My son was hit by his teacher today what do i do?

Question

My son has sen and has a sen support teacher ...

Yesterday she hit him and today she dragged him across the floor which was so strong it ripped his pants..

She has been suspended and i have a meeting on friday with the school to decide the outcome ..

There are numerous statements which support my son and the headteacher has said she over stepped the mark ..

We have just been at the school for an update and were left waiting 25 minutes to speak to someone (headmaster away) and were told a load of rubbish .

Obviously there has been some form of communication breakdown as the deputy head did not know a majority of the facts and stated my son was excluded ..

I removed him today as he was distraught .. have already spoken to the police and they are awaiting the statements ..

My question is what do i do now ?I feel the school may cover this up and having never been in this situation i do not know what to do ...

My son did not do provoke her .. he broke a spring in science and she grabbed him by the sides and dragged him across the floor ...

He is autistic and this teacher was supplied by the lea to help him ...

Thanks guys for the postive answers

The assualt today was witnessed by another teacher ...

My son does struggle to communicate and it can be frustrating ...

SEN means special educational needs ..

We have all the facts and we know my son did nothing to warrant her behaviour .The police have confirmed this ..

The marks he had have gone now thankfully ..

I am just shocked that a sen teacher can do that to a child

Edit He is 12 and was not excluded i removed him as he was distraught ..

The police have the trousers and i can honestly say he did not provoke her .. he broke a spring as he was messing with it and went to pick it up ..

The teacher was suspended straight away .the other teacher went to get assistance for my son and removed the teaching assistant out of the class

He was hit on the arm by her yesterday and today she dragged him across the floor ..

He had a slight red mark on his chest where she had grabbed him .The police man noted this and it has faded . ie not bruised

Edit . thank you all for your imput ...

Answer 1

I think that you should not keep your son from school. it could be more damaging for him in the future and he probably enjoys the interaction with other children. The support teacher has been suspended and that is the best you could wish for, she will not be able to return to work the teaching community is tight. You should not worry about the 25 minute wait teachers have an awful lot to do other than teach. The head is probably as angry and upset as you. I would not advise you to seek damages because this would mean keeping your son away from his schooling and having to introduce him to a new school if and when you can find one. The Lea is under a duty to provide support for your son and will get another support teacher for him as soon as they are able. Take him to school tomorrow and have another chat with the head you will both have had time and space to have thought things over and you will probably get more sense. make sure that you take notes on what has is said or promised and ask for it to be put in writing. It is horrible that such a thing has happened to your son but I can assure you that if you keep him away from school now you will be doing more damage to his already challenged education.

Answer 2

For now...simply continue collecting information and talking with the schools administration.

Parents love to think of their child as a harmless victim when bad things happen...but that is rarely the case. Why is it that nearly EVERY SINGLE TIME a parent comes here with some horrible story about what the "school" or a "teacher" ALLEGEDLY did to their precious child (no disrespect intended)...they omit any information or details that might mitigate or help to explain the actions of others?

Here's what I mean...

First off...if she "hit him yesterday"...why did you let him go back today? How could you place your child back into that situation...unless there's more to the story that your not sharing??

What grade is he in and how old is he? How long has he been working w/ his SEN teacher?? Exactly what special needs does your son have?

When he's working w/ his SEN teacher...is it 1 on 1 or are there other students present? Were other students involved in the altercations at any point? Was the teacher intervening on behalf of another student? Has he had physical altercations like this before?

And most importantly...what do you know about the role your son played in the 2 physical altercations that took place? (Or are you saying that the teachers attack was totally unprovoked)??

If your planning a lawsuit you'd better be well prepared to answer these questions and many more just like them.

The real question is do you want to teach a victimized, litigious mindset to your child...or do you want to help him become a capable, well-adjusted adult?

Answer 3

I'm really sorry to hear this. My son is autistic too, and I can tell you now I would be banging doors down and causing one hell of a scene by now if it were me.

Having said that, keeping a level head is essential here, and it sounds like you have done that so far (you're much calmer than me - you should have seen me when someone beeped their horn at my son's bus while they picked him up one morning).

I am assuming your son attends mainstream with SEN support, rather than special school. (My son is in special school.) This was done by a teaching assistant, rather than a teacher, is that right?

Well, it sounds like everything that should have been done has been so far. Don't be afraid of a cover up, because there is no way that can happen now, especially as the woman in question has already been suspended - that tells you how seriously the school has taken the matter. Don't worry - this will be investigated thoroughly. Stuff like this doesn't just get brushed under the carpet.

But they will have to get all the facts here. Regardless of your son's part in this, he has Special Needs, and although that doesn't give him the automatic green light to misbehave, it does mean that the staff dealing with him should be well aware of his needs. This should never ever have happened, regardless of what he may have said or done to precipitate it, so do not even think of letting them blame your son. No teacher should ever manhandle a pupil in that way, unless he was attacking her, or another pupil, which doesn't appear to be the case here.

Lastly, make sure that your son is in the right educational setting for him. He should feel safe, secure, and be surrounded by people who understand his needs and are able to meet them. It might be worth considering whether a different school might better cater for his needs.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Contact the Police and make a formal complaint against this teacher and state that you want her arrested and charged with assault on a minor.
They will have to take this action and she will then have to make a statement to the police. They will also interview your son with you present. They will also interview any other first hand witnesses. This will be other class members. When they have all the facts they will send the details to the public prosecution department and they will decide if there is a case to answer. Was the school aware that your son is autistic. If so this is a significant fact. Contact the school and tell them what action you are taking unless they wish to discuss it immediately. Best of luck as these bullies need giving a lesson.

Answer 5

You do say there has been a breakdown in communication as the Deputy head wasn't aware of the whole story. So this could mean a change in attitude from the school if i would feel concerned at the prospect that a parent had to involve the Police for the Deputy Head to actually find out what really happened?

Indeed he will be distraught and the school should ensure that, while staying with you, he doesn't miss out on his education.

I don't think you should consider anything too drastic, such as home schooling now if i would suggest you contacted a solicitor and the education board as well! It is up to them to ensure that arrangements are made whereby your son does not miss out on schooling.

Answer 6

I say "Go With Your Own Instincts".So far you've pulled him from school after the 2nd incident,spoken to both police and the school and your contemplating your next move based on how satisfied you are by the actions taken by the above parties.Your seeking out advice from a variety of sources (love both the media and lawyer involvement others have suggested).No one knows the situation as well as you but I would never allow that individual near my child,I might give the head master of the school the opportunity to act on this matter(swiftly) in case the individual you spoke too,wasn't handling it properly or their was some miscommunication at the school. If your still not satisfied hound the media,hire a lawyer,and don't forget to inform other parents at the school of these incidents.Don't lose sight of the fact this isn't just one incident (hit) but two separate incidents (dragging him the next day).The school will try to minimize it,it's up to you to ensure this outcome properly protects and prevents any future incidents from happening.I hope your family achieves the outcome that you feel would be most appropriate.

Answer 7

Definitely file the police report and put it on record.

Contact your local school board and make an official complaint. It's obvious your child's school is not taking this situation seriously.

Make sure you keep a DATE BOOK that logs in every step you take to rectify the situation (meetings, visits to the school, calls to the school board---including names of people you talk to---- discussions with school staff, etc.) . If this case ever goes to court, your date book will serve as legal evidence to support your claims that you made several unsuccessful attempts to get satisfaction from the district.

If someone keeps you waiting for almost half an hour, email him or her; make a point in this email that you waited for XX minutes and THEN recap the meeting and any additional concerns you have.

You are building your case.

Keep copies of all emails in a file.

I'm not advocating using the court system for revenge, but after suffering this trauma, your child might need extra counseling or care and the school (and teacher) should be responsible for those costs as well as costs associated with that care. For example: damages for pain and suffering and lost wages you may suffer while you attend to your child's additional needs that arose as a direct result of the abuse.

I have known SEN students who have completed school quite successfully---- and without abuse. This ill qualified person should not be permitted to interfere with the success of your child or anyone else's.

If all else fails, contact your local newspaper and let the case be tried in the media. It may not directly help your son, but it would give your voice more power than the school is giving you now.

Answer 8

The important thing is to be sure of your facts. Everyone wants to believe their child but teachers acting like that are extremely rare. If the school says they excluded him then you cannot have taken him out of school!

The police and the school authorities will be looking at it and all the evidence for and against.

For the sake of your son you need to be open minded and trust the police and to a certain extent the school investigation.

If the evidence is against your son and you go over the top both you and he could be seen as very disruptive and that would harm how you are seen by the authorities and affect his options in education.

If he is innocent and the victim then the police will act. If however the school is shown to be correct the problem can only get worse for you unless you put your sons interests first and talk reasonably with the school, as to how to move forward.

Bottom line you must bend over backwards to keep an open mind, trust the police findings and think of your sons future needs not what has passed!!!!

Answer 9

Gosh, I'm sorry this has happened to your son and to you. It is well out of order what the teacher did, no matter how difficult your son may have been as he has special educational needs. I was once a SEN support assistant, and eventually the student I was working with did get expelled from school (because of his behavioural issues), but I was sad that I couldn't do more to keep him in school.

I suggest you wait through for the school's decision, and keep the communication intact till a satisfactory decision has been reached. This behaviour from a teacher/school is highly unprofessional, and you have the rights to take it to the local education authority which your school is based, and who would be able to investigate this further. Obviously the school is also responsible for the teacher's behaviour, and if the LEA is involved in this, it will ensure the school is reprimanded enough and prevent such incidents from happening in future.

Hope this helps - probably not a lot, but responding what I can.

Answer 10

Take this through the police. Don't react angrily, get this nasty evil b*tch the legal way. I expect the school will try to cover this up, they won't want anything to ake them look too bad to the local community and they also won't want to admit that they messed up in employing someone who is obviously mentally deranged!!

She has been suspended? Good. I hope you have gone to the police? Press this through the court as a legal matter - child abuse. Go to the LEA and consult a solicitor.

Also contact the press. This will look very bad on the school and faced with this sort of bad publicity they may actually be forced to admit their guilt and act.

I feel so sorry for your son, for any adult to do that to a child is terrible and is child abuse. She should never be allowed to work with children again. Please don't return him to that awful school. Keep him at home until he feels better and look for a another school for him. And don't let them get away with it!

As for "he may have deserved it" OMG how can anyone say that? This woman was employed to help a child with special needs! If she could not handle dealing with a child with special needs then she needed to find another job and FAST before something like this happened! She has no right at all to abuse a child who is under her care just because she is unable to cope with the more stressful aspects of her job!!