If a student inflicts physical violence to a teacher what is expected to be done? I have an issue simply following mtss procedure. I am honestly not comfortable being alone in my classroom with this student because they started telling lies to staff members about my integrity. Saying I was doing things or saying things I did not do or say. Plus I am being harmed physically (along with other students). Not only am I tired of being hurt, I am worried for my career. They won’t provide any assistance unless a dx is made which is an issue in and of itself. I need them to do the eval not wait for the family. It will be the end of the year and time is of the essence. How do I word this to admin that this student is now allowed in class if they are harming me or others or using inappropriate language? They are putting it back on us that they can’t hire more staff or do this or that for the school if we keep relying on them to handle behavioral issues. We should rely on our team. My team doesn’t have the time nor ability to assist with this student as they’re teaching their own classes. I wasted 45 minutes today chasing this student down the hallway, holding them, talking to them, and trying to get them reset so that I could teach. Within 5 minutes, another student “looked at them” and they ran back out again. Nobody ever comes when I can for assistance. I want a safety plan. I want to feel safe. My needs aren’t being met.
This is wrong. It is why I went from being a tired teacher to a retired one. You should not have to tolerate that garbage from the student or admin. If you are being physically harmed, admin should be intervening. I am sorry you are in this position. I have no words of wisdom except for if you can, get out of that environment.
You can file charges against the student with the police. That will help you get a second trail of documentation going. Also, if you have a union or an education association, they usually have someone on staff to handle these kinds of items. My state is newly unionized, so I actually only ever worked for half a year under a union. The rest of the time I was with an education association, and they were always very helpful.
Yup. Unfortunately that's how things are now. We have several violence-prone students ranging from K to junior high, so it's not necessarily a pandemic-related issue. The K kid who bit me and tried to stab another teacher with scissors is awaiting results of a psych eval and in the meantime we're doing room clears on a pretty much a daily basis. The 7th grader is no longer at our school after another child's parent called the cops when her son was assaulted. Student had to break cell phone policy to tell mom what happened though. We have another K whose mother had her admitted to the psych ward on a temporary hold, but then she's back at school Monday like nothing ever happened. Part of it is that our hands are being tied by a school board balking at the idea of losing kids to other schools. Part of it is that the rules where I am say that we have to pay tuition if we have to send a student elsewhere, which as a public charter we can't afford to do. We've got another kid who has it in his IEP that he is not to come to school if he's not on his meds, and if mom needs emergency childcare that he is to be in a room by himself with an adult because of his violent outbursts. Mom knew he didn't have his meds, sent him to school, he told us he didn't have his meds, then admin kept him in the classroom anyway because there weren't enough adults. Oy. IDK how old your kids are, but in the past having ones old enough to be reliable witnesses helped me. Having the kids complain at home has also helped with a few things. Admin may not heed what you're saying, but they may pay more attention to parents. The caveat there is to make sure the behavior doesn't get blamed on you and any perceived failings.
We have to keep doors locked at all times cause parents threaten to jump on staff, that and we're on constant lockdowns cause of fights and people threatening to shoot up the school stemming from those fights.
There is something messed up here. My school has been open for seven years. We have had TWO fights in the building. This is a Drop-Out Prevention and Recovery (DOPR) institution, and six of my students have been shot outside of school (all but one has survived). Those two fights came out of nowhere and were quickly ended. I'm seriously trying to figure out what we're doing WELL so I can pass that along to others.
Common or not common, physical abuse on a teacher is not something you need to tolerate. That is a battle that is worth fighting. What age are your students? That matters. If they are high school or junior high, I'd nip those situations right now. Do you have a union? If so, go to them. If not, keep documenting and go to administration. If administration doesn't do anything, there are laws against physical abuse and slander. I had one colleague who finally wrote a report and called the police. She told the principal ahead of time she was doing this which was smart. She didn't get assaulted again. I have had one principal who did nearly nothing over serious issues. When the principal does nothing, then I step up and e-mail and call parents even though they act like they are not listening. I let them know the facts, and I make sure I have my facts are straight before I pick up the phone or send an email. I am strict with abusive students and won't tolerate physical or verbal abuse of a teacher. You may have to go to Human Resources as you have rights as a teacher. By the principal allowing you to be abused and doing nothing about it, she/he is breaking the law. Abuse is a type of harrassment that all principals know that they can't allow towards their staff by anyone-adult or student. Don't let the apathy of your administration let those students abuse you. You don't need to put up with that.
OP, you teach younger grades, don't you? The admin should be addressing this violence. Does your state allow suspension of younger students? Not all states do. In these states, it makes it more difficult to address the needs of the student and teachers, especially when you are short staffed. I suggest you research what is legal and not in your state first before you decide how to proceed. I agree that something must be done and admin support would be the best, but until you now how different hands are tied, you can't propose workable solutions. In the meantime, your only workable solution might be to expedite a behavior/educational assessment.
I do! I teach in the k-2 grade band. The student was suspended for two days. Now I have to follow this stupid praise him non-stop and give him treasure box every 10 punches. I’m going to make another post because now im losing control of the class.
I teach 3rd grade and I struggled with classroom management when I started. It is incredible how much more I enjoyed teaching when classroom management improved for me. Your decision to reach out for help with this is admirable. The 3 things that turned it around for me were the following: 1. Routines--I started teaching routines and made the classroom a well organized and much more predictable place to be. This brought more calm to the students and me. It definitely took time. 2. My principal saw my desire to improve classroom management and saw that I kept on trying out new techniques more than once a month. She finally said that I was confusing the children and that I should pick a classroom management system and to stick with it. Nothing a principal ever said hit me so hard. I began to see for the first time that constant changes in classroom management techniques weren't improvements, but setbacks. I stayed with a clear and simple system and that changed everything. 3. Fred Jones. His book Tools For Teaching actually turned me into a teacher where others started coming to me for classroom management techniques. (Good thing there were no YouTube videos of my first year of teaching to show them.) This is the one book I wish they would hand out to all teachers when they are hired. It is amazing and one of the few books that really understands what teachers deal with in the classroom. I hope these help you as much as they helped me. They helped turn teaching from a "hell" to nearly a "heaven". I now enjoy teaching much more than most teachers I know. I understand your situation involves far more than classroom management issues. I hope that the violence stops. No teacher should ever put up with that.
I agree with Fred Jones. I also like Randy Prick’s CHAMPs program and Harry Wong. They all work together really well.
How did your state start a union? I am in Georgia and teachers, along with firefighters and police, cannot start unions.
For classroom management, we are using an amazing new book (Teaching Students of the 2020s) that is designed to help teachers with the post-pandemic students. Anyone with a difficult student like that should document everything. If there's ever a lawsuit, the burden will fall squarely on the district if the teacher has good documentation. The book I mentioned explains exactly how to do this.
Thanks everyone, I haven’t posted an update since November. The student has been suspended twice. Property Damage & Violence. One of our admins said we can’t suspend students for having a trauma reaction. BUT - it is not acceptable! Violence is not OK. CPS is the go to for addressing trauma and stuff in the house. A school counselor (who is teaching a classroom and not that) or social worker would be great. Anyways, the student was moved to a different class. Nobody will tell me why. But I’m just going to let it go. They’ve hinted it’s classroom management. But I beg to differ.
Please, I am not telling you how to control your classroom and it seems the situation has resolved but depending on the state. If it happened to me, I would have installed a video camera depending if it is allowed. Florida, it is not. I would have done it in the back the classroom so it would be facing towards their heads, so faces should not be seen as much. This would be only for safety issues and cya for those safety issues if any were to occur. Of course I would talk to the Principal, and if they didn't care, this would also be evidence for the police.
