6 yr old Fla. Girl Charged With Felony For Kicking Teacher's Aide

[The Straight Story]

6-Year-Old Fla. Girl Charged With Felony For Kicking Teacher's Aide

POSTED: 6:29 am EDT May 31, 2006
UPDATED: 6:31 am EDT May 31, 2006

NAPLES, Fla. -- A 6-year-old special education student who kicked a Naples teacher's aide and spent several hous in juvenile jail is facing felony battery charges.

Her mother, however, wants to know why the case has gone so far.

Takovia Allen suffers from behavioral problems and attends a special class at Lely Elementary in Naples.

According to an arrest report, on May 2, a teacher was trying to line up students to go to music class. Takovia refused to go and kicked the teacher's aide in the ankle.

After a discussion among school officials and two law enforcement officials called to the school, the girl was arrested.

http://www.local6.com/news/9296454/detail.html

[truebrit71]

1. WTF?

A 6-yr old girl with behavioral problems kicks someone and it's a felony...??? One would have thought that that sort of thing was par for the course....???

Fucking stupid if you ask me......

[Deja Q]

6. I was kicked in the teeth in grade school...

Totally unprovoked; I bent down to grab my pencil. The miscreant was not dealt with (the teacher, a dipshit, kept saying - amongst other things - there are 52 States...) and the cost to put back my teeth was expensive, painful, and the cracks remain to this day.

About damn time they get locked up. (so hate me for having scars - do me a favor and shoot me point blank so I don't feel it.)

I just recalled seeing the freak in high school... I was still reviled and still can't entirely fathom why... he got dates and was popular. Damn straight our world is crazy.

[BoneDaddy]

25. You have to be kidding me

I am sorry for your pain and suffering. What should have been done is there should have been a very serious consequence for this child who did this to you, with some counseling with the family and the family should have paid for your dental work, but arresting a 6 year old for kicking is way way over the top.

The other extreme is equally as bad.

[Dr.Phool]

7. Hey, you're talking Florida here.

Brains are optional.

[RaleighNCDUer]

35. Hey, now, this is clearly a progresssive school!

They didn't taser the kid.

[LiberalEsto]

2. Will she get life without parole, or lethal injection? nt

[ThomCat]

Idiots.

Anyone who thinks a six year old should be arrested should not be allowed to work in a school. What the hell are they thinking?

[ceile]

3. A 6 yr old acting out....

surprise, surprise. This is just stupid.

[HeeBGBz]

4. Geez, I dislike the idea of home schooling

But it's getting where it's too dangerous to let your kid go to public school. Especially if they are ADD or hyperactive.

That is so insane.

[soup]

5. Sometimes I think I'm the only sane person left

in a world gone entirely mad.

[HeeBGBz]

13. Not the ONLY one, but the numbers are dwindling

What the hell is going on here? Is that the only option that was available?

[donco6]

8. Sounds like she's pressing charges so that . . .

the girl will be forced into counseling. That's just a guess.

We had a situation where a kid brought a weapon to school (BB gun), threatened several classmates with it, got caught and got expelled. During the expulsion hearing, the expulsion officer offered to reduce the term of the expulsion if the family got counseling. They absolutely refused. It's too bad - the kid could have benefited from it, IMO.

[China_cat]

28. If she's already in special ed

then there has to be a special plan drawn up for her that includes counseling for behavioral issues. (fed guidelines for the money for special ed)

I see all this as just another prong in the plan to close public schools completely. If you think your kids are going to be arrested for being kids and you pull them out to homeschool them, what do you need schools for? All that education money can go to new tax cuts for the wealthy.

[donco6]

31. Not necessarily.

Unless the kid is characterized as E.D., there probably aren't any psych services noted in the IEP. If the parents resist, the ED label can be avoided for some time. But once the police and courts are involved, the court can unilaterally place the kid in a day treatment center - essentially removing the kid from the classroom. Which may have been the teacher's motive all along.

[kitkat65]

9. My first reaction: WTF? My second reaction: Ooooh, it's in Florida n/t

[BoneDaddy]

10. WTF

They tried this crap with a lil kid in NJ, a kindergartener, for making his hand into a "gun" and pretending to shoot another kid.

This is where zero tolerance totally crosses the line and looks more like a Prussian work camp than a school.

Of course the child needs to be held accountable for what they did, but for feck's sake, she is six years old. If it was an older kid, there might be good reason, but this child is not only 6, she is special education, which may mean that she has some serious difficulties and social barriers which cloud the issue.

Look I am all for pressing charges, arresting and holding students who violently act out accountable, but this is ridiculous.

[MindPilot]

11. It's a felony for a disturbed 6-year old to kick an adult in the ankle

but some illiterate can steal his way into the Whitehouse, empty the Treasury, start a war and we call that leadership.

Sometimes I think I'm on this planet by accident; these are not my species.

[SmokingJacket]

12. So what's the age cutoff? Three?

Honestly, this is ridiculous.

Having been a teacher, I can tell you exactly why this happened: fear of litigation.

It's a pity that the children are the ones paying for our inability to solve the problem of over-the-top litigiousness.

[Deja Q]

14. And the children grow up.

Just as latch-key reagan kids grew up.

[slackmaster]

15. Wouldn't a simple spanking suffice?

:argh:

[MindPilot]

17. Oh god no!! THAT would be abusive.

It's very important to a child's development to insure they understand and experience the criminal justice system as early as possible.

Most educators now feel that pedagogy would be best served by charging all children with vaginal assault at birth.

Not that should be necessary, but this is :sarcasm:

Technically, it's hyperbole, but we don't have an icon for that.

[CAcyclist]

20. I think the child has enough trouble with impulse control

To have an adult demonstrate their own lack of impulse control won't help matters.

[slackmaster]

37. Spanking is not always the result of poor impulse control by adults

:argh:

It can be simply a punishment for unacceptable behavior.

[rodeodance]

16. I really think the world has gone insane!

....After a discussion among school officials and two law enforcement officials called to the school, the girl was arrested.

Takovia was taken to juvenile jail and held there for several hours before being released to her mother.

She is being charged with battery on a public education employee.

It's possible she will enter a program that includes counseling. If she completes the program successfully the charges could be dropped.

[zanne]

18. When I was teaching, a kid sent me to the ER....

I was teaching 7th grade (This was in the early 80's). This kid walked into the classroom and threw a textbook at me. Ten stitches on my forehead. He got a three-day suspension.

[Warpy]

19. Oh, for krissakes!

Where are they getting these school administrators, anyway?

When a six year old misbehaves and kicks you in the ankle, you stick that child in a corner for half an hour, not call the police and file charges.

If the kid is perpetually out of control, you call the school district shrink.

This has gotten really stupid. Children aren't the enemy. If administrators think they are, then those administrators need to find other work.

[MindPilot]

21. At what point did we become so afraid of our children?

What used to be "kids being kids" is now a felony. And I can't imagine that this poor child is going to benefit in any way from this experience. This is just nuts and a perfect example of how as a society we just can't deal with any real problems anymore, so we turn them into crimes.

I have to wonder how the cop feels cuffing, arresting, and driving downtown a SIX year old. They are probably going to take some real heavy flak in the briefing room for taking down that hardened criminal.

[The Straight Story]

23. Good question

We fear kids more than politicians...now that is scary!

[earth mom]

22. Gawd Damn it! Is this what is next for special ed students?!!!

One false move and to jail with em?!

:wtf:

The utter stupidity and evil of this event is totally insane and completely chilling! :grr: :scared:

[The Straight Story]

24. I would be scared to go to school thesedays

I am 40 now, and I remember school being a pretty decent place (Elementary school, K-6). Fond memories of teachers and friends, fun at recess, some fighting but nothing major. We played kickball, dodgeball, had toy guns (we brought em in to show off after birthdays, some made cool noises), and so on.

[Turtlebah]

26. This is what happens in a police state n/t

[slor]

27. Arrest a 6 year old for kicking...

but 5 or 6 grown men can beat a teen to death and no one is arrested?

[Coventina]

29. I know I'm gonna get flamed, but GOOD!

No, well, not good. Felony is overkill.
But I have personal issues wrapped up in a story like this.

My late mother was a teacher's aide and suffered physical abuse from children CONSTANTLY. They were always slapping and kicking her. One little girl in particular was a complete monster.

She was so bad, that she could only attend school until lunchtime. After lunch, my mother's job was to walk her home.

One day, after being called every filthy name in the book and repeatedly slapped, bitten and kicked by this evil little scum, my mother spanked her.
My mother was fired.
She deserved to be fired, she broke the rule about corporal punishment.

But what always bugged me was, where was the punishment for this brat? Why was she allowed to attend school?

So, I disagree with the felony charge, but I won't be shedding any tears for the girl either.

[donco6]

32. No flames here.

This is just another "public-schools-suck-and-anyone-who-works-in-them-is-stupid" post, like we see every day. People just can't comprehend what a little kid can do to you, day in and day out. And when the school can't do anything about the child - because of federal regs governing special ed status - teachers and aides see their only recourse in the courts. Why is anyone surprised by this?

Felony charge - I'm no lawyer, so I don't know how that fits. But calling a cop? I can see it happening way more often.

[slackmaster]

38. There is no punishment for this child, only reward

She's surely glad to be out of school.

[Matariki]

30. let me guess - she's not a cute little white girl?

[MyNameGoesHere]

34. Din Ding Ding A winner! n/t

[AspenRose]

36. That's exactly what I was thinking

(So you aren't the only one)

It IS Florida, after all....

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

33. I'm Getting Reallllllly Tired Of These Fuckers Prosecuting Children.

It's about to send me into an all out rage.

May God be with the person who ever tries to touch, arrest or prosecute in any way either of my children when the circumstances are such as this, or touching a girl's hair, or giving a hug, or any of the other petty shit I've seen 4-8 yr olds arrested for lately. Lord fucking help them they try it with my kids.