Why have none of the news outlets noted that the case was reported on previously, close to when it occurred, before video of the conflict was released?
Why do none of the news outlets reporting on Ja'eisha Scott and her mother, Inga Akins, make reference to the police report that was included in the earlier coverage?
Ja'eisha was released from police custody after the officers called the pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office.
They were told prosecutors would not charge the girl with battery on a school employee or anything else.
``To think we would consider charging a child of that age with a crime is almost comical,'' said Bruce Bartlett, chief assistant state attorney. [The school principal,] Di Benedetto, 31, was disappointed charges were not filed because it was the third time the girl had behaved violently, the police report says. Di Benedetto declined to comment Thursday.
Why was Di Bendetto "DISAPPOINTED charges were not filed"?
Why is any school principal anywhere invested in having any five year old of any race or gender charged with battery?
If there was a pattern of violent behavior, why didn't the principal respond by having her evaluated and developing an appropriate program of interventions?
Did Ja'eisha need counseling?
Did Ja'eisha have special needs?
Should she have been placed in a different class?
In the more recent St. Petersburg Times coverage, reporter Thomas C. Tobin notes that Ja'eisha
had a history of problems at the school, though the full extent is not known because student records are not public.
District officials have discussed an incident several weeks before the handcuffing in which a city police officer was called to the school because of a behavior problem with the girl. The officer said something to her about the possibility of being handcuffed if her behavior continued.
Akins later objected to that conversation, part of an ongoing feud with the school over her daughter's treatment.
Was the incident "several weeks before the handcuffing" time number one or time number two that "the girl behaved violently?
If it was time number one, why was the school's first recourse to call the police?
Why didn't the school pursue other avenues that would be likely to help Ja'eisha (and her mother) a) address the causes of her behavior, where ever they might reside and b) develop strategies for self-control, if they are needed?
If the "incident" mentioned was time number two, and a pattern of behavior was becoming evident, why was this not an occasion to help Ja'eisha and her mother?
WHY ARE POLICE OFFICERS GOING AROUND PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA THREATENING LITTLE SIX YEAR OLD CHILDREN WITH HANDCUFFS?
UPDATE:
Original, post-videotape-release SP Times article now has a link to the earlier SP Times article that covered the Ja'eisha Scott story when it first came out in March.
What's Race Got To Do With It?
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Things You May Not Have Read About The Ja’eisha Scott Case
• Accounts Of Police Involvement In Ja’eisha Scott Case Raise New Questions About Assist. Principal Dibenedetto’s Intent
• “I think they were good people . . . [Ja'eisha] didn’t act like that over here.”
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Incompetence. Has it been mentioned yet? Are we supposed to believe that temper tantrums are uncommon at the age of five? Are we really supposed believe that a principle is not supposed to be eguipped to handle such outbursts? If this woman really feels the necessity to call the police in order to handle a temper tantrum, i think she needs to be fired. She can’t handle this part of her job.
Do we really believe that telling a child to sit down is called re-directing when the child is having a tantrum? This child paid dearly for the incompetence of this woman.
I can see why the assistant principle wanted the kid charged- it would bring in Child protective services to investigate what was going on in the homelife of the girl. Secondly, the child repeatedly hit the woman.
Next, why didn’t the woman have the child evaulated? Two reason spring to mind. The referal was made but the parent rejected it. Secondly, a program was being devolped and intervention was occuring as shown on the tape. When the girl refused to calm down, she was removed from the school in the only way she could be without a court order or parental permission.
Denise,
To your first point: aren’t there other ways for schools to get child protective services involved in a child’s situation? Charging a child with a felony is no small matter—for one thing it stays on the child’s record—and should not be considered a means to some other end.
I’m not sure what the point is of your two guesses about why the child was not evaluated. I ask the questions because facts are wanting about the girl’s situation in the school and at home. Without factual information, people are very quick to make judgments about the nature of Ja’eisha’s problems and of her mother’s parenting. I wonder why you or anyone else thinks they know.
The “intervention” on the tape has not been described by the school as part of a program of intervention that was already in place. It was how the teachers and assistant principal responded to what was happening with Ja’eisha on that day. The way it looks to me is that Ja’eisha’s teacher is hovering and effectively egging on the little girl.
It’s sad that Ja’eisha’s privacy has been violated with the broadcasting of this videotape worldwide (thanks to her mother’s first lawyer…). Now that it’s out there, it’s unfortunate that the available excerpts allow for nothing more than speculation.
If you read more of the news reports about this, you will learn that Ja’eisha’s mother was on her way to the school when they called the police. When they called the mother at about 2:00 pm, she said she couldn’t get there until 3:15. They called the cops after 3:00 pm. Ja’eisha’s mother arrived on the scene not long after her daughter had been placed in the back of the police car with her hands bound and her ankles handcuffed.