school records...

[too_short]

My son's school does not have his school records from his earlier school.  He's been having discipline problems at his present school -- some bad days, but more good days than bad.  He's in the second grade.  He was *more unmanageable* in his previous school... admittedly, he has been improving.
I asked mom why the school doesn't have his school records from the previous  school and she says that's because the present school will hold this against him, i.e. label him, etc...

I would think that the more information the school has, the more effective their school conselor and psychiatrist can be.

What's you're take on this? And please feel free to dispense advice.

[MKx2]

Well ... to some degree I can see BM's reasoning ... schools do tend to "label" very quickly.

How long has he been at the new school?  If he's been there since the beginning of this school year AND is showing continued improvement (albeit maybe small steps), perhaps suggesting that transferring the records to the new school would be advisable - they might be able to glean some information that would help at this point.

JMO

[oneandonly]

I know that when we have students transfer to a new school, the request is made from the new school and we fill out the report cards, etc and send them on....so, this might be out of moms hands unless she is withholding the old school info (which might not be possibly since so many things are available on the internet now for districts-all password protected of course) like where he attended etc....
I am brand new to this school and both my teaching partner (new too) and I decided we wanted to NOT look at old records to give each child a brand new start. In some cases, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that what was once considered a "problem child" (after last years teachers began sharing or parents began tellling us what trouble there was the previous year) was not any more.
However, we do have one child that has serious psych problems and this info was indeed shared and valuable to us. Our behavior program for him is slightly different than the rest of the class and we have certain warning signals we look for in his behavior that needs a caring, yet, firm handling. If we had not known this, I could only imagine the frustration on all our parts.....which, in turn, hinders the learning process.
Anyway, I think sharing the records is a good thing but both parents should be involved in any kind of issues that need to be addressed or possibly, behavior program that might be involved (actually, required by law)
Does your child have an IEP?

[too_short]

Thanks for your reply.  My son has been at this school for about a year now.  He started right after last new years.
 

[too_short]

I asked the school counselor if they had his school records, and the answer was no.  I don't think mom told them which school he was at the previous year.

Also, what is an IEP?

And thanks for your reply.

[oneandonly]

Individualized Education Plan
THis is required any time a student is in any kind of special services outside of the regular ed program--and does include behavior issues which almost always effect education/learning environment.
Can't you tell new school where child was at last year? Request those records yourself (FERPA laws entitle you to that info) and send them to school?