Should They Fire These "Educators" Or Not?

Cookie Parker · #31 (**permalink**) 05-20-2007, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mom_Adams

Teachers' phony attack upsets Murfreesboro students, parents
Prank during trip had 6th-graders taking cover

By NATALIA MIELCZAREK
Staff Writer

MURFREESBORO — Parents of students at a Murfreesboro elementary school are outraged that teachers and an assistant principal staged a phony gun attack on their children, telling them repeatedly it was not a drill, while the children cried and took shelter under tables.

Sixty-nine sixth-grade students from Scales Elementary school were on a weeklong trip at Fall Creek Falls, a state park about 130 miles southeast of Nashville. On Thursday, the last night of the outing, the staff played a prank on the kids, convincing them there was a gunman on the loose.

A teacher wearing a hooded sweatshirt pulled on a locked door, pretending to be a suspicious subject in the area.

The students were told to lie on the floor or crawl underneath tables and keep quiet. The lights went out, and about 20 kids started to cry, 11-year-old Shay Naylor said. Some held hands and shook.

"I was like, 'Oh my God,' " Shay said Saturday afternoon as she recounted the incident. "At first I thought I was going to die. We flipped out. (A teacher) told us, 'We just got a call that there's been a random shooting.' I was freaked out. I thought it was serious."

Some parents said Saturday they were outraged, especially in light of the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech that left 33 students and professors dead, including the gunman.

Scales Elementary Principal Catherine Stephens held a meeting Saturday afternoon at the school to discuss the matter with a handful of concerned parents who contacted school officials Friday night.

She said she was saddened by the situation and that the school was handling it, though she declined to elaborate on whether the teachers involved would face disciplinary action.

Terrorism....its focus on it....its obsession with it and how it permeates throughout our schools...

Cookie Parker · #32 (**permalink**) 05-20-2007, 04:39 PM

okay....you got me....it has nothing to do with Bush....

sorry everyone....I just hate the SOB so much!!!!

bluedog · #33 (**permalink**) 05-20-2007, 06:33 PM

This I respect...open honesty....why does not everyone simply state this fact....our ideologies are so far apart...that they simply hate his approch to govrerning.....at least we all know where we stand. BD

#34 (**permalink**) 05-20-2007, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cookie Parker

Terrorism....its focus on it....its obsession with it and how it permeates throughout our schools...

It has to do with events such as Columbine and the recent Virginia Tech massacre, not necessarily a focus on terrorism. While it was wrong to do on the educators part, I don't think it has so much to do with terrorism and you are making a leap to further your partisan agenda. I think it is a non-partisan issue.

SydneySteel · #35 (**permalink**) 05-20-2007, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered<

It has to do with events such as Columbine and the recent Virginia Tech massacre, not necessarily a focus on terrorism. While it was wrong to do on the educators part, I don't think it has so much to do with terrorism and you are making a leap to further your partisan agenda. I think it is a non-partisan issue.

Maybe not terrorism in the way we have come to view it, but terrorizing children is still terrorism and there's no leap necessary. My only agenda is the protection and safeguarding of children in the care of so-called educators and my political views have NOTHING to do with it.

Cookie Parker · #36 (**permalink**) 05-23-2007, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered<

It has to do with events such as Columbine and the recent Virginia Tech massacre, not necessarily a focus on terrorism. While it was wrong to do on the educators part, I don't think it has so much to do with terrorism and you are making a leap to further your partisan agenda. I think it is a non-partisan issue.

I have no partisan agenda. I am an American. I have a constitutional government and as such it is my responsibility to keep an eye on it to make sure it is not becoming tyrannical.

That being said, i think school shootings are the acts of terrorists. Those who terrorize others.

But I do concede I posted to a poster in to the conversation and not to the original issue at hand and that was wrong. I do agree these acts at school are school with homegrown terrorists and not overseas nor what was allowed to happen here in 2001 from bin Laden and AlQaeda...

(notice the segueway to my partisan agenda?

)

River Ridge · #37 (**permalink**) 05-23-2007, 04:56 PM

Years ago it was fire alarms.

If a kid wasn't ready for a test in 3rd period, they would pull the fire alarm while changing classes. the result was at least an hour wasted on getting all the kids out of the school and checking all the buildings as well as the fire department showing up.

Then they started putting ink in pull stations so that whoever pulled a "false" alarm got sprayed with ink so that the person could be identified. Before the "ink", a school could have the fire alarm set off several times a day so teachers would have to "man" the pull stations.

When that was no longer the "in" thing to do, kids would call in bomb threats. same thing. Empty the school several times a day. we had to take out all the pay phones back in the 80's because of this.

Even in the best of schools we have the problem with cell phones. One kid thinks two other kids are going to fight at lunch so they tell their friends. By the time it's passed to the 3rd kid it's said that there will be a gang fight at school so that kid calls their parents on the cell phone and tell the parent that it's going to be horrible, please come check me out. Now that parent calls several other parents who call several other parents and we have 60 parents showing up to check their kids out of school and rumors running wild when in fact, there was no fight at all, just two kids in a verbal pissing match.

Now, because of all the school shootings we have everybody on edge wondering what kid at "our" school is most likely to go nuts and do something. Kids come to us all the time with " I think so and so is going to do something". When there is a real concren, we have to depend on our "trained" ( laugh ) counslers to judge a kid when in fact they have little or no contact with the kid.

I have a kid who has worn a trenchcoat / raincoat ever day for two years. Why ? because he has man breasts and if he doesn't cover himself with a coat or jacket, many of the kids tease him or pinch his tits. So this kid has to take the abuse of kids for having tits, then the administration wants him to have a shrink talk to him to make sure he isn't a danger to the school.

Who knows the kids better ? for the most part, I do. I see my kids at least 8 times a week for usually 4 years. I know when a kid is frustrated at someone and yells " Philipe, I'm goinna fucking kill you" because it's the 5th time in a row Philipe has walked past Brian and farted. But because Brian has yelled out what he did, he goes to the office to see a shrink and Philipe gets a detention.

Because of the parents that jump up and want to file suit for any little thing these days, the school must protect itself by having ( what I consider to be ) normal kids doing what kids do to each other as they grow up. sent to a shrink

The constant threat of law suits along with the daily bombardment of news regarding bombings, school shootings death and destruction have put us in a position of not being able to spend our time TEACHING.

What do we do ?

There are people who have no business teaching kids and I agree at least one of them was in the article this thread is about.

But please, don't lose focus on the fact that there are not enough good teachers for a reason. We are not in it for the pay, we understood that when we went into this life. I don't plan on retireing, in fact, I hope I die teaching. It's what I love and it IS my life. I LIVE for my kids. My payback is when a kid comes bact after college and says " you know, if it wasn't for you teaching me life skills, I would have never made it".

Some of us teach more than what is in the books. Some of us teach kids that life isn't always fair. It's not about whats holding you back or whats unfair or wrong, it's about evaluating your situation and making choices that make you overcome the problems you are faced with.

Ozzie and Harriet don't exist but Ward Cleaver was the closest thing to showing real life. He made mistakes, would get mad, punish the Beaver unfairly, but you always kew he loved the kids and would try to make things right.

I would bet that many here who have posted to this thread would not approve of him teaching since he was usually shown as screwing up and his bad judgement.

How would you like to be judged by your worst day of bad decisions made on your job ?

Lord knows I don't.

( and yes, I still think that someone went way over the line and SHOULD be fired, but I don't think Satan lives in ALL their hearts )

<Stepping off the soapbox>

Cookie Parker · #38 (**permalink**) 05-23-2007, 05:42 PM

River Ridge.

Thanks for saying that. Teachers are so underrated in importance in our society and yet they perform the most precious job we have.

Society and schools and parents expect teachers to raise their children. Or some do. I'll try not to make broad sweeping statements, but probably will. I'm speaking generally. What we SHOULD be requiring is education only. IT sounds as though you certainly have a handle on your age group, and can understand the timeliness of adolescent behavior.

And if we aren't medicating children, we are analyzing them. I think you're right...you are the expert there. Can some get away? Yup. But shouldn't the parent also be aware of their children? Why do we always blame teachers? So we won't be guilty of anything if our child does this?

Thanks so much for your post. IT was truly appropriate. I apologize for getting off topic. And appreciate your comments.

River Ridge · #39 (**permalink**) 05-23-2007, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cookie Parker

River Ridge.

Thanks for saying that. Teachers are so underrated in importance in our society and yet they perform the most precious job we have.

Society and schools and parents expect teachers to raise their children. Or some do. I'll try not to make broad sweeping statements, but probably will. I'm speaking generally. What we SHOULD be requiring is education only. IT sounds as though you certainly have a handle on your age group, and can understand the timeliness of adolescent behavior.

And if we aren't medicating children, we are analyzing them. I think you're right...you are the expert there. Can some get away? Yup. But shouldn't the parent also be aware of their children? Why do we always blame teachers? So we won't be guilty of anything if our child does this?

Thanks so much for your post. IT was truly appropriate. I apologize for getting off topic. And appreciate your comments.

No problem. sometimes I just need to expose a different view. We do have bad teachers but it's different than good teachers making a huge mistake. The fact that so many adults were involved tells me most handled this one way but one idiot really took it too far. I can imagine being the adult in charge and paying the price for the jackass that make the kids cry.

People ask me why I don't want parents or other teachers helping out with the band. It's usually another adult ( parent or teacher ) that does something that causes the most problems.

we try, but we don't always do the "perfect" thing.

Cookie Parker · #40 (**permalink**) 05-23-2007, 06:21 PM

Can't have perfection when you're dealing with humans...you're to be commended for understanding and obviously appreciating the age group you do have!

thanks again..I'll look forward to your insights again!!