</sarcasm>
Posted on 04/07/2002 8:48:43 AM PDT by pa_dweller
WEBSTER Ten-year-old Hailie Whatley was sitting on a bench with two other fifth-graders outside of Webster Elementary School about two weeks ago during a break from test taking.
The honor student was trying to figure out a way to cheer up a crying classmate sitting next to her, the girl’s mother said.
Within hours, however, the Webster girl was sitting in the principal’s office facing accusations that she threatened to kill the girl.
According to Marty Whatley, her daughter Hailie was hoping to encourage her schoolmate with a role-playing game she called “Civil War.” Designating herself a Confederate soldier, Hailie picked up an Oak leaf and pointed it like a gun at the other girl, the so-called “Yankee soldier.”
“This was done in a role-playing scenario,” Whatley said. “She said ‘I was just playing.’”
That type of play, according to Sumter School District’s zero-tolerance policy, earned the girl — who has been in trouble only once before in second grade — a one-day suspension and loss of her safety patrol duties.
“We’re talking about a kid who was absolutely astonished at this,” Whatley said. “This was done in play. I tried to find some reasoning for this. Emotionally it was devastating. She lost everything she worked for all those years.”
“I don’t know how many parents are aware of this (zero-tolerance policy),” Whatley said.
Plenty, school officials say.
Superintendent of Schools Richard Shirley said information on the school district’s discipline policy are sent home with every child at the beginning of the school year.
Officials say times have changed in the wake of school shootings in the last several years.
“We don’t take that stuff lightly,” Shirley said. “We are being more responsive to legitimate is-sues that have been around for years. We try to deal with it as effectively and as quickly as possible.”
Assistant Superintendent Hannah Foster said people need to understand what it takes to maintain secure schools. “Everybody wants safe schools but that’s where the ‘yea, but’ comes in,” Foster said.
Whatley calls the school’s decision “an overkill of the power which the school system now wields over the parents and students of Sumter County.”
School principal Carolyn Stephens disputes Whatley’s claim that school officials went too far or erred in disciplining Hailie.
“The child pretended to stab the other,” Stephen said. “She said she was going to kill her herself. The (girl who reported the incident) felt very threatened by the situation.”
“We look very, very closely at each incident. We follow the zero-tolerance policy that’s in place. This is just standard procedure,” she said.
Whatley said “standard procedure” doesn’t take into account what she called innocent child play and girls’ sometimes vindictive attitudes toward each other.
Hailie’s “record is marred (by this offense). She does not want to go back to school. She feels betrayed by those she trusted,” said Whatley in a letter to the Daily Commercial. The bottom line, Foster said, is everyone, including 10-year-old girls need to understand that certain behavior, actions and use of words will not be tolerated.
“You’re going to be disciplined if you threaten to kill someone,” she said. “That’s all there is to it. We take threats very seriously.”
WEBSTER Ten-year-old Hailie Whatley was sitting on a bench with two other fifth-graders outside of Webster Elementary School about two weeks ago during a break from test taking.
The honor student was trying to figure out a way to cheer up a crying classmate sitting next to her, the girl’s mother said.
Within hours, however, the Webster girl was sitting in the principal’s office facing accusations that she threatened to kill the girl.
According to Marty Whatley, her daughter Hailie was hoping to encourage her schoolmate with a role-playing game she called “Civil War.” Designating herself a Confederate soldier, Hailie picked up an Oak leaf and pointed it like a gun at the other girl, the so-called “Yankee soldier.”
“This was done in a role-playing scenario,” Whatley said. “She said ‘I was just playing.’”
That type of play, according to Sumter School District’s zero-tolerance policy, earned the girl — who has been in trouble only once before in second grade — a one-day suspension and loss of her safety patrol duties.
“We’re talking about a kid who was absolutely astonished at this,” Whatley said. “This was done in play. I tried to find some reasoning for this. Emotionally it was devastating. She lost everything she worked for all those years.”
“I don’t know how many parents are aware of this (zero-tolerance policy),” Whatley said.
Plenty, school officials say.
Superintendent of Schools Richard Shirley said information on the school district’s discipline policy are sent home with every child at the beginning of the school year.
Officials say times have changed in the wake of school shootings in the last several years.
“We don’t take that stuff lightly,” Shirley said. “We are being more responsive to legitimate is-sues that have been around for years. We try to deal with it as effectively and as quickly as possible.”
Assistant Superintendent Hannah Foster said people need to understand what it takes to maintain secure schools. “Everybody wants safe schools but that’s where the ‘yea, but’ comes in,” Foster said.
Whatley calls the school’s decision “an overkill of the power which the school system now wields over the parents and students of Sumter County.”
School principal Carolyn Stephens disputes Whatley’s claim that school officials went too far or erred in disciplining Hailie.
“The child pretended to stab the other,” Stephen said. “She said she was going to kill her herself. The (girl who reported the incident) felt very threatened by the situation.”
“We look very, very closely at each incident. We follow the zero-tolerance policy that’s in place. This is just standard procedure,” she said.
Whatley said “standard procedure” doesn’t take into account what she called innocent child play and girls’ sometimes vindictive attitudes toward each other.
Hailie’s “record is marred (by this offense). She does not want to go back to school. She feels betrayed by those she trusted,” said Whatley in a letter to the Daily Commercial. The bottom line, Foster said, is everyone, including 10-year-old girls need to understand that certain behavior, actions and use of words will not be tolerated.
“You’re going to be disciplined if you threaten to kill someone,” she said. “That’s all there is to it. We take threats very seriously.”
To look on the bright side, maybe this incident will cause the girl to view governmental authority with some skepticism and she'll become more of an independent thinker than she would have otherwise.
That's part of the problem, the thinking's been taken out of the equation. A committee draws up a procedure to handle such things and it is decided, apparently, that no deviation from the schedule will be allowed - It MUST be done THIS way, PERIOD. They say "it's for the children" but, IMO it's either laziness or unwillingness to take responsibility.
</sarcasm>
That was her first (and probably biggest) mistake, at least at her mindless PC school.
What we need first is teachers and administrators who know good from bad and right from wrong. Unfortunately, most of the people running our schools still admire some pop star from the sixties more than they admire our nation's Founding Fathers. These people still think that attacking traditional roles, values, beliefs, and role models is a noble calling. Until we replace them with those who know right from wrong, we won't see progress in education.
WFTR
Bill
What, chewing gum?
I think most do, although I can only refer to my wife. Without all the rules and zero tolerance policies, in a better world, the sobbing one would have told a teacher about this and the teacher would have commiserated and explained and found out what the problem was, encouraged the kid a bit and the whole thing forgotten.
Another, more insidious, effect is that kids learn not to try to work things out for themselves with their own techniques. Do you think the girl who was trying to help her classmate will be so foolish again? I don't. The result might be that down the road this girl will see someone in need and stifle the urge to get involved, her Samaritan impulses penned up by 'authority'. Sad.
I agree completely about the loss of ability to work with people. The little girl being punished will not likely help anyone in the future. The result will be a greater need for "professionals" to intervene in situations and a greater market for people with otherwise useless educations in intervention. This situation shows one more example of how the left is isolating Americans from one another in order to make us easier to destroy.
WFTR
Bill
You nailed it! Just this week my wife (a teacher's assistant ) tells me they will be administering a new test. This comes on the heels of the state mandated PSSA (Pennsylvania School System Assessment) test. The kids get stressed from taking tests and instead of studying what they're supposed to be learning, the teachers are 'teaching to the test' so the kids will do well. As usual, no one at the bottom has any control over this, it all comes down from on high.
Here's something to make you grit your teeth a little more! :^/
We must clear all of the oak trees off of the school grounds at once!
Watch out! You'll have the ELF nuts after you next!
I'm your huckleberry, bring 'em on!
Much human misery is caused by mistaking maps for territories.
--Boris
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