From a commenter on the Denver Post write up: “Just as well. He would only get an imaginary education at a place like this…”
My own thoughts, which I put on Twitter this morning, come down to this: Evidently, to those Loveland apparatchiks with degrees in education, the world isn’t worth saving if, in order to save it, one most resort to something so gauche as tossing imaginary grenades at the problem.
Let the fucker burn, they seem to say. At least then when the purifying fires come, we’ll be able to look into the loving face of the State Godhead and claim we refused to sin against the progressive agenda. And salvation — and tenure, and a guaranteed heavenly pension — will be ours!
Adds Squid, in the comments to Darleen’s earlier post,
The school:
Mary Blair Elementary School
860 E. 29th Street
Loveland, CO 80538
Valerie Lara-Black, Principal
970-613-6400
Valerie.lara-black@thompsonschools.orgThe District:Dr. Stan Scheer, Superintendent
Thompson School District
800 South Taft Avenue
Loveland, CO 80537
970-613-5013
stan.scheer@thompsonschools.orgInterested parties may wish to ask the good Principal and Superintendent if it is reasonable for their absolute prohibition on “real or play” weapons to be extended to an invisible, imaginary grenade. They may further wish to ask whether it is reasonable for “Absolutes” crafted to deal with bullying and violence to be used to punish a kid for playing “Rescue the World” at recess.While they’re at it, they might also ask why it is necessary for taxpayers to pay top dollar for experienced schools officials with solid judgement and professionalism, if this is the outcome they can expect.
One might bear in mind that Dr. Scheer just started in July, and perhaps remind him that this represents an excellent opportunity to distinguish himself, to reform some of the idiotic policies he inherited, and to influence local taxpayers to take him more seriously in the future. Like, for instance, the next time he floats an operating referendum…
I think that’s a smashing idea. And if it doesn’t work — or you begin to get the runaround — try this (h/t palaeomerus): ask them to see the evidence. Surely due process dictates that the school produce the imaginary incendiary device. And even if they do so, show that it failed to save the world from evil.
— That last part being easiest, given that policies like these are in place and defended by supposedly educated adults in the field.
Further research has turned up that Ms. Lara-Black is a new principal, as well, having been an assistant principal for the past few years.
The School Board needs to take a very serious look at the quality of the people they’re putting in positions of power and responsibility. FOR THE CHILDREN!
It would be of interest to do some discovery on why the former pricipal and superintendant left. Greener pastures? Had enough?
Inquiring minds want to know.
“In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.”
— Mark Twain (also a common target of edufascists).
Someone should walk into the next School Board meeting and start taking hostages at fingerpoint.
The previous superintendent was let go by a new School Board who wanted to take the District in “a new direction.” More hearsay for those interested.
Dunno about the previous Principal.
Someone should walk into the next School Board meeting and start taking hostages at fingerpoint.
Can you imagine how terrified they’d be if I walked in with a shackle pin and split-ring gripped in my fist? Just hook a finger through the split-ring and threaten to pull the pin, and watch all their socks turn brown…
Probably best this kid learned early, else he might have waited until adulthood to try and save the world with a wishful idea.
Then they’d have nailed him to a tree.
Thanks Squid.
On a slightly less hyperbolic note I think part of this problem stems from an unwillingness of parents to provide enough feedback. These egregious examples do not spring up from nowhere, they are often the culmination of a long line of petty injustices.
My wife an I recently dealt with an incident where our own 6th grader was punished for something rather questionable. It was a minor incident, with essentially zero consequences, and could have easily been brushed off, but was part of an apparently growing pattern, and if nothing else we wanted to teach our son a lesson about principles.
We arranged for a sit down with the principal, which turned into a ‘team meeting’ with him, his assistant, and the teacher (amazing how they always bring more bodies to the fight than you.) Needless to say, and unsurprisingly, they were not interested in any other viewpoints. But we still persisted, and if nothing else, we made an hour of their day miserable.
Even flatworms will turn away from pain. If more people stepped up, even if the issues seems minor, it might at least give these ‘educators’ the feeling that they are hitting the warning track before they go full on into the wall.
“Probably best this kid learned early, else he might have waited until adulthood to try and save the world with a wishful idea.
Then they’d have nailed him to a tree.”
Or made him Secretary of the Treasury…
You want to solve the public school problem at a single stroke? Start charging tuition.
But we still persisted, and if nothing else, we made an hour of their day miserable.
My dear mother followed this tactic when my brother and I were in high school. In my case, it was just one big blowup with a coke-addled math teacher who didn’t like my attitude.* My brother was more of a problem child, and so he wound up scapegoated quite a lot.
In any event, Mom was the only advocate we had in the face of the school administration. Fortunately, she only worked part-time in those days, leaving her plenty of free hours to make life miserable for the Principal and his staff.
However, I have to acknowledge that for every righteously indignant battleaxe like my mom, there’s at least a couple others who make life just as miserable for the administration, even though their kids are legitimately disruptive and destructive. It’s an imperfect world.
(* True story: AP Calculus teacher said that tests counted for 40% of our grade; 30% was in-class pop quizzes, 15% from class participation, and 15% from homework assignments. So I skipped a lot of homework, because why bother? End of the year, after half the class bombed their finals (did I mention he wasn’t a great teacher?), he retroactively made homework worth 40% of the final grade, turning my solid A into a B-, and knocking me out of contention for valedictorian. Never mind that I aced every test and quiz, tutored a couple of my classmates, and scored high enough on my AP test that I got college credit for freshman calc.
If it hadn’t been for my righteous mother bringing the Wrath of God down upon their heads, I’m pretty sure I’d have wound up throwing an imaginary grenade into the principal’s office.)
Start charging tuition.
Alternatively, make welfare payments, tax credits, and child custody (where applicable) contingent on school success. You wanna ignore your kid and let him fail? Fine; but don’t expect the rest of us to pay you for the privilege.
Michelle Rhee: schools, me and why I still love democrats (h/t Maggie’sFarm)
reform blahblahblah fix the system blahblahblah idealist defeated again.
pour l’encouragement des autres
I think there was a proposal of some kind to tie school attendance to welfare at one time or another. I believe this was followed by a lot of pearl-clutching and talk of “fairness”.