Farmer Frank - are you my uncle? My grandfather was that way and it was HORRIBLE. My oldest is a gentle giant. Since he was different from the other kids he was picked on. I called the school every day in the month of October one year, that did not help and I was at my wits end, I was watching the playground at lunch recess every day I was off and still nothing was done. I finally told him (and I am anti-violence but I had reached my wits end) if someone hits, you, hit them back ONE time, but make that one time count. Guess what, that's all it took, but they wanted to punish HIM for defending himself. I think not. I told the principal, and superintendent that since they were unable to handle the situation, he did, and he would NOT be punished for it. The Principal attempted to tell me that by not punishing him, it would further alienate him from the group.

I'm really happy that the school that you're dealing with was willing to work with you on the problem. The one he attended at that time, he was in the 3rd grade, and all kids k-6 were out on the playgroud at one time with ONE monitor, who I discovered was usually standing in front of the door bsing with someone.

The bus is a horse of a different color, at least in this school district, if you cause trouble like that one time, the disruptive child's parent has to arrange transportation for him/her for the quarter the first offense, the rest of the year for the second. Amazing how parents are willing to step in and make their kids behave if they're the ones that have to worry about how to bring jr to school every day.

Kaika, I'm really sorry that you had to endure that on your own. I don't see stepping in and defending your child as making him/her dependent upon you, I see it as parenting. It's really frustrating these days, kids dx with ADHD in this school district have been given free reign with no consequence for their behavior. Being the parent of an ADHD child, I've said it a million times, ADHD is an excuse for lack of attention and impulse control, NOT BAD BEHAVIOR. Some teachers go out of their way to make sure that the kids are behaving in class and in the hallways, others just turn their head. My kids had two jobs in school, do their work and behave. Although I may think that they're extremely special and gifted, if my kids can do it, yours can too. I'll get off of my soap box now.