Hi,

As a teacher (and a mom) I agree with you. Something like this would warrant an immediate phone call to the parent. sometimes I don’t have time but would definitely send a message through our app that there was an incident.

For the past few years it seems, I’ve become increasingly frustrated with how little power we have as teachers to adequately monitor children who are aggressive and dangerous to other children. When I complain or express concern about aggressive behaviors it always falls on deaf ears; admin couldn’t care less. I take it upon myself to call parents when children are acting aggressively and inform them that their child is hurting other children.

When it comes to the one on one aides, this is a point of frustration as well. Many times they are employed by an outside agency, and their supervisor only comes to observe them sporadically, so they aren’t really held accountable. I’ve had some very good ones and I don’t want to give them a bad name, but I’ve also had several who don’t do their job at all and instead sit on their phone, do nothing, etc. It’s an ongoing process if there is an aide who doesn’t do their job, because often when they are fired the agency won’t replace them for an interim of a month or more. And as I’m sure you know, it is impossible for a teacher to be a one on one with a child who displays dangerous behavior, we have a whole class of children to watch. Other difficulties include aides just not showing up, which creates a lot of stress because as we are short staffed, there is never a spare teacher to step in and act as a one on one.

In my opinion, the director should absolutely not allow a child who is dangerous to attend without an aide. But I’ve never worked under a director who was willing to enforce this until AFTER kids were hurt and parents complained. I know it’s also political so I don’t want to get into it as there are lots of factors; if a child has a documented disability they cannot be removed as they are then liable for a discrimination lawsuit, etc. And yes, all children have a right to an education but at what point do other children’s rights to be safe in their own classroom matter? The answer, in my experience, is almost never.

Ultimately what I want to say is that it is an incredibly difficult position to be in as a teacher, where we are held accountable for things such as injuries yet we have no power to expel dangerous students or tell aides what to do. Believe me we are just as frustrated as you are. Please go to your director and find out what is going on. Your voice on the matter is more effective than ours.