scandal at local Waldorf school

[hydrangea]

*****Just editing this to say that if you read the end of this thread, you'll see that this situation has been rectified. I don't want anyone to see this and think this is a bad school, when they have actually changed their ways*****

I homeschool my children, but I attended a Waldorf school as a child and I live near one now. There is a whole farm and community based around the school I now live near. People move here all the time from as far away as California to send their children to this school

Recently there has been a scandal regarding it that has made the national papers. A teacher, who happens to be the daughter of a US Senator, has been binding and gagging students.

Parents Pull Kids Amid Discipline Complaints
From http://www.wrgb.com/news/local/local_news.asp#H1:

More than a dozen parents are taking their children out of the Hawthorne Valley School in Columbia County, following complaints that a teacher was using improper discipline. Claire McConnell is accused of strapping a child into a chair with a leather belt, along with tying hands and taping mouths of students shut. One student is the child of Bob Wohlfeld, better known as "The Wolf" on PYX-106. McConnell, who is the daughter of U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, apologized to parents in a letter written in late June.

Here are some (of many) more articles on it that go into more depth:

Albany Times Union

Lexington Herald-Reader

Note that none of these are local community newspapers. This whole thing is being swept under the rug at the school and in the community. This teacher is not being fired. The other teachers are defending her. Parents who did take their children out waited until the end of the year. Others have actually left their children there.

I have heard from other parents whose children have been abused at this school. They complained and removed their children, but the teachers still teach there. Parents keep putting their children in these teachers' classes!

The only reason this has gotten the publicity it has is that 1) one of the students' parents is a radio personality and 2) the teacher in question is the daughter of a senator.

What is going on here?!!!! Where is the accountability? I find it incredibly upsetting that children are being abused and the school is being allowed to get away with it! I would feel so violent toward that teacher and the school if it had anything to do with my child. And because the school is in my community, it does have something to do with me and my children. I've sent e-mails to my local community papers asking them to carry this story, but it remains to be seen whether it will happen. I think they are afraid.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Does this sort of thing go on in other Waldorf schools? If a teacher is accused of being abusive, is she or he let go?

[lauren]

What a strange story! It is hard to believe that a teacher with such incredibly bad judgment could continue to be employed! They cite that she is young and inexperienced as justification for her actions, but I'm sure that these responses are not the normal "knee jerk" disciplinary strategies of other young teachers just learning. In our area, a teacher was recently fired just for an improper restraint on a child--so it is not true that it is ignored everywhere.

[BusyMommy]

How bizarre. I wonder if this has anything to do w/the fact that it's a Waldorf school or simply a small private school w/undereducated teachers. Does she have a teaching cert? Does the school have support; ie. teach the teachers how to use classroom mgt?

Were those children high needs; ie. would have their own aide in a public school?

Simply cannot imagine the school would condone that. If so, , why on Earth would parents permit it? Awe of the school?

[cumulus]

Hi:

I'm near that same community and have a friend who sent her oldest son there from Kindergarden through High School but when she began to talk to her younger son's teacher and the other parents about the discipline used in her son's class (nothing like the case in the news) they kicked her out of the school. Yup. A parent was expelled (with her son).
There's an infamous case of a child protective service person who adopted (against policy somehow) a child who was being abused. She tied the child to a chair and used duct tape over the child's mouth. That child died of suffocation and that teacher needs to find another employment.
I think it's great, Hydrangea, that you alerted the local papers. This is national news yet it's invisible to local parents who might or are sending their children to the school. I don't understand what it is but there does seem to be some code of silence.

[Greaseball]

That is very sick and wrong! I thought that kind of thing happened only at public schools.

I guess that goes to show that parents need to take precautions before placing their child at any school. Ask what kinds of things children are expelled for and get it in writing. If they can be expelled because of a parent or child complaining about the school, find another school. Ask if they believe in corporal punishment. Get the school policy in writing. Ask what the teacher's personal beliefs are about such punishment - usually, people who believe in it for their own kids find ways of inflicting it upon other kids, even if "it's not school policy" or "it's illegal in this state."

Ask what the grievance procedures are, ask what kind of thing would get a teacher fired, and ask where you can check for complaints against the school. Ask how one can lodge an anonymous complaint.

And always, if another child is being abused at school, don't assume your own kids are safe there!

[mother of three]

I am a strong believer in Waldorf Education. My children attended four different Waldorf schools around the country and received nothing but the very best from teachers who worked out of integrity, dedication and the highest principles until they arrived at Hawthorne Valley School. It does not surprise me in the least that an incident such as this would occur since this was fairly standard when my children were there six years ago. Unfortunately most situations were swept under the carpet, including an incident where a teacher gave a child whiplash from a rather severe shaking. Most of the faculty is exceedingly insular and defensive and this I'm sure hasn't changed as the same group is still there teaching . As I learned over time, my daughter's class teacher was completely lacking in any sort of higher education, absolutely nothing, other than the requisite teacher training. Most schools, private and public, require at least some sort of commitment to higher ed such as a bachelors and more often a masters degree. Perhaps this is why this sort of situation can occur. They are simply uneducated educators at HVS. It is unfortunate that one school can ruin an education that is intended to be so strengthing to the human being that child will become.

[BusyMommy]

class teacher was completely lacking in any sort of higher education, absolutely nothing, other than the requisite teacher training

I don't understand. Wouldn't she need at least a Bachelor's to attain a teaching cert? What, then, is the teacher training you're referring to?

That's pretty unbelievable. And, people give the blanket assumption that public schools are bad. : I simply cannot believe why parents would put up w/that behavior/attitude. Wouldn't the whiplash case be criminal?

[gurumama]

For programs like Waldorf and Montessori you can often be certified after a year-long training and practicum without having a Bachelor's. MOST schools require the Bachelor's to be the head teacher, but assistants can often teach without a degree.

What a shame this happened, and how sick that the community sweeps it under the rug. Good for you for getting the word out.

[Greaseball]

I am uneducated as well, yet I do not abuse children. I don't think it can be blamed on a lack of education, nor do I think that if this teacher gets educated she can then be around children. She needs to consider another career, maybe as a prison guard or psychiatrist.

[hydrangea]

Originally posted by Greaseball
That is very sick and wrong! I thought that kind of thing happened only at public schools.

As far as I can tell, the only difference between public and private schools in this regard is that public schools can't get away with allowing these teachers to continue. Private schools have very little accountability.

Mother of Three, I have heard, in whispered tones, about the incidents you mentioned. It is so sad, and yet the teacher I know of who did these things is still teaching there, with no more than a summer's worth of mediation training. People are still putting their children in his classes.

I am relieved to hear that this has not been an issue in other Waldorf schools you have been involved in. My mother tells me nothing like this ever came up in my own Waldorf elementary school.

I disagree though that higher education should make much of a difference. Any person in their right mind should know that doing these things to children is WRONG. Higher education has nothing to do with it. But then again I am a homeschooling parent and never even finished my BA.

FWIW to everyone here, Hawthorne Valley is beautiful. It is a whole Waldorf community, that includes a school, but also a dairy farm, a health food store, a book/toy/craft store, gardens, a creek, a swimming hole, woods, and most of the people who live in the area right around it are teachers, parents, farmers, or otherwise involved with the school. I love going there with my girls to visit the animals, to shop, to go to the school fairs, etc. It is really a lovely place. It is so sad that this is going on there.

Well, the Independent comes out tomorrow. I'm interested to see whether they mention this. I wish there was something else I could do.

[Trishy]

Makes you wonder what kind of parents Mitch McConnel and his wife are.

[BusyMommy]

When a teaching student goes through an accredited program w/practicums at the beginning and student teaching a couple/few years later, there are many eyes observing their actions and attitudes. They have to be passed by their professors and their host teachers. Believe me, if any of my student teachers had exhibited any of those tendencies, they would not be teaching now.

Not always the case but life can't always be screened.

[Greaseball]

This kind of thing happens in public schools a lot, where teachers are required to have years of education. I think when an uneducated person does something like this, it is blamed on the lack of education rather than on a complete lack of respect for children.

How many of us here would feel our children would be safe with this woman if she would just go out and get a BA?

I think it's also appalling that these parents did not immediately pull their children out of school but instead waited until the end of the year. That is a form of child abuse as well.

[BusyMommy]

i don't disagree. i'm simply saying she may have been screened out of the process and, thus, unable to get her teaching cert. if she'd done a 4+ year program. It's pretty easy, sometimes: , to pick up those vibes from people in your classroom.

[hydrangea]

What is higher education?

I had assumed that Mother of Three meant that this teacher had no masters or further education after college, besides her teaching degree. I assumed she had a bachelor's degree.

Just curious.

[BusyMommy]

this COULD be the case
?

For programs like Waldorf and Montessori you can often be certified after a year-long training and practicum without having a Bachelor's. MOST schools require the Bachelor's to be the head teacher, but assistants can often teach without a degree.

[hbhales]

Waldorf Teacher Training Does Not Require a BA

Waldorf teacher training programs do not have to require post-secondary education of any kind, though a few "prefer" candidates with bachelor's degrees and many "highly encourage" some combination of education beyond high school plus experience with Steiner/ anthroposophy/ Waldorf methods.

In other words, teachers at Waldorf schools may or may not have any kind of formal education beyond high school. It's a question that all prospective parents should ask, if this is of concern to your family.

All Waldorf schools require completion of Waldorf teacher training, which may be provided by a local Waldorf school with their own in-house teacher training program, a regional anthroposophical society, league or other Steiner-based organization or by one of the handful of anthroposophy based colleges (such as Rudolf Steiner College) which offer Waldorf teacher training.

Waldorf schools currently face a very serious teacher shortage. Consequently, many schools hire teachers *without* even the Waldorf teacher training, as long as the teacher agrees to complete the training on weekends and summers (this usually means class once a week on Saturdays during the school year and daily during summer for two- four years depending on the program).

[anythingelse]

I actually started my teaching in the public school system in ca with my high school diploma. That is all I needed to be a TA and then as I had my AA began to teach & sub, BTW I was only 18 yrs old with my AA degree had graduated early from hs at 16. People teach in ps w/emergency credentials and in private schools without any and always have.
One of my oldest son's montessori elem. teacher had an AA degree in drama.
What a horrible story, poor kids-- I hope this is resolved before the next year starts.
Mary

[hbhales]

Teaching in CA

Currently, teachers in CA must have a BA plus two years of graduate study and supervised student teaching resulting postgraduate degree (in CA called a "credential" ) to teach in a public school classroom as the teacher of record (which simply means head teacher or teacher in charge).

As someone else mentioned, the requirements for teacher's aides are less stringent. Substitute teachers must have a BA degree plus passage of a basic standards test to prove they are qualified to substitute in core subjects. CA had a problem similar to the Waldorf movement during the teacher shortage which peaked around 2-3 years ago. Teachers with "emergency credentials" were hired without completion of their postgraduate credentials. These uncredentialed teachers still had to pass the CBEST and be college graduates- a higher standard than Waldorf schools require.

I'm not claiming that college ir post-grad work necessarily= a more qualified teacher, however in CA emergency permits are quickly being phased out in most districts and even LAUSD and Oakland are moving swiftly to have fully credentialed teachers in every classroom, and are no longer hiring droves of emergency permit teachers, mainly due to Bush's NCLB legislation. NCLB aside, having freshly minted college grads with no hands-on experience or supervised student teaching, not to mention no college level study of educational methods, under their belts was having a disastrous effect on the kids (duh).

I'm not a public school apologist or a proponent of NCLB (whcih I believe to be a well-intentioned yet deeply flawed piece of legislation). But I do believe parents should be informed consumers of their child's education, public or private, should they choose not to homeschool. Waldorf schools will *not* volunteer this information. Parents need to ask if this issue is a concern. Ask if your child's teacher has any college or graduate level training other than Waldorf teacher training, whether or not the Waldorf teacher training took place at an accredited college or university, and what training your child's future teacher (if s/he will be starting in the kindergarten and moving to the grades) has, if any.

[Mom4tot]

There are many stories of famillies being expelled from Waldorf schools for asking questions and voicing disagreement. This is such a scary story. Just because a classroom is beautiful does not mean everything that goes on there is beautiful. In our local Waldorf school a little girl was pushed from the top of the slide by 2 other little girls because she wasn't wearing a dress. The teacher in that case told the mom "the children will work it out". Again, no accountability.