Beaver Falls Broncos Fan Changes High Schools

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette ^ | February 14, 2006 | Tim Grant

[mcg2000]

The Beaver County student who made national headlines after being humiliated by a teacher for wearing a Denver Broncos jersey to school has transferred to another district.

When Joshua Vannoy returned to Beaver Falls High School on Jan. 23, a week after he complained about popular teacher John Kelly, he was met with silence and alienation from his classmates, and was escorted to and from his classes by a district employee.

"Just a few kids were talking to him," said Nicholas Frisk III, Joshua's attorney.

The weight of isolation and scrutiny took its toll on the 17-year-old honor student and his family, forcing them to pick up and move to a new school district on Thursday.

Neither Mr. Frisk nor Big Beaver Falls Area School District administrators will say which school district Joshua has moved to, out of concern that controversy might continue to follow him.

"It was our understanding that things were going smooth and he was back in classes," said Dr. Donna Nugent, the superintendent.

"There were no incidents reported to us by Josh or his family."

[mcg2000]

a sign providing a glimpse of many other issues this kid is going to have throughout life ...

[Tijeras_Slim]

Whata jagoff.

[Wolfie]

I see lots of whiny neediness in this kid's future.

[InvisibleChurch]

The teacher sounds like a mo-ron.

[mtbopfuyn]

Of course the article failed to report that the kid admitted he wore the shirt just to get at the teacher and knew it would cause some flack with the students. He also knew the paper throwing was a joke. Poor widdle whiny got the attention he sought. Seems there's a lot more going on with him than just a shirt.

[I still care]

The teacher sounds like an idiot. But part of being a teen is learning to deal with idiots.

I had a couple of teachers of this mentality. One I felt was making sexually inappropriate comments, and I did go to my counselor and asked to be switched out of class. They NEVER switched kids out of classes in my district because they "didn't like the teacher", and they switched me in a heartbeat. Years later this very popular teacher was arrested for having an affair with a 16 yr old student.

I always wondered what the administration knew.

[conservativeharleyguy]

"Mr. Kelly, a Steelers fan who teaches an honors class in ethnic relations, made Joshua sit on the floor and take his midterm exam in the center of a circle of desks. Mr. Kelly instructed the other students to throw wads of paper at Joshua to earn extra points on their tests...

While I, as a die-hard Raiders fan, have to question the kid's Bronco mania (but that's just football fan stuff), I do think that if this is true the teacher is an abusive prick. This a**hole has no business teaching kids.
And what exactly is an "Honors Ethnic Relations" class doing in a high school? Sounds like PC indoctrination to me.

[WayneS]

Let's see. The teacher makes him sit on the floor in the center of a circle of desks and INSTRUCTS other kids in the class to throw things at him. All because he is a fan of a FOOTBALL team that the teacher doesn't like.

And this is the kid's fault?

He tried to handle criminal misconduct by a teacher through normal channels, in an adult manner. He was ostracized and humiliated for it and you say HE is the one with problems.

If a teacher had done that to me when I was in High School I would have waited for him at his house and hurt him so badly he would have needed a substitute for a month or so.

So why don't you tell me which is the better, more civilized way to handle a situation like that?

[D.P.Roberts]

He wore a shirt his teacher didn't like!? I suppose we should be grateful the teacher didn't burn down Denver Stadium.

[mcg2000]

He tried to handle criminal misconduct by a teacher through normal channels, in an adult manner. He was ostracized and humiliated for it and you say HE is the one with problems.

On second thought, you're right. They should file a LAWSUIT! lol And how would you defend an assualt and battery charge against this teacher (your scenario)? You must have a rollerdex of attorney cards, huh? Is this Steve Boshell? lol

The teacher made a very poor decision ... no one is defending that part. Maybe he's a jerk as well? I don't know him personally or have enough enough on him to make that decision.

For his parents to blame every kid and admin in that school for this situation by creating victimhood is wrong. They have actively stepped on this kids self esteem and severed relationships that could have easily been corrected - with his friends.

Something they all would have laughed about in 10-15 years is now a scar on this kid's memory.

[NonValueAdded]

To play devil's advocate, it was an "ethnic relations class" (whatever that might be). Here you had a kid obviously bucking the popular support for the local team. The teacher should have used the ostracization of the student as an object lesson for the class and showed how treating him in that manner was wrong. Did that part of the lesson get skipped? intentionally or on purpose? Did the teacher follow through properly and the media storm simply skipped that part? It sure seems like there is a big gap in the coverage of the facts. IMHO is was a "social lab experiment" gone terribly wrong, probably muffed big time by the teacher.

[NonValueAdded]

and if the teacher's intention was to have an in-class demonstration of an ethnic relations situation, then he violated the ethics principles taught in freshman psych and sociology classes. The subject is either apprised of the experiment beforehand (which would be appropriate in this case) or is given the appropriate counseling post-experiment as long as the experiment would not be harmful. Evidentally the teacher forgot about how fragile is the teenage psyche.

[Richard Kimball]

It's official. Steeler fans make English soccer fans seem classy.

[mcg2000]

and if the teacher's intention was to have an in-class demonstration of an ethnic relations situation

Now it's racial?!?!?!

ROTFL!!! Where is color mentioned in the article?!?!?!?

Take your postings to a DUmmies board!

LOL Racial?? LOL

ROTFL ROTFL

[wintertime]

But part of being a teen is learning to deal with idiots( I still care)

To I still care,

Why are government students expected to tolerate behavior that would win an adult worker millions?

Somehow harassment is considered a learning opportunity for captive children in government schools and an adult who voluntarily works in a business can sue for millions.

[I still care]

You are right. And this was one of the reasons I homeschooled my kids. But isn't that what dealing with the government is like? Abuse by agencies you can rarely take on?

[wintertime]

Years later this very popular teacher was arrested for having an affair with a 16 yr old student. ( I still care)

---

To I still care:

If you child is homeschooled they will not be sexually abused at school.

[wintertime]

You are right. And this was one of the reasons I homeschooled my kids. But isn't that what dealing with the government is like? Abuse by agencies you can rarely take on?
66666666666666666666666666666666666666

To I Still Care,

Yep!

[NonValueAdded]

Mcg, you completely misunderstood my post. It was an ethnic relations class, honors no less. I'm not adding racial overtones to this. Haven't you ever taken a sociology course? That is essentially what ethnic relations is. A common classroom demonstration is to "act out" discrimination with exaggerated treatment of the test subject and everyone agrees at the conclusion that it is wrong to stereotype, they sing kumbayah and all that blather. All I was saying is that this sure sounded like just that sort of situation gone terribly wrong when the subject wasn't clued in that it was all a demo. That's all

Oh, and stick your DU comments where the sun don't shine.

[American in Singapore]

Where's Broadway Joe in all of this? Isn't he from Beaver Falls?