Rhetoric should not scapegoat a student

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Rhetoric should not scapegoat a student

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Published: Sunday, September 28, 2008 at 1:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, September 27, 2008 at 10:50 p.m.

The executive director of the teacher's union in Sarasota County is

a school psychologist by training, but can come off like a Teamster's

rep.

Not that Barry Dubin is Jimmy Hoffa, but he isn't shy about verbal combat and is good for a quote.Usually I like that, though it is sometimes wise to figure he's overstating his case for effect.But

Dubin talked this past week about a Venice High School teacher's

problem with a student in her special education class. The student, who

is autistic and 21 years old, became upset and acted out by kicking and

swinging a backpack, hitting his teacher.The teacher was not injured, it seems, but was hit hard enough to require a medical exam, just in case.Dubin,

who told me there have been incidents with that student before,

e-mailed the superintendent of schools to urge that steps be taken "to

assure the safety of the staff."He told me that student should be moved elsewhere, and that he wanted the administration to know the union's view."Teachers shouldn't have to be prison guards," Dubin said.I

know too little to have any opinion on whether that student should or

shouldn't be moved. But conjuring images of helpless special education

teachers surrounded by prison inmates is just Dubin's way of talking.Still,

if a special education teacher believes a child or, as in the case,

young adult, really should not be in the class, there should be a way

the teacher can call for an evaluation process without a union memo to

the superintendent and a union rep alerting the press to get it rolling.The

thing is, there is such a process. Teachers' contracts say they can

initiate such an evaluation. In fact, a schools spokesman told me

Friday that this teacher says she is about to do so.She has talked to the union and is glad the union is backing her, as I understand it.But this is normally a quiet process. So why the heck is Dubin already jumping in, and talking it up publicly?Nothing about this student or this case deserves that.My

guess: This is weird union politics inspired by publicity about two

unrelated cases now in the news. A Sarasota County special education

teacher and an aide -- not students -- are charged with physically

abusing students.It's fine for the union to remind us that

special education teachers, too, can be physically hurt. But as Dubin's

training as a school psychologist should tell him, it's not fine to

scapegoat a special education student by making him the center of a

public discussion about whether he's a menace.Tom Lyons can be contacted at tom.lyons@... or .

This story appeared in print on page BN1

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