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A serious incident in which two teachers and a student with disabilities were badly injured in early May has prompted Palo Alto Unified School District teachers to demand more help managing student behavior and that the district remove from the schools anyone who attacks staff.
The group of teachers, who spoke at the Tuesday, May 23, Board of Education meeting, said the latest incident is just one of many in which staff have been harmed by students. The board also received recommendations from the Elementary Behavior Supports Ad Hoc Committee on ways to reduce problematic classroom behavior.
Superintendent Don Austin said a series of actions to address the issue would be announced as soon as this Friday.
The teachers spoke emotionally about the recent incident.
“Now that we have your attention, the district must unequivocally declare it has zero tolerance for violence by committing to pass policies that remove anyone who attacks a staff member or student. That is a promise worth making. The community is watching. So are we,” Palo Alto High School teacher Daniel Nguyen said.
Another teacher who said she has children in Palo Alto Unified appealed for assistance from the district.
“Behavior has been tough for us as teachers. It has kind of gotten away from us, and we need help. It’s not because we’re not doing our best. It’s not because we don’t fight for our babies every day. We do, and we’re failing,” she said.
“We’re failing to teach them properly in reading. We’re failing to teach our most struggling kids in math because we are chasing behaviors by ourselves. We’re being asked to be therapists, teachers, administrators, behavior analysts — everything on our own, isolated in our classrooms, and we can’t do it,” she said while in tears. “It breaks our hearts. … We’re asking you all, each and every one of you, to really look deeply at this issue and step forward in a new way.”
The incident at JLS Middle School
The incident at Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School campus occurred the morning of May 5 during a class, according to Palo Alto police Capt. James Reifschneider.
A staff member in her 30s reported a male student struck her in the head with a folding chair and kicked her in the stomach and hip. She reportedly sustained a concussion, a bump on her head, and back and hip pain and other subsequent serious injuries resulting from the attack.
A staff member in her 20s reported that the student punched her in the face multiple times and also bit her on the arm. She sustained bruising to her arm and facial pain. According to the student’s parents, he sustained swelling, scratches, bruising, and pain to one arm. Reifschneider said.
The female staff members sought treatment at a local hospital following the incident.
School administrators notified police on May 5 at 3:15 p.m. of the battery, and officers took an informational report.
‘Over the past five years, there’s been an increase in elementary student behavioral concerns.’
Amanda Boyce, director of special education, Palo Alto Unified
A person familiar with the student, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the student has autism and that the school had a behavior plan for him. In addition to the initial swelling and bruising, the student is receiving ongoing medical treatment for muscle and nerve injuries as well as trauma and anxiety, the person said.
Due to the age of the student, who is under 12 years of age, and the crimes alleged, no criminal charges are allowed under state law. California Welfare and Institutions Code 602 governs the limited circumstances when juveniles may be subjected to criminal prosecution, based on age, Reifschneider said.
Children under age 12 are not prosecuted in state court except for certain crimes such as murder and certain sex offenses. Instead, counties use community-based services to address issues regarding incidents related to the youngest children, according to a legal analysis.
Austin said during Tuesday’s board meeting that he couldn’t enter into details regarding the incident for privacy reasons. He cautioned that while some information being passed around is accurate, some is inaccurate or only partially correct.
On Wednesday, Austin said in a text message to the Palo Alto Weekly that he wouldn’t comment on personnel or student issues. But due to the amount of misinformation and conjecture, he did say that the teacher who was hit was not administratively placed on leave and was not reprimanded.
The district plans a third-party investigation
Changes around how student behavior is handled by the district, including bringing in a third party to examine the district’s systems, could be forthcoming. Austin said Tuesday he has pulled his team together to review comments and requests, including those from his meeting with the district’s three associations. The administration is working to implement many of the recommendations and expects to announce a series of actions as soon as this Friday, May 26.
Those actions include: an unprecedented investment in behavior support positions at every level, professional development for all staff members, additional programs on sites, a parent-education program and calendar, and work around digital citizenship, and adoption of a consistent elementary social-emotional learning (SEL) program, he said. All would be ready by the board’s June 6 meeting.
“I want to acknowledge the impact these incidents have had on our staff and assure you that the well-being of our staff is a top priority. Earlier today, I met with our three association presidents as part of our ongoing efforts to address student behavior issues. Today, we spent quite a bit of time together. We agreed that a third-party investigation is important,” Austin said.
The investigation would begin around June 9, and although the timing coincides with summer break, he said the investigation would continue when staff returns.
‘I assure you, your voices will be heard.’
Don Austin, superintendent, Palo Alto Unified
“The intent of the third party is to look at every part of the system — not to find fault and blame — but to make us better. And when I mean every part of the system, I mean every part of the system,” Austin said.
“While transparency is important, we must also respect the privacy of those involved including the staff and students. We kindly ask for your cooperation in approaching this matter with understanding and sensitivity. I assure you, your voices will be heard.”
Also on Tuesday, the Elementary Behavior Supports Ad Hoc Committee presented its recommendations to the school board. The committee included district administrators and staff, behavior-intervention members, teachers, parents, Palo Alto Educators Association President Teri Baldwin and the Community Advisory Committee for Special Education in Palo Alto (CAC).
“Over the past five years, there’s been an increase in elementary student behavioral concerns, referrals to our behavior support team and requests for functional behavior assessments and behavior intervention plans,” said Amanda Boyce, district director of special education.
The committee recommended assigning a behavior intervention coach to each elementary school site — eight new positions. The recommendations also include developing consistent social emotional learning programs and behavioral intervention strategies, access and support for all students from the behavioral team, and continued, more intensive support and direct service from the behavioral team for students with the most severe behavioral needs.
Other recommendations include improved tracking of student behavior, ongoing staff training, parent education regarding how to support a child with needs and building consistent communication between home and school when behavioral incidents occur.
The teacher had a miscarriage. So, so tragic. And PAUSD should have paid to have the kid educated elsewhere, with his history of violence.
If a teacher had a miscarriage due to a male student under the age of 12 attacking her, then this is heartbreaking for the teacher and her family.
A life has been lost here. So sad.
“I want to acknowledge the impact these incidents have had on our staff and assure you that the well-being of our staff is a top priority”. Sure, like the priority you gave for not checking on the staff directly associated with the Pete Colombo false accusations or supporting those falsely accused. Well being of ones job seems more appropriate.
A late dog park buddy used to teach at JLS and she’d routinely show up battered abd bruised with bite marks, explaining how the school wouldn’t do anything to protect her and how some of the kids were very big and there was no way she could protect herself.
The school always had “behavioral plans” for the students but nothing changed for her.
She’s been dead for at least 12 years.
“Children under age 12 are not prosecuted in state court except for certain crimes such as murder and certain sex offenses. Instead, counties use community-based services to address issues regarding incidents related to the youngest children, according to a legal analysis.”
Really? And what’s the parents’ liability for the harm caused by their kid(s)?
And what does PAUSD do to compensate the teachers for their injuries?
This is shocking and outrageous. And utterly heartbreaking. As I read the article I kept asking what is going on in our homes and schools that is causing children to behave so badly that teachers are as desperate as described here and what can we do about it? Striking a teacher with a folding chair? Hitting? Biting? We cannot expect our teachers to absorb that sort of abuse. Nor should the students who are managing to behave well. Children who act out as described need help and, sadly, should not be in situations that they cannot handle emotionally b/c that is dangerous for them and all around them.
Remedies for what’s wrong are no doubt going to be expensive. If Palo Alto really has money to spend, this article makes clear what the spending priority MUST be. The entire community benefits when parents with challenging children get the support they need, when children with special needs are properly supported, and when teachers have the resources necessary to maintain a calm, safe teaching environment.
There was a recent report about Supt. Austin embracing AI. Really? In an environment as chaotic as PAUSD is described to be, do young minds need to be grappling with the world according to AI, too? We are asking an awful lot of our children, their parents, and their teachers.
“She reportedly sustained a concussion, a bump on her head, and back and hip pain and other subsequent serious injuries resulting from the attack.”
She sustained a miscarriage.
I knew a paid expert witness who worked similar cases. The stories are tragic.
PAUSD teachers are not trained properly for such situations. They are not briefed on protocols in advance, not evaluated according to Ed Code, and administrative supervision is inadequate. It seems administrators are taught to walk away from students acting out. I’ve seen it regularly. Call it “risk management”. Better to blame staff for an incident than an administrator. Thus, teachers don’t supervise the halls, or intervene in dangerous student behaviors. Fights are ignored because it is too risky to do otherwise.
Further, administrators are off campus an inordinate amount of time attending meetings or trainings that could be done remotely or at better times. Either leadership is out of touch with campus realities so they don’t see the need for a strong and proactive administrative presence, or they are shielding themselves.
Let’s hope lessons are learned from this tragedy and sound policy applied. Not tired platitudes from Mr. Austin, but real change and accountability.
Remember, he will say all the right things after the fact:
“an unprecedented investment in behavior support positions at every level, professional development for all staff members, additional programs on sites, a parent-education program and calendar, and work around digital citizenship, and adoption of a consistent consistent elementary (SEL) program” …
Why weren’t these procedures already in place?
“I want to acknowledge the impact these incidents have had on our staff and assure you that the well-being of our staff is a top priority”.
He is referring to himself and his associates. Not teachers. Not aides. Not students. Not support staff.
Given the changes needed and the honest discussions necessary to bring about the change, I do not believe Mr. Austin is equal to the task. He has created an environment where such change is not possible under his leadership. I’m not alone here.
Cotteling ! That’s what’s happening in homes
Putting kids with disabilities at this level in mainstream classes is bad for the disabled student, bad for the other students, bad for the teachers, bad for the school, bad for the city. We “forget” hard learned lessons, and they are hard to relearn. You need special facilities for special needs.
This is so tragic. My heart goes out to the teacher and their family. JLS teachers and staff are among the most hardworking and caring people I have met when my kids were there. For a public school teacher to have to deal with special ed kids, regular kids, overachieving kids, entitled kids, and of course aggressive parents who think their kids are super special, or who threaten to lawyer up at the drop of a hat, it’s too much. I have chaperoned field trips and some kids are so ill-mannered and badly behaved and disrespectful both toward chaperones and staff. I hope the district puts in place some more protections for school staff and I agree with the comment above, special needs kids need special facilities for both the special needs kid to thrive and for protecting the staff who work with these kids.
I do feel for the family of the student. Our special needs classrooms, as far as I am aware, are not designed for special needs students with this type of violent behavior needs. At this age he will only get stronger as he ages and this will make his care even more specialized, both at home and at school. It is obvious that his needs should take him out of PAUSD and into a specialized facility which can meet his needs. This is for his safety, his carers/teachers safety, fellow students safety and also for the safety of his family. I think his family will also need respite care and professional help for their own home.
Additionally, the fact that the miscarriage occurred is not just a medical emergency and should not be reported as such. As anyone who has suffered miscarriage knows, death of the baby is not something that is easily forgotten with a trip to the ER. Any miscarriage has the possibility of preventing further pregnancies which does happen in some cases. This is the worst possible scenario of course and we have no idea about this case. Many who suffer miscarriages name the child and have funerals and burials for them. This is a life that has ended and it doesn’t get forgotten easily. People carry the pain of miscarriage with them throughout the rest of their lives even if they have subsequent healthy births.
I’m hoping the teacher gets a restraining order against the student to keep him out of her classroom. That would make Mr. Austin have to actually do something about educating the child in a setting more appropriate for him. My heart goes out to her–it’s been over 40 years since my miscarriage and that grief becomes a permanent part of who we are. I’m so terribly sorry.
“Not my AL Mata” I thought changing the school name would fix everything? Jordan Junior high never had these problems a time when we had respect for authority. Maybe focus on things that really matter Like our children’s mental health!
This is really disturbing news. I do feel that there needs to be more attention to the respect and behavior of the students and PARENTS need to be much more involved with their children and teaching values. I had been a teacher (not within PAUSD) and a substitute within PAUSD. I stopped substituting when students were answering me back and being disrespectful, even when the person in charge of discipline came to the classroom — this was at Jordan. Shocking! I was always told that it only occurs at Jordan due to the parents (I am a parent of a former Jordan student) and the increased wealth of the community and not teaching respect.
The fact that a teacher had a miscarriage is just beyond words. Having had a miscarriage myself, it is so heartbreaking. Not only was I not able to have more children, I also remember that baby every December when she would have been born. Heartbreaking that is was caused by a student. Just awful in so many ways.
We expect teachers to deal with autistic kids the way we expect police to deal with mentally disturbed people. The autistic kid needs to be placed in a school for those kids not public schools until he/she is ready to be mainstreamed.
Will this child remain at PAUSD? I am concerned not just for the physical safety of our teachers but my kids as well. Shouldn’t parents be informed when a child who exhibits such violence shares the school?
This is a very tragic situation, but not a shock to the teachers in PAUSD. I guess we just need to learn to be more resilient like the big boss. Teachers have been begging for more support and are often told to stop complaining and get with the program. No honest conversation can be had around the broken special Ed system because it doesn’t align with the district narrative they are trying to sell.
Dr. Donny knows all and he has made sure voices that don’t confirm his all knowing get silenced. If you speak up, you put yourself at risk in this culture. His teachers are NOT his top priority and neither are the students. His ego is his top priority. He has demonstrated that over and over again. But the board loves him because most of them are also there for their own egos.
We have to stop looking at teachers as the problem and start listening to what they need to do their jobs well. The students and families will benefit!
It is outrageous to expect teachers and school staff to deal with children so disabled and/or damaged that such violence is a risk, to staff & to other students.
Sure, public schools are supposed to provide education but let’s face facts: some children aren’t educable in classrooms and shouldn’t be there. Any child as disturbed & dangerous to others as this JLS kid, regardless of his age should not be allowed at any public school without his parent’s accompaniment. I doubt he’s absorbing any “learning.” Parents have a moral responsibility to protect others from their violent children. They should also be legally & financially liable for any harm to people or property caused by their minor children. If parents don’t want to accompany their student, let them arrange home schooling or custodial care at their own, not public, expense. Dumping offspring on a school system to essentially babysit “problem children” is unfair to everyone else impacted by their behaviors.
Remember the 6 year old who brought a gun to school & shot his teacher recently? That kid was supposed to be accompanied every day by a parent but on that day, neither parent attended.
I hope the poor woman who was so injured that she miscarried sues those parents for everything they have. There are laws governing personal responsibility for control of any dangerous pet animals. If kids are dangerous to others, society must be protected from them too, and not at school district expense. Institutionalization of uncontrollably violent people (of any age) is one way to protect the rest of humanity.
This is so disturbing on multiple levels. I feel bad for the teachers, students and staff. But I am also frustrated, but not entirely surprised, that things have come to this.
As most people who know me have come to expect, as soon as I read this news, I got to thinking and acting on those thoughts, strategizing on how I might be able to best help…
My life is about keeping people safe. I have taught self-defense to thousands of people, including the course and many workshops at Stanford, as well as at several local schools, including Paly several years ago. I read this news a few minutes before teaching my self-defense class at Stanford this morning. And I immediately reached out to the journalist to see if she had some contacts at the schools for me to discuss things further. As she simply suggested going to the administrative offices, I did that right after class. Everyone seemed to be out to lunch that I was being directed to. But at least they took down my contact info. Then, also on my route to teach my other classes at Cubberley this afternoon/evening, I stopped by JLS…
By chance, as I was walking up to the office at JLS, I saw Mike Jacobs, who heads school safety for the district (which I had previously offered to do but am happy Mike is doing now). We both told the other that we were just thinking about each other. He wants me to teach self-defense and possibly help in other ways to build more “community” among students, teachers and staff.* I offered to do what I can and we agreed to talk more.
Hopefully administration will approve whatever we propose to help keep everyone safe.
*For anyone interested in building community at our schools, reducing bullying, fostering compassion and reducing suicides, please take a look at challengeday.org (I’m afraid the link will be deleted if I post it here?). I am hosting a fundraiser for them on June 4. Feel free to reach out to me for info.
To the parents of the child at the center of this article: Please reach out to me if you are interested in me working with your child. I have a lot of experience working with autistic kids and adults, including some with violent tendencies.
This Paly Voice article summarizes the meeting where 30 people spoke and where Austin said they’ll be addressing staff evaluations and how staff handle disciplinary actions in an investigation starting in June.
https://palyvoice.com/172797/news/investigation-to-begin-as-jls-incident-sparks-concern/
The child was moved to Greene Middle School – kick the can down the road. A typical PAUSD resolution. The district has a Super with an obnoxious ego, surrounding himself YES people and Special Ed leaders who are not qualified for the job. Instead of addressing the problems PAUSD hides them, avoid any reports and paper trail. Our Board needs to be removed they have let the Super and his Yes team rule for too long.
@online name if staff “mishandled” behavior most likely it was at the direction or lack of support from Churchill.
I work in a PAUSD elementary and last year a student confided in me that her plan was to hide in the girls’ bathroom if another student came after her – her logic being that he wouldn’t follow her in there. When a child is making escape plans because she doesn’t feel safe at school, you can assume that there’s not a whole lot of academic learning going on. The troubled student made the entire class feel on edge – they never knew when he might explode in anger. To be clear, the student was in need of help, but it was very slow in coming. There are too many children who are struggling emotionally in our district (and around the country) and there are not nearly enough trained staff to support them. And classroom teachers should not have to bear the brunt of this – but they do. As do the other kids in the class. Being in a general education classroom is not the best answer for every student. I think Mr. Austen and the district should be setting the expectation for parents that if a student cannot meet basic behavioral standards, they will not be placed in gen ed classrooms. And the district needs to develop alternate classrooms/campuses to accommodate the students who cannot function in a typical classroom. Yes, it is expensive, but so are lawsuits that will inevitably come from teachers/staff/students that are injured, as happened in this truly awful situation. The lauded Palo Alto schools that real estate ads tout are a fantasy. Teachers and staff are burned out. Kids are not getting high quality education because classroom instruction is interrupted so frequently with behavior management/interventions. I would implore parents in this district to ask their kids about what school is really like. And I would also implore parents to remind their kids that school staff and their peers deserve respect.
It’s very sad that providing “self-defense” instruction, as recommended by Jon Keeling & Mike Jacobs, is recommended for the benefit of teachers and staff at our public schools.
Perhaps if teachers were compensated at the same levels as corporate mid-level managers (who often have less formal education than many teachers) parents would place more value & show more respect for the profession. That increased respect would get transmitted to their offspring & eventually result in better student behavior in classrooms.
Some people only value what is costly and it’s clear that teachers don’t get the expensive perks available to successful people in the corporate world. There are no company benes like car allowances, paid business travel so employees accrue frequent-flyer/hotel miles & use toward fancy family vacations. No luxe business-paid dinners, etc. I hear Paly kids hanging out for lunch at T& C make fun of their teachers because they drive un-cool modest, older cars, don’t sport designer sunglasses or accessories, and wear budget to mid-level clothes. I see girls with $300 sunglasses & designer bags strolling University Ave.
Let’s honor our teachers by paying them double what they currently earn & see if our kids show more respect for the teachers who are prepping them for entry into colleges & the subsequent careers which will determine the adult lifestyles they expect to emulate.
Remember that if your kid is a brat at home, teachers put up with him x 23 (x 100+ in mid-hi) all day long. Teach courtesy, manners, & respect for others to your kids at home, starting very early.
No, I’m not & have never been a teacher.
Really odd to me in a time of so many school shootings that repeated violent behavior is not addressed more seriously.
I hope these mistakes won’t be used as a case study in the future of how violent behavior is ignored and escalated to even more catastrophic outcomes.
I wonder what decision makers here are prioritizing. Safety of our students and faculty doesn’t seem to be it.
“We’re failing to teach them properly in reading. We’re failing to teach our most struggling kids in math because we are chasing behaviors by ourselves. We’re being asked to be therapists, teachers, administrators, behavior analysts — everything on our own, isolated in our classrooms, and we can’t do it,”
But, Don Austin always talks about how great things are.
Can all but guarantee that given that the “investigation” will start after school ends, nothing of substance will happen. Austin will definitely talk it up big in public, but let’s see what actually changes.
“Austin said in a text message to the Palo Alto Weekly that he wouldn’t comment on personnel or student issues. But due to the amount of misinformation and conjecture, he did say that the teacher who was hit was not administratively placed on leave and was not reprimanded.”
So, Austin will comment on personnel issues, or won’t he? Or will he only when it makes him look better.
When will the board open their eyes? They obviously support Austin, which makes them equally at fault at what is going on.
I see this outrageous violent situation happening owing to CA politicians and education bureaucrats:
I don’t care if the boy is autistic (or not); he MUST be removed for staff and other students’ safety.
I suspect state of CA education bureaucracy FAVORS the violent, misbehaving student. This isn’t the school’s fault.
We have gotten away from the practical world and common sense in our policies now coddling misbehaving, violent youth.
Teacher safety and teaching time must be prioritized! – They are the adults in the room, the professionals in the situation!
Not to mention the necessity for public safety – the risk to other students must be included in decision making over plans for the offender.
This goes over the line; it isn’t workable for improvement nor safe for the public to shift this kid to another local school or class.
I don’t care if child is categorized as special,ed or not; shouldn’t matter.
The parents of the boy who attacked others cannot evade accountability and active involvement with their child going forward. People are individuals, but if the child is too young to “take responsibility,” well then, the parents must actively do so now.
This isn’t confined to Palo Alto; I’ve heard of San Jose Unified not protecting teachers who cannot cope with violent youth who are emboldened to act out, trash classrooms, curse, etc..
This situation goes to the top of CA public education and government.
Phony reasoning that more students of color are suspended and disciplined has led to lack of any personal responsibility. I don’t carevabout the ethnicity of the student, Incare about the behavior.
The logic of politicians (who don’t see, have to deal with or care about real life school situations) has led to their insistence that suspensions/discipline be proportional to child’s ethnic group percentage at a school – or no accountability will happen.
How about the reality that in *some* places more students of color (minorities in some places) actually commit violent acts at school!? Somwhat. Deal with reality.
School is for learning and we have every right to require reasonable student behavior or have penalties and correction.
California, I fear for your future.
I am sorry to have to come back to say this again, but it seems that the media, the authorities and many commenters are doing what is always done when discussing miscarriage, call it a medical condition rather than what it is, the death of a life.
Any family that has gone through the death of a life through miscarriage know that this death will be mourned long beyond the due date. This is not something that a trip to the ER heals with perhaps a few scars, but will be a lifelong grief.
The media is more sympathetic to someone who loses a pet than they do to someone losing a child through miscarriage. It is time for that to change. Miscarriage is the death of a child and should be treated with the dignity and respect of any death.
Request of Editor: bring back the LIKE button. It is an indicator of support for an opinion that has been expressed as well as a worthwhile indicator of community sentiment on issues.
Echoing Annette’s call to bring back the LIKE button.
“@online name if staff “mishandled” behavior most likely it was at the direction or lack of support from Churchill.”
Absolutely agree. That’s what my late buddy said when she kept getting injured at JLS 12+ years ago and what many of the other posters here, esp. former teachers, are saying.
Please read the Paly Voice article https://palyvoice.com/172797/news/investigation-to-begin-as-jls-incident-sparks-concern/ linked above. Had that teacher not spoken out at the school board meeting, it seems we’d never know about this incident. It’s also incredible to me that Austin’s response is to change how staff is evaluated rather than to address the problem. Talk about blaming the victims.
Finally, let’s not forget the 6-yr-old “profoundly disabled boy who shot his teacher in Virginia while the school administrators kept ignoring reports of the kids’ violence.
My neurodivergent child was in class with this particular child. He has been exhibiting these violent behaviors since 2nd grade- kicking hitting throwing large objects at adult aides teachers and students.
No child has the right to continuous violence in our schools. This crosses a line and is not new for this child OR a few other boys in my children’s elementary school classes over the years who have repeatedly exhibited violence (throwing chairs, stabbing with pencils, daily lewd remarks and repeatedly touching multiple girls private parts- just to name a few).
These documented and widely observed seriously aggressive/criminal-if-adults actions continuing after meaningful interventions and supports SHOULD NOT BE TOLERATED in our schools. My child and classmates and teacher were in daily danger in class with two kids like this and little was done to protect them. The teacher regularly came out of the classroom screaming for help. I was there as a volunteer. In elementary school.
Now- predictably- a tragedy has occurred.
On the other side: I have multiple neurodivergent children myself and it has been a ridiculously uphill battle to get them basic accommodations that the law requires from PAUSD. The help they needed outside of the schools is very expensive and very slow to get access. It has taken 5 years in one case for one of my children. My neurodivergent kids are never violent and have never come close to striking a teacher/adult/staff or other child of course. Violence in school is not at all typical of most neurodivergent or specifically autistic/spectrum kids. It’s a standard deviation away from that.
Can we please come up with basic non-tolerance auto expulsion for repeated violence and physical attacks against human beings in our schools- whether impulse/ rage, bullying or sexual harassment- by anyone – neurodivergent or not.
Don Austin must go.
Violent behavior by any student should result in immediate & permanent expulsion. No second chances or “having a rough day” excuses. Public schools, districts, and CA Dept. of Education are responsible for teaching an established curriculum. That cannot happen where disruption and violence can break out at any time. Schools et al are also responsible for the safety of students & all staff while on campus. Allowing any so disturbed & even one-time violent student to remain in a classroom or on campus violates this responsibility.
If the child were older, he’d be imprisoned. He should be confined now to his home or to a custodial facility designed to handle this behavior & never allowed back into any public school environment.
Sue his parents and sue the CA DoE for allowing such children to place others in danger on public school grounds. Schools are supposed to be a safe place of learning, free from any ongoing threat of harm.
It is obvious that PAUSD needs to rethink how it handles violence. The less severe incidents need to be contained before they escalate into something tragic. And this reform needs to happen in public, so that the parents can trust the outcome.
There were warning signs before this incident. Was the aide certified, and capable of maintaining control?
My kid was involved in a bullying accident (made front page of Palo Alto Online). The aggressors were not expelled, and I do not know what corrective actions were taken (privacy first!)
Since then I’ve helped others who had to deal with bullying. Just last week, I waiting to hear from a parent whose kid was bullied at private school nearby. I’ve never heard from the parent, because “school woke up and took it seriously. Expelled…..”. I’ve never heard this from PAUSD parents.
There’s an absurd disconnect happening here. On March 29 OF THIS YEAR, Zoe Morgan wrote a PAO article titled “School board considers options to address declining enrollment, looking to avoid campus closures.”
Dear Churchill, here are two ideas for your consideration: MAKE THE SCHOOLS SAFE and SUPPORT THE TEACHERS.
After discussing this incident, my husband and I agreed that if we had a child at JLS, we would withdraw the child and either home school or go the private school route. Neither would be financially comfortable, but the alternative is too risky.
Maybe PAUSD should make a point of having a superintendent with at least one child in the district so that decisions touch the superintendent in the same way that they touch students, teachers, and parents.
Violent students w special needs are kept within the district because it’s cheaper for the district. Many parents try to get an outside placement for their child to a school more suited to their needs but that men’s the district would have to pay for it (as long as the parents can show that PAUSD is not able to handle the child). PAUSD fights tooth and nail to deny payment so many families leave their children at the district because a private setting is too expensive for most.
The board does not care about students despite how often they say it in board meetings and campaign flyers. And Don Austin DEFINITELY doesn’t care.
I watched the board meeting from Tuesday. One comment. It would be nice if the board president didn’t chuckle throughout the open forum. Classless and unprofessional given the subject matter being discussed.
I’m a former student of one of the teachers assaulted.
When I attended JLS literally everybody loved her to the extent of following her Instagram and I quote saying: “She’s so cool, I wish I was her”
She literally changed my life and seeing her every day made my schooldays better.
She’s taught me how to plan and lead, how to take initiative, and most of all how to find my passions. Without her not only would I have not gotten into the school I’m in right now, I also would not have known who I was.
My best wishes to both staff assaulted, I wish them full and speedy recoveries both physically and mentally.
There is a giant flaw in the DoE if students who are uncontrollably violent are required to be “educated” at public expense. No one can learn much when subjected to the disruption and fear that a severely mentally/emotionally challenged “student” presents to others in a classroom.
Individual school districts should not have to bear the expense of providing anything other than education, to students able to control their behaviors in order to learn within a group environment.
Any child whose behavior is as threatening, violent & damaging to others as the one described in this thread should be separated from the group and confined for custodial care & whatever training may be possible at combined parental and CA State expense. The moral & legal responsibility should be to protect others from this person. Is he expected to “outgrow” this behavior or will his increasing size make him even more dangerous to others?
Same goes for another child who is so handicapped that at age 6, he is still in diapers, doesn’t feed himself or speak, and requires a full-time nurse to attend him at school, which a contiguous district is currently burdened with paying for.
I “like “ the comment below !
Posted by Annette
a resident of College Terrace
22 hours ago
Annette is a registered user.
Request of Editor: bring back the LIKE button. It is an indicator of support for an opinion that has been expressed as well as a worthwhile indicator of community sentiment on issues.
Does anyone else notice a pattern with PAUSD? It’s not a good one. We have a serious crisis of leadership, Board and Sup…
This is not just tragic; it is criminal. Although it was somehow not stated in the article, apparently a life was lost. A life. My deepest condolences to the teacher who lost her baby. Good thoughts to her fellow teacher who was also injured. Teachers should not have to go to school each day fearing for their safety. Nor should students.
How the hell have things gotten to this point?
Here is a way to help support the injured teachers:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/jls-middle-school-teacher-medical-fees
Superintendent Friday’s email described school’s response to the incident. One interesting part was “we have initiated a third-party external investigation into the recent incident at JLS Middle School”.
Could PAWeekly follow up on this investigation? Who is the third party, when will the report be released?
Chip,
I’ll start with what has happened is truly horrific and this horribly written article only gives a small glimpse of what happened. To use the diagnosis autism and not give any additional information allows comments such like yours to possibly carry weight.
Your comments are beyond filled with prejudice and are truly ignorant. Students of disabilities, yes even profound disabilities, are lawfully protected to learn in a public school setting. I suggest you learn about FAPE.
Additionally, your school of thought on reeks of ableism and does nothing but create harm. I hope the Weekly keeps yours and similar comments up for us to see just how much work is ahead of us.
For the record: I’m a parent of what you classify as a burden to the district, and my child has EVERY SINGLE RIGHT to the same education as others.
Be better, Chip.
come on people
sign up and share please
never has your voice been more critical
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc-FW12ybuM0-SHvuR-fxz3VV9C8HiH30gtn8ycOC6NNDymIg/viewform?usp=sf_link&usp=embed_facebook
PA Editor: Why was the portion removed in my comment about Austin not caring about students, yet the part about the board not caring was left?
Does that paper have some sort of agreement with Austin to not print negative comments about him?
My first job as a college graduate was working at a “group home” in Marin County. I had to undergo a training for a “PAR” certificate. I can’t recall here nor want to the absolutely tragic protocol steps to calm a violent teen resident. And then I had to actually do it ! It’s a something no one should have to do. Yet it kept them safe, the residents safe from harm. In a public setting don’t know. Yet like CPR isn’t there some kind of requirement for those working directly w students? I am sorry you dealt. W this.
My late goddaughter benefited from attending public school. Her days were spent in a chair. She could not speak, ambulate, or care for herself in any way. Her parents were told that she would maybe live a couple of years. About the time she turned 7, the predictions stopped. She died at age 25. Academically, I doubt she contributed to the school experience for the other students; her challenges were simply too great. But she contributed in other ways. I think all the children who interacted with her learned compassion and perseverance. And she benefitted from the interaction. That is a gift.
I think the key to this sad story is that the child who is at the center of it acted out in a violent way that was injurious to others. Without knowing the family it is impossible to know all the drivers in this incident, but my guess is that parents of children with special needs don’t get enough of the support they need for their child or themselves. This story has focused my thoughts on a weakness of society. We respond well to athletes, the fit, the attractive, the smart, and the capable. We do less well with the challenged, the infirm, the elderly. I’ve only lived in one other country for an appreciable period of time, but based on that my sense is that other countries do better and we need to improve.
@Annette raises some excellent points about compassion and empathy, especially given the growing trend to extol celebrities / politicians / executives who bully others, who get attention by being cruel and outrageous and by censoring and attacking those who object and/or protest and/or sue and/or disagree.
I agree with Anette.
I truly have mixed feelings about this story. I have compassion for the student with autism but also do not believe a public school teacher should have to deal with a violent attack that resulted in a miscarriage. Violent attacks by ANY student should not be tolerated!
Following up on the comment by Annette that is only available for registered PAOnline members to view, I wonder why the PAOnline editors decided to delete my comment where I offered support to the family by offering to work with the kid… I’ve worked with a lot of autistic kids and adults, including some who had/have a tendency toward violence. If the family is reading this, please feel free to reach out to me for help.
@JonKeeling – thank you for commenting on the treatment of your comment and mine. I do not understand why your earlier comment was deleted. When I read what you wrote, I thought it an extraordinary offer. I also do not understand how I violated the terms of use. I think both posts should be restored.
Every child has the right too an adequate education said the Supreme Court and I agree.
The vindictive and cruel opinions that some express on this thread are an affront to those who in the school setting and through no fault of themselves act in a way that’s detrimental to others (it’s not classified as a crime either). What should happen is that the child/children whose behavior is not suitable for the regular class should be provided with an educational setting adequate to its challenges. In this case is simply put in a class setting that is provocative to the child’s neurological condition without any appropriate and specific training and supervision. It’s neither the child fault or parents fault, or the school staff’s but it’s a failure of the PAUSD. PAUSD puts together children that have few commonalities and do not share specific educational challenges. This is the same as putting patients with very different diseases together and apply the same cure to all of them. If the teachers cannot reasonably educate such children then the PAUSD should pay for adequate and suitable education that the PAUSD itself can’t provide as it is its legal obligation.
PAUSD must manage its budget to cater for expenses with neurodivergent children as it seems that their allocation is insufficient.
Echoing @Annette’s comment:
@JonKeeling – thank you for commenting on the treatment of your comment and mine. I do not understand why your earlier comment was deleted. When I read what you wrote, I thought it an extraordinary offer. I also do not understand how I violated the terms of use. I think both posts should be restored.
————————————————————————–
We’re all adults here and censoring comments calling for change and/or offering to help after a horrendous situation like this brings a community together as does this GoFundMe effort to raise money for the teacher’s expense after suffering her miscarriage,. https://www.gofundme.com/f/jls-middle-school-teacher-medical-fee
That raises the questions of whether PASD will be covering all of her medical expenses and if not, why not.
Since there’s no way that the extra per-student funds PASD gets will cover the expenses for this and the other attacks that issue is also worthy of serious discussion, not hiding it under some censorship rug. Or maybe PAO is trying to protect the realtors’ tagline about Great Palo Alto Schools.
I too have been wondering why a GoFundMe account has been set up for the teacher(s) here.
I also wonder if OSHA is involved and the teachers union? No pregnant teacher should go to school, her job, and be fearful about losing her baby! No teacher should go to school and expect a trip to the ER just for doing her job.
Yes, I do have sympathy for the student, he deserves a good education and he deserves to be with teachers who are capable of teaching and caring for him. I have sympathy for the family, I am sure that they have a great deal to cope with at home.
For me, these are two different topics. Children, even special needs children, need a good education and deserve to be treated respectfully by everyone they come in contact with at their school. The family needs respect and help and probably respite care too.
Teachers, like all other professionals, deserve to be treated with dignity and respect by their students, their employers, and by the community in which they work. We can’t just dismiss the loss of a child as a workplace injury.
Two separate topics, both worth discussing and both have questions that need answers and a solution that will make neither of these things happen again in our schools.
Do we know for sure that the teacher miscarried because of the incident? It’s bad enough that physical damage ensued because of the incident in which teacher and the student himself were hurt. We don’t really need the emotional horror continuously being fed to the very serious situation.
Let us do something about it.
From this updated report, PASD is bringing its number of behavioral coaches from 19 to 31 to show their “swift response” to this “unfortunate” incident as well as teaching kids how to handle their emotions and a new teacher training program. No answer about removing violent kids
“The unfortunate incidents involving injuries to staff, along with other impactful events throughout this school year, have compelled us to take swift action for the coming year,” Superintendent Don Austin said in his Friday update. The district will add 12 new behavioral intervention coaches next year so that each school has one, Austin said… https://padailypost.com/2023/05/28/teacher-and-another-school-employee-hospitalized-after-fight-with-student-at-jls/
Several of us have wondered why the audience for Annette’s touching post about her special-needs god daughter was hidden and limited to a restricted audience. What, pray tell, is wrong with her post noting that the presence of her god daughter in school taught compassion to her classmates and others??
I thought compassion was supposed to be a good thing and have a hard time understanding why such a post would be restricted.
So, basically, the California EdCode’s dictate how schools can discipline children. And those rules are pretty lax. Coupled with the Palo Alto parent who never believes that their sweet child could do anything wrong plus the ability and means to sue if offended, kids are NOT being disciplined because the district fears to do anything. (Not necessarily referring to this story, or this particular child.) I have several stories of neurotypical kids doing crappy things and they are not disciplined. I was told by PAUSD that a kid would have to actually shoot up a school or murder someone on campus to be expelled. And it absolutely feels like the Edcodes are written to protect the perpetrators, not the victims. If a kid does something awful to your child, including something criminal, you are NOT privy to find out what actions, if any, were taken to discipline that child. Thats the breaks! And the school treads VERY lightly because you have the parent of the perpetrator threatening to sue the school. So guess what happens? Nada.
Whatever happened to alternative schools for kids who could not manage in the public schools? We don’t have them here in California! Thus, even kids who commit crimes are….still with the general population in public schools.
Something needs to change. We have a lot of kids these days who are not respectful and show no empathy. Especially males at the high school level. Too much emphasis on getting good grades and getting into good schools, not enough on character development.
What a show of empathy in this thread! For the teachers, for the fetus! None at all for the child who was born (presumably, I don’t know the details ) as the story indicates with neurologic and perhaps other ailments and whose
unacceptable and terrifying behavior is none of his or his parents fault. We don’t know what triggered the behavior so we don’t know the whole story. All we know is that two teachers were hurt and the student was hurt too.
Does anybody have any compassion at all for the parents who ended up with a child that will need care all his life? Or do you feel that “punishment” is should be meted because? they had the misfortune to have a handicapped child?
This “feelings” that many share are all a separated issue of what should be done about students who have negative responses and triggers to stimuli.
The student might not want to be violent, he is just reacting maybe to fear but the end result is violence. The student was hurt in this case which means also that violence was exercised on him, maybe justifiably so(we don’t know the details) but he is a child and PAUSD has failed him if the class is not
adequate to his educational needs which PAUSD is bound by law to fulfill.
It also fails the other students and teachers in the class.
My heart goes out to his parents.
@ndn: The child wasn’t harmed. The teacher was. I think that a wrongful death lawsuit that names PAUSD and the State of CA as being complicit in their failure to provide adequate protection for any staff member might help PAUSD and the State to re-visit their policies. This is a complex issue. If the student can’t exhibit self-control, I don’t think it’s up to the school to provide external control. There is an option, expulsion, that should be considered. Here’s the state link regarding expulsion: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ss/se/expulsionrecomm.asp See “Causing serious physical injury to another person, except in self-defense. EC Section 48915(a)(1)(A)” That’s under the middle-of-the-road reasons for expulsion under “Shall Recommend Expulsion Unless Particular Circumstances Render Inappropriate”. This should have been done immediately after the incident. Teachers shouldn’t have to re-live trauma at a BOE meeting.
I think the reason Annette’s poignant post is under cover is so that google or other aggregators can’t search for the specific key words or phrases in the post. There is nothing offensive in the post.
From the piece of news:
” A serious incident in which two teachers and a student with disabilities were badly injured.”
The three of them were badly injured.
We still don’t know what triggered the student’s actions.
@ndn If you’re inferring the teachers caused the incident (forcing a child to throw a chair at a teacher’s head?) I think that would have come out already. If it were true, the teachers wouldn’t still have their jobs.
“A staff member in her 30s reported a male student struck her in the head with a folding chair and kicked her in the stomach and hip. She reportedly sustained a concussion, a bump on her head, and back and hip pain and other subsequent serious injuries resulting from the attack.
A staff member in her 20s reported that the student punched her in the face multiple times and also bit her on the arm. She sustained bruising to her arm and facial pain. According to the student’s parents, he sustained swelling, scratches, bruising, and pain to one arm. Reifschneider said.”
It sounds like the student suffered injuries from being restrained to prevent him from continuing to batter the 2 teachers although it would be good to hear from sources other than his parents.
What a sad, scary and traumatic incident. I feel bad for everyone involved, especially the teachers. A miscarriage is so sad.
I understand why a certain poster had their comment deleted. Overstepping your bounds. I also understand why someone else is in trouble.
The Supreme Court affirmed that all children living in the United States have the right to a free public education (yes, even non documented children).
I think that there is some ignorance playing its tricks here. If the student in question is severely disruptive and has triggers that make him respond with physical force it is clear that the present school setting does not constitute adequate public education for him so it’s the PAUSD who has to answer for any incident. PAUSD must present his family a plan so that his public education right is preserved, but not necessarily in the present school setting.
The best way to support the students and teachers and staff is to remove Don Austin.
On Tuesday, June 20th, 2023, the PAUSD Board will convene for the last time in the 2022 – 2023 school year. The time is rapidly approaching when the PAUSD Board will be voting on whether to extend Superintendent’s Don Austin’s contract. We want the Board to hear the community loud and clear – do NOT renew Superintendent Austin’s contract.
While there have been many controversies recently, this is not about any one issue. Rather, it is about a pattern of behavior that has resulted in broken trust, alienation, a culture of intimidation, escalating conflict, and expensive lawsuits.
There is a petition / letter being shared for signature – the weekly removed it from an earlier post. Find the petition, sign it and help us be heard.
Where does the help that’s needed here come from? Even though PAUSD is a separate entity from the City of Palo Alto, what is going wrong is happening within the City, impacting Palo Altans and those who come here to teach. The children, teachers, families who are experiencing all that is being described here are in OUR VILLAGE. As I see it, this means the remedies are at least partially OUR responsibility. Does our City Manager need to lean on the school district? Does our Assemblyman need to push for more resources for families with children with special needs?
We live in a supposedly enlightened city with supposedly excellent schools. Yet this incident is revealing layers of a stinky onion.
Suggestions?
If the reality is such that violent students must be accommodated within the public school system, the reality is also such that district leadership should have had systems in place to deal with such realities. Mr. Austin continues to tout how great systems in PAUSD have evolved under his leadership. Why else would a district have a #1 Niche rating, right? Promise kept, right?
Wrong. Reality will not be found on websites, canned newsletters/updates, or faux rankings. It is found in the halls and in the classrooms. The fact of the matter is that violent and volatile students have been on campuses for decades and, under Austin’s leadership, teachers have been left hung out to dry. Now he claims, “Recent events have prompted us to expedite certain actions that were previously in the planning stages and introduce new measures to address concerns regarding behavior issues, communication, and student support”. Don’t buy it. This is just another bad attempt to gloss over an avoidable tragedy and to absolve himself of any responsibility. An engaged leader would have attempted to address the issue before it reached the crisis stage. Mr. Austin is not that type of leader and recent events have brought that to light.
For real change (not propaganda) to happen, there needs to be a change in leadership. The community deserves better.
NDN.
As someone who has been very concerned about the welfare of the teachers and of the baby who died, I feel I must correct you and ask you to reread my comments where I have shown plenty of concern for the student and his family.
The fact that you seem to dismiss the baby by calling it a fetus adds to your lack of concern for its death. When a couple announce their pregnancy, they are looking forward to the arrival of a baby. They have baby showers, they have gender reveal parties. Please show some concern for the family that are grieving this baby’s death.
The baby deserves the dignity of being acknowledged as such rather than dismissed as a fetus which is a dehumanizing description of a very much wanted child.
If Palo Alto doesn’t have a school and staff focused on helping such damaged children could the district not pay for the boy to attend one that does? He would then be educated in a more helpful environment and mainstream students would be sheltered from his violent outbursts.
Kudos to the 2 above posters for telling it like it is.
Spin won’t cut it any more than new and improved “plans” and hiring aides to teach teachers how to prepare better plans unless there’s commitment to ensuring the safety of all concerned.
None of Austin’s statements have addressed the question about when violent students are removed from school — something those new aides won’t and can’t address.
Let’s remember that there was an “individualized care plan” for the Virginia 6-year-old who shot his teacher requiring him to be accompanied at all times by a family member.
One day the family skipped school and the teacher was shot. But before that the boy consistently threatened the teacher, students and other staff — threats that were consistently ignored by school administration until irrefutable evidence of those complaints was produced when the teacher sued the school for negligence.
PA deserves straight answers.
In our elementary school, several students have (1) inappropriately touched my child (2) hit a teacher (3) spit on my child. I have also heard of a child kicking other students. As a parent, I don’t get told that these issues happen – my child tells me and I have to raise it with the school.
We are very tolerant of unbelievably bad behavior from children. The parents do not take any accountability. We need stronger rules on this. What I am reading about the child attacking a teacher causing them to go to a clinic and miscarriage is horrific. There is a group of children that need to be taught in facilities that can accommodate their absolutely horrible behavior. Parents need to take more responsibility.
We are too lax as a community. Everyone suffers – the child with the issues, the teachers involved and the other kids in the class. Everyone has a right to education, but self responsibility and parental responsibility are required here as well.
+1 to Neighbor for stating the situation clearly.
The Education bureaucracy wants to spend our taxpayer $ to train teachers and staff to better handle *the real outlier,* this violent child.
NO. That is window dressing, teachers/staff/aides likely already have reasonable education, can manage most special needs but not all (!) and more “training” will not protect them in their workplace nor protect other school children.
Are middle school kids trying to get educated supposed to have clever defensive skills (whereby they defend themselves but not injure the violent attacking child?)
The solution is removing the (repeatedly) violent child in order to protect society. Of course, the child deserves support and high engagement. But elsewhere, with strong controls – not at the clear risk of hundreds of nearby schoolchildren!
@ndn – It appears you could benefit from reading posts by me and @Bystander. I have helped many autistic kids (and adults), including some with violent tendencies. And I offered support to the parents & student in question.
No Bystander if I were to jump to conclusions about your posts as you are maliciously doing about mine, I would say that you are purposefully using a religious emotional argument to justify your conclusions and to malign me.
A baby is someone whose life is spent living outside his mother’s womb. Between conception and the third month of pregnancy you have an embryo. After the 3rd month of pregnancy it’s called a fetus until birth.
I do not know how far along the teacher’s pregnancy was and neither you or I
know if the miscarriage was caused by the incident.
What I can tell is that if the student in question has before had an out of control physical similar situation derived from his disability the PAUSD should have found an accommodation for him that doesn’t impact the other students or teacher in a significant way and gives him the public education he has the right to.
NDN
Sorry, you don’t know me, but my post is written as a parent who has been affected by miscarriage. I am not talking about the medical dictionary description of a pregnancy, I am talking about the emotional preparation for the birth of a child. When a miscarriage occurs, it is the same as a death in the family. The child is often already named, the room is prepared, the baby shower is a joyful celebration of family and friends, and the baby’s arrival out of the womb is eagerly awaited.
Many miscarried babies have funerals.
When a pregnant woman is murdered, it is often described as a double homicide. Think Lacy Peterson.
I am not jumping to conclusions about the length of the pregnancy in question and the idea that the miscarriage was not caused by the serious attack, but the facts that the teacher went to school to work that day and came home injured and no longer pregnant are undisputed. However, the teacher and her family are mourning the end of the pregnancy and the loss of the child. I am showing compassion and sympathy rather than being heartless with sterile descriptions.
I know little about the student or his family. I have compassion and sympathy for them also. I agree he needs and deserves schooling and his family need help and respite. I think there are many comments on this thread showing compassion even with their criticism of a system that appears to fail him and his safety. Many of the commenters here know the legal end of things better than I do, so suffice it to say that I can’t really talk about things I don’t fully understand.
I am just saying that I do fully understand about the loss of a child during pregnancy and am offering perhaps the only comments on the thread that describes how the teacher and her family are affected by this.
Pregnancy is an important time in the life of a family. It’s loss is to be mourned and grieved. I am showing that I understand that.
I’ve never had a miscarriage, but most miscarriages happen before 20 weeks. Some women don’t even know they’re pregnant yet. When a friend of mine had a miscarriage, she was relieved because she was told by her doctor that something was wrong or she wouldn’t have miscarried. Every woman reacts differently. I’ve never heard of a funeral for a miscarriage. I would think that would be more common for a stillbirth, which occurs after 20 weeks.
Whether her miscarriage was caused by the attack, she still miscarried.
Violent students have a right to education- in juvenile hall.
Prayers and sympathies for the woman and her partner who suffered the miscarriage. There will be a brighter day for you.
Wall Street Journal has a current article, “There were fists everywhere. Violence against teachers in on the rise,” by Scott Calvert, June 4, 2023.
Please read if you have access to the Journal online or read a physical copy in the library.