Preschool violence

A couple days ago, I shared the news on the Yada forum that Boo Jr got hit in the face by another kid at preschool. Details were a little sketchy then, but my wife spoke to the teacher yesterday and got the full story.

My son's class has recess every day. When it's too cold out (which it was on Monday), they stay inside to play. There's an area of the basement (for lack of a better term) that the teachers tell the students is "off limits" due to safety reasons. Jaden (the boy who hit my son) was playing with a hula-hoop in the area that was off limits. Boo Jr told Jaden that he wasn't supposed to be in that area and proceeded to grab the hula hoop (I don't know if it was being used at the time) to bring it back to where they are supposed to play. Apparently, Jaden didn't like that and struck Boo Jr in the face above his eye. My son fell to the floor and started to cry. The hit left a 2" scratch (which later developed into a bruise) above his eye.

The teacher was busy helping another student and did not see the actual event. Other students ran to tell the teacher that Jaden hit Boo Jr, and Boo Jr was crying. The teacher comforted my son and asked him what happened (bacically a summary of what I typed above). The teacher asked Jaden if he hit Boo Jr. He said, "No!", but many of the other students chimed back, "Yes, you did!" So the teacher instructed Jaden to apologize to my son, and he refused. Jaden was put in time out for the rest of playtime.

We didn't get the full scoop because the lead teacher had to leave class immediately after the event happened (personal emergency). That's why when my wife picked up my son later that day, the assistant teacher didn't know the full story. We had called the preschool director (not knowing the full story ourselves) to report the incident. As I mentioned earlier, yesterday, the lead teacher called my wife and explained what happened. She said the incident was reported to Jaden's parents as well and mentioned that (more than likely), if a similar incident happens again, Jaden will be kicked out of school. This isn't the first time Jaden has gotten into trouble. He also stole Boo Jr's matchbox car that he brought to school for show and tell. The lead teacher said that she would emphasize to the other teachers (art, music, assistants) to keep my son and Jaden separated.

One thing I would like my son to learn is that he doesn't need to be the classroom cop. This is the first incident that we know of that my son has acted this way. Would it be best to tell him that if he sees someone doing something wrong or dangerous to report it to the teacher instead of trying to handle it himself? I feel this is a learning opportunity for Boo Jr because he did have some role in what happened to him.