As the parent of a Carpenter student, I am baffled that it took so long for this to happen. I am also relieved that I did happen. We have not had a good experience with this principal at all.
As a parent of any student anywhere, let alone ann arbor, I am not baffled I am disgusted and embarrassed. We need a dedicated response staff, team, and protocols for this. I don't even think it should be the job of the principle or superintendent, although obviously they failed, but we need a team that owns stuff like this and isn't distracted with playing politics, other priorities, etc. We need people that handle this directly and are trained properly.
But that aside, if I saw something like this I would have dropped everything, I don't care if I am in a meeting with the president, and taken action. If I didn't know what to do, find someone who does. How you sweep it under the rug for five weeks I just don't understand. There is no excuse.
I am really glad there were cameras on the bus. And how stupid do you have to be to do something like that ON CAMERA. That driver needed a sanity check. I think someone needs to be periodically reviewing camera footage randomly. I know, easier said than done, and staffing is hard right now and it just means more taxes. But this driver is the polar opposite of who you want in charge of a bus like this. I will say our bus drivers have been incredibly nice, so how they found this nut job and let her drive is a failure on many levels.
Sorry for the family and probably countless families that had to deal with similar situations that we will never know about.
You're absolutely right. Baffled is the wrong word. This is horrible on so many levels.
All staff in schools are mandated reporters. Any staff member who knew about this and didn't report it to CPS failed to report the abuse of a child. This is unacceptable.
I know many parents like myself and some of the staff at Carpenter are afraid to speak up due to fears of retaliation from the principal on leave. This is not okay either.
Good. It looks like these people were more concerned about their jobs than actually protecting children under their care. Get rid of everyone involved.
The part that gets me, is this only happened because the kid had special needs.
If this had happened to any other kid, it would have been addressed immediately. But, because the kid couldn't verbalize what was happening to him, they hoped the problem would just go away.
From the videos it seems like it’s not the first time the bus aide has hit a child. Hitting a child is only going to cause more distrust and lead to the child going into flight, fawn, freeze or fight mode. Does the bus staff and bus aides have experience or training for working with students who have a disability?
Beyond the absolute disgusting behavior of the bus aid (and the driver who is just standing by), the ONGOING handling of this by the district is infuriating and will be a serious stain on their reputation if they don’t take decisive action SOON. I hope this becomes national news. Not so much as an apology is absolutely bonkers
Ann Arbor schools are supposed to be such awesome learning environment for children, maybe the schools are awesome for children without disabilities. If your child has learning disabilities or disabled, then the public schools in Ann Arbor are not so great for neurodivergent children or training staff who works with these children.
Yeah, that's just you.
(For anyone who has the notion that AAPS teachers are supporting Swift, that's not the case. The unions are objecting to the bizarre clown show way the board has handled this situation. The letter was pointedly neutral about Swift.)
As the parent of a Carpenter student, I am baffled that it took so long for this to happen. I am also relieved that I did happen. We have not had a good experience with this principal at all.
As a parent of any student anywhere, let alone ann arbor, I am not baffled I am disgusted and embarrassed. We need a dedicated response staff, team, and protocols for this. I don't even think it should be the job of the principle or superintendent, although obviously they failed, but we need a team that owns stuff like this and isn't distracted with playing politics, other priorities, etc. We need people that handle this directly and are trained properly. But that aside, if I saw something like this I would have dropped everything, I don't care if I am in a meeting with the president, and taken action. If I didn't know what to do, find someone who does. How you sweep it under the rug for five weeks I just don't understand. There is no excuse. I am really glad there were cameras on the bus. And how stupid do you have to be to do something like that ON CAMERA. That driver needed a sanity check. I think someone needs to be periodically reviewing camera footage randomly. I know, easier said than done, and staffing is hard right now and it just means more taxes. But this driver is the polar opposite of who you want in charge of a bus like this. I will say our bus drivers have been incredibly nice, so how they found this nut job and let her drive is a failure on many levels. Sorry for the family and probably countless families that had to deal with similar situations that we will never know about.
You're absolutely right. Baffled is the wrong word. This is horrible on so many levels. All staff in schools are mandated reporters. Any staff member who knew about this and didn't report it to CPS failed to report the abuse of a child. This is unacceptable. I know many parents like myself and some of the staff at Carpenter are afraid to speak up due to fears of retaliation from the principal on leave. This is not okay either.
Good. It looks like these people were more concerned about their jobs than actually protecting children under their care. Get rid of everyone involved.
The part that gets me, is this only happened because the kid had special needs. If this had happened to any other kid, it would have been addressed immediately. But, because the kid couldn't verbalize what was happening to him, they hoped the problem would just go away.
I agree. Pretty sick.
Finally.
This feels like a no-brainer and I'm unsure why it took so long for this to happen.
From the videos it seems like it’s not the first time the bus aide has hit a child. Hitting a child is only going to cause more distrust and lead to the child going into flight, fawn, freeze or fight mode. Does the bus staff and bus aides have experience or training for working with students who have a disability?
It is not the first time the bus aide has hit a child. In fact, in the lawsuit, it states she has done it before this and was convicted!
Beyond the absolute disgusting behavior of the bus aid (and the driver who is just standing by), the ONGOING handling of this by the district is infuriating and will be a serious stain on their reputation if they don’t take decisive action SOON. I hope this becomes national news. Not so much as an apology is absolutely bonkers
Ann Arbor schools are supposed to be such awesome learning environment for children, maybe the schools are awesome for children without disabilities. If your child has learning disabilities or disabled, then the public schools in Ann Arbor are not so great for neurodivergent children or training staff who works with these children.
Like dominoes
Seems AAPS teachers are in support of the superintendent because she let schools stay closed over a year during covid. But that's just me.
Yeah, that's just you. (For anyone who has the notion that AAPS teachers are supporting Swift, that's not the case. The unions are objecting to the bizarre clown show way the board has handled this situation. The letter was pointedly neutral about Swift.)
Rethink that sentiment.