More N.J. schools requiring ‘psych clearances’ for kids with bad behavior to stay in the classroom

[1srelluc]

The Bayonne mother wasn’t surprised to get the call in October that her third grader had a meltdown at school — again.

Since the start of the school year, the 8-year-old boy had regularly lashed out at classmates and teachers and refused to do his school work. This time, he was kicking, spitting and throwing things in class, his mother was told.

The boy, who has autism and other disabilities, had just transferred into a new elementary school and was not adjusting well to his general education class, his mother said. He needed more specialized help than the Hudson County school district was providing, she said.

When the Bayonne mother arrived to pick him up after his latest meltdown, school officials, police and EMTs were waiting for her.

School administrators said the 8-year-old wasn’t suspended. But, he could not return to his public school classroom until he got a “clearance” letter from a psychiatrist saying the boy was not a danger to himself or others.

Until then, he had to stay home, his mother was told.......

More N.J. schools requiring ‘psych clearances’ for kids to stay in the classroom

It's a fuckin' wall of whiney text but the bottom line is.....

They have put the burden completely on the schools for when something goes sideways but now they're all surprised when the schools come up with a solution to their nut-job problem.
Looks like nobody's "gettin' paid" now but the psychiatrists.

 

[SweetSue92]

The Bayonne mother wasn’t surprised to get the call in October that her third grader had a meltdown at school — again.

Since the start of the school year, the 8-year-old boy had regularly lashed out at classmates and teachers and refused to do his school work. This time, he was kicking, spitting and throwing things in class, his mother was told.

The boy, who has autism and other disabilities, had just transferred into a new elementary school and was not adjusting well to his general education class, his mother said. He needed more specialized help than the Hudson County school district was providing, she said.

When the Bayonne mother arrived to pick him up after his latest meltdown, school officials, police and EMTs were waiting for her.

School administrators said the 8-year-old wasn’t suspended. But, he could not return to his public school classroom until he got a “clearance” letter from a psychiatrist saying the boy was not a danger to himself or others.

Until then, he had to stay home, his mother was told.......

More N.J. schools requiring ‘psych clearances’ for kids to stay in the classroom

It's a fuckin' wall of whiney text but the bottom line is.....

They have put the burden completely on the schools for when something goes sideways but now they're all surprised when the schools come up with a solution to their nut-job problem.
Looks like nobody's "gettin' paid" now but the psychiatrists.

I have seen this too many times to count.

Children like this get moved from school to school and district to district regularly. In part I understand the parents' desperation: if we only had the RIGHT teachers in the RIGHT school, little Braydon/Hayden/Jayden/Zayden/Aiden would be right as rain.

I have never seen that happen.

It might be true that the school is not "supporting" the child enough, and that's probably because the child was enrolled with little information given. But believe this: Braydon/Hayden/Jayden/Zayden/Aiden is causing massive disruptions in the classroom. He is a danger to himself and others, and it makes me wonder how often his class is "evacuated" due to his behavior.

Good on the district for saying "no more". I deeply care about my special ed students and want the best for them, but there is NEVER a reason and NEVER an excuse to keep children pent up in a dangerous situation, even if caused by another child. NEVER.

 

[toobfreak]

More N.J. schools requiring ‘psych clearances’ for kids with bad behavior to stay in the classroom

Clearance? They need clearance in order to exercise their RIGHT to an education paid for at gunpoint and required from Biden's government?

Isn't this kinda like calling you guilty until proven innocent? Is this kid on Ritalin prescribed by government psychiatrists?

This better generate some great lawsuits. NJ public schools cannot WITHHOLD their legal responsibility of educating a child just because they cannot control his behavior. They better start providing for special needs students. ITMT, the real point behind this is to begin developing a database on kids in order to track and use against them throughout life to declare them "unfit" for gun ownership.

 

[SweetSue92]

Clearance? They need clearance in order to exercise their RIGHT to an education paid for at gunpoint and required from Biden's government?

Isn't this kinda like calling you guilty until proven innocent? Is this kid on Ritalin prescribed by government psychiatrists?

This better generate some great lawsuits. NJ public schools cannot WITHHOLD their legal responsibility of educating a child just because they cannot control his behavior. They better start providing for special needs students. ITMT, the real point behind this is to begin developing a database on kids in order to track and use against them throughout life to declare them "unfit" for gun ownership.

This third grade classroom is probably evacuated DAILY because of this child. I have seen it many times; I have seen children out of their classroom--watching movies in a conference room, walking circles in the hall--while they get the out of control student back.

Is THAT fair?

 

[toobfreak]

This third grade classroom is probably evacuated DAILY because of this child. I have seen it many times; I have seen children out of their classroom--watching movies in a conference room, walking circles in the hall--while they get the out of control student back.

Is THAT fair?

No. The kid belongs in a classroom designed to deal with special needs autistics. Both they and the other kids are getting a disservice. Let me guess: the state of NJ had no idea that special needs children exist?

 

[SweetSue92]

No. The kid belongs in a classroom designed to deal with special needs autistics. Both they and the other kids are getting a disservice. Let me guess: the state of NJ had no idea that special needs children exist?

The child was moved to the school; he's a new student. The govt has imposed so much red tape on special ed teachers that assigning an appropriate environment can take MONTHS (and months). In the meantime, they cannot just put him in a certain classroom without documentation. Again--all the red tape.

ETA: And I hate to say this but it is definitely my experience: parents KNOW their children are struggling and probably not fit to succeed in the general classroom, but they truly believe the new school will be "just the ticket" and no one will notice the issues. IOW, parents are culpable when they try this baloney. I understand the desperation, but it puts everyone on their back foot.

 

[SweetSue92]

The child was moved to the school; he's a new student. The govt has imposed so much red tape on special ed teachers that assigning an appropriate environment can take MONTHS (and months). In the meantime, they cannot just put him in a certain classroom without documentation. Again--all the red tape.

ETA: And I hate to say this but it is definitely my experience: parents KNOW their children are struggling and probably not fit to succeed in the general classroom, but they truly believe the new school will be "just the ticket" and no one will notice the issues. IOW, parents are culpable when they try this baloney. I understand the desperation, but it puts everyone on their back foot.

Would love your input Seymour Flops

 

[alang1216]

No. The kid belongs in a classroom designed to deal with special needs autistics. Both they and the other kids are getting a disservice. Let me guess: the state of NJ had no idea that special needs children exist?

Providing an education to a special needs kid is VERY expensive and often the first thing that gets cut in a budget crunch. It affects only a small number of kids so it is very vulnerable. It is people who complain their taxes are too high that create these tragic situations when they elect politicians that blindly look to cut expenses.

 

[SweetSue92]

Providing an education to a special needs kid is VERY expensive and often the first thing that gets cut in a budget crunch. It affects only a small number of kids so it is very vulnerable. It is people who complain their taxes are too high that create these tragic situations when they elect politicians that blindly look to cut expenses.

Are there states that can still cut special ed services? I'm pretty sure these kids are covered under many federal laws, including ADA and IDEA.

 

[alang1216]

Are there states that can still cut special ed services? I'm pretty sure these kids are covered under many federal laws, including ADA and IDEA.

Admittedly, I don't know the rules and regs but I doubt that every neighborhood school can afford a full time spec ed staff. There may be only one per district

 

[SweetSue92]

Admittedly, I don't know the rules and regs but I doubt that every neighborhood school can afford a full time spec ed staff. There may be only one per district

Every child must be fully serviced with appropriate educational supports and I'm certain this is in IDEA. If Seymour comes along I will ask because this is his expertise. Yes, they are sometimes consolidated in district and this is fair. So if your district has, say, 5 elementary schools, one might house the Emotionally Impaired program, another the Autistic program, etc. And you are required to bus kids to the appropriate place, of course. But to my knowledge districts just can't "cut" special ed programs anymore--without being sued for all the money they have.

 

[Seymour Flops]

Every child must be fully serviced with appropriate educational supports and I'm certain this is in IDEA. If Seymour comes along I will ask because this is his expertise. Yes, they are sometimes consolidated in district and this is fair. So if your district has, say, 5 elementary schools, one might house the Emotionally Impaired program, another the Autistic program, etc. And you are required to bus kids to the appropriate place, of course. But to my knowledge districts just can't "cut" special ed programs anymore--without being sued for all the money they have.

Thank you for inviting me in the thread. You are correct. Schools and districts cannot say that the are too small or too underfunded to comply with special ed regulations any more than they could say they are too small for fire drills or school lunches or Title IX or any other federal requirements.

The problem in my opinion, is that we special educators focus too much on "Least Restrictive Environment" which to us is like to protect and to serve is to police or first do no harm to doctors. LRE to us means keeping the kid in gen ed classes as much as possible.

But we take LRE too far when it robs a disabled student of his own education as well as that of his peers. The class that kid disrupted did not learn to divide fractions or punctuate compound sentences and neither did the child with a disability.

My disrict does better with this. As well as we can considering federal mandates. We have a behavior program that allows a student to be pulled from a class with as little disruption as possible. That is key. The kid won't recover if left in the room where his meltdown happened and his peers won't learn.

This is Texas and maybe that wouldn't be allowed in NJ. So the principal found a temporary respite by insisting on a psychiatrist note. No doubt hoping that the psych will prescribe something to fix the kid. The decision makers of special education, as with most other fields, are far removed from the actual work. They are in school boards and state and federal DOE's, not in classrooms.

Kids with disabilities need small group instruction with adjusted learning expectations. Because of LRE officials are reluctant to put them in small groups and because of standardized testing they are reluctant to adjust learning expectations.

Your experience with parents is the same as I see every year. My theory is that the Apple falls near the tree, so the parents are often impaired also.

 

[SweetSue92]

Thank you for inviting me in the thread. You are correct. Schools and districts cannot say that the are too small or too underfunded to comply with special ed regulations any more than they could say they are too small for fire drills or school lunches or Title IX or any other federal requirements.

The problem in my opinion, is that we special educators focus too much on "Least Restrictive Environment" which to us is like to protect and to serve is to police or first do no harm to doctors. LRE to us means keeping the kid in gen ed classes as much as possible.

But we take LRE too far when it robs a disabled student of his own education as well as that of his peers. The class that kid disrupted did not learn to divide fractions or punctuate compound sentences and neither did the child with a disability.

My disrict does better with this. As well as we can considering federal mandates. We have a behavior program that allows a student to be pulled from a class with as little disruption as possible. That is key. The kid won't recover if left in the room where his meltdown happened and his peers won't learn.

This is Texas and maybe that wouldn't be allowed in NJ. So the principal found a temporary respite by insisting on a psychiatrist note. No doubt hoping that the psych will prescribe something to fix the kid. The decision makers of special education, as with most other fields, are far removed from the actual work. They are in school boards and state and federal DOE's, not in classrooms.

Kids with disabilities need small group instruction with adjusted learning expectations. Because of LRE officials are reluctant to put them in small groups and because of standardized testing they are reluctant to adjust learning expectations.

Your experience with parents is the same as I see every year. My theory is that the Apple falls near the tree, so the parents are often impaired also.

Great post Seymour, thanks.

I'll add one more thing: keeping special needs kids in the Gen Ed classroom too long, or too often, etc, is also bad for special needs children's friendships. Another things I've seen way too often. The kids are often 6-7 years old, so of course if they see a child kicking, spitting and throwing things, they're leery to befriend them. And I have no interest in overriding this instinct like our feckless social workers do. They want gen ed kids to have "empathy" for the outbursts. I'm still so mad about that--do we REALLY want to teach children to empathize with people who can or do hurt us? Hello? I raised a daughter. That's not cool.

Better to me is: "this child is struggling right now, but it's not okay that he/she hit, kicked, and threw things. We are working hard to help him learn to manage his feelings."--or something like

 

[Jarlaxle]

Clearance? They need clearance in order to exercise their RIGHT to an education paid for at gunpoint and required from Biden's government?

They NEED clearance because their child has mental problems and is a serious problem (and possibly a physical threat) to the rest of the students.

Isn't this kinda like calling you guilty until proven innocent? Is this kid on Ritalin prescribed by government psychiatrists?

No, he has mental problems.

This better generate some great lawsuits. NJ public schools cannot WITHHOLD their legal responsibility of educating a child just because they cannot control his behavior. They better start providing for special needs students. ITMT, the real point behind this is to begin developing a database on kids in order to track and use against them throughout life to declare them "unfit" for gun ownership.

I wouldn't be surprised is the child here will never be able to live independently..