Monday, December 7, 2020

Former Laurelhurst Elementary School Head Teacher Involved in "Disturbing Discipline" According to News Report

 

Edward Roos

(courtesy of SPS)




Edward Roos, former Principal at View Ridge Elementary School, is in the news for alleged mistreatment of a student at that school. According to the KUOW article, he resigned last month, after a lengthy investigation.

Here is the full article titled: "Locked in ‘the cage.’ Report finds disturbing discipline measures at Seattle school."

Roos was Head Teacher at Laurelhurst Elementary School for the 2014 and 2015 school years.  He was not a teacher, but reportedly acted in a vice principle role. Roos worked under the Principal at the time, Sarah Talbot, who also started the same year, after Principal Jolly resigned.

In 2016 a petition was posted to remove Talbot from Laurelhurst Elementary School due to many serious parent concerns.

An article was written about her here titled: "Why Does the District Let Good Schools Go Bad?"

In 2015, Talbot was responsible for having a portable delivered without going through the proper City approval process. 

Roos shows as receiving, while at Laurelhurst, in 2014 $59,183 and $61,340 in 2015. The following year he received $109,675 during his first year as Principal at View Ridge Elementary and the last 2 years he received $125,963 and $135,425.

It has been reported that Roos also received many complaints from parents as did Talbot during his 2 years at Laurelhurst Elementary School.

The Laurelhurst Blog received multiple emails following the news report:

Mr. Roos seemed to single out mostly 3rd-5th grade boys and was demeaning and humiliating to them. He was known for forcing them to put their heads on the lunch table if they talked too loudly or did anything Roos did not like. He was shaming and his style of discipline was offensive and damaging to many boys he singled out for no valid reason.  

My son was in 5th grade when Roos was at Laurelhurst Elementary School. He was never in trouble during his other 5 years at the school. When Roos arrived he was treated with disdain with no explanation whatsoever. He was made to feel ashamed in front of his friends, mostly at lunch, and on the playground. It had a huge negative impact on my son for years after he graduated from the school. 

It is with great happiness and relief to read that Mr. Roos is no longer employed by Seattle Public Schools. Reading the information in the article is greatly disturbing, but comes as no surprise, seeing how Mr. Roos treated students, especially the older boys, with no respect, using his power in a very negative manner that had damaging effects on students. Unfortunately, it seemed that Talbot gave him great power to do as he wanted, though he was only "Head Teacher" and he appeared to take full advantage of that.

I had 2 boys at Laurelhurst Elementary School that were both treated extremely poorly by Mr. Roos. It was heartbreaking to see my boys come home with little confidence and very little joy or passion for school anymore.

It was in Mr. Roos' demeanor to be insulting, humiliating and unkind to students, especially those in the latter grades at Laurelhurst Elementary school. He often lectured students during the entire lunch period, told them to put their heads down on the table for 10-15 minutes taking up their lunch time and carried out other disciplinary actions that were disrespectful and disparaging. So many parents were concerned during those 2 years he was at Laurelhurst Elementary School but Talbot covered for him, herself disliked by many parents as well.

Hopefully View Ridge will get a better Principal and will move forward in a positive way. It took Laurelhurst Elementary years to move forward after the damage done by Talbot and Roos to the school community.  



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