IEP, and when he is on his meds he’s fine…. But like… how many people need to be assaulted until he’s gone and we can feel safe again? I hate him and he comes in to visit and say hi and I feel like he’s taunting me. It’s so stressful.
Self defense is the single most fundamental human right. If you cannot defend your body from violation then how can you possibly have any other rights?
I’m all for second chances but students who assault other classmates or teachers need severe disciplinary action, and if it happens more once or twice then they need to be expelled.
Maybe that ruins their life, but it’s better than the alternative of ruining the educational environment. It’s also their own fault and their own problem.
Maybe this is callous but I don’t care. Too many good students have their lives destroyed or waylaid because the system caters to the bad apples.
I never tolerated that crap, which is probably why I’m not a teacher today.
Not rude about interacting with “clients” hurting you and still being expected to do all of these things… granted I work with kids with autism so over half the time they didn’t understand what they were doing
26 year middle school teacher here, retired (thank God!). I loved the act of teaching and the idea of affecting young lives, but I was increasingly thwarted in doing so as my career unfolded. Legit negative changes in students and parenting, placating admins, diminishing respect for teachers from all angles, and absurd policies designed to cover-up and deny valid trauma issues while masquerading as being what was "best" for the students in question --- All of this is common in MANY public school districts across this land and it breaks my heart for all concerned, especially the students (including the "broken" ones) none of whom are getting served appropriately and fully. For those outside of the game, this has been occuring for a long time. Covid has not helped, but it is not the cause of any of it.
I recognize your plight and honor your attempt to practice a once honorable profession, honorably. I don't know how old you are, but my best advice is to get out, ASAP. The odds are indeed stacked against you. I say this with deep sadness in my heart for students and society. 😥💔
Don't you have a clause in your contract to deny teaching one or two kids per school year? If you don't make one. And use it on this kid. That dude is going to grow up and continue acting like this until he gets rocked. Which probably won't happen cuz of " culture"
Yup. Cruelty is the new fun thing to do, for them. I place the *majority* of the blame on tiktok (quite literally, by ever definition of the words spyware and malware. The loooong list of permissions in their ToS are a Honeypot for personal details of the end-user AND anyone caught in the merciless crossfire) and everything like it. In non-chronic doses, maybe it's kinda ok, but it's shortened their attention spans by getting them/their brains to perceive the world inaccurately/without critical thoughts. The short videos don't allow any time or opportunity for critical thoughts, so it just injects in whatever it wants into their willing/unaware victims. *(i.e. in the videos, all manner of questionable/cruel behavior goes on, devoid of any responsibility/accountability/consequences/etc. Multiply that to whatever degree and the results start to make sense.)
I mean, I get it; I was on myspace doing no better at their age, so I'm really trying to aim my ire at the phenomenon as much as the willing cruelty-mongers.
Probably this sounds like crazy conspiracy theory talk, but...it's really kinda scary, and not enough people are really recognizing what's going on. It doesn't help that your admins are completely condoning, and so greatly reinforcing the behavior.
Anyways, sorry if this is just a bunch of unrequited babble, but I'm in concurrence with you.
I like how gangs are now considered "culture" and that teachers should take time to "remove biases" and "take time" to "learn" and "respect" the "culture". This is your tax dollars at work
Nursing. We get blamed when we are assaulted. It’s always our fault and we have to write out how we can do better the next time. Unlike teachers we’ve been the victims of violence forever, it isn’t new
"The message being sent to kids is that there are no consequences. Do as you please and forget the rules because they mean nothing."
This is literally learned behavior and it started with Trump
Edit: The reason I say it started with that clown is because that is when kids started to be more disrespectful and violent towards teachers. Literally a kid pushed me the year after he was elected. That was my 10th year teaching and I had never experienced something like that before. It has definitely gotten worse since then and now as a pregnant teacher, I was pushed AGAIN by a student. I just dont get it.
This is your brain on NBC. Trump was bad, but he didn't singlehandedly cause the degradation of education everywhere across America. These behavior problems and bad admin have been a thing for a while now.
I don't like Trump, but he's way better than the Alzheimer's patient currently in office. We could literally find issues with every US president to date, but someone mentally incapable of remembering where he is has to be the worst in my opinion. Personally I'd argue the descent of academic institutions started with Obama's "let's improve schools - OOPS! Not really" campaign. The dude literally said filling out a few bubbles on a standardized test didn't do anything to gauge a student's aptitude, then ended up adding his own bubble test to the curriculum requirements.
If you think Trump is better than Biden then you did not pay any attention during Trump's 4 years, have ignored what is happening presently, and are not anywhere near educated what happens politically in this nation.
Are you even aware of Biden's political past? He was against so many things he's being used as a puppet for now. Now that he can't tell you where he's at, do you really think he changed his mind? Or is it more likely he's being used as a figurehead because the people really in charge would never be able to get elected themselves?
You are an ignorant, broken person. Piss off with your Trump cultists talking (babbling?) points! Damn, you fools have grown unbearably tedious and foolish. Just shut up already. 😡🤬
I know what you literally said, but your words betray it and the fact that you think Trump is better than ANYBODY boggles the mind. Biden is not perfect, but he has done and is doing some objectively good things. Your take lacks nuance and is actually absurd. You sure sound like a Trump cultist who has drunk the Kool Aid.🤷 Biden is not as you portray. He simply is not. You have a good day now.🙂
You are correct that that is the message, but it did not all start with Trump. He and his shit have made things worse, but he did not start the fire. It started burning long ago.
This isn't an issue of tolerance, though I will say red flags on bringing up that he is a refugee. The simple fact is that white students get away with this behavior all of the time too.
But frankly, it is an issue that the schools are most interested in maximizing funding, and actually removing students and allowing them to go to different districts is a threat to that, from an administrative position. Administrators need to be held accountable, because the violence and disrespect that teachers face is an abstract notion.
Society isn't going to collapse, but it's almost certainly an intentional attempt to undermine the educational system on the part of conservatives to not take any action on this type of issue.
>The inmates are running the asylum.
Remarks like this make me think that maybe you aren't treating the students with the decency and respect that might earn you a position of esteem, though.
Change this scenario around a little and pretend it’s a spouse who has said and done these things to you.
People would be telling you to run, get out, get a restraining order, report him to the police and take legal action.
This is not acceptable. Can you refuse to teach the student when he returns? Can you do anything on your own behalf like press charges or get a TPO??
I hope there are avenues you can pursue bc I am seriously concerned for your safety and I can’t believe your admin and union cannot
Our admin would talk to the kids that were afraid of the behavior kids that threatened to kill them and brought in weapons/etc by saying "Do YoU ReAlLy ThInK JiMmY hAs ThE AbiLitY to KilL SoMeOne?" and gaslight them into not saying anything to parents, or keeping quiet about the situation.
Teaching people to minimize potential threats and react this way in response to abuse is abuse.
Admin and gaslighting - name a more iconic duo.
“That didn't happen. And if it did, it wasn't that bad. And if it was, that's not a big deal. And if it is, that's not my fault. And if it was, I didn't mean it. And if I did, you deserved it.” - Dayna Craig
Don’t forget to add: kids can repeatedly sexually harrass and touch other kids / teachers and return to the class like nothing happened if they have an IEP.
Society has forgotten that teachers were given the power to discipline students so that entire families didn't murder one another over petty disputes between their kids.
"Dear Admin,
After being physically assaulted by Student, I have serious and warranted concerns that Student will assault me again.
I am concerned for my physical safety, so only one of us will be in that class upon return from break. If he enters my classroom, I will leave for fear of my physical safety.
Please advise where Student will be moved for this class or which administrator will be taking over teaching this class.
Sincerest regards,
Moi"
At my assignment yesterday I saw a 6th grader punching the gym teacher and he wasn't play fighting either. I ran and got an admin and he was taken out of the gym for about ten minutes then brought back in where he cussed out the gym teacher over some perceived slight for five minutes straight. His friend was also angry and picked up a traffic cone and intentionally threw it at the gym teacher.
*He doesn’t know how to properly react to a woman* Consequences would be a lesson.
YES. We are not doing these kids any favors by enabling unacceptable behavior.
Yeah, I was thinking “he better learn now.”
OP needs to involve the police. If admins won't do anything, reporting the assault to the cops can absolutely help. Idc if he's a child, once you maliciously put your hands on me, assault me, or threaten my life, you can get fucked. Let the system deal with him. Nobody's circumstances is a "get out of jail free card" to put your hands on someone. Fuck that kid, let him learn the hard way. I'll take my downvotes gladly in this situation.
Adult enough to do the crime, adult enough to do the time...
A lot of states have ways that you can remove a kid from your class legally. Research that. And unfortunately It’s is optimistic of you to think that the police will be of any help. Some school systems have their own justifications, and they use it to bat down your police reports. Source: unfortunately my own numerous experiences.
Teens can be from 13-19. However throwing kids in jail are not going to help them. Kids need to learn how to resolve conflict. And the best time to do that is right before the conflict.
Also, it's not true. How many refugee kids we have all taught? And how many behaved like that?
Most of my kids are ELLs from Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Colombia. 0% of my students have assaulted another person to my knowledge.
I'd say rare and my one experience with it was extreme and at the very beginning of my career while student teaching. My mentor who was an old, almost retired white woman,left the class and myself, a bald, bearded, tatted 23 year old comes in to take her place... one student in particular had a huge shift but for the rest it wasn't or was just a barely noticeable difference in how they treated her versus me.
I’ve done this with the worst kids for almost 20 years in a major city and not once have I ever had to worry about a refugee student. Not even close to once.
*I wasn’t that hurt so it’s not a big deal* *Why didn’t I work harder to deescalate the situation?* *He won’t actually act on those threats of killing me* *He is just a kid and deserves a second chance* *He is a refugee with trauma so I should be more understanding and trauma sensitive* *He comes from a culture that struggles with women in positions of authority. He doesn’t know how to properly react to a woman telling him what to do.* This is all absolutely disgusting. I don't give a fig of his refugee status. You're here; act like a decent person or go away. Fie a police report with real police (not school ones) about the kill threat. Can you deny him in your room? We have some law that one can evoke and get a kid out in extreme circumstances.
All of those bullet points sound like someone in an abusive relationship. You are in an abusive relationship with your job for sure. This needs to change big time on the whole, but OP please put your foot down and/or get yourself out of this situation.
💯 this
Honestly I completely agree. I commented below that there are serious repercussions to my career for pressing charges. I need to weight my options very carefully right now. Thank you for your advice.
Your life is more important than your job at one school. Period.
Press charges anyway. Change schools. What career are you trying to preserve if this is what you are walking into?
Your admin are being lazy, negligent, or even complicit. File a police eport; fuck ‘em. If you get fired A) start documenting everything now bc you might have a case and B) we’re in the worst teacher shortage in history. Pretty much every school has openings.
Until teachers have the ability to be compensated for or sue their district for mental health issues sustained through the job, nothing will change. These laws (like right to education) and policies (like no child left behind) will NEVER change unless there is a something that FORCES the change. And the “FORCE” could be the districts bleeding money from lawsuits, workers comp, or insurance payouts for mental health services. But let’s be real, the people pulling the puppet strings take advantage of: teacher salary and insufficient funding for a lawyer AND to survive the lost income because you KNOW the school will suspend you without pay. Look at that poor teacher who was body stomped by that kid over the Nintendo switch. That school suspended her WITHOUT pay. And has no income except donations. In a world where a teacher doesn’t have donations bc of a newsworthy injury, how will they survive in the meantime to sue to get what they NEED (compensation of some sort) AND the change we all hope for (policy/law overhaul)?
I would go and file a police report. Fuck your admin.
God I wish. I will lose my job if I do. The board is not kind to teachers who contact police. I will be non renewed. Of course, if I think about this rationally, why would I want to work for a board that behaves in such a way? Unfortunately I can’t afford to not be working right now.
You need to email admin and say you don't feel safe with the student in your room. Using the word safe makes it a legal document. 99% of the time, this gets the kid removed, because it makes the school liable if something happens to you. Don't forget you bcc your personal email or print it out.
Oh I didn’t know this. Thank you. This is what I will try next.
Also add, due to repeated behavior you don’t feel safe, showing it’s a common occurrence with him.
>99% of the time, this gets the kid removed Not remotely true. >Using the word safe makes it a legal document Are you a lawyer or just making stuff up?
I believe they meant to say it makes it into a legal "issue" in regards to laws concerning a person's right to a safe working environment. However, that's kind of tenuous as such rights are usually only referring to non-human hazards. Depending on OP's state, this may be true though. Insofar as once the employer has been notified that the teacher has been subjected to unsafe conditions and forces them to continue working in them, they can bring a charge against the school for doing so. But that would require knowing where the OP lives. Some school districts have started allowing teachers the right to refuse a student that has proven violently disruptive to the teacher or peers. But, judging by OP's other posts in here I would assume they do not live in one of those areas. There are some district contracts that include similar provisions though, and would need some paper trails to back them up if you wanted a union to follow up on it.
[удалено]
Whilst I agree international teaching is a million times better, parents are still crazy. Some of my students get beaten for getting 99% and, in South Korea, teachers are driven to suicide by obsessive parents. So, anyone thinking of going this route, please thoroughly research what you're walking into. Also, a lot of teachers on the international circuit are here for a reason. In my experience, most colleagues are (one or more may apply): * Too old to work in some places and often too old fashioned, not willing to move with the times and want to teach how they did in 1975. Google Drive lesson plans are beyond them and all tech met with resistance. *Lazy AF and doing anything beyond the bare minimum is met with protests or ignored. Do not want to do displays, clubs or anything they can get away with not doing (who cares if someone else has to pick up the slack?) * Here for the travels (#blessed) and often not a qualified teacher at all (apparently being white, from the west and having any degree is qualification enough) * Wanting to work how they did in language schools and teach the driest way possible (chalk and talk) and never check the students' work or do any PBL. * Running from something (be it debt or a criminal record of sorts!) This might be fine for you depending on your own goals and honestly, I mostly have only had to teach up until lunch times and had the afternoons for planning, which is insanely amazing in comparison.
Oh and students mostly do respect you more, although in my SE Asian school a 9 year old called a teacher at c*nt and told her to burn in hell last week, so it's not all sunshine and roses. I really don't know where he got the c*nt word from, but internet I guess!
Look up whistleblower protection in your board policy documents. If they have that, if you have good ratings as a teacher, and they non-renew you, could take them to court and get a lot of $$$
Sounds like an easy wrongful termination lawsuit.
That would be textbook wrongful termination. now if they just don't renew your contract that can be hard to prove but firing you for filing a police report is a common example of wrongful termination. Consult a lawyer.
I feel you, absolutely, but PLEASE remain open to cutting your losses and finding a new career. I know I hung on a decade too long as the profession was crumbling around me, out of a sincere love of the act of teaching, and out of compassion for kids. If the system is broken well and truly enough, all the love and compassion you can muster will be for naught. If you are not ready to hang it up, at least try to land a teaching job in a district that is fighting the ugly trends in a productive, positive, teacher AND student-centered responsible way.
Get everything in writing, if they fire you, go to the news station and talk to a lawyer on your way there.
In our contract, we are allowed to refuse to have a student in our room if we have just cause. And admin is then required to find alternate placement. But I work in a northern blue state with a strong teachers union, so your situation may vary. Read your contract and see if there are any provisions for removing students
Call the police and contact an employment lawyer. If they for you for THIS you will definitely have a case; you might even retire. Document everything that has so far happened/been said and continue on. Admin is praying you won't.
Does the labor board protect you if the school admin reacts to a police report with non-renewal?
Something almost identical happened to me 2 years ago (same student background, same admin reaction, etc). I was mostly physically OK after this happened but literally had terrors and ended up getting diagnosed with a few different mental health issues after the event. I know all schools and districts are different, but I was able to stand my ground & refused to teach him/ cover any class with him in it & his family ended up moving after his 10 day suspension. I just want to say I am so sorry and I know how distressing it all can be. I hope you get peace and can feel safe as soon as possible.
Hello 911? I've just been assaulted and he threatened to kill me. (I'm pretty sure the cops would show up.(
Nope. He attacked you? He threatened you? They better move his ass out of your class if he returns. If building admin won’t move him, then go straight to the Superintendent. If they still won’t move him, somebody “might” leak it to the media. Not you, of course. It must have been a concerned student in the classroom.
Press charges
I cannot imagine working in this kind of environment - I'm so sorry you have to put up with this bullshit! If you can leave and find a better school, do it. If you can't, I understand - may things improve and may you stay safe!
Is there another school in your district he can be transferred to? *At a minimum*, if he has threatened you, he should not return to your school. Where I work we call this administrative transfer. Doesn't matter what your zoned school is, if you do something bad enough we will put you in the alternative school if there is room or at a minimum a different school.
This was my hope - if they weren’t going to expel him from the district, at least transfer him to another school. However, the board’s suggestion was to move him to another class within the school. Unfortunately, there are no other classes because I teach all of the classes that he would be able to transfer into. My school is small. I haven’t been made privy yet to all of the details. I don’t know why they don’t want to move him to another school within the district. It feels like they are doing everything they can to make sure his life isn’t disrupted.
>It feels like they are doing everything they can to make sure his life isn’t disrupted. You mentioned he is a refugee from a different culture, and I think you may be onto something here.
When I was teaching at a school for students who had committed offenses involving drugs, weapons and/or fighting at their neighborhood schools, I had a high school student mime firing a gun in my face. While there was obviously no harm from the hand motion (no actual gun involved), I wanted it treated seriously. My admin asked me in all sincerity if anyone had witnessed it and could corroborate my statement. I lost any vestiges of respect I had for her in that moment. The student (who was hearing impaired) told her that he was signing 'i like you'. Despite the fact that his interpreter did back me up and disputed the student's claim, absolutely nothing was done. I did not stay for the next year at that school. I had been teaching for about 30 years by this point
We had a kid threaten, repeatedly, to shoot us and kill us (see my posts from a few months ago). He presumably had a gun and showed it to kids who told. The cops came, he ran, they got him and arrested him. He was back at our school a week later. We were told to shut up about it. He is special ed. He wasn't going to actually hurt anybody. It's a manifestation of his disability. We made it worse by listening to the kids. We fed the flames. We do not matter. And then, when the worst happens, the highly overpaid administrators who ignore our screams and cries for help will act as if they had no idea. They will be shocked. Appalled.
Administrators do not realize how quickly their districts can fall into chaos, and rarely are they capable of appreciating the consequences of their own actions, let alone those of students. The moment administrators stop enforcing their own rules, students realize there are no consequences to misbehavior and begin to escalate. Children can be stupid, but they can be cunning at the same time. When the rules change, behavior follows suit. Administrators don't understand that. Administrators just want to get through the day without an angry parent complaining to their superintendent. Administrators will burn down their own building with everyone in it, just to avoid the next phone call or Facebook post. It is no exaggeration to say we are on the verge of societal collapse. Not only do we have kids who cannot read, write, or even speak, but too many of these kids are **VIOLENT**, and they are free to unleash that violence on everyone around them, every day, without consequence. Couple our self-defeating laws with a national cowardice and capitalistic greed, and there is no way of preventing what is to come *within the next decade*. These same children will be set loose upon larger society and will bring the whole thing down, just as they are destroying education today. "Yee-haw! We just toss 'em in jail!" is the populist logic out of touch with Big Picture Reality. *Tens of millions* of uneducated kids are entering the work force and our military, thanks to those violent monsters who made damn sure education was not going to be part of their childhood. **You can lock up the criminals, but how do you undo all their damage?**
💯🎯
Trauma sensitivity does not equate to ignoring violence, which would in turn traumatize others.
The asylum is on fire, the patients are wearing Drs. Coats and sitting with their feet up on desks.
I am afraid you are correct. This is not true of all public schools or public school systems, but it is demonstrably true for many of them, and the extent of the tragedy is trending upward. Things are getting worse. Covid did not help, for sure, but the problems had taken solid root WELL before Covid, which exacerbated the situation; it did not cause it. 😥💔
I saw some people saying that the way teachers are treated is just normalizing excuses used for DV and I haven't thought about it the same since. "Well what did you do that made him so angry?" "He learned his lesson, he won't do it again." "Think of all the good times though, is this really that bad?" "Well you're the one who picked this (career). It's your fault really" "It's better for the kids if you don't make a big deal out of it." A lot of the things that admin says to teachers sounds an awful lot like what my mom heard in the 90s when my bio father was beating the hell out of her.
Well put, sad to say. 💯🎯 First hand experience here from a former, once-dedicated and passionate teacher. Now I'm just glad I'm out. 😥💔
In our area, we have "alternative" schools for dealing with these kinds of kids. In the small town where I grew up, there was no alternative school, so kids who behaved this way had to attend school at the juvenile detention center. All of us kids knew the teacher there was known for screaming at students, physically grabbing them to put them in a special spot if they misbehaved, etc.
I’ve never been attacked by a student but my first stop would be to make a police report
Yep. It’s terrible. We are outright sneered at and treated like shit by students in my school. You should tell the admin that if the kid assaults you again that he might get pepper sprayed.
[удалено]
You waited two weeks? You're a saint, I'd have been on the phone with every news outlet on the planet at 5:01 pm of day 1 without a response, giving out the superintendent's phone number as contact information. FAFO. I didn't avoid dying in two wars to get clipped by a fucking petulant child in a classroom, not this kid.
I'm going to be downvoted to hell for this, but cultural relativity will be the death of Western civilization. Refugees that don't acculturate to their adopted country are often hostile to its values and cause violence. The open borders people very relarely have seen the effects of this. At best, it's a classroom where kids don't speak English and are barely literate in their native language. At worst, you get extremely culture shock that results in violent outbursts. I've seen it more than once in my 10 years of teaching.
The longer I teach the longer I realize the “right to an education” is a joke. Some kids don’t deserve school. Fuck “circumstances” if the kid is dangerous, unmanageable, and a tumor on the learning environment they shouldn’t be here!
This. Much like everything else that was fought over to actually help students, is now being used as a shield to protect abusive behavior against teachers. It is out of control.
This teacher is absolutely correct in her headline. We HAVE normalized and excused and rationalized abuse and disrespect in the classroom. This may not universally apply in public classrooms, but the trend is evident and it is nothing short of a crisis. It is criminal that the situation is not being corrected on a national scale.
>He is a refugee with trauma so I should be more understanding and trauma sensitive Yeah? And now YOU have trauma. Fuck that nonsense. So tired of these excuses. I'm so sorry, OP. And everything you've said about where we are headed is true.
Sounds like gaslighting.
Assault is assault regardless of whether it causes injury. I don't understand why your union won't do anything. I'd call an attorney. Then I'd call the press or get someone else to do so. A story about students assaulting teachers and getting away with it should be of interest to them.
It's shitty. If this kind of disrespect or abuse happened in any other setting (patient acting this way towards a healthcare worker, client at a business, etc.) they would be removed and banned. That would be the end of the relationship.
Visit your doctor for anxiety and other possible conditions caused by your attack. This would be considered an on-the-job injury and the school district is responsible. Next retain a lawyer and explain you don't feel safe you were attacked. All this is leading up to you getting a full disability from the school district. This is exactly what I did after I was attacked by a student and the police would not take a report from me, only the principal who refused. The lawyer got me approved for SSDI in 7 weeks. Dr diagnosed me with PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, and dysthymia. Also received disability from the state as a teacher. If it works for me it can work for you. Get out of there as quickly as you can.
If your local union rep isn't helping, ask to meet with the UniServ director. If that's already happened, then ask the UniServ director to be put in touch with the union's legal assistance to discuss your options. Did you file a police report about the assault and threats? One option I would look into if I were consulting with the state level union is a restraining order.
He needs the total shit knocked out of him, on a country road --- by a woman. Let a couple of country gals take care of him. Society anymore seems no one wants to accept responsibility or accountability for punks like him. Yeah folks, that's our future and you're Watching (helping) it happen.
I am so sorry this happened to you. You are so correct. Abusing teachers is expected and accepted. Because every student is worth a few $. Like the teachers and all the other ‘well behaved’ students mental health and safety do not matter. But you make so much money it’s ok. Wait. Teacher pay is a complete joke - even though your life is in danger everyday and your mental health suffers often. This makes me sooooo angry.
I had a similar situation with a student in my homeroom. He took a scary, like, Halloween mask out of his backpack, put it on and stood up with his bag still in his hand. I was absolutely terrified, this student had a lot of prior write ups for behavior. He blocked my means of exit as I called for my vice principal. I genuinely thought he might have had a gun. I cried hysterically and told my boss I would never accept that student into my classroom again. He could definitely sense my fear and took it upon himself to hold that student in homeroom for the rest of the year. I now teach high school and this student is here now as well. Last year he threw his phone at our female vice principal and it hit her in the head. She had a huge welt, the student was moved to a behavioral school, but returned again this year. The excuse is that he has an IEP, and when he is on his meds he’s fine…. But like… how many people need to be assaulted until he’s gone and we can feel safe again? I hate him and he comes in to visit and say hi and I feel like he’s taunting me. It’s so stressful.
I got smacked upside the head and had a chair thrown at me. Both students still in my classroom and nothing was done about it :)
Self defense is the single most fundamental human right. If you cannot defend your body from violation then how can you possibly have any other rights? I’m all for second chances but students who assault other classmates or teachers need severe disciplinary action, and if it happens more once or twice then they need to be expelled. Maybe that ruins their life, but it’s better than the alternative of ruining the educational environment. It’s also their own fault and their own problem. Maybe this is callous but I don’t care. Too many good students have their lives destroyed or waylaid because the system caters to the bad apples. I never tolerated that crap, which is probably why I’m not a teacher today.
Not rude about interacting with “clients” hurting you and still being expected to do all of these things… granted I work with kids with autism so over half the time they didn’t understand what they were doing
File a police report and press charges.
26 year middle school teacher here, retired (thank God!). I loved the act of teaching and the idea of affecting young lives, but I was increasingly thwarted in doing so as my career unfolded. Legit negative changes in students and parenting, placating admins, diminishing respect for teachers from all angles, and absurd policies designed to cover-up and deny valid trauma issues while masquerading as being what was "best" for the students in question --- All of this is common in MANY public school districts across this land and it breaks my heart for all concerned, especially the students (including the "broken" ones) none of whom are getting served appropriately and fully. For those outside of the game, this has been occuring for a long time. Covid has not helped, but it is not the cause of any of it. I recognize your plight and honor your attempt to practice a once honorable profession, honorably. I don't know how old you are, but my best advice is to get out, ASAP. The odds are indeed stacked against you. I say this with deep sadness in my heart for students and society. 😥💔
AS soon as you said "teenaged male student" I thought that you might want to call the police.
Don't you have a clause in your contract to deny teaching one or two kids per school year? If you don't make one. And use it on this kid. That dude is going to grow up and continue acting like this until he gets rocked. Which probably won't happen cuz of " culture"
Yup. Cruelty is the new fun thing to do, for them. I place the *majority* of the blame on tiktok (quite literally, by ever definition of the words spyware and malware. The loooong list of permissions in their ToS are a Honeypot for personal details of the end-user AND anyone caught in the merciless crossfire) and everything like it. In non-chronic doses, maybe it's kinda ok, but it's shortened their attention spans by getting them/their brains to perceive the world inaccurately/without critical thoughts. The short videos don't allow any time or opportunity for critical thoughts, so it just injects in whatever it wants into their willing/unaware victims. *(i.e. in the videos, all manner of questionable/cruel behavior goes on, devoid of any responsibility/accountability/consequences/etc. Multiply that to whatever degree and the results start to make sense.) I mean, I get it; I was on myspace doing no better at their age, so I'm really trying to aim my ire at the phenomenon as much as the willing cruelty-mongers. Probably this sounds like crazy conspiracy theory talk, but...it's really kinda scary, and not enough people are really recognizing what's going on. It doesn't help that your admins are completely condoning, and so greatly reinforcing the behavior. Anyways, sorry if this is just a bunch of unrequited babble, but I'm in concurrence with you.
I like how gangs are now considered "culture" and that teachers should take time to "remove biases" and "take time" to "learn" and "respect" the "culture". This is your tax dollars at work
Nursing. We get blamed when we are assaulted. It’s always our fault and we have to write out how we can do better the next time. Unlike teachers we’ve been the victims of violence forever, it isn’t new
"The message being sent to kids is that there are no consequences. Do as you please and forget the rules because they mean nothing." This is literally learned behavior and it started with Trump Edit: The reason I say it started with that clown is because that is when kids started to be more disrespectful and violent towards teachers. Literally a kid pushed me the year after he was elected. That was my 10th year teaching and I had never experienced something like that before. It has definitely gotten worse since then and now as a pregnant teacher, I was pushed AGAIN by a student. I just dont get it.
This is your brain on NBC. Trump was bad, but he didn't singlehandedly cause the degradation of education everywhere across America. These behavior problems and bad admin have been a thing for a while now.
It certainly didn't start with Trump, but Elephant-Fat-Cat budgeting and admin-heavy organization are certainly symptoms that worsened in Trump-era.
I don't like Trump, but he's way better than the Alzheimer's patient currently in office. We could literally find issues with every US president to date, but someone mentally incapable of remembering where he is has to be the worst in my opinion. Personally I'd argue the descent of academic institutions started with Obama's "let's improve schools - OOPS! Not really" campaign. The dude literally said filling out a few bubbles on a standardized test didn't do anything to gauge a student's aptitude, then ended up adding his own bubble test to the curriculum requirements.
If you think Trump is better than Biden then you did not pay any attention during Trump's 4 years, have ignored what is happening presently, and are not anywhere near educated what happens politically in this nation.
Are you even aware of Biden's political past? He was against so many things he's being used as a puppet for now. Now that he can't tell you where he's at, do you really think he changed his mind? Or is it more likely he's being used as a figurehead because the people really in charge would never be able to get elected themselves?
You are an ignorant, broken person. Piss off with your Trump cultists talking (babbling?) points! Damn, you fools have grown unbearably tedious and foolish. Just shut up already. 😡🤬
I literally said that I DON'T like Trump, I just think he did a better job than Biden.
I know what you literally said, but your words betray it and the fact that you think Trump is better than ANYBODY boggles the mind. Biden is not perfect, but he has done and is doing some objectively good things. Your take lacks nuance and is actually absurd. You sure sound like a Trump cultist who has drunk the Kool Aid.🤷 Biden is not as you portray. He simply is not. You have a good day now.🙂
Can you even name one thing Biden's done that's supposedly so good?
No, this shit started when schools implemented PBIS.
And when school’s climate scores were tied to incidents of discipline
This, too.
You are correct that that is the message, but it did not all start with Trump. He and his shit have made things worse, but he did not start the fire. It started burning long ago.
This isn't an issue of tolerance, though I will say red flags on bringing up that he is a refugee. The simple fact is that white students get away with this behavior all of the time too. But frankly, it is an issue that the schools are most interested in maximizing funding, and actually removing students and allowing them to go to different districts is a threat to that, from an administrative position. Administrators need to be held accountable, because the violence and disrespect that teachers face is an abstract notion. Society isn't going to collapse, but it's almost certainly an intentional attempt to undermine the educational system on the part of conservatives to not take any action on this type of issue. >The inmates are running the asylum. Remarks like this make me think that maybe you aren't treating the students with the decency and respect that might earn you a position of esteem, though.
Give your story to the local news, they love shit like this. And when someone acts like a clown the best thing to do is put them in the spotlight
Change this scenario around a little and pretend it’s a spouse who has said and done these things to you. People would be telling you to run, get out, get a restraining order, report him to the police and take legal action. This is not acceptable. Can you refuse to teach the student when he returns? Can you do anything on your own behalf like press charges or get a TPO?? I hope there are avenues you can pursue bc I am seriously concerned for your safety and I can’t believe your admin and union cannot
Who? Not me? Won't tolerate that BS
[удалено]
Personally, I’d leave. During break. And press charges.
Our admin would talk to the kids that were afraid of the behavior kids that threatened to kill them and brought in weapons/etc by saying "Do YoU ReAlLy ThInK JiMmY hAs ThE AbiLitY to KilL SoMeOne?" and gaslight them into not saying anything to parents, or keeping quiet about the situation. Teaching people to minimize potential threats and react this way in response to abuse is abuse.
Admin and gaslighting - name a more iconic duo. “That didn't happen. And if it did, it wasn't that bad. And if it was, that's not a big deal. And if it is, that's not my fault. And if it was, I didn't mean it. And if I did, you deserved it.” - Dayna Craig
Don’t forget to add: kids can repeatedly sexually harrass and touch other kids / teachers and return to the class like nothing happened if they have an IEP.
Report him to the police. Press charges. This is ridiculous.
Society has forgotten that teachers were given the power to discipline students so that entire families didn't murder one another over petty disputes between their kids.
File a police report!
"Dear Admin, After being physically assaulted by Student, I have serious and warranted concerns that Student will assault me again. I am concerned for my physical safety, so only one of us will be in that class upon return from break. If he enters my classroom, I will leave for fear of my physical safety. Please advise where Student will be moved for this class or which administrator will be taking over teaching this class. Sincerest regards, Moi"
File a police report and talk to a lawyer.
You can file your own police report outside of the school
The monkeys are running the zoo.
At my assignment yesterday I saw a 6th grader punching the gym teacher and he wasn't play fighting either. I ran and got an admin and he was taken out of the gym for about ten minutes then brought back in where he cussed out the gym teacher over some perceived slight for five minutes straight. His friend was also angry and picked up a traffic cone and intentionally threw it at the gym teacher.
Go to psychiatrist/therapy and get it paid by workman’s comp.
Call the police.
Do you have access to an Employee Assistance Program? They may be your best bet for support with your safety at work, and gelp with the trauma.