Posted on 11/23/2005 10:58:14 AM PST by Jean S
Edited on 11/24/2005 8:03:40 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
A letter-writing campaign by third-graders at Allis Elementary School encouraging an end to the war in Iraq was canceled because it violates School Board policy, district officials said Tuesday.
Julie Fitzpatrick, a member of the 10-teacher team that developed the project for the school's 90 third-grade students in five classes, said the assignment was intended to demonstrate citizen action, one of the district's standards in social studies.
"We saw peace as a common good," Fitzpatrick said. "We were just advocating that people keep working toward peace."
But Robin Reynolds, an Army veteran whose 8-year-old grandson is in Fitzpatrick's class, said she regards the assignment as a form of "anti-war protesting" that "is not suitable for elementary students."
"They're supposed to teach the facts and not opinions," she said. "That's brainwashing."
"It was certainly an unfortunate thing to have happen," Superintendent Art Rainwater said. "It's a direct violation of our board policy.
Madison School Board policy prohibits teachers "from exploiting the institutional privileges of their professional positions to promote candidates or parties and activities."
"We don't want our staff ever using our students in a political activity, which this obviously was," Rainwater said. "I think the district would apologize to anyone who was offended. It should not have happened."
Allis Principal Chris Hodge said a letter was sent to parents Tuesday apologizing to anyone who was offended and informing them that the project was rescinded.Reynolds, who served as a personnel assistant at Fort McClellan in Alabama during the Vietnam War and has three family members serving in Iraq, said she "blew up" last Friday when her grandson brought home a letter informing parents about the campaign, in which students were to write a letter every day for 12 days.
Letters were to go to other students, the state's U.S. senators and representatives, President Bush, and the secretary of the United Nations urging them to "join our press for peace." If the war were not over in 12 days, the sequence would be repeated.
Reynolds said her grandson was upset by the assignment. "He knows he's got an uncle and cousins over there."
Fitzpatrick and Hodge, said a misunderstanding resulted in the initial letter going out to parents.
"I left with the impression we could go with it," Fitzpatrick said.
But Hodge said she had wanted to find out what the School Board's policy was before the letter was sent home.
"I thought it was an inappropriate assignment," Hodge said, adding she felt the topic of war was "too vast" for third-graders to understand. "I just think it was too much to ask of a third- grader."
Hodge said she had only heard from one parent who also was concerned that the project was beyond a third- grader's level of understanding.
School Board President Carol Carstensen said board policy and the district's teachers contract also require teachers to withhold the expression of personal opinion unless asked a direct question when dealing with controversial issues.
While it would be appropriate for students to decide to write letters expressing their own views, Cartsensen said, "It isn't appropriate to mandate it."
U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R- Green Bay, who is seeking Republican nomination for governor in 2006, on Tuesday faxed Hodge a letter calling for the assignment to be rescinded.
Hodge said she had received Green's fax but had not had time to read it.
"We're really stunned by the reception," Fitzpatrick said. "In hindsight, I guess we should have anticipated it. It's kind of sad when peace causes a furor."
Fitzpatrick said many parents had sent envelopes and stamps as requested in the initial letter they received.
Sharon Johnson, co- president of the Allis's Parent Teacher Organization, and Toni Kress-Russick, both of whom have children in Fitzpatrick's class, said they were supportive of the project.
Kress-Russick, a special education teacher at Memorial High School, said it taught social responsibility and demonstrated to students that "people can make a difference" and that "just one little third-grader can matter."
"I thought it was a great assignment," Johnson said. "People just tend to blow things out of proportion all the time. I think this is one of them."
Susan Abplanalp, assistant superintendent for elementary and secondary schools, said she does not believe the teachers involved viewed the assignment as a political activity.
"They really looked at this as a peace project," Abplanalp said. "I don't think that the intent was to make this a political statement."
The assignment The letter sent home to parents last Friday said third-graders at Allis Elementary School would be "writing letters to encourage an end to the war in Iraq. The letter writing will teach civic responsibility, a social studies standard, while providing an authentic opportunity to improve composition skills and handwriting."
Students were to write a letter a day for 12 days to other students, the state's U.S. senators and representatives, the president of the United States, and the secretary of the United Nations "urging them to press for peace," as well as to the media.
If the war did not end in 12 days, the sequence would be repeated.
Parents were asked to provide 10 postage stamps and 12 envelopes.
An alternative assignment was to be provided for students whose parents did not want them to participate.
She doesn't comprehend that she is proposing dictatorship and slavery for millions. Not to mention the spread of terrorism worldwide. That's the peace that she is asking for in actuality.
Interesting that no other teacher or parent asked this teacher how much she would want to live in slavery.
IMHO that shows racism on her part as well.
Why is all of the left's protest movement focused on the United States?
Sounds like a great episode for South Park!
Having 8 year olds mule your ideas.
Clueless wench, isn't she?
"Susan Abplanalp, assistant superintendent for elementary and secondary schools, said she does not believe the teachers involved viewed the assignment as a political activity."
And that is at the heart of the problem.
They don't consider their indoctrination activities to be political at all. They're just how every sane person thinks!
It's not mentioned in this story, but last year, one of the students wanted to start a "write a letter to the troops" project for one of the classes. The school objected because it was "too political"...but this one got by...at least until the public found out about it.
The socialists know that they have to tear down our Constitutional form of government to replace it with their own eutopia.
They infect a sickness across this nation poisoning the mind of schoolchildren, turning them against their parents and country.
When the left says "question authority", also be sure to question that agitator who is demanding you to do so. Find out his motives.
We need to take the education of this country's children OUT of the hands of government and put it with the parents. It's the only way to ensure that the kids will be taught a curriculum according to the parents' wishes.
If there was no political agenda behind this, then students should have been encouraged to write letters in support or opposition to the war as they felt and there should have been no demand that "the letters will continue until the war is over".
"We saw peace as a common good," Fitzpatrick said. "We were just advocating that people keep working toward peace."
Teachers are assumed to have a healthy dose of common sense and to realize that they are entrusted to use it constantly.
A classroom is not "given" to a teacher to do with as she pleases, to force her opinions on her class, her values, or her priorities; certainly not to "advocate" (read indoctrinate) on any subject!. That's what School Boards, Superintendents and Principals determine.
Bottom line question: is this loser still employed? If yes, I assume at McDonalds... or the local abortionary.
Peace is simply a byproduct - it's what happens when one side wins and the other loses. It's not the goal or benchmark of ending a conflict. These people are idiots and cannot think beyond the end of their noses.
He should have her thrown off of school property and have her pensioned yanked, of course, but I'm surprised that he didn't try and spin it as appropriate.
BINGO!
"They really looked at this as a peace project," Abplanalp said. "I don't think that the intent was to make this a political statement."
From a different article on the same situation:
[PTA President Sharon] Johnson, a Democrat, had no problem with the assignment but admitted that if the campaign had promoted the war she would have.
She just wanted to make sure the children understood that "citizen action" is when an authority figure tells the powerless peons what to do and they do it.
She must be really stunned when her feces stinks, too.
'when peace causes a furor'...my, how witty.
VOUCHERS!
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