Teacher Staples Note To Child's Shirt

A Florida Mother is angry over a Teacher's method of communication.  The teacher stapled a disciplinary note to the front of her son's shirt.  Yes, the child was wearing the shirt at the time.

Why would a teacher staple a note to a child? Apparently, the teacher was worried that the other notes weren't making it home.
Innocent said she had been getting those reports. She said she believes the teacher was upset over the child talking and embarrassed him on purpose. The mother also said she never got an apology from the teacher.

“The words that came out of her mouth were, ‘if the shirt is the problem, I will go ahead and replace the shirt for you,’” Innocent said. “I didn’t get, ‘I apologize I shouldn’t have done that.’”

Wouldn't a phone call been easier?

Link

Apologize? How about apologizing to the teacher for having a lousy kid who can't shut up during class? I would have been much worse, she's lucky I am not her child's teacher. I'd make an example out of him by making him wear a dunce cap and sit in the corner.

I hope she really removes him from the school district, he's just a waste of time and resources from the sound of it.
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I really do try to be fair in all aspects, if the teacher sent home notes and didn't think they were getting delivered, she should have called. And if the student won't quit talking in class, you move them to a corner where they have no one to talk to.

With that said, OMG! Get over it! What are people raising, a bunch of wimpy boo hoo bleeding hearts? Tough'n up, life is going to have humiliation involved, in the long run it Will build character and humility. Good God Man! I can’t imagine surviving without life’s struggles and lessons.

FYI, I’m a mother of the most sensitive 9 year old I’ve ever, if she had been sent home with a note stapled to her shirt…. 1st I would hope it didn’t really affect the shirt. 2nd, I would chuckle and assume that she’d think twice before speaking in class again
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Seriously? The MOTHER wants an apology? I think the mother should be the one apologizing for not doing her job and dealing with her child's behavior. She is also robbing other students of valuable education time by allowing the problem to continue. Typical...deflect the real problem (her son) and focus on something else (the damn t-shirt). Parents and children like her are the reason why our education system now sucks.
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As their are and should be rules reinforced this Teacher was out of line!! If this Teacher was so concerned that the notes weren't making it home to the parent then the Teacher should have gotten off her ass and phoned the parent directly!! If you become a Teacher and you can't handle the responsibilities that come with it in a professional manner then maybe you should re-think your profession!! NO child should ever have to endure suck poor actions from an Adult especially one that is suppose to be a role model. Mr King- Mr Awesome- and vonskippy your few are poor excuses of people who are unable to be mature and handle things in a grown up fashion. Their are rules that even the Teachers must follow regarding disciplining their students regardless of whether or not the parent was taking action or not. I am a Mother and very involved in my children's education so I as a parent feel their is NO EXCUSES for this unexceptionable behavior from this or any Teacher. I feel that this Teacher should be suspended without pay for a week. This child was made an example of and so should this Teacher be. People period need to be accountable for their actions no matter what the situation.
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Regardless, there are other methods of punishment. She could have waited until after class to call a parent. She could have taken away recess. I'm pretty sure that's what teachers do when students misbehave. But you do not staple anything to the child's clothing. Not even name tags are stapled to their clothes. That is where she went out of line. Yes, the student was misbehaving, but she should have handled it in a professional method. Especially if he is SEVEN years old.
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FYI leahl

The moral of the story is the Teacher was wrong!!!!
Not that it's any of your business but I DO volunteer and invest my hard earned $$ and time with and doing things for my children's school on a regular basis in fact on top of working. It's not about the kid being teased it's about an adult making just as bad if not worse choices then a SEVEN YEAR OLD! The POINT is this Teacher was out of line!! I personally among many many other parents expect a lot out a teacher/s that I entrust my child to be with for six hours a day. These people (Teachers) get paid to be role models and set examples for impressionable young CHILDREN and they all know that comes with the job of being a Teacher. Even my Sister whom is a Teacher agrees with me 110% that this Teacher could have and should have done more. As you may already know their are steps, yes STEPS a teacher is to take when involving behavior problems with a student >>>>>

Behavior Problem Progression Chart:
1. The Teacher is to Change student's seat, deny student privacy for bad behavior.
2. Involve the home; make parent(s) aware of the situation, enlist their aid.
3. Invite parent/parents to come in to school to monitor their child's class,do not
inform student beforehand.
4. Institute a policy wherein the student owes two minutes of his or her time for every minute of class time wasted due to bad behavior, this time to be
spent at teacher's discretion and convenience.
THROUGHOUT: Inform student of next step in the process if behavior does not improve, inform student AFTER the next step has been taken, take every opportunity
to allow student to see each step as a result of his or her own behavior.

ALSO... Licensure Code of Professional Conduct adopted in 2008 by the State Board of Education states:
1. Educators behave in a professional manner, realizing that one's actions reflect directly on the status and substance of the profession.
2. Educators maintain a professional relationship with ALL students at ALL times, both in and outside the classroom.

Don't justify what is wrong. Wrong is wrong no matter how you try to sugar coat it leahl.
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SunShine78,
I'd say that the teacher was on step 2 in your behavior progression chart.... can't say anything about the other steps as the story wasn't about those parts.

The mother did say that she had been getting the previous notes... where was her parenting to rein in the child's behaviour? Why didn't she acknowledge the teachers previous notes that she said she had gotten?

I think the kid is going to be more embarrassed by this story in the news than the simple stapling of the note to his shirt. You think that by keeping his face and name out of the story that no one is going to recognize him? Anyone who was there when it happened knows who he is and will probably tease him about it being on TV.
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So, if teacher's aren't allowed to hit the kids any more or embarrass them into proper behavior, then just how are they supposed to discipline them? When I was in school, if you got caught chewing gum, the teacher didn't make you throw it away, you had to wear it on your nose for the rest of class. Only took one time of that for all gum chewing in class to stop.
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When did we start expecting 7 year olds to act like adults. Does childhood end after kindergarten now?

The thing that bothers me the most about this story isnt the fact that she stapled something to the boy (athough, its a little weird...seriously couldnt find a safety pin?) its the comments! Im seeing the mother called a bad parent and the boy called a brat or worse.

For talking out of turn...in second grade....really? Then my entire second grade class was filled with brats with terrible parents I guess. We talked a lot...I assume its the same all over the place. I remember the teacher making us move to a different spot the first time, and out to the hall the second. and you know what? We *gasp* passed notes so we wouldnt get caught talking too! I live in a small town, and I can tell you with certainty that none of us turned out to be criminals. I wonder if this teacher has tried being more interesting...

Also, as far as the mother being a bad parent, yes, perhaps shes blowing this out of proportion (perhaps not. How does one remove a staple from a shirt without ruining the shirt? How much touching is required for a teacher to do such a thing? Did she place half of the stapler down the boys shirt in order to staple the paper there?) Growing up, I recieved the occasional note from school. Not once did my mom call the teacher back over a note, although they did talk at confrences. Why would you call over a note, especially for one that says talking out of turn? I personally would read it, talk to my kid, and unless it specifically said to get in touch with the teacher, toss it in the garbage.

And how does anyone know that she didnt talk to him about his dicipline issues at school? What the hell is she supposed to do, follow him to school and hold his hand all day so he doesnt speak until spoken to?

Also, Leahl, if teacher cant handle the stresses of being a teacher, they should quit. In my state there are plenty of people searching for a teaching job who can't find one (a few former classmates included). As an undergraduate, I briefly considered education as a major, and changed my mind quick after the job shadowing! In the 2nd grade class I watched the kids ran around the room out of control (supposed to be measuring things with cm cubes) while the teacher played farmville. At one point, another teacher came in and asked her to send her some seeds or something. Stop expecting so much from the teachers, maybe we should expect more from the people teaching our children, especially since they are warned all throughout college that the hours were very long and that the pay was not good, and that some parents can be terrible. Teaching is not an easy job and you shouldnt expect it to be.
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It's worth noting that the ability to stay focused on a singular task has diminished since the technological age. Kids today are incapable of staying focused on boring instructions. One researcher said, going from the technological jungle that constitutes most of their loves, to the barren waste-land of technology that is the traditional class-room, is a major challenge for kids. The average adult in our society has an intruding thought every 15 seconds. Kids, probably have them more frequently. ADD isn't a disorder, it's the new human.
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To put in context; pre-writing, humans were capable of storing entire stories in memory. The Torah was passed on orally, as were many other religious myths. People could recite thousands of words from memory without missing a verb. After books were invented, we lost this capacity. Humans adapt to the environment, and develop the skills needed to fit into that environment. The modern world is a different play-pen from Plato's and Aristotle's. We are required to look in our mirrors every 10 seconds or less, we need to be constantly scanning the scene for deals. We have a million lights coming at us from every angle. Our memories suck and we can't stay focused. We do it to ourselves, we do, and that's why it really hurts.
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What horrible schools were you people going to that safety pinned notes to you? I am a teacher and I send notes home that need to come back to school with a signature. If it doesn't come back I email the parents or call them. Classroom management is always going to be an issue in schools.
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