Anyone who has spent any amount of time in a kindergarten classroom, or even just around five and six year-olds, knows that they can be a handful, especially when grouped together. While it is the role of any teacher to educate his students, a large part of the job for a kindergarten teacher is simply keeping the children under control. It is surprising to hear that a teacher and school would have to call in the police for a classroom disruption by a kindergarten student and that the police would respond by taking the child away in handcuffs. She was initially charged with assault and damage to property, though apparently they will not be pursuing criminal charges against the six-year-old girl.

This is apparently the scenario that played out in one Georgia elementary school recently. A local news report indicates that the young girl was throwing toys and books and ripping items off the wall. While this is obviously inappropriate behavior, it raises questions about the judgment of the police force that they would have to restrain such a young child in steal handcuffs and take her down to the police station.

The school called the police during the six-year-old girl’s tantrum. When the police arrived, the girl had already been taken out of the classroom and was in the principal’s office. Police say that they were unable to clam the girl down and that is when they decided to pin her arms behind her back in handcuffs and take her away.

One would hope that when a police officer arrives on the scene of any incident, the officer would be a source of common sense and attempt to effectively defuse the situation. That does not appear to have been what happened in this instance.

Source: MSNBC, “Kindergartner handcuffed, taken to police station after allegedly throwing tantrum — and furniture,” Miguel Llanos, April 17, 2012