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Disturbing story of teachers bullying special needs girl from Today Show


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I just finished watching that (someone on my FB had posted it). Unbelievable. What really made me angry, was how the principal and the superintendent did nothing until the tape. In fact, they did worse than doing nothing...they basically said that they didn't believe the parents because they knew the teachers wouldn't do those things. Heck, the superintendent told them they were bordering on slander for making the claims! It makes me angry that they had to send their child in "wired" in order to make anyone listen. We have an 18 year old son with autism, and I've seen it too many times to count...the way they "circle the wagons" and protect their employees, rather than stand up for the children. Disgusting.

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here is an exerpt from the writeen article (for those, like me, who hate clciking on links without any idea of where a story might be going ;))

 

‘Are you that **** dumb?’

The tapes reveal teacher Christie Wilt and her teacher’s aide, Kelly Chaffins, saying disturbing things to Cheyanne in the classroom. Cheyanne, who is now in high school, was in Wilt’s class for three years of middle school. Chaffins has since resigned, while Wilt had to undergo eight hours of anti-bullying and child abuse training. On Monday, Wilt was put on unpaid leave for the rest of the school year, but Cheyanne’s family is hoping to prevent her from ever teaching or working with special needs students again.

 

Wilt, who did not respond to requests for an interview, can be heard on the recordings alongside Chaffins calling Cheyanne “lazy†and “dumb.â€

 

“Cheyanne, are you kidding me? Are you that **** dumb? You are that dumb?’’ Chaffins can be heard saying in one instance. “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.’’

 

On another occasion, Chaffins can be heard poking fun at Cheyanne’s appearance.

 

“Cheyanne, don’t you want to do something to get rid of that belly? Well evidently you don’t because you don’t do anything at home. You sit at home and watch TV. All night. All weekend.’’

 

In one instance, Wilt informs Cheyanne she has failed a test before Wilt even takes a glance at it.

 

“You know what? Just keep it,’’ Wilt can be heard saying. “You failed it. I know it. I don’t need your test to grade. You failed it.’’

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I just finished watching that (someone on my FB had posted it). Unbelievable. What really made me angry, was how the principal and the superintendent did nothing until the tape. In fact, they did worse than doing nothing...they basically said that they didn't believe the parents because they knew the teachers wouldn't do those things. Heck, the superintendent told them they were bordering on slander for making the claims! It makes me angry that they had to send their child in "wired" in order to make anyone listen. We have an 18 year old son with autism, and I've seen it too many times to count...the way they "circle the wagons" and protect their employees, rather than stand up for the children. Disgusting.

 

:iagree: Yes this is exactly what I thought! My husband & I were discussing this this morning. The aide "resigned" but the teacher overseeing originally was only required to complete 'anti-bullying' training before going back to work. Only yesterday (I suspect because the family was going on a national tv show) they suspended the teacher w/o pay, but that doesn't mean she will lose her job...:confused: It's so wrong!

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Unfortunately, this is quite common. There is a gifted school in NoVA where this one teacher routinely calls the kids names like "sugar plum fairy" (a boy) and teases another and calls him Einstein and makes fun of him. The school refused to do anything about it, because the teacher "was just having fun with the students". This teacher is also the lower school principal.

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If I had a special needs child, I'd be doing *everything* in my power to keep him or her out of the system. A relative of mine, not the most compassionate or kind person in the world, somehow ended up working as a teacher's aid in a special needs preschool and you should HEAR how she and her fellow teachers talk about "those idiot kids". It's awful. She says that the parents and kids drive them so crazy that they joke about the kids to let off steam and "no one ever knows". If that's the least that's going on and she's OK admitting it, I cringe to think of what REALLY stressed out or slightly unstable teachers are doing!

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Not justifing or defending this person, because I think being mean to a child is wrong on every level.

 

For myself, I cannot deal with my own children somedays. So I spend a day or two off and do something that just includes loving them.

 

I think that working with special needs children must be frustrating on a good day and teachers do it every day. There needs to be a rotation schedule or something that gives the teacher a relief valve of some sort. Not suggesting a spa day--but a new teacher or a rotation of several teachers.

 

Think about how frustrating it is for PS teacher to teach "normal" children and how they talk about how little support they get from the parents. I can only assume that the same issues occur with SN children. Parents that don't reinforce lessons over the weekend or allow the child to watch too much television 'cause its easy, must really cause burnout in these teachers.

 

Like I said, I think they are wrong and I would be out for blood if it were my child, but I also think that most people do not have the patience of saints and are put into situations where they need help to stay bright and cheerful. Yes the teacher is wrong, but the system is also needing an overhaul.

 

Lara

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I had a dyslexic (profoundly) son in Catholic school before homeschooling. My daughter was there too with a food allergy. It was a NIGHTMARE of lying, denials, putdowns, and punitive weirdness. The administration regularly circled the wagons in this manner and I finally wised up and pulled my kids out. BEST DECISION EVER. We love homeschooling and wish we'd done it from day one, disabilites or not!

 

One thing that happened outside of the disability issues was in the cafeteria. A parent came to me visibly upset after school one day. She said she'd witnessed something in the cafeteria a week prior, and was kicking herself over not telling me sooner. Apparently my son, who was 6 at the time, had made a noise (she said, not yelling, not acting insane, just spoke out when he shouldn't have.) She said that the lunchroom monitor, a known adult bully, with the bullhorn came over and "spoke" to him against the wall, and that he was huddled and shaking, crying over what she was saying.

 

That was our last year at that crazy school.

Edited by Lisbeth
a few more clarifications.
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You know, in our district the administrators say to bring your concerns and complaints to them. They will take care of any bullying issues. These parents took every step they could to protect their child - I feel that saving the videotaping as last resort was the right thing to do......I am just sorry for the girl that it took that for school employees to finally believe her. The bullying could not be denied after hearing it with their own ears.

 

Before another child suicide takes place, I hope that more people videotape bullying evidence. Poor, poor child. Those teachers should be ashamed of themselves!

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I had a dyslexic (profoundly) son in Catholic school before homeschooling. My daughter was there too with a food allergy. It was a NIGHTMARE of lying, denials, putdowns, and punitive weirdness. The administration regularly circled the wagons in this manner and I finally wised up and pulled my kids out. BEST DECISION EVER. We love homeschooling and wish we'd done it from day one, disabilites or not!

 

One thing that happened outside of the disability issues was in the cafeteria. A parent came to me visibly upset after school one day. She said she'd witnessed something in the cafeteria a week prior, and was kicking herself over not telling me sooner. Apparently my son, who was 6 at the time, had made a noise (she said, not yelling, not acting insane, just spoke out when he shouldn't have.) She said that the lunchroom monitor, a known adult bully, with the bullhorn came over and "spoke" to him against the wall, and that he was huddled and shaking, crying over what she was saying.

That was our last year at that crazy school.

 

Yikes. That is awful. I'm glad you got out of that situation.

 

About the thread title, gosh. It's easier for people who are not emotionally involved to stay calm.

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:iagree: Yes this is exactly what I thought! My husband & I were discussing this this morning. The aide "resigned" but the teacher overseeing originally was only required to complete 'anti-bullying' training before going back to work. Only yesterday (I suspect because the family was going on a national tv show) they suspended the teacher w/o pay, but that doesn't mean she will lose her job...:confused: It's so wrong!

 

blame the teachers UNION that that woman still has a job. they make it nigh on impossible to fire teachers, even for cause. NYC schools has rooms full of "suspended" teachers who can't be fired, but collect full paychecks.

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Niether one should EVER teach again!! Sorry, no second chances when 2 grown ladies gang up to bully children. That poor sweet girl! What an amazing daddy she has got!

 

I agree with all of the above, but especially the bolded. She is a lucky girl to have such a strong father that will fight for her.

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This ticks me off so much but it doesn't surprise me. We pulled our son out of ps last year because of bullying by a teacher. He would tell him on regular basis that he was "stupid" and that his worked "sucked". He would yell at him in front of the class and according to students in the class who were not his friends the teacher went out of his way to berate our son. We told the principal but he just brushed us off. Then this year a woman I know had the same problem with her son, she also pulled him out. This is a well respected teacher in a highly regarded gifted program.

 

I kick myself for not doing more because I know another child will be his victim. But honestly I just wanted to get him out of the situation. I can't comprehend why people go into the teaching profession if they don't like kids.

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Not justifing or defending this person, because I think being mean to a child is wrong on every level.

 

For myself, I cannot deal with my own children somedays. So I spend a day or two off and do something that just includes loving them.

 

I think that working with special needs children must be frustrating on a good day and teachers do it every day. There needs to be a rotation schedule or something that gives the teacher a relief valve of some sort. Not suggesting a spa day--but a new teacher or a rotation of several teachers.

 

Think about how frustrating it is for PS teacher to teach "normal" children and how they talk about how little support they get from the parents. I can only assume that the same issues occur with SN children. Parents that don't reinforce lessons over the weekend or allow the child to watch too much television 'cause its easy, must really cause burnout in these teachers.

 

Like I said, I think they are wrong and I would be out for blood if it were my child, but I also think that most people do not have the patience of saints and are put into situations where they need help to stay bright and cheerful. Yes the teacher is wrong, but the system is also needing an overhaul.

 

Lara

 

I was the parent of two special needs kids in public school. We DID work like crazy when they weren't in school. We tried to back up the teachers, etc. We sat for hours in meetings trying to make a workable solution.

 

Guess what? The fault was NOT ours. I don't care how burnt out and frustrated they are. My kids were bullied by other kids and administrators. And they tried to have one of mine arrested for a manifestation of his disability and reported me to social services for medical neglect. Both were dismissed unfounded.

 

No one forces one to go into teaching. They can always quit rather than damage a child in that manner. Poor teachers having to teach hard to teach kids - my heart bleeds. (/sarcasm)

 

My kids will go back to the local public schools quite literally over my dead body.

 

No excuses. I've been there and done that and there is no excuse for that type of behavior. Period.

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I see what you're saying - as a parent and formerly as a school teacher, including with special needs kids, I've definitely said things I shouldn't have. Things I've regretted. Things I've had to apologize for. But I've never said anything on the level of these teachers and certainly never on the relentless level that it seems like they did. Losing it for a moment and saying, "Why can't you just get it!" or "Are you even trying?" then backing up, taking a breath, and going forward is really different from name calling. :( Sure, there would be less of the frustrated teacher behavior if the system was structured better, but it should never degenerate to this.

 

Not justifing or defending this person, because I think being mean to a child is wrong on every level.

 

For myself, I cannot deal with my own children somedays. So I spend a day or two off and do something that just includes loving them.

 

I think that working with special needs children must be frustrating on a good day and teachers do it every day. There needs to be a rotation schedule or something that gives the teacher a relief valve of some sort. Not suggesting a spa day--but a new teacher or a rotation of several teachers.

 

Think about how frustrating it is for PS teacher to teach "normal" children and how they talk about how little support they get from the parents. I can only assume that the same issues occur with SN children. Parents that don't reinforce lessons over the weekend or allow the child to watch too much television 'cause its easy, must really cause burnout in these teachers.

 

Like I said, I think they are wrong and I would be out for blood if it were my child, but I also think that most people do not have the patience of saints and are put into situations where they need help to stay bright and cheerful. Yes the teacher is wrong, but the system is also needing an overhaul.

 

Lara

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Not justifing or defending this person, because I think being mean to a child is wrong on every level.

 

For myself, I cannot deal with my own children somedays. So I spend a day or two off and do something that just includes loving them.

 

I think that working with special needs children must be frustrating on a good day and teachers do it every day. There needs to be a rotation schedule or something that gives the teacher a relief valve of some sort. Not suggesting a spa day--but a new teacher or a rotation of several teachers.

 

Think about how frustrating it is for PS teacher to teach "normal" children and how they talk about how little support they get from the parents. I can only assume that the same issues occur with SN children. Parents that don't reinforce lessons over the weekend or allow the child to watch too much television 'cause its easy, must really cause burnout in these teachers.

 

Like I said, I think they are wrong and I would be out for blood if it were my child, but I also think that most people do not have the patience of saints and are put into situations where they need help to stay bright and cheerful. Yes the teacher is wrong, but the system is also needing an overhaul.

 

Lara

 

:iagree:I've said some harsh things to my kids out of frustration. But if another adult said those things to my kids, well, heads would roll. The system does need fixed though but I have no idea on how that would happen. :confused: This video just makes me even more thankful for homeschooling.

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As I said, I do not defend this teacher! I am not a defender of PS teachers in general. However, I AM a solution driven person.

 

This teacher deserves to be fired.

BUT ....

how does this help the child that is being abused in the other school districts?

 

A long time ago, my mother had a friend with 2 sons--one with a heart condition that kept him in the hospital a lot. The father was military and gone a lot. The other son was a rascal--he was always getting hurt--broken bones etc....

The military realized that these children were in a "risk" category for abuse. They had a system in place and when too many injuries occured to the younger son, they sent out an investigator to the neighbors and friends. The mother was innocent and the matter was tabled. BUT they had a system in place, they realized the danger.

 

This is similiar.

 

This is a situation where abuse occurs.

The children are challenging.

They often cannot speak for themselves.

 

My SIL works with SN children (she is a saint) and she gets spit on, changes diapers for a 10yo, has replaced her glasses twice because a child grabs them and breaks them, and had her necklace broken.

This can try the patience of anyone and make you less likely to enjoy your job.

 

What I am saying is how do we keep more children from getting abused?

Can be have a check and balance that is more than "we believe the child or the teacher". More that waiting until abuse to fire the bad teacher.

How about a system that recognises that there potential for abuse here and tries to avoid it. Rotating teacheres so they get some relief and so that they cannot form a super close bond with the other teacher and possibly gang up against the student like in this case?

 

I wasn't defending them, I was stating that this is a danger zone and should be addressed by more than outrage at this one incident. We should try to figure out how to avoid this in the future.

 

Lara

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For those of you who have said that the kids being challenging probably contributed to the abuse...

 

The kids I used to work with most likely made these kids look like angels. I worked in a home with autistic boys, ranging in age from eleven to twenty. All non-verbal except for one, all in diapers except for one. And believe me, you don't know challenging until you've changed the very messy diaper of a twenty-year-old while he screams at you, kicks you, and tries to both spit and throw feces at you. Daily. Sometimes my shifts were ten and twelve hours long, with the same group of boys.

 

And unlike the teachers in the article, I was doing this for around nine bucks an hour with no benefits.

 

And even then, I NEVER would have lowered myself to that kind of language. You just don't do it. Also, insulting the kids I was caring for wouldn't have made me feel better- quite the contrary.

 

If lashing out at the children you're supposed to teach somehow makes you feel better, somehow relieves tension for you, you need to find a different line of work. Period. That is just sick.

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The thing that makes me the most sad in this case is that the school would not even look into a complaint made by the parent of a special needs child. The principal even assumed that the parent was lying. The real problem in the principal, IMO. He is as bad as the people at Penn State who didn't care that foster children and low income needy children were being abused. It breaks my heart that so many people in authority believe that special needs or foster children lie and do not deserve the same investigation that other people would get.

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This brings me close to tears.

 

My dd13 is profoundly disabled, in a public school classroom. If I could possibly support her needs at home during the day, I would. But I can't.

 

Her behaviors can be challening, she requires diaper changes, and I'm sure she drools on her teachers sometimes. From the outside, her teacher and aids seem like wonderfully patient, warm people. But it is beyond disturbing and heartbreaking to think that they could be losing patience behind closed doors:crying:

 

I understand what some others are saying about being human and "losing it" sometimes. This is sooooo different, though. If we can't be humane with the most vulnerable in our society, that is an injustice that can't be tolerated. Yes, it can be a difficult job, which is why it is not for everyone. Mistreating children that can go home and tell their parents is wrong; doing it to a child who can't (like my dd) is evil.

 

I am so sad right now.

 

Lisa

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For those of you who have said that the kids being challenging probably contributed to the abuse...

 

The kids I used to work with most likely made these kids look like angels. I worked in a home with autistic boys, ranging in age from eleven to twenty. All non-verbal except for one, all in diapers except for one. And believe me, you don't know challenging until you've changed the very messy diaper of a twenty-year-old while he screams at you, kicks you, and tries to both spit and throw feces at you. Daily. Sometimes my shifts were ten and twelve hours long, with the same group of boys.

 

And unlike the teachers in the article, I was doing this for around nine bucks an hour with no benefits.

 

And even then, I NEVER would have lowered myself to that kind of language. You just don't do it. Also, insulting the kids I was caring for wouldn't have made me feel better- quite the contrary.

 

If lashing out at the children you're supposed to teach somehow makes you feel better, somehow relieves tension for you, you need to find a different line of work. Period. That is just sick.

 

 

:grouphug:

 

Thank you.

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I didn't get to read all the comments, sorry. I saw the interview on The Today Show yesterday. It was really heartbreaking because the dad is just so torn up about it. He can not even talk without nearly crying. What I was wondering (I didn't catch this if they mentioned it on the show....and I didn't click on the link to read)....were these two teachers charged with anything? I guess I wonder because I was kind of surprised that they kept showing their pictures on t.v. Can they do that? I mean, I guess so...because they did. I would think they could if they were actually charged with a crime of something???

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This brings me close to tears.

 

My dd13 is profoundly disabled, in a public school classroom. If I could possibly support her needs at home during the day, I would. But I can't.

 

Her behaviors can be challening, she requires diaper changes, and I'm sure she drools on her teachers sometimes. From the outside, her teacher and aids seem like wonderfully patient, warm people. But it is beyond disturbing and heartbreaking to think that they could be losing patience behind closed doors:crying:

 

I understand what some others are saying about being human and "losing it" sometimes. This is sooooo different, though. If we can't be humane with the most vulnerable in our society, that is an injustice that can't be tolerated. Yes, it can be a difficult job, which is why it is not for everyone. Mistreating children that can go home and tell their parents is wrong; doing it to a child who can't (like my dd) is evil.

 

I am so sad right now.

 

Lisa

 

My 14yo son is moderately disabled and in a similar middle school class after being homeschooled through 5th grade. I can't stand that they have the same teacher and aides for 3 years in a row. They cannot handle the stress of the same kids with their challenges for so many years... The girl in the video seemed so compliant and sweet, I know my son is more challenging than that. And his classmates. I can't imagine what goes on in there. I want to tape now! But, I won't... He has echolalia and comes home everyday to rehearse his classroom time as though he is the teacher. I hear enough from that to question every day if we are doing the right thing.

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blame the teachers UNION that that woman still has a job. they make it nigh on impossible to fire teachers, even for cause. NYC schools has rooms full of "suspended" teachers who can't be fired, but collect full paychecks.

 

 

And, I'd like to know that if she does get fired from this district, will any other school she applies to find this information and not hire her? Or will she just hop to another school and prey on another child?

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