Posted on 09/15/2018 8:11:22 AM PDT by SMGFan
Akbar Cook, principal of West Side High School in Newark, sat across from Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show Friday, and couldn’t believe he was there.
“I’m just so happy, I’m so nervous that I’m on the Ellen Show," he said, smiling, his hands fidgeting. “This is amazing. Wow."
It’s understandable, Cook. She’s big, but you have done something special to earn the right to be there, too.
I wrote a column about Cook last month because he had washing machines installed at his school this summer to deter bullying and embarrassment for his students, who didn’t want anyone to know that their families couldn’t afford to wash their school uniforms.
The story went viral. Everybody took notice of Cook. Enter Ellen DeGeneres. “When I found out about a high school principal from Newark, New Jersey who is doing incredible things to keep his students in school, I knew I wanted to have him on the show," DeGeneres said on her talk show.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
their families couldn’t afford to wash their school uniforms.
Gee, I guess that now that those bullies can't bully those poor kids about their clothes, they'll leave them alone now, right?
Yeah, that's really believable: Thuggish bullies beating up kids to steal their milk money because they "feel like it" because the school administrators are scared sh*tless to discipline those bullies because their uniforms are slightly soiled or smelly.
Yeah, right.
I may be no expert on schoolyard or after-school bullying (being about six inches taller and 50 lbs heavier than most other kids may have helped - so did having four older brothers on the schoolyard who were built like quarterbacks), but this will NOT solve the REAL problem.
Regards,
Feed them at school, wash clothes at school.
Never deal with the true issue.
These are children who live disrupted lives and need to be taken away from the people who are not taking care of them. They would be better off in an orphanage, and there could learn to be productive civilized people.
That’s not very nice.
Ask Ellen if it is too late to just abort them?
Self-sufficiency, or mostly. What a skill! That's probably how grandma did it.
Sad. But brutally true.
They must be on scholarship at the school? Or do public schools in NJ now require uniforms?
“who didn’t want anyone to know that their families couldn’t afford to wash their school uniforms.”
“The story went viral. Everybody took notice of Cook. Enter Ellen DeGeneres. “When I found out about a high school principal from Newark, New Jersey who is doing incredible things to keep his students in school, I knew I wanted to have him on the show,” DeGeneres said on her talk show.”
THANKS ELLEN, for making sure the bullies know all about it now.
Many public schools have uniforms. It’s supposed to prevent bullying due to fashion choices.
Tell me about it. This is reading like absolute BS. When I was at my most broke I use to wash my clothes in the bathtub and dry them out on the fire escape and if it was took cold I would scrape together a buck or two to use the laundromat dryer. How much you want to bet all these kids who are “too poor to wash clothes” all have cellphones?
I know a woman who was moderately successful as a real estate agent...never married (too career minded and too high maintenance). She lived in a nice house and earned a decent salary.
Then the housing bubble burst and she lost it all. In her late 40s she ended up dwelling in a ramshackle cousin’s house all alone. The cousin didn’t charge her rent, as the house was in very bad shape. The house was several hundred miles away the former real estate agent’s home base.
She was sad. She was washing her clothes in a sink, by hand, and watching every penny. Toilet paper was a major purchase. She had some mental health issues, but one thing I NEVER heard her do insist the GOVERNMENT give her free stuff.
Eventually she made connections, we prayed a lot for her, and now she has a job and a decent place to live. Things are working out for the best.
My point is sometimes you’ve got to go through tough times to appreciate blessings.
the bullies know he has $50k. They will bully him until he hands it over.
Put some bunks in the gym and they are all yours. Then take away their folks food stamps and welfare.
Cell phones! Good point and game tablets. And De Generate would want to generate some communication width those soon to be 18 girls! Beware!
With all of the welfare available to families it is hard to believe. More likely they are too lazy, or filthy.
My hatred for NJ aside, this sort of problem remains unidentified.
Parents don’t care. Money or no money. I know lots of well off people who’s kids are feral.
My wife was.
I’m old enough to remember when only destitute kids would get free meals at school. And there was a sense of shame associated with taking this assistance.
No doubt you are right.
The parental adjectives should be too lazy, too drunk, too wasted, too foul to have kids in the house.
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