Quote:
Originally Posted by Slava
Well the school can suspend a kid for all kinds of things. My son was suspended in grade six for a day and half for swearing! (Which was both hilarious and annoying, but that’s a whole other topic).
The thing is, it’s one thing to say the parents are responsible here because they didn’t do enough. The day before, the kid is searching for ammunition and his teacher catches him and has concerns. Between that and the picture, it’s a significant red flag. But the school takes no real action. They tell the parents and say he needs counselling, and just leave it there. So, let’s say they book an appointment for Dec 2…good enough? If my children were in that school, I’d argue that it was nowhere near good enough!
The school has a pretty obvious duty to ensure the safety of the other students and staff in their facility. It’s pretty obvious that they failed in that duty, despite warning signs they initially saw.
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The school can't suspend him for the drawing, he didn't do anything worthy of a suspension. He had clear hallmarks for mental health, but how do you determine when a student is in need of help or a threat? That requires a psychologist/psychiatrist, and you are asking an administrator to make that call on the spot? You need to consider the fall out if a school suspends a kid for mental health needs, just sends them home without parents, and abandons them. Everyone would be up in here claiming the school was negligent, especially if that student harms themselves.
They called the parents the day of and asked them to take him and get counselling within 48 hours. They refused. This is a product of a society that believes schools are the servants of parents, not society in general. The power of schools has been decimated, and parents can push and get what they want. These parents wanted their mentally ill son to stay, so he stays. Then people have the audacity to blame the school, that is just plain wrong. I am sure these are the same people who complain about anything the schools does like, as an example, when they suspend their child for swearing (clearly more context to this story) as above.
So schools keep kids to keep them safe and turn them over to their parents. There was no indicator here that he was an immediate threat to himself or his fellow students. The school didn't know his parents gave him a gun. They didn't know he had one with him. In fact, (not sure about in the states) but these drawings don't even really warrant a locker search. This falls squarely on these parents and for once there is some recourse for the negligent parenting.
This is tragic for a school, and I can only imagine the mental anguish that principal is feeling. They did everything in their power but when it comes to kids, they are ultimately, especially in regards to mental health, at the mercy of the parents. I have worked with hundreds of kids in schools that draw violent pictures, threaten violence, and say ridiculous things for attention. Every time they go home with their parents because that is all we can do, and we suggest (we can't even recommend) counselling.
However, in defence of parents, they have very few resources when this happens. Most of the parents I work with go to the Children's Hospital and are sent home the same day and told the kid can go back to school. So, we start the same dance again the next day.