i didnt see a crime
civil suit ? these are sue crazy times
maybe the principal can sue

Times are crazy,, been headed this way for decades, valedictorian takes a cake & everything needed to pass pieces out & gets expelled over a plastuc knife, but kids act up all day & teachers have no recourse today, except ask them to be nice,
Here we have this supposedly "special needs" kid,, okay,, its true, but to what degree? & How much BS does that kid get away with daily Because of that "special Needs" tag? Maybe it was time this kid get a more "Hands On" lesson in doing what he is told. Theres really not enough context here for me. Thats the Principal, so, I know a couple of things. He has been in the school system a while. He is well paid & values his job. There is a camera watching his every move.
I have to think he didnt believe his actions were Over the Line. I dont either, based on what I saw. Not every act by an adult in dealing with a kid is kind & loving & all warm & fuzzy. Its time people stop tying the hands of the people the kids are sent to every day. I think the kids have ( some of them, anyway) learned they can act pretty bad & get away with it.



Theres a real good chance he knows that kid & theres a real good chance he is just fed up with him,

Some kids will take advantage of the rules & behave as badly as they can get away with, some kids are just nice & want to be nice & live in a nice world, But I expect we all remember the punks & thugs from school. Without the paddle in the principals office always being there & at the ready, they would have been so much worse,,
I cant imagine what school is like today.

You know they cant even play dodge ball any more, right?

Thanks, you all make me feel better for my thinking.  Our educators must have some leaway when it comes to our kids.  We expect them to educate them but not teach them how not to act?  I don't think so!  Granted, I don't condone child abuse.  But like JOG, I bet this principal knew this child very well and has had dealings with him before.  I don't understand those who want to hang the very people we expect to help raise our children.  The schools are the only place where some children have any structure whatsoever, and where they can be taught that certain behaviors are unacceptable.  

Yea Bot, why can't we all just get along?!          

If the kid was engaged in activity that endangered the safety and or peaceful security of himself or other students the Principal's actions were necessary, and even mandated. It looks to me that the kid threw a temper tantrum and could have done harm to himself or others. To charge the Principal with a criminal offense is over reacting. Even if the Principal is acquitted or found not guilty his career is ruined, and he would be wise to sue for loss of a lifetimes worth of wages.
I agree completely with JoG as well. These kids today have no, or not nearly enough consequences when they behave badly.
We used to punish too much, and unfairly, and now the pendulum has swung too far the other way.
Even special needs kids have to realize that they have to live by societies rules. I work with these kids on a daily basis, and have been taught restraining techniques, and attack avoidance techniques as well.
The legal issues of restraint and self defense are OTOH as convoluted as a bowl of spaghetti.

Bring back corporal punishment within the school system. Be sure to have it supervised to prevent abuse. Yeah some kids got thwacked when they didn't need it but society on the whole was more respectful when the back of your hands reminded you that being rude was unacceptable.

Reasoning with a child works well if the child has been reasoned with and well trained from birth, unfortunately in today's society most children are handed off to to the system asap so that their parents can go back to their career, and then parents demand that the system do all the raising without giving them the tools required to raise a child properly.

bill67 wrote on 05/08/12 at 09:53:52:

Bill: A number of years ago a couple of grade 8 girls who didn't like their teacher got together and made up a sexual abuse story about him. He was relieved of duties with pay until his court date, where the girls admitted making the story up. Even after that, parents of other kids at the school refused to send their kids, and he was discharged. He was unable to get a teaching job anywhere after that. 5 years (at least) of post secondary education wasted. He couldn't sue, as the girls were under 12 years of age and deemed "not responsible" and Ontario law did not at that time have provision for the suing of parents for damages that their kids caused.
What would you do?

Jerry Eichenberger wrote on 05/08/12 at 10:31:27:

Jerry: as usual the problem boils down to money. It is far cheaper to integrate IEP (individual education plan) into a regular classroom than to create a separate class for them. There are two kinds of IEP's, one for learning disabilities and one for behavioral issues. It is a good thing to integrate the LD kids- good for their self esteem, and for the self esteem of the other kids who help them. They generally do better when integrated. The behavioral kids, though, cause a lot of classroom disruption, which encourages some kids to "follow" the bad behaviors and p!sses off the other kids, who want to learn. Both types require support for the teacher, in the form of special training and teacher's aids, both unfortunately, are being cut back.
You have a class of 28 kids, 6 who are on IEP's, with one or two of those behavioral, or both.
No wonder teaching has the second highest amount of stress, second only to air traffic controllers.