Are you really out of straight yet?

[Antigen]

Anon, here's what was in my morning paper today

Parents say principal paraded third-grader as thief, liar

By Jeff Oliver
VALLEY INDEPENDENT
Saturday, November 5, 2005

Some parents are openly questioning disciplinary measures allegedly taken by an Elizabeth-Forward elementary school principal against a third-grader falsely accused of stealing money.


Ryan White said his daughter was accused of stealing money from another girl on the school bus. She then was hauled from room to room at William Penn School and identified to pupils as a thief and liar.

White said his daughter, Katie, was "abused and scarred" by the incident and wants the district to take disciplinary action against Principal Marlene Whitby, who he said dragged his daughter from classroom to classroom.


The incident began to unfold on a school bus more than a month ago, when Katie White was accused of taking the money from another student. The student later recanted her story but not before Katie suffered the alleged humiliation.


The school district isn't talking about the incident.

"The district does not discuss personnel or discipline issues," said Jane Milner, the district's communications director.


Superintendent Paul Mueller and Whitby did not return phone calls seeking comment.


Ryan White said he has received little response from the school district.


"I was told that Katie took $5 off a kid on the bus, and they were taking her recess away. Then she comes home after school and tells me what the principal did to her," he said. "It was unreal."


White said he tried to get Whitby to apologize for what she did, but the principal refused.


"I had to go to the school board to get her to apologize, and it was supposed to be in public, but she did it in private," White said. "I asked (Whitby) if she investigated before she did what she did and she told me 'no.' She said she didn't talk to the bus driver. She didn't even look at the bus video."


The Rev. Lowell Meek, president of the school board, acknowledged the incident but had little comment.

"I know what you are talking about, but it is a personnel matter and it would be inappropriate to comment on," he said.


"Your implication is that (the incident) did happen. I can't say if it did or if it did not," Meek said. "No report has been brought to the board at this time.


Meanwhile, the principal is being criticized by some parents who say their children were in classrooms where Whitby took Katie.


"That's way out of line," said James Brown, whose son is a third-grader at the school. "I wouldn't accept that (punishment) for my child. It should be handled in-office and privately."


Tom DeRosa, a Forward Township supervisor and the parent of another third-grader, also took exception to how the incident was handled.


"If that were my child, they would have needed the state police, the U.S. Army and a tank because I would have gone after somebody," said DeRosa. "I'm sure the district is not done with this. I expect something to happen to that principal. That was just handled so poorly."


DeRosa said that students recently received a visit from a school psychologist and Whitby in an effort to clear up the incident, but the problem only has been compounded.


"My 8-year-old came home from school and told me they weren't trying to make it easy on that little girl. They were trying to make it easy on the principal," DeRosa said. "That's an 8-year-old, and they couldn't fool her."


At first, Ryan White said, all he wanted was a simple apology, but Whitby refused.


Then he went to the school board and received little help or support.


"The district just wants this to go away," he said. "But that's not how you treat little children. This isn't going away from my daughter. My little girl will never forget what happened to her that day in school. This has been a nightmare for us."

Different, clearly, from Straight, Inc. Parents and students talking out in group like this? Not supporting the Program? Getting moral support from others, including local media? Never happen in Str8.

But there are similarities too, aren't there? What do you think made this fucking idiot principal think this was the way to deal w/ the situation? You think she just came up w/ it on her own? That the professional culture on which she's fed for all the years to get where she is has been completely averse to this sort of thing? Think she's having a nervous breakdown and this is the first clear manifestation of it?

Well, if that were the case, the rest of the board and faculty wouldn't be being so dodgy about it, would they? Do you think that, if the kid hadn't mentioned it to the parent (and they usually don't) and the parent hadn't started a stink, do you think this fuckin' little tin god of a worthless bureaucrat would have seen any sort of reprecussion as a result of her mean spirited, idiotic behavior?

I don't. I think this is pretty much par for the course.

That's what I'm sayin'.

 

Being a street cop, witnessing the tragedy firsthand, I've become
convinced that drug prohibition -- not drugs themselves -- are driving the HIV epidemic and the systemic crime that has swamped our criminal justice systems.
--Vancouver Police Const. Gil Puder

[starry-eyed pirate]

[starry-eyed pirate]

On 2005-11-05 14:43:00, Antigen wrote:

"

On 2005-11-05 14:22:00, starry-eyed pirate wrote:


"

On 2005-11-05 14:09:00, Anonymous wrote:





Was Straight not traumatizing to you?"

i'm fucked up to this very day.





"

Not half as fucked up as those who think they're sane.

Don't sweat the

Petty Things

Don't pet the

Sweaty Things

Water what you want to grow.
--Curiosity

"

 :smile:  :smile:  :grin:  :wink:

[Antigen]

Dude, scroll up. We still on the same page? I think so, hope so. Leme know.

"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."
"Isn't your pants' zipper supposed to be in the front?"
--Hobbs to Calvin

[Antigen]

DeRosa said that students recently received a visit from a school psychologist and Whitby in an effort to clear up the incident, but the problem only has been compounded.

Imagine that!  :roll:

If they can get you to ask the wrong questions they don't have to worry about the answers

--Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow (Proverbs for Paranoids)

[Antigen]

But, getting back to the topic at hand...

Earlier, Anon wrote:

Sometimes I read these angry posts and it's like folks are real comfy as the victim. I was messed up. They did this to me so I am this way now.

Then,

On 2005-08-19 11:14:00, dragonfly wrote:

I'm talking about being defeated, settling in to victimhood as an identity. Replacing the phaser identity with a victim identity. And defending that as furiously as we defended our program.

I think you're not wrong. It's one thing to recognize what was done to us, how it was done, by whom and why. Now onto other things.

Aristotle said "There are no contradictions. If you think you've found one, check your premises."

If the Program fucked w/ us and had the tacit and, sometimes, proudly spoken support of the powers that be in doing so, then what the fuck else are these sadistic lunatics doing w/ the power we (so far) allow them to have?

That's the important question. I'm done w/ the past, except as it can inform the future.

For myself, I do not believe in any revelation. As for a future life, every man must judge for himself between conflicting vague probabilities.
--Charles Robert Darwin, English naturalist

_________________
Drug war POW
Straight, Sarasota
`80 - `82

[starry-eyed pirate]

On 2005-11-05 15:27:00, Antigen wrote:

"Dude, scroll up. We still on the same page? I think so, hope so. Leme know.
"

i dunno.  i pretty much think so.  it takes a lot of energy though, sittin' here all this time tryin' to communicate and articulate all these abstract relationships.  i think sometime or another we may jus' have ta get together and discuss the state of the world over a 12 pack.

[Antigen]

Well, aren't we still on for early December? Hope so. I was looking forward to it.

Freedom has a thousand charms to show, That slaves, howe'er contented, never know.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1840300051/circlofmiamithem' target='_new'> William Cowper, a British Christian poet & hymn writer (18th century)

[starry-eyed pirate]

Oh yeah. we are.  :smile:

[Antigen]

Cool  :em:

sunday school: A prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.
--H. L. Mencken, American publisher

[starry-eyed pirate]

On 2005-11-05 14:40:00, Antigen wrote:

" But just about all that I learned from schooling was about how to subvert the control.
"

What do you mean ??

[Antigen]

On 2005-11-05 16:39:00, starry-eyed pirate wrote:

"

On 2005-11-05 14:40:00, Antigen wrote:


" But just about all that I learned from schooling was about how to subvert the control.

"

What do you mean ??"

Well, for instance, "some teachers who taught me very good things by example; usually while bending or breaking the rules."

Whenever I got called for some infraction or other (say I skipped an assignment, was late, blurted out some rude joke, etc.) I could count on having more time and wit to make it SO not worth the trouble to the teacher to hold me to whatever punishment they came up with. "Write an essay, you say? Ok, cool, I like writing. How about one about your spoiled rotten kids who I babysat for free last weekend?"  (and I could do it in code, too, so that everyone knew wtf I was talking about but no one could prove id LOL)

Or better, more friendly, conflict free instances. Like when a favorite teacher of mine just decided we all needed some time off to go for a walk that day. Don't remember the drama, but we were all fractious. So he bent the rules and made up a clever cover. He gave us each a dime for the pay phone and told us to call our parents and get verbal permission, on the honor system, for a field trip. Oh, sure, he did legitimize it by pointing out some interesting lichen while we were out there. But really, it was just a walk accross the field and through the woods; a much needed break.

And then there was just the typical, every day goofing off, passing notes, cheating on tests, forging signatures on those I flunked and on detention slips and such. Almost everything good that I got out of school was all about how to not accept the philosophy, how to beat the system and have a little dignity and autonomy in spite of it.

The cultural hunger for a substance that lets you hold affordable conversations with God, watch walls melt, breathe colors, and explore your psyche remains unsated.
--Ryan Grim for Slate, April 1, 2004

[Anonymous]

On 2005-11-05 15:46:00, Antigen wrote:

"But, getting back to the topic at hand...

Earlier, Anon wrote:



Sometimes I read these angry posts and it's like folks are real comfy as the victim. I was messed up. They did this to me so I am this way now.

Then,

On 2005-08-19 11:14:00, dragonfly wrote:



I'm talking about being defeated, settling in to victimhood as an identity. Replacing the phaser identity with a victim identity. And defending that as furiously as we defended our program.

I think you're not wrong. It's one thing to recognize what was done to us, how it was done, by whom and why. Now onto other things.



Aristotle said "There are no contradictions. If you think you've found one, check your premises."



If the Program fucked w/ us and had the tacit and, sometimes, proudly spoken support of the powers that be in doing so, then what the fuck else are these sadistic lunatics doing w/ the power we (so far) allow them to have?



That's the important question. I'm done w/ the past, except as it can inform the future.

For myself, I do not believe in any revelation. As for a future life, every man must judge for himself between conflicting vague probabilities.

--Charles Robert Darwin, English naturalist

_________________

Drug war POW

Straight, Sarasota

`80 - `82"

I just think it's ridiculous to even start a thread on whether or not another Straight survivor is handling their coming to terms in the right way, not settling into victimhood. The reason I think it is ridiculous is people don't even know. You can be glib and say that people are "replacing a phaser identity with a victim identity", but the whole paradigm of how you deal with history and being a victim of crime, whatever difficulty it is, you are not supposed to "play the victim" and so on, that kind of scrutinizing of other people's minds and intentions towards the recovery of their mental and physical health, I dunno, it smacks of the 12-Step and all that other smarmy k-rap you can find on the shelves at the bookstore. You don't know til you walked a mile in somebody's shoes how difficult their path may be. I can't look at the bum lurching up and down Church Street and have any judgement other than against myself for not giving him what he needs. Are you offering to assist Straight survivors with the things it takes to get better? If not, perhaps you had better judge yourself as the victim of something before you start peering into their souls from the priest's side of the confessional at the Church of the Always Working Their Programs.

[webcrawler]

I just think it's ridiculous to even start a thread on whether or not another Straight survivor is handling their coming to terms in the right way, not settling into victimhood. The reason I think it is ridiculous is people don't even know. You can be glib and say that people are "replacing a phaser identity with a victim identity", but the whole paradigm of how you deal with history and being a victim of crime, whatever difficulty it is, you are not supposed to "play the victim" and so on, that kind of scrutinizing of other people's minds and intentions towards the recovery of their mental and physical health, I dunno, it smacks of the 12-Step and all that other smarmy k-rap you can find on the shelves at the bookstore. You don't know til you walked a mile in somebody's shoes how difficult their path may be. I can't look at the bum lurching up and down Church Street and have any judgement other than against myself for not giving him what he needs. Are you offering to assist Straight survivors with the things it takes to get better? If not, perhaps you had better judge yourself as the victim of something before you start peering into their souls from the priest's side of the confessional at the Church of the Always Working Their Programs. "

Well said!  :tup:

[Antigen]

Well, I suppose you could take it that way. I took it as questioning the purpose of the discussion.

I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say that one is an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow it was better to say one was a humanist or agnostic. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect that he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time.
--Isaac Asimov, Russian-born American author