"A high school in British Columbia is reprinting its yearbooks after a teacher used a pair of scissors to cut out the picture of a student whose quote he objected to from every copy in the print-run:
Teacher Ken Piercy, who was in charge of the yearbook committee, cut out Brandon's photo and comment because he said the boy had falsely accused the principal of spending money on a fence instead of textbooks. "I will not allow anything to be published that is hurtful and untrue," Piercy stated in an insert placed in the defaced yearbooks.
The fence was installed by the district, not the principal. Barr said Brandon will be asked to submit a new comment for the reprint."
You can be assured by the look on that mother's face that she has never supported the school or the teachers and basically allowed the kid to get away with punkish behavior for years. The school is the enemy and the kid can do no wrong. I have seen it forever. That kid probably never cracked open a textbook.
Then when she finally thinks she has the 'smoking gun' proving that her poor little snowflake has been wronged by an evil teacher out to get him, she loses her shit and tries to take the power back that has been denied her all her miserable life. The school and the teacher become responsible for her crappy existence.
You know the mother is going to try to sue someone over this. I say if she does then counter sue the kid for libel which this is. His accusations about the Principal are lies that could damage the reputation of the Principal and the district as a whole.
I guarantee you that this entitled brat will not go on to become a productive member of society. He will not graduate from high school and will blame everyone else other than himself for his failures. He is past saving because lax parenting skills has allowed him to run the show for far too long.
If his mother really cared she would have bitch slapped him within minutes of hearing of his 'offence' (which is irrelevant - schools are public institutions that can't afford to have false and negative press tearing down their reputations - the good work they try to do is far too important for that to be tolerated). She is not helping him one bit. He needed to learn a lesson that some things crossed the line.
I applaud the school and the teacher for what they did. This is NOT a free speech issue. You have a right to your own OPINIONS but you do not have a right to your own FACTS.
If you think the kid is right then can you please tell me how he is privy to knowledge of how money is spent in the district his school is in? It's near impossible to get money to do anything in a school that hasn't first been scrutinized by at least a dozen people first. And anytime in that process ONE person can put a stop to the project and the whole thing starts over again. Trust me, the experience can be infuriating.
All I am saying is that the fence must have been necessary to be built in the first place. No Principal is just going to be erecting fences all 'willy nilly'. There will always be money for textbooks. Schools districts rarely can get away with 'robbing Peter to pay Paul'.
I do wish someone had been on the ball, however, before this was sent off to the printers. That is alot of money wasted to reprint the books that could have been put into textbook purchases if needed. Textbooks are ordered at the end of a previous school year so you never know if you will have enough if numbers of kids you expect changes over the summer.
I would have just given out the edited versions of the yearbooks with the offending material cut out and call it a 'teachable moment'. The money that was lost in the reprint could have been used for something else.
See the big picture people. I wish that mother had.
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10 comments:
I think you have it covered. I have been in the position lately to deal with late elementary and middle school kids and while some of them are respectful and cool, alot of them need to be fed to the wolves along with their parents. Wise-ass, no respect and stupid to boot. But they all have iphones and cell phones and other crap that replace the curiousity, and basic enjoyment of life we seemed to have back when I was growing up.
Corporate America has done it's job well.
It's unfortunate that the ones you see waste resources that could be used the help the 90% of good kids who hate the stupid ones more than the teachers do.
They hate the disruptions and distractions they cause but have no real power to speak up against their 'peers'.
My best strategy was to play defence and keep strong contact and relationships with not only the good parents but the administration and secretaries and maintenance people. You can never underestimate the value their support and knowledge can have when you have to deal with one of these 'ferel' parents.
Amen to that! I taught for fourteen years before I realized that I'd had enough of dealing with parents whose children could do no wrong.
Now I substitute and I'm happier, I can walk away from a bad day!
I really don't have to work but in the fall I am going to do some substituting just to put my mind in another space and stop being such a hermit crab.
No marking, no planning, no coaching, no staff meetings. Golden! Just have fun with the kids.
What a dickbag... good for that teacher. I have been a teacher for 8 years, and to be honest, I hate when these parents all of the sudden want to get involved with their kids lives... The best thing that ever happened was electronic online grading. Once this was introduced, parents had the chance to access their kids grades everyday. But they never did. Then parent teacher conferences would come around, the kid would be failing... and here come mom and dad acting all Rah Rah and Rowdy. Then you hit them with the facts on how many times they logged in to the system, and tell them they could have known all along the kids were failing if they would just have paid attention... that usually shut them the hell up. This piece of trash looks the part, and this kid thinks he knows something.... but chances are he doesnt know shit. Sorry Im ranting, but this post hits a nerve with me. They should make this parent pay for the new books...
See, you get it as done anyone who has ever taught. It annoys me to no end to hear anyone critisizing the schools. Nine times out of ten they don't know shit and are covering for their own poor parenting skills. They think we go out of our way to make their kids fail. Well there was Johnny Neusbalm but he was a poop smearer so I admit that my failing him was personal.
Poop smearers r the worst.
As for this teacher, if he wanted to remove the comment he should have gone through every yearbook with a black felt pen to scribble out the offending words instead of cutting out the boy's face. It would feel less like a personal attack and give mother dearest less ammunition for her inevitable lawsuit. As it stands, I regret to say I think she and junior have a case.
Well color me shocked VM. How did I know you would be on the kids side? You don't see a teachable moment here? A chance to teach what libel and slander are? This one is just so stupid that I would be annoyed if the punk go anything from this aside from ridicule. OOOO he is being deprived of his rights. Poor littl snowflake.
I'm not taking the kid's side. I just think that in this ever-more-litiginous (sp?) society people should be a bit smarter. The teacher or principal that cut the boy's photo out of every yearbook is just asking for a lawsuit. He's undoubtably inflicted terrible emotional trauma and stress, damaged little Junior's self-esteem, created social stigma and ridicule, oh my goodness, Junior's going to need twenty years of therapy to get over this one and who's going to pay for it? It'll either be the school board or the principal himself.
And the school board didn't do anything.
Give up your house, Mister Principal, and count this as a life lesson.
Cal I get kids coming into my counseling office and some of them I quickly discern really need a couple of good smacks. Should I smack them? mmm, better not. Other kids are more in need of a good long heart-felt hug. Should I hug them? mmm, better not.
Where was the teacher that was overseeing the yearbook?? There's always an editor who approves the content. The Principal should just vent his frustrations on that poor incompetent sap.
'social stigma'? Are you freakin' kidding me, VM? That punk is getting more jr. high trim than he can handle. You saw the girls backing him in that TV piece. He's like Sinatra to them now. Both smacks and hugs need to be administered. To do nothing is to change nothing. I still say he got laid for the first time over this. Well played Punky Newster.
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