Girl, 9, jailed after Fort Myers classroom outburst

Girl, 9, jailed after Fort Myers classroom outburst

news-press.com

She went from a timeout room to a criminal holding cell Tuesday, and faces two counts of felony battery against her teachers at Royal Palm Exceptional School in Fort Myers.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is getting a little rediculous. I mean, we are literally arresting school children now!!!! I wish I lived in Nazi Germany
back in the Good ol' 30's. Oh, Wait.......
[end sarc.]
What would you do if your child was arrested? A 9 yr old at that?
I understand that the kid probly needs a good ol' arse whoopin' but Arrest???
Come on America you have jumped the Shark. I liked you better when your name was Nazi Germany.

news-press.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 17-10-2008 by cbass]

reply to post by cbass

I understand that the kid probly needs a good ol' arse whoopin' but Arrest???

Not really.And no,she shouldn't have been arrested.
She suffers from schizophrenia,so she can't be handled and dealt with in the same manner as a 'normal' juvenile delinquent.

As it says in the article;

Bill Naylor, director of the Juvenile Assessment Center, said his office often works with the state attorney's office to have cases involving younger juveniles diverted to service programs, especially in cases where mental health is at issue.

"With budget cuts coming from every angle, we have less and less mental health services in the community, and schools are very limited in what they can provide," he said. "That means parents can have a tough time getting services. In the adult system, they have mental health court, similar to drug court. It would be wonderful if we could get the same in the juvenile system, but again, we lack the funding."

Its the same here in Britain,no one cares about the mentally ill.





[edit on 17-10-2008 by jakyll]

Oh my. A schizophrenic at age 9?

My aunt is a full blown schizophrenic, she's in her late 40's. She's doing extremely bad right now, but all throughout her history, when she has a violent outburst the police come and arrest her and put her in jail. This happens fairly frequently and the police of her town all know about her. I think it's fairly common procedure to deal with schizophrenics. It's just the age that surprises me. A 9 year old schizophrenic.

Poor kid.

Who knows how many years she has been forced to take persription drugs...



The doctors that pedal drugs to children just sicken me.


im 100% sure that if i was a school child growing uo today, they would diagnose me with EVERYTHING in the book.
ADD
ADHD
Obssesive Oppisioninal order
dyslexia
Terrets
bipolor
skitzo

Im glad everytime they said i should go get checked for something i told them to SHOVE IT.

Starting in the 2nd grade, when i straight up walked out of school, and walked home.

Im not perfect, but i doubt numbiing my brian with phyco-active chemicals woud do any good...

Add this to the 15yo who's being done for deceminating child porn cos she sent a naked photo of herself to friends (other 15yo), you guys are really losing the run of yourselves over there!

Could someone please explian to me how a nine year olds brain has sufficently developed to present schizophrenia?, or is some multinational trying to deal some drugs? Or is it just fashionable in your country to suffer from some syndrome or other



[edit on 17/10/08 by feoil]

Im with the few other people here and am SHOCKED that a small 9yr old child has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. There has got to be much more to this story.

Also, it seems the child has a history of extreme violence in that school. And the victims of her violence are ones wanting to press charges against her. She is clearly a danger to the teachers and other children around her.

She was spitting at her teachers, kicking at an officer and lashing out against efforts to restrain her, Fort Myers police said.

"(The girl) has thrown chairs at the teacher, threatened to stab the teacher, slapped the phone from her hand as she tried to call for help, kicked the teacher and kicked the door into the teacher," Nicholson reported. "... We have tried a multitude of interventions to no success as (she) continues to escalate her behavior."

Should she be sitting in a jail cell? No. But something needs to be done to protect not only those around her, but protect herself. What do some of you suggest is done to a completly out of control, extremely violent child? Seriously? What are the options to control this????

“The girl committed two felonies with victims wanting to pursue charge. There was a long history of attempts to deal with the child through the family and the school. This was the end of the line, and it is a very fine line we walk. Now, she can be mandated by a judge to get the assistance she needs.”

School district spokesman Joe Donzelli said it's not that simple. Arrest, he said, is the last option in any case for school staff.

"It's not the goal of the school to have a 9-year-old arrested," Donzelli said. "But there are limitations to what the district can or cannot do. A school district cannot do everything for everybody, and in certain situations, you have to bring in outside assistance.

Since im no expert on this matter, but I am a parent. I can not say what kind of help this child needs. However, I would NOT want my child going to school with an uncontrollable violent child, that puts my child in danger.

Sad sad situation all the way around.

[edit on 10/17/2008 by greeneyedleo]

Could someone please explian to me how a nine year olds brain has sufficently developed to present schizophrenia?, or is some multinational trying to deal some drugs? Or is it just fashionable in your country to suffer from some syndrome or other

There are seven known different types of schizophrenia,none of them include multiple personality disorder as many people think,thats a different mental illness altogether.

There are many causes such as genetics,early environment,neurobiology,psychological and some recreational and prescription drugs.

Late adolescence and early adulthood is usually the time when people suffer from schizophrenia,but its not unusual for it to appear earlier or later in life.

Should she be sitting in a jail cell? No. But something needs to be done to protect not only those around her, but protect herself. What do some of you suggest is done to a completly out of control, extremely violent child? Seriously? What are the options to control this????

The school she's at is a special needs school and,as the girls mother said,the teachers are supposed to be qualified in handling children like her daughter.If this is true then there is a procedure that has to be taken long before/or if the police have to get involved.It appears they didn't follow this as the girl went from being in a time out room to being arrested.

It also appears that she has been on different types of medication and none have worked,so i'd say that's what's got to be sorted first.






[edit on 17-10-2008 by jakyll]

In these times, a teacher can call child protective services on you just for yelling at/scolding your children, never mind striking them. The school is more or less a dictatorship the minute that child walks into the door. What can they do when a child becomes unruly. I guess jail is the only action available when a parent cannot handle the child. Lemme throw my cousin in jail because he hit me. The little jerk deserves it doesn't he? Of course not!
If the child was indeed so disturbed, why wasn't the child in a facility that could handle them. I guess there is no assistance to help a family with this problem.Who would ever come up with something like that. Besides the cops could get to the school faster than the parents anyway. I guess a judge can decide that now.

We can go back and fortth about whether this is a harbinger of a police state but I am going to say no.

Law enforcement still has a duty to protect people. When one person legitimately threatens an entire group--as it is with this girl--action is in order.

Ideally of course she would be out of school, or at least in special classes, until (if)she can get her illness in check. But for some reason that isn't an option--whether it be a lack of resources or the parent's refusal to do so. It seems to me that arrest was just the only option here.

The girl had come to the point of attacking students and teachers... I'm sorry, but I'm thinking how I would feel if my kids were in her class. I certainly wouldn't want the protection for my children to lapse because someone stopped the police from apprehending their attacker because she happened to be a certain age or they were afraid that police doing their job might encourage martial law.


Edit: I'm with the people asking how does a 9-year-old end up schitophrenic anyway... and with obsessive-compulsive disorder, too, as the article later stated... I hope this doesn't actually stem from some abuse on part of the family.

[edit on 17-10-2008 by asmeone2]

I don't see what else could have been done. It seems that to arrest her was the most humane thing to do. The cops could have tazed or pepper-sprayed her. This girl is so damaged that she was clearly a threat to others in her immediate area. I feel bad for her but, I think that unfortunately arrest was the best procedure at that moment.

Originally posted by cbass

This is getting a little rediculous. I mean, we are literally arresting school children now!!!! I wish I lived in Nazi Germany
back in the Good ol' 30's. Oh, Wait.......
[end sarc.]
What would you do if your child was arrested? A 9 yr old at that?
I understand that the kid probly needs a good ol' arse whoopin' but Arrest???
Come on America you have jumped the Shark. I liked you better when your name was Nazi Germany.

news-press.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 17-10-2008 by cbass]

Oh please, as a favor, I ask you to avoid, unless you really believe it, that this has anything to with the American people. We are ruled now, if you hadn't noticed. And our rulers are quite adept at making us look really really bad.

Edit to add. I suspect this anti-social outburst had a 'trigger'. Any ideas what it might have been?

[edit on 17-10-2008 by Maxmars]

Originally posted by greeneyedleo
What do some of you suggest is done to a completly out of control, extremely violent child? Seriously? What are the options to control this????

[edit on 10/17/2008 by greeneyedleo]

The one thing I have learned in this world is that if nothing else works there is one magic bullet that WILL work EVERY time. That goes for children, dogs, cats, men, woman, mice and any other kind of mammal you can think of.
PAIN, and the threat of more pain.
It cure what ails ya! It WILL work everytime gauranteed, or your money back. This may sound harsh, ignorant, abusive and I'll take any other derrogatory comments that you guys want to throw my way but......
I promise you, If I had a week with that little girl, She would be a completly differnt person when she went back to school.
Her teachers would not recognise her. That child needs the "schitophrenia"
beat right out of her arse.

FLAME AWAY!!!!

It cure what ails ya! It WILL work everytime gauranteed, or your money back. This may sound harsh, ignorant, abusive and I'll take any other derrogatory comments that you guys want to throw my way but......

A philosophy used in the Victorian era,and it cured no one.It just helped a lot of sadistic tossers get their rocks off.

People with mental illnesses do not process things the way other people do.They are not in control of themselves,they are,in fact,victims to their own mind.


An example:there are people who suffer mental illnesses that includes the persecution complex,and i believe actually persecuting them makes them worse,not better.The pain cure only makes the delusions and nightmares of these people come true.


And,if you have nothing intelligent to say on the matter,and you want to flame your own thread,why even start it??

Are you just hoping to get lots of stars and points??

Arresting her was the best thing to do in this case. If what the mother said was true, and the psychiatric hospital wouldn't give her an appointment, now they HAVE to see her, and asess her. Now they can get her somewhere that people who REALLY have training in how to handle people with her situation can take care of her. The teachers at this school DON'T know how to handle students like this. They get basic training as to handling minor cases, and when to call for help, but unless you're a trained psychiatric professional you can't handle a person like this. They change too fast for most people to deal with.

Originally posted by cbass

I promise you, If I had a week with that little girl, She would be a completly differnt person when she went back to school.
Her teachers would not recognise her. That child needs the "schitophrenia"
beat right out of her arse.

FLAME AWAY!!!!

I think you're right in a way. Sometimes the medical institutions give too many excuses for the behaviour of the young...

I noticed good old ADHD noticed again - this does not exist - I'm convinced of it...

This kid's family appear to using the 'she has special needs' card. Someone is incontrollable - bang 'em up. Age doesn't matter.

I;m fed up of kids and their families using 'special needs' as an excuse for bad behaviour. I see it every day.

She is violent, her teachers cannot control her - and I'm sure they try their best with their limited powers. What else can be done?

Peace,

MGGG

[edit on 18-10-2008 by machinegun_go_go]

[edit on 18-10-2008 by machinegun_go_go]

Originally posted by feoil
Add this to the 15yo who's being done for deceminating child porn cos she sent a naked photo of herself to friends (other 15yo), you guys are really losing the run of yourselves over there!

Could someone please explian to me how a nine year olds brain has sufficently developed to present schizophrenia?,

If anything, some of the inherent problems with diagnosing childhood schizophrenia isn't because the child's brain hasn't developed "sufficiently" to "present schizophrenia".

Ironically, it's because a child's brain, or rather their perception of the world is what you'd actually expect that makes it more difficult to differentiate between an genuine schizophrenic symptoms and what is assumed to be fairly common childhood beliefs. For example, delusional thinking is pretty hard to pin down when a young child doesn't actually know how the world 'is' in the first place. Similarly, hallucinatory experiences are also hard to pin down when a child might be adamant that their 'imaginary' friend is real and so on.

However, a lot of the potential confusion is linked to what are defined as positive (ha!) symptoms in schizophrenia and so the existence of negative symptoms - which aren't necessarily typical of childhood behaviour - helps to balances it out and give the positive symptoms some context.

or is some multinational trying to deal some drugs? Or is it just fashionable in your country to suffer from some syndrome or other
[edit on 17/10/08 by feoil]

Unfortunately, schizophrenia is a genuine and a world-wide problem and whilst drugs aren't the ideal solution, quite often they are the only means for schizophrenics to attain degrees of stability and functioning as psychotherapies such as cognitive behaviour therapy often only help so much.

[edit on 18-10-2008 by Merriman Weir]

Originally posted by cbass
I promise you, If I had a week with that little girl, She would be a completly differnt person when she went back to school.
Her teachers would not recognise her. That child needs the "schitophrenia"
beat right out of her arse.

FLAME AWAY!!!!

And right after the adverts, a man who claims he can cure cancer by hitting the patient with a broom handle until they get their malingering arse out of their hospital bed.

I think a lot of parents don't want to take personal responsibility for their children's behavior!
If the child had schizophrenia, it was THE PARENT'S responsibility to get her help.

You can't wait for schools, mayors and government in general to come to you and fix everything.

If she 'couldn't get an appointment', she could've kept trying! I personally know how hard it is to get in touch with county and government agencies, but, if you have to 'stay on the line' and wait for an hour, do it.
Does she feel that they NEVER answer their phone at mental health?

When I was a pre-k teacher, we had a girl (BIG GIRL)who, AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SCHOOL-YEAR bit other children(not normal for a 5 year old) She would defecate on herself frequently( VERY UNUSUAL) and she told me she was scared that aliens were going to get her. She was REALLY scared(Maybe a movie she watched)
In my FIRST conversation with the mother, I said it might be an underlying condition, SHE WOULD NOT HEAR OF IT and told me that her girl was fine, until she started school, it was THE TEACHERS' fault!

It's the school's job to RESTRAIN children, but, allow spitting and kicking(maybe she had done it before) putting others at risk?
The school can evaluate children for mental issues, but, the parents have to agree and go through the legal processes.
I think jail was their last resort, after trying to deal with the family.
I used to go to a Ft. Myers elementary school.

Originally posted by Clearskies
I think a lot of parents don't want to take personal responsibility for their children's behavior!
If the child had schizophrenia, it was THE PARENT'S responsibility to get her help....
I think jail was their last resort, after trying to deal with the family.

Yeah... it's not like she's actually been convicted.

Arrest might have been their only legal recourse to keep the other kids safe.

And yes it does seem like the parents shuffled the kid around... though I don't know them, can't say personally.