Posted on 06/02/2005 4:50:02 AM PDT by NotchJohnson
GOVERNMENT SCHOOL --- SOLDIERS NOT WELCOME
We talked about this one on the show yesterday, but it didn't make the Nuze. So here we go .. the story of the Anita White Carson Middle School in Greensboro, Greene County, Georgia.
Our cast of characters is as follows:
Matthew Lund, first year teacher Ulrica Corbett, Principal. Zach Richardson, Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. So .. here's the story, gleaned from the front page of the May 26th edition of Greensboro Herald-Journal.
Matthew Lund and Zach Richardson were college roommates. After college Richard joined the Marines and Lund started teaching. Richardson went to Iraq, Lund to Carson Middle School, there to teach a 6th grade language arts class.
As a class assignment Lund gave his students the opportunity to write a letter to Sgt. Richardson in Iraq. Richardson wrote back and gave the class the names of five other Marines who would like to receive letters. Soon other middle school classes were also sending letters to the Marines in Iraq.
When Sgt. Richardson returned to the United States he told Matthew Lund that he wanted to come to the Carson Middle School to personally thank the students for their support and letters. Lund filled out and submitted a "Resource Visitor or Guest Speaker Form" and submitted it to Principal Corbett. Lund says he never got the form back from Corbett. He says he asked the Principal about the form, and was told that she was not going to look at it.
Lund says that he realized his request to have Sgt. Richardson visit the school was going to be ignored by Ulrica Corbett. He made the decision to proceed with the plans for the visit, a visit that took place, or was to take place on May 23rd, one week before Memorial Day.
When Sgt. Richardson showed up at the Carson Middle School Lund took him to the school's media center to prepare to meet the students. At that point, according to Lund, Principal Corbett called him into the hall and told him that the Marine was not approved to be at the school. Lund told Corbett that the proper form had been submitted and had been ignored. Corbett's response was "that's your problem, not mine." Lund's version of the discussion with Corbett in the hallway suggests that Corbett harbored a great deal of hostility toward Sgt. Richardson and Matthew Lund. She told Lund that the students had not earned the visit from the Marine, and closed the discussion with Lund with the phrase "what part of what we just discussed do you not understand?" She then ordered Matthew Lund to escort Sgt. Richardson off the school campus.
When this story hit the local newspaper Ulrica Corbett thought it best to do a little CYA work. She submitted a written statement to the Herald-Journal in which she stated "My decision not to allow Zach Richardson to speak with the students on Monday came out of my regard for the safety and welfare of our children." What a crock. Is Ulrica Corbett saying that this U.S. Marine who had just spent a year putting his life on the line for his country presented some sort of a threat to the children at the Carson Middle School?
My guess? What we have here is some self-important middle school principal who harbors a dislike, if not an outright hatred, of the American armed forces, and who is steadfastly opposed to our actions in Iraq and quite possibly in Afghanistan. This principal then decided to let her petty prejudices stand in the way of what would have been a memorable and rewarding experience for both Sgt. Richardson and the children of Matthew Lund's 6th grade class. Now that's just a guess. I've received messages that Ulrica Corbett has family members in the military and serving in Iraq. You would have thought that information might have been set forth in her written statement to the newspaper. It wasn't
Corbett is saying that the teacher didn't follow protocol. The newspaper has signed and dated copies of the documentation submitted by Lund. Someone here isn't telling the truth. One thing for sure: Protocol be dammed, Ulrica Corbett could have found a way to allow this soldier to talk to the students who had befriended him. She didn't
This morning the story is getting increased attention. Calls have been coming into the Greene County Schools from across the nation. Superintendent John Jackson has offered a written apology, saying that the situation could have been handled differently. The official story still seems to be that Lund didn't follow the necessary steps to get permission for Richardson's visit. I would like to know a little more about Lund's assertion that Corbett told him that she was simply "not going to look at" the written request, and that this was "(his) problem, not mine." Right now it sounds more like the problem was with Corbett, not Lund. I guess it should be expected that the superintendent would protect an established principal in a controversy with a first year teacher on the way out the door.
Thanks to the Herald-Journal the people of Greene County know just what type of person they have in charge of the education of their children at the Carson Middle School.
Government schools. Gotta love 'em.
Ping. Marine Sargent invited to speak to Middle School class was turned away and told to leave by the Principal.
Something here doesn't pass the smell test!
Another lefty loon exposed warping our childrens minds.
Until Principal Corbett is fired, this middle school should not receive a nickel from the federal government. Why should US taxpayers support a school that shows by retaining this anti-American that it does not support the US military?
The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Marine rejected at school
Superintendent apologizes
Mary MacDonald - Staff
Thursday, June 2, 2005
Marine Corps Sgt. Zach Richardson survived Iraq, but not Carson Middle School in Greensboro.
When Richardson walked into the Greene County school last week, he expected to meet some of the sixth-graders who had written to him during his seven-month deployment.
Instead, he was shown the door, coming under the scrutiny of a principal enforcing a policy that requires prior approval for visiting speakers.
Principal Ulrica Corbett told teacher Matthew Lund, the Marine's host and former college roommate, to escort Richardson from the campus.
On Wednesday, after the incident had gotten attention across the nation, the superintendent of Greene County Schools apologized to Richardson and "all our other military personnel."
Richardson, 24, who corresponded with Lund's students while he served in the Persian Gulf, said he is still perplexed about what happened. "I know the principal wasn't trying to sabotage everything," he said. "I don't know what she was thinking."
His treatment, coming a few days before the Memorial Day holiday, led to front-page coverage in the local weekly, The Herald-Journal.
The story, written by 35-year editor Carey Williams and capped with a triple-decker headline, attracted the attention of talk radio and then the nation.
By Wednesday, people from Kansas and Louisiana were calling Greensboro, about midway between Atlanta and Augusta, and asking the editor to fax his story. Most were sympathetic veterans, he said. "The people here, they just can't believe it happened," Williams said. "They respect the soldier."
In his written apology, Superintendent John Jackson said the situation could have been handled differently. The principal, he said, could have allowed the Marine sergeant to speak with students, then dealt with the teacher who did not secure written permission for the visit.
"The thrust that's been placed on it was that he was unwelcome," Jackson said, although he insisted that was not the case.
Richardson, an Athens native, said he had planned to answer questions from the students and had brought combat items they might have found interesting, such as helmets and bullet-proof vests.
Lund had mailed postcards from students in September and December to Richardson and five other Marines stationed at Al-Asad, Iraq.
After Richardson returned from Iraq, Lund said he spoke several times with Corbett about having his friend come to the school. He said he asked for her written permission on May 3, but she never responded. Corbett did not return a call Wednesday seeking comment.
Lund, a first-year teacher, said his students were upset by the events. "Technically, she did her job. But what was right [was] for him to come speak to my kids," he said. "My kids earned the right for him to come speak to them. He certainly earned the right to be there."
http://www.ajc.com/thursday/content/epaper/editions/thursday/metro_24e9e926731421701031.html
Thanks for posting this outrageous story. The school will be hearing from me.
"My decision not to allow Zach Richardson to speak with the students on Monday came out of my regard for the safety and welfare of our children."
***
Dumba$$ statement of the year! What did she think...the Marines would start shooting the students?
dang you beat me!!!
I will bet she knows "Butch" Reno well!
Her email address: ulrica.corbett@greene.k12.ga.us
Sounds like fine credentials, but she's still as dumb as a doorknob.
When I here teachers,politicians etc etc use this line it sends up a red flag...I don't want to see kids 'changed',let them be themselves and get EDGIMICATED!
The Dade County system is full of this type. She doesn't mention HER kids in the resume, probably doesn't have any. You have to always keep in mind that Janet Reno is highly regarded in Dade County, it is a part of Florida we gave up on years ago.
What's the email address of the school board? That's who we nedd to hammer, especially if they are elected.
probably even rode in her truck! LOL
why is the superintendant apoligizing for the principal? the principal should be the one apologizing here. and much more sincere than Larry Summers apoligies. she should apologize and keep on apoligizing until the day she leaves the system.
where are the local residents on this?
If so, she writes like an eighth-grader.
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