Posted on 06/14/2007 8:18:08 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
INDIANAPOLIS -- Sixth-grader Matt Porter didn't enjoy getting "Most Likely Not To Have Children" and "Sir Clowns-a-Lot" awards from two teachers at his school.
His parents aren't pleased, either.
Matt said he received the awards in front of classmates during a ceremony at the Decatur Intermediate Learning Center at the end of the recently finished school year. His mother and his stepfather have asked the Decatur Township school system to reprimand the teachers, and they want an apology.
"Words cut deeper than any knife could. They hurt," said his stepfather, Joseph Sims. "When you hurt a child like that, you not only hurt him mentally, but it does hurt physically because you withdraw within yourself. That is what Matthew has done."
The certificates were signed by the teachers who distributed them. Matt recalled what the ceremony was like.
"I was standing in the middle of (the two teachers), and they (were) reading them off," he said. "Everyone was laughing."
Matt felt humiliated.
"They (were) putting us down and everything," he said. "That is not what their job is for, to put kids down. They are supposed to teach us."
Amy Sims, Matt's mother, said she met with a school official over the matter but was not satisfied with the response.
"She just told me that the teachers would call and apologize to him, and we've not heard anything at all," Amy Sims said.
Gary Pellico, spokesman for the school system, declined to say whether the teachers have been disciplined. He said system officials regret the incident.
"We don't feel like it was an appropriate awards ceremony at all," Pellico said. "It wasn't part of the school's award ceremony, and it will not happen again."
Amy Sims said her son needs counseling because of the awards. The school has offered it, but an agreement on who will provide it has not been reached, Thomas reported.
If you think teaching happens right up to the last minute of the last day of school, it’s apparent you’ve never actually spent time at your child’s school on the last day of school!
Maybe private schools, but it doesn’t happen in public schools, at least not in the several school systems I’ve taught in over the years. :-)
My 7th grade son has done nothing in school this whole week: Tuesday & Wednesday were half days, and today they are having a carnival.
When I was in middle school, the last couple of days of the semester were for final exams. My son has never taken a final exam in his life.
“I wasn’t Huffy until I noticed that someone stole the David Cassidy bubble gum card AND the closepin from the spokes.”
This conversation has really switched gears.
What stupid awards!
“I can’t imagine a group of teachers who would think this would be a good idea. “
A group? Teachers do this all the time.
“you are almost guaranteed some one will be offended.”
Yeah. The class wuss, who in this case also turns out is the class clown.
Apparently he can dish it but not take it.
That is certainly possible. I base my suspicions on the way the parents have taken this to the media and tried to make a bigger victim of jr than he already is. Seems to me they are more concerned about themselves than they are with their son.
Both of my boys' teachers had their classes working until the last half hour of the last day. Those last 30 minutes were spent cleaning out totes and cubbies. Not only was that how they spent the last day of school, it was the actual last day of school. The district mothballed it.
My 4th grader's class had achievement awards. The whole class had a picnic lunch and the teacher handed out awards then--no classtime lost, and the awards were strictly academic.
I've got a ton of housework, folks! See ya
You win.
I thought the sissy bar remark was out of the park, but I guess not.
I have absolutely no problem with reading comprehension. I'm not going to "read between the lines" of this story and label this young man as a troublemaker when I have absolutely no proof that that is the case. You obviously have no such problem assigning a label with no proof!
And on the other side, I had a student in 4th grade one year who couldn’t read, write his own name, NOTHING. I checked his records, he had been attending the school since pre-k and had NEVER been tested for problems. He was considered a behavior problem and I was told by some of his previous teachers to “forget about him, he’s a waste of time, won’t amount to anything”...of course, them’s fighting words to me! I immediately went to the SpEd supervisor and got the process started for him to be tested...turns out he was dyslexic and it had never been caught. Kid couldn’t read, but he could draw like nobody’s business, and that’s how I taught him to read and write—he’d draw pictures (he loved military tanks, aircraft, etc and drew great pics of them) and we’d work on his writing to describe them. He learned how to go to the library and research military things, then he’d write basic reports and present them to the class. Pretty much all behavior problems ceased, and one of my best memories of him is that he was interested in science and wanted to meet Dr. Robert Ballard who was giving a speech in Dallas, and the teachers were given free tickets. I took him with me and afterward he got to meet Dr. Ballard and shake his hand and talk to him, which delighted the kid to no end. :*) Said he wanted to be a scientist after that...I learned years later that he *did* graduate and got a scholarship to the local junior college, so hopefully somewhere he’s a functioning adult who could have turned out very differently and badly if things hadn’t changed for him.
For every bad story about teachers, there are good stories too. I would just like to respectfully ask people to remember that instead of lumping everyone all together.
Again, comes with experience of teaching many years.
[shrugs]
“You’re absolutely right, because we all now that when there is a PA announcement all of the kids in school immediately clam up and pay attention. “
As a former student who ignored my share of PA and “Indian Action Morning News” tv programs, your sarcastic remarks ring true.
But so what?
The kid missed an annoucement, and as a result was unprepared. Sometimes, when I’m at work, people don’t read their emails all the way through, and they end up missing pertinent info!! Then guess what? They look a little bit dumb.
School sometimes = real life.
Another important life lesson learned!
“Any school relying on PAs alone to convey that kind of information is asking for trouble.”
What kind of information? That labs would be closed after school? That’s so mundane!! This isn’t “Your teacher died this morning on the way to work”, this is.. labs are closed today after school!
Do people really need to be life coached in two different forms every step of the way??
“A group? Teachers do this all the time.”
You are obviously not a teacher! This is an excellent way to end ones career.
“Yeah. The class wuss, who in this case also turns out is the class clown.”
Your talking about a ten year old kid and you have no way of knowing what, if anything he did to deserve this treatment.
“Apparently he can dish it but not take it.”
You don’t know that he dished out anything!
“You win.”
You Tire too easily.
Ok, ok.. I’ll stop with the puns.
Geeze, let me guess, you got an award for 'most likely to NOT understand what you read'?
“You are obviously not a teacher! This is an excellent way to end ones career.”
No, I’m a former student who has seen these awards before! They were a lot of fun, and if in this case a kid’s feel-bads got hurt, does that really rate a news story? Dayum.
NEWS FLASH: Boy Urgently Needs Bubble!!
The sticks and stones thing is completely untrue. Look at school shootings. There is always an element of verbal teasing...stick and stones can indeed break one’s bones.
I’ve actually had more problems with bad administrators than teachers.
Our school district office is full of chumps, and I loathe the principals at my daughters’ old school and my son’s school.
I think a good principal would have handled the situation with my son differently.
The teachers at my daughters’ old school were actually fighting for her. In fact, she quit after last year. She was a really special lady. The school psychologist and the special education director were really horrible. They had never even met my daughter, and they would not budge about anything. The school psychologist was a real B****. The neuropsychologist that tested my daughter said it was the worst IEP she had ever been in. She couldn’t believe that they weren’t trying to help my daughter.
D’oh. You funny. :-)
Go back and READ my post correctly. You totally missed the
“/s” mark, which means “sarcasm off”. I guess you forgot to include yours in your post, LOL.
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