Some Maine Teachers Traumatizing Students of Deployed Soldiers

WABI- TV Bangor Maine | February 21, 2003 | 6 PM News

[bogeybob]

WABI TV reported Friday that the Maine National Guard Family Assistance Center has received about 30 complaints from children of deployed soldiers concerning Principals, Teachers and Guidance Counselors reportedly demeaning the role of their deployed parent. Some children involved are 7 to 9 years of age.

Here is a letter written to a friend of mine from the Maine Army National Guard:

"Thank you for your interest on this most troubling matter. Our Family Assistance Centers have reported cases from Aroostook County to Southern Maine. We are reluctant to give out specific schools and the individuals involved in the interest of giving the education community a chance to address the problem itself. Also, parents wanted the opportunity to pursue the issue through their local school boards first.

In all, we have over thirty complaints that name schools and individual principals, teachers and guidance counselors. If one considers that these complaints come from just the parents who attended our briefings and only from children who told their parents, we are concerned that the problem may be more widespread than we know.

We are recording the complaints, and I will personally visit these educators to express our concern as a professional organization and ask for their cooperation.

Ultimately, our main concern and first responsibility is the safety of our children during these uncertain times. Maine has a core of dedicated and professional educators, but we will challenge any individual who places our children at risk due to their own political ideologies."

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

Sooner or later either we must break them or they will break us. Home school , private school anything but Public school.

I agree. I'm not able to homeschool the daughter we still have at home, but I'm very thankful that not one of our children has spent a day in a government school.

[litany_of_lies]

I don't understand why you chose to do this massive critique, but since you did, I get to pick on you:
- "interest regarding this problem" should be "interest in this problem."
- There should be a comma after "For now."
- Whether there has to be a comma after teachers is debatable (last in a series often doesn't have a comma before the "and," even if the last term has multiple words).
- You don't need the "to" before "ask for cooperation.

I'm just starting, but I'll restrain myself in the interest of time. What the heck was your point in consuming the bandwidth? To note that a typical adult can't write at a level above 8th-10th grade? Gee, what a surprise. I didn't know (/sarcasm)

[GUIDO]

Well we can't afford to send our kids to expensive private schools and I am sorry that you are mad that I don't do what YOU WANT ME TO DO. I applaud anyone that does it but you see we are all different despite what you may think. God didn't make us out of the same mold. You can think if you want that my way is the easy way out but it isn't because even though I work full time, I take alot of time out of work (I don't get paid for the time gone)so that I help out the teachers and office help when I can.

My whole point getting back to the original discussion was the way to solve the problem was to just yank the kid out. Well that's fine but what about the other kids that are stuck there? Too bad for them? I don't think that way, I believe that if there is a problem in your school that you don't like DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Yanking your kid is fine but there are hundreds of others that could benefit by you trying to get rid of the virus/problem. That was my whole point in the first place. Sorry if I offended you, didn't mean to, just feel that too many people walk away from things they don't like and then this stuff continues because of it.

It is hard what you are doing, and I know that, but you need to understand just like my job for 19yrs at an airline reservation center isn't for everybody, neither is homeschooling. have a great night. I have to be up at 4am.

[Travis McGee]

Time for horsewhipping, IMHO.

[aruanan]

1.- "interest regarding this problem" should be "interest in this problem."
2. - There should be a comma after "For now."
3. - Whether there has to be a comma after teachers is debatable (last in a series often doesn't have a comma before the "and," even if the last term has multiple words).
4.- You don't need the "to" before "ask for cooperation.

1. "in" is fine
2. There is even less reason for there being a comma after "For now" than there is for no comma before "and" in the last of a series.
3. The reason it's debated is because there are people who ignore the rule. These tend to be the same people who write "Jesus' cross" or "Doris' diamond ring".
4. Only if you want degenerate written English.

As to why I did it--probably for the same reason you responded.

[LouD]

Great post, but re: Hanoi Jane, traitor is only one (and by far the most printable) of the words to describe her...

[radu]

This absolutely sickens me, that teachers would stoop so low. These children are already upset enough that a parent has been deployed. To have teachers, whom they're supposed to look upon with respect, behave this way is disgusting.

[Squantos]

Agree ......time to FREEP and make these POS Teachers WEEP !

Stay Safe !

[dsutah]

My sister is a high-school teacher. And although a bit of a liberal; she would be horrified if she knew this was going on. She wouldn't do this; nor would she like it if someone else did it. She and I were in a military family, with veterans for a dad and stepdad. We had numerous male relatives who are military, and ex-military.

Even though she voted for B.Clinton at one time; she admitted that she didn't like the stunts he was pulling when they were closing down some of the bases. I don't think she liked the way he treated the military in general. I think she may have been having some doubts about him, but wouldn't come out and admit it.

[SuziQ]

I have written the State's Education Commissioner, Duke.Albanese@maine.gov but I doubt he will even respond. Maine is in total control of the Democrats.

I spoke with Mr. Albanese on the phone last year when I called Maine DOE about whether or not a diploma from one of their 'non accredited schools' would be accepted by any college. He was extremely dismissive of the idea of homeschooling (which is why I was calling about the school, which offers 'credentialling' for homeschoolers and issues a diploma. He sounded so snotty on the phone, I decided to totally ignore him and signed up with the school anyway. Later, I read the Maine DOE website and looked at the list of 'non-approved' schools. It looks like every single Catholic or Christian school in the state is on the list. Just made my decision that much easier!!

[amom]

Thanks for the heads up.

[river rat]

This type of crap, puts Pol Pot's attempt to murder every teacher, professor and "academic" in all of Cambodia --- in a slightly different light.....</sarcasm>

Semper Fi

[Squantos]

Agree.....I'm pissed about such . These are kids. Kids who don't need this kind of treatment when their parent is deployed and can't conduct the wall to wall counseling with the "teacher" that needs to be done.

Had that been my child, the teacher that did such would not be happy to see me survive such a deployment. Whuppass come in tanker trucks ?

Stay Safe !

[HiTech RedNeck]

when catapults are outlawed only outlaws will have catapults???

[metesky]

Be lookin' out, boyz. It are the speilling and grandma po-lice. Tanks.

[metesky]

Looks like WVOM, FM 103.9 (Maine in the Morning) is going to highlight this story at 6:30 AM, 2/24/03.

Give 'em a call and express yourself.

[bogeybob]

Cedar...

Thanks for the info. I am pleased someone pinged them.

[RightOnline]

I'm the first to admit that homeschooling isn't for everyone. Remember.......been there, done/doing that. It's damned hard work and it used to be quite risky. Yes, we risked having all sorts of heat brought down onto our heads, especially when we first started this lo those years ago.

My wife is a trained air traffic controller. It wasn't easy having her stay home to do this and getting by on one salary all these years. Not many seem willing to do that any more. We struggled like all hell; we went through some tough times, but always stuck with homeschooling no matter what.

The only thing that set me off was your contention that homeschooling was taking "the easy way out". You may consider it a poor choice of words, but in my experience, far too many are delusional about the demands of homeschooling, viewing it as some sort of 18th century, "take it easy" approach.