School Board allows teachers to duct-tape students to the floor - need your help

Pacific Justice Institute ^

[bfalls]

I have been involved in a disagreement with the Alameda Unified School District concerning their support of teachers tying up students and duct-taping them to the floor.

I am asking for your help. First, here's the latest status.

The Alameda Board of Education voted to dismiss the appeal to the complaint because of the following:

• no one else complained.
• the pedagogical style was sound.
• it was not unsafe.
• students need to have an emotional response in order to learn.
• to deny teachers this style is stepping on academic freedom.
• they didn't mention anything about the traumatized child.
• they didn't mention the precedent case in Santa Monica (see below).
• they didn't mention that the author of this TCI lesson finds it inappropriate to bind students (see below).

You may view the entire ruling as Windows video over the internet by browsing to the following link (the quality is bad, but you can hear it): http://www.goalameda.com/lms/video/ducttape-board-ruling.wmv

I need your help. It seems that the parents in Alameda are in denial about this and most of the feedback from Alameda parents I have received (a few phone calls) is in favor of teachers tying up their kids. I can only think of two reasons for this.

1. School is a very positive place, where our children learn and grow their minds. It is very difficult for a person to object to what goes on because there is generally overwhelming support for whatever is going on there. You are seen as the attacker and people are more bothered about upsetting the status quo rather than critically thinking about an issue.

2. Since the lesson was about slavery, I'm sure that most people are cautious about speaking against this lesson for fear of being labeled a racist, so it's just easier to be overly enthusiastic about it, and agree with the controversial teaching style (duct-tape). I have openly supported the teaching of slavery's history, not tying up today's children.

I have few Alameda parents that support my contention that adults should not tie up children, regardless of what the lesson is about. On the other hand, outside of Alameda, I have not met one parent or adult that disagrees with my position. People have actually admonished me because I didn't call the police once I discovered my kid's hands were bound together and a teacher duct-taped him to the floor... anyway...

How you can help!

Understand that I don't expect you to do this, this is not your issue and is up to you to decide whether it is part of your business, we are all busy with other things too. For the record, the school complaint process started in January, one delay, and the ruling was last week. I am asking you to craft your own personal letter to be sent to the editor of the Alameda newspapers and media listed below, in the hopes of flooding the local media with your opinion (hopefully in the support of stopping teachers from duct-taping students). Please include your name and telephone contact. With this I hope to put pressure on the Board of Education to help them see how wrong they are and to wake up Alameda parents from their somnolence. I think I am doing the right thing and stand by my decision to continue this case. There is precedence for ending this nonsense (not that you should need that, but another School has taken the proper measures before), see the Santa Monica story below.

Details about this case are at the bottom of this letter. Here are the email addresses for the Alameda media and the Board of Education.

Alameda Journal
ajletters@cctimes.com

Alameda Times-Star
triblet@angnewspapers.com

Alameda Sun
jpark@alamedasun.com

Alameda Daily News
donroberts@alamedadailynews.com

Alameda Board of Education
bguenther@alameda.k12.ca.us
jgibson@alameda.k12.ca.us
bbingham@alameda.k12.ca.us
aelefant@alameda.k12.ca.us
breeves@alameda.k12.ca.us

Details

• one child was traumatized, according to the guardian.
• the School, District, and now the publicly elected Board, specifically refuse to inform the parents of the class that was duct-taped, knowing that a child was traumatized.
• every parent that I contacted, except for the one previously mentioned, did not know about this incident.
• another child tied up my child at the wrists.

• the teacher said he's sorry.
• the principal said they will notify parents prior to "doing this again". It sounds like "exemption" rather than "informed consent". See the principal's letter.
• the principal will continue to allow teachers to duct-tape students. See the principal's letter.

• Precedence to stop restraining students: the African-American Parent Support Group in Santa Monica, CA. complained about the same lesson there. The School changed the policy and the author of the lesson from Teachers Curriculum Institute Bert Bower said "it is inappropriate to bind students". [Story 1], [Story 2]

• I have two demands of the Alameda school system, they are:
  1. Inform the parents of the class of what happened, and offer counseling if requested. Why? A child was traumatized. Knowing that this teaching practice has mentally hurt a child should cause a caring reaction to reach out and offer any help.

  2. Write policy to stop teachers from restraining students for the purpose of teaching a lesson. Why? "We're sorry", they say (wink, wink), and they continue to allow it. I don't care what the lesson is about, nobody puts my kid into bondage. The Student Conduct Handbook makes it pretty clear when it is acceptable for staff to use force to restrain a student (see the handbook, about 60% down, Corporal punishment ) This sets a terrible precedent. What will teachers do to make children "experience" and "feel" the holocaust? How much further will progressive teachers take this? Not to equate the two issues but, the same day this story hit the press, an Alameda resident was arrested for child molestation, he is a teacher in San Leandro and I believe once taught in the Alameda School District. [Story]

• I am not asking for the teacher's removal.
• You can browse to www.goalameda.com for all the transactions concerning this case.

Thanks for any support. Please help me stop teachers duct-taping kids to the floor (everytime I say it or write it, I still can't believe it).

Barnaby Falls

[Larry Lucido]

School Board allows teachers to duct-tape students to the floor - need your help

How about velcro, then?

[tutstar]

what?

[dawn53]

I'm assuming this is a joke, right????

And if it isn't, why would anyone allow a child to stay in a school where they would be duct taped to the floor?

Seems like if you don't approve the solution is easy, pull the kids out of school, immediately.

[philetus]

Tell your kid to refuse to allow them to tie him/her up.

If they restrain and do it anyway you have a criminal charge against them.

If they suspend your child for refusing, you can get this in the courts.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Because the head of the CA Dept of Education(or whatever the position is called) is aggressively trying to eliminate home schooling. Private schools may not be an affordable option.

[A_perfect_lady]

BUMP. I wrote a school board member. Short and sweet, but they need a lot of letters to encourage them to "look into this matter." Good luck and get your child out of that school!!

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

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Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

[blackdog]

Better than crazy glueing them to the ceiling....

[Publius6961]

Waaaay overdue.
If these little animals are required to be accepted...

It's either that or a cage...

Whatever happened to the concept of education in a quiet and safe environment?

What a concept!

[Diddle E. Squat]

Their is a conservative advocacy group in CA that has helped home schoolers in going to court and has filed lawsuits against public school excesses. Maybe other Freepers can give you the organizations name(Pacific something), but the lawyer whose name I've seen in several of the cases is 'Dacus'.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Make that "his last name is 'Dacus'."

[Redleg Duke]

How about riveting them to the banister then?

Could nail their hands and feet to the wall...but, no, too Jewish!

[PLK]

it was not unsafe

What if there was a fire? How in the world would the child escape?

I think there may be a legal precedent regarding this type of "sensitivity" training. A teacher in Iowa conducted an "experiment" in her classroom called "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes," or something like that. It's been made into a movie that I saw in some stupid Sociology class. The kids were divided up by eye color, and then "rules" made for their treatment during the school day. The kids with blue eyes were not allowed to eat, talk in class, go out to recess, and other foolish stuff. They filmed the whole thing. The teacher let mob mentality take over the classroom and by the end of the "experiment," kids were crying & it was a total mess. The whole point was to teach kids how it feels to be a victim of "racism."

Anyway, I heard that someone took the school to court and that ended the "experiment." Any Iowa Freepers remember this, or has anyone else seen this film?

[gridlock]

This is such stupidity. What can binding the hands of a student possibly teach them about slavery? I guess it could give them insight into the stupidity of government power, but slavery was largely a private sector thing back then.

Slavery was a lifetime of deprivation and lack of freedom. Binding a childs hands for a half hour is not going to give him any greater knowledge of what that is like.

[TxBec]

Pacific Justice?? that seems to ring a bell.. anyone?

[PLK]

Waaaay overdue. If these little animals are required to be accepted...

The kids are being duct-taped to the floor to teach them how it felt to be a victim of slavery.

[mvpel]

I would eat ramen noodles every day if it meant that my child could avoid being subjected to the hell-holes that are this state's public schools. What is a child's emotional and physical well-being worth? Why would anyone be willing to accept welfare schooling and the poverty of results that it yields? Who gives a flying fig whether some bureaucrat is aggresively trying to stamp out home-schooling and the educational excellence it generally produces? Aren't our children worth a little civil disobedience?

[TxBec]

Pacific Justice??

[Registered]

What you said.