Name of article and how you found it:
“Report: Restraints On Special Needs Students Were ‘Excessive’ At Holyoke School” (Published by WBUR, Boston’s NPR news station)
I found this article through a google news search of “Special Education Law”.
Describe the key issues presented in the article: The setting in this article is a public school in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The article was published on February 17, 2016. It has come to light that abuse may be taking place at this public school that serves children with emotional and behavioral disabilities. The report on the school found that students were restrained over 200 times in the past year- with specific individuals facing more than 20 restraints alone. The issue at hand is that the …show more content…
Unfortunately if a student has another factor that oppresses them, such as race, class, or gender, there is more room for mistreatment to happen. Educators are an authority figure, and therefore have a privilege that their students do not. When mistreatment and abuse happens it is necessary to take in account the factors of privilege. Holyoke, MA is a predominately white community with over a third of the population living above the poverty line. Imagine this story had it taken place in the South Side of Chicago. How would it be different? Would you even hear about it? Would it ever be …show more content…
During training the counselors were told they would never have to restrain a child, and ultimately that restraints barely happened. To my surprise this was fraudulent. Restraining children happened not only daily, but multiple times a day. I was given a five minute presentation on how to put a child in a hold “if it was ever necessary”. A five minute presentation did not teach me anything; instead I was thrown into very dangerous situations where I had no idea what to do. I didn’t know what my rights were, and when self defense was necessary/unnecessary. As a consequence, I witnessed counselors mistreat children, and I faced physical abuse from children because I was afraid of what would happen if I put kids in a hold the wrong
“Report: Restraints On Special Needs Students Were ‘Excessive’ At Holyoke School” (Published by WBUR, Boston’s NPR news station)
I found this article through a google news search of “Special Education Law”.
Describe the key issues presented in the article: The setting in this article is a public school in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The article was published on February 17, 2016. It has come to light that abuse may be taking place at this public school that serves children with emotional and behavioral disabilities. The report on the school found that students were restrained over 200 times in the past year- with specific individuals facing more than 20 restraints alone. The issue at hand is that the …show more content…
Unfortunately if a student has another factor that oppresses them, such as race, class, or gender, there is more room for mistreatment to happen. Educators are an authority figure, and therefore have a privilege that their students do not. When mistreatment and abuse happens it is necessary to take in account the factors of privilege. Holyoke, MA is a predominately white community with over a third of the population living above the poverty line. Imagine this story had it taken place in the South Side of Chicago. How would it be different? Would you even hear about it? Would it ever be …show more content…
During training the counselors were told they would never have to restrain a child, and ultimately that restraints barely happened. To my surprise this was fraudulent. Restraining children happened not only daily, but multiple times a day. I was given a five minute presentation on how to put a child in a hold “if it was ever necessary”. A five minute presentation did not teach me anything; instead I was thrown into very dangerous situations where I had no idea what to do. I didn’t know what my rights were, and when self defense was necessary/unnecessary. As a consequence, I witnessed counselors mistreat children, and I faced physical abuse from children because I was afraid of what would happen if I put kids in a hold the wrong