Gay "Special Needs" Fifth Grader Accused of Sexual Harassment

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:05pm

"A West Virginia elementary school has its hands full thanks to a sexual harassment allegation made by a fifth-grader against a "special needs" classmate who identifies as gay.

The Charleston Daily Mail reports that 12-year-old Josh Allen says he was touched inappropriately by a fellow student in the bathroom of Marmet Elementary. Allen told school officials his classmate said he was gay, professed his love for Allen, and grabbed his buttocks. Allen also says the boy has done it a few times before, including one time Allen said was witnessed by a teacher, who allegedly did nothing.

School counselor Ditty Markham says that the other student probably doesn't realize what he's doing. She told the Daily Mail, "When you're dealing with special needs kids, you might deal with situations differently than with children who have the ability to reason their choices."

But Allen's mother thinks differently, telling the paper, "This boy is slow, but he knows what he's doing. He knows that it's wrong. But they just let him get away with it." Allen's family is considering a lawsuit; school officials say an investigation is under way."
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid28235.asp

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:13pm

and in other news, the mother of 5th grader josh allen was found early this morning with a stake through her heart naked save for a dunce cap. police refused to advance on the body after several approaching officers were turned to stone by the mere sight of her. the family has agreed to a cremation in place with the comment, "it's the best thing for everyone really."

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:14pm

I sort of agree. If he is attending public school, he knows what he is doing.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:16pm

I'm most disturbed by the counselors name...

Ditty?

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:18pm

Don't forget -- Ditty Marks Him, I mean Markham.

[Calvin]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:20pm

(I'm waiting for the Brokeback Jungle Gym jokes)

With my limited knowledge of 12-year-old psychology, I'm willing to bet young Mr. Allen was probably provoking and harassing this other student, because 12-year-olds are not known for treating "special needs" children with the greatest of tact.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:22pm

I need to click on this link to see specifically what they mean by "Special needs." Dyslexic children are often placed in "special needs" classrooms right alongside a severely autistic child, so are they trying to highlight that this child is retarded to make it seem especially bad or are they making a mountain out of a molehill regarding his academic placement?

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:26pm

this article put a little more emphasis on the fact that the accused is "slow."
charleston daily mail

[Calvin]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:28pm

And that's by West Virginia standards.

(dammit, I lost my nice pills prescription this morning)

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:29pm

Well, it is a pretty serious situation. If the boy is right and he is being touched all the time (it certainly sounds that way to hear him tell it), I can't believe the teachers would be doing nothing, especially not intervening when they see it happen...of course, that makes the whole thing kind of circumspect to me now.

[Calvin]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:32pm

Hmm...I'm still curious if this boy and his friends are always making fun of this other boy, perhaps even calling him "gay" or teasing him about being gay and then run and tattle to teacher in an effort to get him in trouble.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:36pm

Calvin, that's what I was thinking, too.
As a joke, little Allen goes to the boy and says things like, "are you gay? Do you want to touch me? I might be gay, too."
Result: I get to go tattle to my mommy that this is happening after I unleashed it.

[Calvin]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:40pm

Yup. A lot of time the "special needs" kids will just parrot what the other kids tell them to, and they get a kick out of making them say dirty or humiliating things.

They could both be faultless, too. Maybe the Allen kid isn't a part of the teasing, but the other boy responds by grabbing him, and the other kids start making fun of him too as the boy's "boyfriend," so he gets the teacher to intervene.

A lot of possible scenarios here.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:44pm

another theory, and i'm just wildly speculating here, is that the kid accidentally touched josh and the other kids saw it, called the boy gay (or asked him if he was gay, which he might not even understand) and laughed about it. the kid seeing the reaction of laughter repeats the action expecting to get the same reaction not knowing the distinction between people laughing with him as opposed to laughing at him.

but what started as making fun of the slow kid, starts to turn a bit with the repeated actions as the other kids start to question whether josh was doing anything to precipitate the attention. while it was all fun and games to make fun of the slow kid as being gay, when the label gets put on him, josh runs crying to mommy.

but like i said, that's all wild ass guessing.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:45pm

you're right, Papa. It is all just guessing (and good guesses, too!). But, until the "truth" starts to be revealed, we're just speculating.
But it does indeed reek of "poking fun at the 'tard." Which is awful.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:49pm

Here's what I don't get:

Both boys are in the same class, yet one is "special needs" and the other isn't (according to the second article)? That sounds like the root of the problem to me. What's the point of defining a student of "special needs" if they are not going to be provided? I'm surprised something far worse hasn't already happened. The parents should not be pointing the finger at the boy, but at the school district for not recognizing this potentially dangerous classroom arrangement.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:52pm

it's West Virginia for christ sakes, the armpit of the country...as if that state would have seperate special needs classes, which of course they should.........

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:53pm

Mister Matt, I might know something here.
A LOT of schools drop their special needs/separate classes.
When I was in college, one of my best friends had a brother who was mentally AND physically disabled. He was truly just shy of being a vegetable. He could respond and react but on a VERY rudimentary level and was in a wheelchair which he could not move on his own.
His mother was actually the teacher's aide for his special ed class and she was HEARTBROKEN when they made the decision to integrate special education children into regular classrooms. Without teacher's aides.
This child was going to be forced to go to a 9th grade, regular class by himself and there was legally nothing she could do about it.
That is probably the case here. Not to be ugly about it (since, you know, I'm a bigot), but it's West Virginia and I can't imagine the city has any kind of budget for a special needs class.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:54pm

Fat = off-limits
West Virginia = fair game.

God, I need to take better notes.

[Calvin]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:57pm

Actually, Matt, there's a pretty big movement among special ed educators for "inclusion" -- meaning that while special ed kids would have their own private instruction, there would also be an effort to assimilate them into the all-inclusive classes as well. The reasoning is that both sets of kids can learn from each other.
In my district growing up, there used to be an entirely different school for special ed, but at the urging of the special ed department of the school district, it was shut down and the kids were assimilated into other schools.

Whether it's a good idea, of course, is up for debate.

eta: Let me point out one of the positive aspects. When I worked for a newspaper in Texas, I did a feature about a kid with Down Syndrome who was appearing in his high school's production of Grease. He was having a ball, and the kids were really supportive. That might not have been available to him if he were kept out of the other classes. Updated On: 3/23/06 at 03:57 PM

[Jane2]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:58pm

"I sort of agree. If he is attending public school, he knows what he is doing"

LOL, if you meant that as a joke, it's really funny!

If you didn't, well, I'm here to say that the public schools are chock filled with special needs students. My school had at least 6 classrooms for 'special ed'. the kids range from severely retarded, where the most the teachers could do was change their diapers on time, to educable, to slightly retarded and so on. Also, I"d like to mention that in any given 'normal' class, there were many students who needed to be in those special classes but are waiting to be tested and placed. So meanwhile, they are mainstreamed in with the other kids.

Updated On: 3/23/06 at 03:58 PM

[AbbaRabbit]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:59pm

unfortunatly, alot of special needs kids are being mainstreamed into reagular classrooms and not getting the services or supervision they need, especially in elementary schools. i think everyone should spend some time together, but to compleatly do away with the services doesn't make any sence.
but, like someone already said, they never really go into what "special needs" means in this case. it could mean a mild learning disability, mental retardation, or anywhere in between.
the part where he says that he was touched in front of a teacher and the teacher did nothing sounds a little off to me... either the kid is lying about that, or this school needs to hire some new teachers.

Updated On: 3/23/06 at 03:59 PM

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 4:01pm

I'm not sure it's a good idea precisely because of the possibility for even greater derision by the "normal" kids.
My elementary school shared a fence with a special ed school. The jokes that were passed were really horrendous (to be honest, I don't recall if I took part; I was marginalized myself being a super poor kid in the "rich" district). I can't imagine that it'd be any better.
Does anyone really think your typical teacher in a typical school ALSO has time to engage in intensive sensitivity training? And god knows most of these children's parents aren't going to do it either.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 4:08pm

In my district growing up (until I moved beginning of senior year) we had a special class for retarded people. It was kinda like a tutoring class, with the teacher guy (or woman, I dunno) giving one on one instructions and help.

They were part of our regular classes, but for assignments they could go to this special classroom and they would come back with the regular people before the bell rang.

[DG]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 4:11pm

Updated On: 3/23/06 at 04:11 PM