My son was grabbed on the arm by a secretary at school while she was pushing him and pulling him trying to remove him from a chair. He was in lunch "detention" for missed homework and the rule was no chairs were allowed to be used (which was a new rule). There was 2 other kids sitting in chairs at the same time my son was. He was singles out and screamed at and physically grabbed, pushed and pulled. He did not say anything to her, did not mouth back nothing. One of the other children went to get up out of his chair and she said to him "Caleb I am not talking to you, I am talking to Jeremiah (whom is my son). I have gone to the principle, superintendent, and the school board. I have also asked many times why my son was singled out. I told the superintendent I feel it is a racial thing. My son was the only black kid in the room (actually he is one of maybe only 5/6 in the whole school). He is not a trouble maker except for not doing his homework all the time. He had never mouth off to this secretary before nor at the time of the incident. Now the superintendent is telling me that before anything is looked into further that under the union contract the secretary has the right to confront my child and question him with a union rep present. Which I do NOT agree with. What are my rights and my sons rights? What should I do now and does she have the right to confront my child and question him?
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My son was assulted by a secretary at school. What do I do now?
- Thread Starter TammiSue
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bluemann33
New Member
Sorry to hear of your problem. Now, she has every right to confront your child in school if he is breaking any rules. She does not however have the right to push your son around. What is she saying about the situation? I am not saying your son is lying or anything so please do not take it that way, but there are 2 sides to every stroy. You could demand the superintendent speak with you about this and you could always speak to a local attorney. Good luck.
She is saying that she of course didn't do anything at all, including, yelling at my son, grabbing him or singling him out. I talked to two of the other kids that were in the same room at the same time and they gave me the same story as my son. I am a Psych major so I know that yes kids lie and they get together to make sure stories are the same. But I picked my son up from school right after this incident because he got kicked out for 3 days. He never had the chance to talk to the other kids. I have spoke to the superintendent many times. I have spoke to the principle and even had a "private" meeting with some school board members. The meeting was this past Monday BUT the superintendent called me yesterday to notify me that they will do nothing further because the secretary has the right under her contract with the union to confront my child herself and question him herself on this matter.
I don't take offense to anything my child did start off in the wrong, he should have listened and followed the rule BUT she had no right to treat my child the way she did. This is the first yr in this school for my child (there are two school in our district) and he has been in trouble may times before at our other school and I have never "stood" up for him. In this school he has straightened out his behavior and had NEVER been into trouble before.
The superintendents "investigation" consisted of him talking to the secretary and the elementary/Jr high principle. The principle interviewed the other children and told the superintendent that they pretty much said the same as the secretary. I asked the kids and they said no they told him ex-actually what happen. The principle also got caught in two other lies to the superintendent involving me and my son. When I told the superintendent that he needed to talk to the other kids himself he said no he does not "want" to re-interview them because the principle already did. Oh did I mention that this secretary for the elementary/jr high school is the wife to the high school principle? I feel that is why things are being dealt with the way they are. I had the superintendent chuckled twice when I was talking to him, once was when I said maybe I need to get a lawyer because the school is doing nothing.
I of course don't know what kind of attorney this would fall under and I am also not a well of mom. So paying would be hard. I have contacted the U.S. Department of Education/Civil Rights but I am taking they will only deal with my issue of thinking it was dealt with by her like this due to race. I haven't heard anything back from them but I am suppose to have a meeting on Monday with this secretary, which my son is suppose to attend also according to the superintendent so the secretary can question him and confront him. I refuse to let him be there. I have never heard of someone being accused of a crime having the right to confront and question the victim themselves, especially a minor child.
I don't take offense to anything my child did start off in the wrong, he should have listened and followed the rule BUT she had no right to treat my child the way she did. This is the first yr in this school for my child (there are two school in our district) and he has been in trouble may times before at our other school and I have never "stood" up for him. In this school he has straightened out his behavior and had NEVER been into trouble before.
The superintendents "investigation" consisted of him talking to the secretary and the elementary/Jr high principle. The principle interviewed the other children and told the superintendent that they pretty much said the same as the secretary. I asked the kids and they said no they told him ex-actually what happen. The principle also got caught in two other lies to the superintendent involving me and my son. When I told the superintendent that he needed to talk to the other kids himself he said no he does not "want" to re-interview them because the principle already did. Oh did I mention that this secretary for the elementary/jr high school is the wife to the high school principle? I feel that is why things are being dealt with the way they are. I had the superintendent chuckled twice when I was talking to him, once was when I said maybe I need to get a lawyer because the school is doing nothing.
I of course don't know what kind of attorney this would fall under and I am also not a well of mom. So paying would be hard. I have contacted the U.S. Department of Education/Civil Rights but I am taking they will only deal with my issue of thinking it was dealt with by her like this due to race. I haven't heard anything back from them but I am suppose to have a meeting on Monday with this secretary, which my son is suppose to attend also according to the superintendent so the secretary can question him and confront him. I refuse to let him be there. I have never heard of someone being accused of a crime having the right to confront and question the victim themselves, especially a minor child.
bluemann33
New Member
You could always go down to the police department and tell them what happened. If the school system will not investigate for you then hopefully the PD will and they will get some answers. Again good luck as no child should be treated like that.....especially at school.
Thanks. I have talked to a State Trooper and he told me that filing a complaint would do no good cuz it sounded more like my sons civil rights were violated. Which I didn't understand cuz her laying a hand on my child is assault. I will figure it all out I guess. I just know I will not let anyone get away with treating my kid like that. I told the school that our children should feel safe at home and at school (of ALL places) and when my child doesn't then we have a problem.
mightymoose
Moderator
The Trooper you talked with is a moron.
Go to the local agency that has jurisdiction where the school is, whether it is a city police department or a county sheriff. Talk with them and make a report of assault/battery. Did your son have any marks on his arm after this? If so did you get photos? The police won't get far with all of this because they will get the same mix of stories, but their involvement gets you out of the protective loop of the school staff.
Maybe per the school rules the secretary has some right to confront an accuser before facing any discipline by the school, but your son does not have to answer her questions or talk with her if you don't want him to. You are under no obligation to cooperate with that. The secretary will talk to the police when they come.
By generating an assault case against a staff member you will force the school into some kind of action on this. It may not pan out how you want, but it will get addressed.
It is not necessarily wrong for the secretary to have touched your son. The circumstances of the encounter are very important. Unless he had a significant injury or visible mark then you should not expect this to get far- but you can certainly make some noise and let them know you are not happy. They will think twice before doing it again.
You don't have much of a civil rights argument here. That is really a weak argument. If anything you have simple assault/battery on a minor, and the local police can deal with that. It should have been reported promptly, but you should be able to get them to still take the report since it involves a minor and school staff.
Go to the local agency that has jurisdiction where the school is, whether it is a city police department or a county sheriff. Talk with them and make a report of assault/battery. Did your son have any marks on his arm after this? If so did you get photos? The police won't get far with all of this because they will get the same mix of stories, but their involvement gets you out of the protective loop of the school staff.
Maybe per the school rules the secretary has some right to confront an accuser before facing any discipline by the school, but your son does not have to answer her questions or talk with her if you don't want him to. You are under no obligation to cooperate with that. The secretary will talk to the police when they come.
By generating an assault case against a staff member you will force the school into some kind of action on this. It may not pan out how you want, but it will get addressed.
It is not necessarily wrong for the secretary to have touched your son. The circumstances of the encounter are very important. Unless he had a significant injury or visible mark then you should not expect this to get far- but you can certainly make some noise and let them know you are not happy. They will think twice before doing it again.
You don't have much of a civil rights argument here. That is really a weak argument. If anything you have simple assault/battery on a minor, and the local police can deal with that. It should have been reported promptly, but you should be able to get them to still take the report since it involves a minor and school staff.
Thank you very much. I actually told the Trooper that my concern with not going to the Police would come back and bite me. He said no that they couldn't use that against me. My son didn't have marks on him but it has affect him emotionally and to me that is just as bad. I didn't think I had anything with the Civil Rights but the Trooper said it was a Civil Rights matter and I also feel that it actually was because of his race that he was singled out. Trust me I am not hoping for that to be the reason at all! I have asked over and over why my son was singled out and have yet to get an answer and it keeps getting pushed to the side. My son should not have to feel this way in school, especially in school. I will go to the Sheriff's department for that county tomorrow and file a report. Like I said my son didn't have any marks but that still does not give her the right to grab him, push him and pull him and scream at him the way she did. I told the State Trooper I wanted a paper trail if anything and he said it would do no good. I should have gone with my gut feeling and filed a report anyways. I did talk to this Trooper I think it was the day after the incident, I was worried that going in now would be to late. Thanks a lot for your help/information
I don't mean to sound like a jerk or anything but considering your son was in detention, don't you think it was probably him that did any wrongdoing? Why is it that American kids can't take any discipline anymore? Remember back when bad kids got swatted? Now here you are wondering what type of legal action you can take because someone grabbed his arm?!
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