By now, most of the nation has seen the video of a 17 year old special needs student beating up his aide, Ms. Naydich. Ms. Naydich is an average sized 59 year old woman, the special needs student is built like a linebacker at 6'6", 270 pounds.
If you haven't seen the video yet, it's in the link beneath the picture.
The 17 year old was sentenced to jail last week for 5 years. The prosecution argued that they wanted 30 years for the assault. The defense argued that the poor kid was simply a misunderstood, confused teen with unique autism needs.
I watched the video, over and over, 'that kid has to go to jail' was my first knee jerk reaction. But the Adopted Mom said the school was ill equipped to handle her son and it wasn't his fault that he nearly beat an educator to death.
Here are her direct words, from the Daily Mail:
'I had told the school that being hungry was a trigger, that noise was a trigger, that being told no was a trigger, that being corrected in front of other people was a trigger, and electronics was a huge trigger,' she said on the stand."
Then Mom cried.
As soon as I read that quote, I changed my tune. That 17 year old shouldn't go to jail, he should be institutionalized. You know who should go to jail? Mom, for being a moron.
Let's review her quote with common sense:
Where do 17 year olds go where there are rules as to when you can and cannot eat? Public Schools.
Where do 17 year olds go where there is lots and lots of noise? Public Schools.
Where do 17 year olds go where a teacher could potentially correct you in front of other students? Where a teacher could say 'no'. Public Schools.
Where do 17 year olds go where their electronic usage is monitored and restricted? Public Schools.
And, as an adult, you know where there are rules for when you can and cannot eat, where there's lots of noise, where a police officer may correct you in front of other citizens, and your electronic usage is monitored and restricted, like at work? SOCIETY
The 17 year old in the above picture may not have known his options, but if there was real autism, I find it very hard to believe that there wasn't an alternative school for a kid in Palm Coast, population 100,000 on the East Coast of Florida, only a few miles north of Daytona Beach.
More likely, Palm Coast's Matanzas High School was dealing with a kid with something like Oppositional Defiant Disorder.
The Mom blamed the school when she should have blamed herself. That kid should have not been in a public school, where simple every day life could trigger outbursts.
In our county, there is a school specifically for students with Developmental Disabilities. I believe, every two years, their funding renewal goes in front of the voters and, every two years, I vote yes. I cannot, in good conscience, vote against kids and young adults with real disabilities.
My day job is in a public school district in the suburbs and, besides the school with Developmental Disabilities, there is also an alternative school in every single community. A lot of them are free IF YOUR KID HAS A REAL DISABILITY AND HE'S NOT JUST A JERK.
Let's use this analogy. Let's say I built a bomb that would go off if the noise level hit a certain decibel threshold.
One of the worst places to put that bomb would be in a public school.
But you wouldn't blame the bomb for going off when it got noisy, you would blame the person who put the bomb in the school (In this case, MOM!)
And you certainly wouldn't blame the school. The school didn't ask to have a bomb placed inside.
Every kid has a right to an education.
Every kid does not have a right to a consequence free education.
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