Joseph, 7, a special education student at a Manhattan School, was handcuffed.
Meredith Kolodner, Schools chancellor says at times restraints are needed, will look into handcuffing of special ed boy, N.Y. Daily News, Apr. 21, 2011, at 5.
Joseph, 7, a special education student at a Manhattan School, was handcuffed and taken away from school in an ambulance.
Promising to look into last week’s handcuffing of a 7-year-old special education student, schools chancellor Dennis Walcott said that sometimes restraining young children that way is necessary.
The Daily News reported Thursday that first grader Joseph Anderson was removed from Public School 153 in Maspeth, Queens, in handcuffs and taken in an ambulance to Elmhurst Hospital after he became upset while painting an Easter egg.
When asked if handcuffing a 7-year-old was ever justified, Walcott replied, “There are occasions when it may need to be done, and I think it’s the responsibility of the principal and school safety to work together to make that determination.”
He also said that he’d look into the incident to find out what happened and make sure he’s “satisfied with the answer.”
“We have many incidents that take place without handcuffs being used,” he added, “and there are other means to engage and so people do not make this decision lightly.”
Walcott called mom Jessica Anderson Thursday morning, and they spoke for about five minutes, Anderson said.
“I felt like his main concern was about (her son) not being in that school,” said the single mom. “I thought he’d say something like, ‘How is your son feeling, is he ok?’”
While Anderson wants the principal removed from the school, Walcott said no one would lose their job over the incident.
Seven-year-old Joseph said he was looking for an apology.
“I want those cops to say sorry to me and the principal for calling the ambulance on me and handcuffing me,” said the soft-spoken first grader.
He said he still thought about the incident often.
“I got angry because I wanted to see where my mom was at,” he said. “I wanted her to come so bad. I wanted to color the Easter egg again because I wanted to show how nice it could be but they wouldn’t let me.”
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Rachel Monahan, Bronx mom speaks from experience: City has no business handcuffing 7-year-old children, N.Y. Daily News, Apr. 23, 2011, at 8.
An autistic 7-year-old was hauled out of a Bronx public school in metal handcuffs last year – the second case of a cuffed youngster to come to light this week.
Mom Siobhan Lynch told the Daily News about her second-grader’s harsh punishment after reading about another 7-year-old special education student getting cuffed at a Queens school on April 13.
The family sued the city and settled earlier this year for $30,000 – and now also gets public money to send Dillon to private school, Lynch said.
“There’s no reason to handcuff a 7-year-old. I don’t care who you are,” the mom said. “There’s no 7-year-old dangerous enough – unless they’re holding a gun and even then I question whether they knew how to use it.”
She said her suit offered another reason for New Yorkers to think twice about arresting elementary school students.
“If people don’t care about a 7-year-old being arrested, at least they should care about your taxpayer money being wasted,” she said.
Dillon Lynch didn’t want to talk about the traumatic event, but his mother said she stepped forward to point out that the handcuffing of young Joseph Anderson wasn’t an isolated incident.
“The best we can do now is make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else,” she said. “I was outraged it happened to another 7-year-old, or anyone else.”
By Lynch’s account, Public School 71 wasn’t providing the special education services Dillon needed.
“They treat special education students like they’re not wanted,” Lynch said.
Just a week after a meeting with the principal last January over problems, Dillon got into an argument at lunch with another child, Lynch said.
An inexperienced special education aide physically restrained Dillon – despite Lynch’s warning to the school that restraining her son could exacerbate any problems.
Dillon lashed out at the aide and was ultimately locked in a small room until police arrived to cuff him, escort him out of the building and ship him off to a hospital, his mom said.
… Like Joseph, Dillon could not bear to hear sirens or see police officers afterward, Lynch said.
“He couldn’t go near someone in a uniform,” Lynch said. “He’d cover his head. When this woman says her son was doing that, it was really heartbreaking. There’s no reason why the police officers couldn’t sit down and say, ‘What’s up kid?’”
City officials declined to confirm any payments for Dillon’s private school education, but noted any payments were not part of a lawsuit.