I read an AP story this morning that bothered me. -But made me thankful for all the teachers that my kids have. The article, I found here: Couple Bug Disabled Daughter, Record Teacher, Aide Bullying Her. Apparently a 14 year old disabled student in the Miami Trace school district south of Columbus (Washington Court House, OH) has been bullied and harassed in terribly hurtful ways by her teacher and more predominantly an aide- for YEARS.
It took years for the mother and her long time boyfriend to get up the gumption to plant a recording device on the girl. This was AFTER previous allegations were rebuffed and previous investigations ended in “the girl is lying.” So when they did the recording- wow, those years of allegations- that were rebuffed again and again by the school leadership and social workers smacked up against the wall. Phrases like the below were said to the daughter:
- “Are you that damn dumb? Are you that dumb?”
- “Oh, my God. You are such a liar. “
- You told me you don’t know. It’s no wonder you don’t have friends. No wonder nobody likes you. Because you lie, cheat … steal.
- “You know what, just keep it,” …[regarding test results] …”You failed it. I know it. I don’t need your test to grade. You failed it.”
Can you imagine?
As horrible as it is, I can imagine backwards, unhelpful parents acting this way. But a teacher’s aide? Someone who is paid to work with kids, who has been educated on fairness and child education? That’s unacceptable. The teacher’s aide lost her license, and the teacher, who was apparently unresponsive to this going on, has to go through training. Seems like a low punishment for something like this….
How can you get your kids to talk about school? – I don’t know
Since Kindergarten, with most of my kids, getting them to talk about their day at school has been TOUGH! After being there all day, I suppose they don’t want to bring home their work with them (as is the same with my husband) but as a mom you worry- and now I have something else to worry about… Suggestions?
