TAKING BACK THE SCHOOLS (Teachers thought girl's punishment was too harsh and dangerous)

This is True ^ | 26 June 2005 Current Issue | Randy Cassingham

[fight_truth_decay]

Principal Dan Doerhoff of East Lynne School in Kansas City, Mo., decided a fitting punishment for an unnamed fourth- grade girl in lieu of suspension was to make her pick up rocks along the road in front of the school for three days. Alone. Teachers thought the girl's punishment was too harsh and dangerous, and during their free periods several went out to help her and watch after her. The mini revolt was led by teacher Christa Price, so Doerhoff not only ordered Price fired for "failing to support the administration," he refused to do the final sign-off on her teaching credential, which she needs to get another teaching job. Seven other teachers quit to show support for Price, leaving only two teachers at the school. Parents are fighting back too: they gathered 177 signatures on a petition demanding Doerhoff's resignation, and are campaigning to vote out any school board members who support him. Meanwhile, district officials say they'll sign Price's certificate so she can get a new job. (Kansas City Star) ...No matter how old you get, it can still be satisfying to say "nyah nyah nyah" to the principal.

[Gabz]

This principal meted out a punishment that was not appropriate, then fired a teacher who dared call him on it, as though this were a dictatorship, not a school district. Other teachers resigned in protest, obviously supporting the teacher in this, not the principal/superintendant.

You make very good sense here.

[fight_truth_decay]

Have a safe 4th of July everyone..off to get outside on a beautiful day and move some rocks! ;)

[rawhide]

'When I went to school we had inside supsension where you sit in one classroom in one desk for a couple days and catch up on all your missed work. That sounds like a better option to me. But I don't think the principle was looking for a solution as much as he was looking to flex his muscle.'

You really nailed it correctly. Your suggestion is very smart and most appropriate to the problem at hand. Why is this principle so determined to punish a 4th grader rather than educate her is beyond me?

[Gabz]

The problems have virtually disappeared, and the staff is no longer considering fleeing

That is great news.

[Politicalmom]

Will you be observed by a security camera at all times?? : )

[Haru Hara Haruko]

We wouldn't have too many politicians around then.

Why?

[Jakarta ex-pat]

"The parents consented."

Enough said.

[Haru Hara Haruko]

Probably not. You know there was this landlady who made me move out 9 days before I got married. I'll sue her. I didn't get good service at a restaurant last week. I'll sue them. The ice cream man looked at me cross-eyed. I'll sue him. My wife didn't say, "I love you," last night so I'll sue her. The grocery store clerk gave me a bad watermelon. I'll sue him. My dad spanked me a few times. Maybe I'll sue him. Forget those get-rick-quick schemes. I'm going to sue everyone who's ever-wronged me in my life. Because there's been a lot, I'll be the world's first zillionaire. The only drawback is that I'll have to live in the courthouse full-time.

Intersting gang of straw-men. Do you honestly think bureaucrats are too exposed to the will of the people?

[GreenHornet]

She was under supervision by a security camera.

Gee, it sure is comforting to know that, if she had been grabbed by someone and thrown into a car, it would have been caught on video. I guess that makes everything all right.

[SouthTexas]

Far too much defense of not abiding by the rules, far too many "buts and what-ifs", and reading facts not in evidence. Can't have a child do physical labor, no, not in a country where obesity is rampant. Past history on the little girl's behavior? Only one side here. Parents responsibility for getting her to do the homework? No, they're bashed for letting her pick up rocks in lieu of expulsion.

I think most will agree the NEA is predominantly left wing liberal. Which way do you expect the teachers to lean?

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Gee, it sure is comforting to know that, if she had been grabbed by someone and thrown into a car, it would have been caught on video. I guess that makes everything all right.

I would bet a security camera would give a better report to the police than a diminutive female teacher who possibly tried to defend the hapless girl and got knocked senseless by a burley sex predator.

I can see the necessity of teacher supervision with with a crowd of students playing at recess. The solitude of the stone gathering may have been so to make a point about punishment.

[muir_redwoods]

A 4th-grader shouldn't be playing or working by the roadside. At the very least there should be adult supervision. The guy is a loon, IMHO

[Jokelahoma]

Rules? Past history? Where does any of that justify picking up rocks unsupervised except by a security camera as a reasonable punishment for failure to complete homework? Why was it either picking up rocks or expulsion? How does a group of teachers agreeing that the punishment was over the top make them liberals? How does a principal/supervisor completely abusing his authority by firing a teacher who dared question him make him a hero? Why not give the state prisoners weekends off and just use grade school kids who failed to turn in homework to do the state's road cleanup. After all, I'd think a chain gang of 10 year olds would be a lot easier to control, a lot safer for the public to have out and about, and hey, they might learn something.

Again, no one is questioning whether or not the girl should be punished for not doing her work. The question is how appropriate is it to have her picking up rocks in the manner she was forced to do so, and does that punishment fit the offense? The secondary question is why was the choice limited to that form of punishment or expulsion? And the tertiary question is why does a teacher get fired for seeing to the welfare of that child, for daring to question the actions of the principal, as though this school were a totalitarian regime?

So shame on the parents for agreeing to this ridiculous "punishment", good for the teacher for sticking up for the kid and for her principles, and I sincerely hope this little dictator is never allowed to work around children again.

[steve8714]

When I went to fourth grade the teacher would cuff you and embarass you in front of your classmates...then your parents would be called to handle your insubordinate little azz.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Would you fire Christ for the same thing?

Yes. The teacher is undermining authority. Since when does a single individual have the right to have their way only? Answer, when you are a despot.

[mware]

Does Kansas have corporal punishment in public school? Her punishment was a form of corporal punishment.

[brityank]

We wouldn't have too many politicians around then.

And that would be bad how?         ;^)

[mware]

She doesn't do her homework, parents are notified and she fails whatever assignement she did not turn in.

[ga medic]

I agree. Wasn't there a little girl in Florida a couple years ago whose abduction was caught on camera. I remember seeing the pictures on TV when they were trying to find her. The security cameras helped to lock up the abductor, but the little girl was murdered.

I am a huge supporter of work detail type punishment in schools. But, the main concern of a school should be the safety of its students. Even with the camera and the fence, a 10 year old girl should not be left alone near a road for an entire school day. Couldn't he have made her scrub bathrooms with a toothbrush or something?

[SouthTexas]

I thought I'd throw in a few speculative thoughts and innuendos like some others have. Don't know about your state, nor Missouri for that matter, but in Texas, the school board is the ultimate authority in contract issues. Not the principal, nor the superintendent, one in the same here. He made a recommendation, all else has been ad-libed. IF the school board was the deciding factor, there was more agreement than has been reported. A walkout by the other teachers leans more to union antics than support of abuse of the child or abuse of authority.

The girl wouldn't do her homework, so what? Give her more she won't do? Put her in time-out? A child learning at this age that there are no consequences for disobeying the rules, is just another candidate for the penal system.