Recess, defined:

a. A temporary cessation of the customary activities of an engagement, occupation, or pursuit.
b. The period of such cessation. See Synonyms at pause.

Courtrooms take a recess to give everyone a break and some time to move around. Sometimes just the jury is given a recess so that the lawyers and judge can hammer out an issue they disagree on. Congress takes a recess, usually leaving undone work on the table that affects the entire country. Strike negotiators take a recess, so that both parties can cool down and figure out a way to come back to the table and strike a deal. The one common thread in all these recesses is this: Parties are left to their own devices as a time-out from structured activities. So what gives with the genius in Connecticut who has decided he’s the King of Recess in school?

From the NY Times (free registration required):

Children at the Oakdale School here in southeastern Connecticut returned this fall to learn that their traditional recess had gone the way of the peanut butter sandwich and the Gumby lunchbox.

No longer could they let off their youthful energy — pent up from hours of long division — by cavorting outside for 22 minutes of unstructured play, or perhaps with a vigorous game of tag or dodgeball. Such games had been virtually banned by the principal, Mark S. Johnson, along with kickball, soccer and other “body-banging” activities, as he put it, where knees — and feelings — might get bruised.

Instead, children are encouraged to jump rope, play with Hula Hoops or gently fling a Frisbee. Balls are practically controlled substances, parceled out under close supervision by playground monitors.

If I’m reading this right, this principal has decided that our widdle babies might get a bruise or bang on their widdle knees by playing hard, so he’s decided to control the few minutes that kids have to be kids by doling out balls to a chosen few and encouraging the rest to take the safe route on a jumprope or hula hoop? In my best John Stossel voice, “Gimme a BREAK!”.

Even more than that, it seems that Mr. Johnson believes that competitive activities are somehow detrimental to kids. Anyone reading this blog regularly knows that I not only believe in competitive activities, I encourage them, in areas where my kids feel competitive. What better time of life to learn to be competitive while being friends, to learn to be your very, very best and reap some reward for that, to understand that being competitive is a part of adult life that they’d better learn now, than in school? Games and activities at this age teach kids how to compete with friends and stay friends, how to handle disappointment, how to be a graceful loser and how to be a graceful winner.

Finally, after a lot of outcry by parents, Mr. Johnson “relaxed” his standards. According to the NY Times article again,

At Oakdale, Mr. Johnson finally relaxed some prohibitions after a parade of parents complained. Now, twice a week when a parent or grandparent is present, fourth and fifth graders are allowed to play a modified version of kickball as long as the score is not kept. Many parents are still not satisfied, however, saying that such coddling fails to prepare children for adulthood.

CLS at Classically Liberal says this:

Johson, with all of five years experience as a petty bureaucrat, wants to undo a tradition of hundreds of years. During their free time children play. And they play quite spontaneously. They don’t need the moronic class of petty officials to structure their play for them. If it is structured it isn’t play. Johnson just drones about how: “We’re really responsible for what kinds of people these kids will be…”

Well, yeah. We are. And sheltering them from the realities that all of us face daily is not going to produce the kind of person that will become much.

Mr. Johnson sounds like someone who got picked last for the teams he played on. Hey, DG can relate. By her own admission, she’s a sucky volleyball and basketball player (might have to do with the fact that she’s 4′ 11″), and is pathetic when it comes to kickball, too. But here’s the interesting part — because of her dance background and competition in that arena, she’s fine with being picked last for that team, because she knows she’ll be picked first for dance teams, and she knows she’s really, really good at dance. So her weakness is acknowledged and she’s happy to get out of the way and let the better players take the glory and the win, picked last and staying in the background. Does anyone think her confidence came because I sheltered her from competition and disappointment?

As much as I might have disliked the premise of the recently-concluded Kid Nation reality show on CBS, I do think that Nancy Davis’ final observations on the show apply here:

• Kids, left to their own devices, will actually behave like kids.
• Not unlike life in camp bunks, kids find ways to get along, weed out the dissenters, acknowledge those who make a positive contribution, and make friends in the process.
• Natural leaders rise to the top; survival of the fittest is alive and well.

Indeed. Mr. Johnson needs a few lessons in this area from the kids, who are somehow able to deal with recess better than he.

Technorati Tags: recess, parenting, education, school, Connecticut, New York Times

When I read that Portland, Maine had voted to authorize the dispensation of birth control pills to middle schoolers — yes, MIDDLE SCHOOLERs — I came as close as I’ve ever come to sounding like a conservative backwater red state groupie.  Maybe it’s because I have a middle school daughter myself, or maybe it’s just that I’m appalled at the idea of shoving extra hormones into a hormone-riddled child, I don’t know.  But the more I read, the more wrong-headed the decision appears.

Don’t misunderstand: I’m not a prude who thinks that teenagers don’t have sex.  I know better — just go back through my blog posts here and you’ll find our own experiences with that particular subject.  But at the same time, I’m not buying the arguments for why Maine’s decision could possibly be a good thing.

The backstory is this: In Maine, clinics are attached to schools in areas where there is need, presumably economic need.  Parents can sign a form (PDF) to grant permission for their children to be treated at the school clinics, giving the student access to clinic services.  Access means full access — physical, dental, psychiatric.  Parents may revoke consent at any time but are not entitled to any health information about their child’s clinic treatment unless their child chooses to disclose it.  From what I’m reading, it looks like the students who are eligible for clinic services fall below a certain income level or low economic status. 

Despite the fact that the number of students who reported being sexually active dropped by half in one year to 13%, the school board in this district felt that offering birth control pills was appropriate.  Let’s not forget that we are not talking about 15-17 year olds here.  We’re talking about girls age 11-13.

Yes.  Girls as young as eleven now have access to birth control pills, patches or injections, and the morning-after pill.  Of those four solutions, the only one I even come close to supporting is the morning-after pill, and really, I don’t support that for reasons I’ll enumerate later.

Go read this post and more specifically, read the discussion in the comments, which is far more interesting than the post itself.  There seem to be three main schools of thought represented there:

1. Accept and Prevent on Moral Grounds - The kids are going to have sex and there’s nothing we can do about it, so we might as well protect them.  This is the position that Denise takes in her post over on Blogher, arguing that “we may not like it but sixth graders are getting pregnant”.  While I’ve ceded that Denise is always right in the past, on this one I think she’s wrong.  Dead wrong. 
2. Reject and Dissent on Moral Grounds - This is the argument that says premarital sex is immoral and wrong and kids shouldn’t be educated or medicated for it.  I also think this is wrong.
3. Bifurcate Morals and Health - This is where I stand .  This is not a moral issue; it’s a public health issue.  If the issue were only teenage pregnancies, then there might be some wisdom to the school board’s decision.  But it’s not.  Birth control pills and similar methods might — MAYBE — prevent pregnancy, assuming that you can rely upon a kid age 11-14 to actually remember to take the pills consistently or wear the patch consistently.  What they do not prevent is STDs, which places more kids far more at risk than pregnancy does. By making non-barrier methods of birth control available, the school board signals that it is less interested in children’s health than it is the possiblity of adding another child to the welfare rolls. Further, it sends the message that responsibility for birth control rests solely with the female in a sexual relationship and absolves the male of any accountability

When I read the arguments for and against around the web, there seems to be a common thread of surrender in them that runs this way: “As parents, we MUST accept the possibility that our children are having sex and we MUST therefore facilitate their access to birth control methods including the Pill and other counterparts.” I don’t accept that when it comes to kids in middle school. I don’t really accept it when it comes to kids at all, but I am realistic enough to understand that it certainly will happen with kids over the age of 15 or so.

There also seems to be a priority drawn when it comes to pregnancy. The idea is that pregnancy should be prevented at all costs, including the health of the girl-woman. I say this because the issue of STDs seem to become secondary when engaging in this discussion. When the issue of condoms as an effective method of STD AND pregnancy prevention arises, the counterargument seems to be something along the lines of “these kids either can’t be trusted to use a condom” or “they can’t use it properly.”

Then they have no business having sex and yes, it’s the parents’ responsibility to see to it that they don’t!  At middle school ages, it’s really not all that difficult.  Just be a parent — know where your kids are and what they’re doing and who they’re doing it with.   To use the extreme example here, would we hand them a pistol and ammunition and tell them to go have fun with it without teaching them the safe way to handle, load and shoot the gun? Where did we get the idea that it’s okay to abrogate responsibility as parents and as a society merely because birth control pills and the morning-after pills exist?

Fundamentally, this is a decision by a government body that says, in essence, these things:

1. Parents are irresponsible and cannot be trusted to make sure their kids are properly educated and equipped before making a decision to have sex.
2. We must accept that kids aged 11-13 will have sex because they are capable of having sex, regardless of whether they understand the full implications of having sex
3. The fact that kids are having sex means we can do nothing to stop it. We can only prevent some of the consequences. Maybe.
4. It is more important that we prevent unwanted pregnancies than that we protect the health and well-being of these children.

At least one of the members of the Portland Board of Education agrees. Tonight the board is considering a resolution to limit access to students age 14 and older and then only authorize birth control pills or the patch. I still think that it’s wrong, that it sends the message that they shouldn’t worry about herpes or HIV or HPV or syphillis or gonorrhea or other horrid diseases because hey — they’re not pregnant at least. However,if they pass this resolution they are at least sending the message that younger kids should not have access to these methods of birth control.

Just yesterday a study was released that shows the possibility of increased risk of plaque buildup in the arteries of women who take the Pill for a year or more.  Do we really think it’s a good idea to place kids’ health at risk this way at such a young age?

As a final point, what’s really immoral to me is having parents sign a release that permits their children to be treated by a state-funded facility, and then barring the parents from knowing what treatment their children received.  No parent should agree to such a thing in exchange for basic health services.  Vaccines were the most common treatment administered by the clinic at King Middle School in Portland.  In order to get their children vaccinated, parents should not be required to give blanket permission for all treatments without their knowledge and consent. 

For those who say that parents won’t pay attention, let’s wake ‘em up and make them pay attention. How about holding their feet to the fire for a change instead of hanging our heads and saying “well, they just won’t, can’t, don’t take responsibility.”  To me, this is as much a parenting requirement as feeding and clothing them.  We don’t get to be half a parent, doing the easy things at the expense of the kids. 

I think we should quit buying the bandaids and start doing the hard thing — like holding parents accountable, providing safe places for kids to be visible and accountable when their parents are working with adult-supervised activities, and raise the bar instead of lowering it.

Related:  Letter to parents explaining the policy (PDF)

Blogged with Flock

Tags: maine, portland, middle school, birth control, King Middle School, birth control pills, hormone patch, morning-after pill

I’m not sure I can add much to what Frank, Rick Green, Art Spiegelman, and Minivan Diaries have to say about Wednesday night’s Guilford Board of Education travesty except possibly my personal condolences to Nate Fisher, and the students at Guilford High who are now deprived of a teacher who really wanted to inspire them to read.

Wednesday night the spineless Guilford Board of Education accepted Nathan Fisher’s resignation. His lawyer, Willie Dow, told Rick Green that “there was little alternative in a community inflamed over allegations about a teacher, a young female student and a comic book erroneously labeled as pornography.”

Rick Green serves an ace:

Honestly, I really don’t know whether the superintendent, the police or the poor girl’s amped-up parents caused this, but it didn’t have to happen. A valued, popular teacher was sacrificed because a few people freaked.

And guess what. Investigations by police and the DCF found nothing. In all of this, no responsible educator in town tried to understand what happened.

Frank volleys at the net:

Like trained seals, teachers, parents, and the public have been conditioned to accept the human sacrifices offered by teacher’s unions, administrators, and timid politicians who insist “there are no winners here”, “it’s too late to make it right”, “too bad”, “what a shame”, and the cacophony of weasel word excuses used to rationalize the barbarism of petty tyrannies. It’s all a nod and wink game.

MiniVan steps up with a smash:

Is there such blind enforcement of Reporting Laws that no matter what claim is presented by a parent or a student, school officials are required to report immediately, with no questions asked? The potential destruction of somebody’s life is at stake here. Laws are only as effective their enforcement. And perhaps therein lies some of the problem. In our vigorous quest to mete out sexual predators, we are harming a few innocent people along the way.

Please read the whole post there — she’s really got it nailed. (The Victimization of Nate Fisher)

And in response to Rick Green, Pulitzer Prize winning author Art Spiegelman comments:

Clearly, the comic book format brought out atavistic tendencies in the authorities concerned who have damaged Guilford’s reputation and all the parties concerned…..If Nathan Fisher needs a letter of recommendation for his next teaching gig, I volunteer my services.

I wish we were celebrating the Board of Education’s wisdom in backing their teachers’ decisions when they’re proven innocent.  Consider this for a moment:  Nathan Fisher was NOT GUILTY of any wrongdoing.  Yet, he lost his job.

The parents of this student were guilty of mounting a smear campaign and enlisting their police buddies and relatives to make sure everyone was whipped into a seething froth, even going so far as to campaign openly on the Internet and in newspapers not just for Fisher’s resignation, but to “see that he never set foot in a classroom again.”

Yet, they have no consequences.  No parent in Guilford should ever, ever, ever again criticize the job the Board of Education is doing in their city, because it’s clear that the parents run the asylum rather than the educators. 

The takeaway?  Insinuate loudly, use anonymous postings on the Internet to make your point, whine about the persecution of your child as a result of your own actions, and above all….spread lies and feed hysteria, and you will accomplish much.  Much, at least, as it relates to the illiteracy rate in that particular neck of the woods.

Congratulations, Guilford.  You just made a victim of the only innocent person in the bunch while rewarding his victimizers.

Rick Green with the last word:

No, Guilford handled it shamefully. A promising teacher was thrown to the wolves.

Not just thrown, Rick.  FED.  After he was cut to guarantee the scent of blood in the wind.

My other Nate Fisher posts
Wall Street Journal:  Avoiding Kids: How Men Cope With Being Cast as Predators

Technorati Tags: Nate Fisher, Nathan Fisher, education, Guilford, Connecticut, victimization, predators, parenting, toxic parents

Dear Danielle and Nameless Dad, this is in response to your statements over the past week about the wrongful termination of Nate Fisher after you insinuated your way into the Superintendents office. I am specifically referring to your public statements that the book in question was “borderline pornography”, and Nameless Dad’s statement that “[Eightball #22] is clearly over the line”.

I’d like to direct your attention to excerpts taken from literature that WAS on the 9th grade summer author list.

Charles Bukowski:

I met her at the West End Bar several nights after her release from the convent. Being youngest, she was the last of the sisters to be released…

“Come on, lover man.”
I got on in.
She kissed with abandon but without haste. I let my hands run over her body, through her hair. I mounted. It was hot, and tight. I began to stroke slowly, wanting to make it last. Her eyes looked directly into mine.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“What the hell difference does it make?” she asked.

Also from the same author in the same book:

I look at the photo. it is a very good photo.
“well, it looks like a cock.”
“what kinda cock?”
“a stiff cock. a big one.”
“it’s mine.”

Allen Ginsberg (one of the best-ever poets in American History and a favorite of mine)

Dinosaur Sinclair advertisement, glowing green—
South 9th Street lined with poplar & elm branch
spread over evening’s tiny headlights—
Salina Highschool’s brick darkens Gothic
over a night-lit door—
What wreaths of naked bodies, thighs and faces,
small hairy bun’d vaginas,
silver cocks, armpits and breasts
moistened by tears
for 20 years, for 40 years?

Pat Conroy, arguably one of the most literary Southern writers around, and a tale-spinner, too, unraveling the very heart of the central conflict in his novel “The Prince of Tides”…

“Lila,” he replied, and my mother took a step back in shock when she heard him use her name. His voice was ill-fitting and still high-pitched. He smiled a hideous smile at her and turned the knob again.
My mother then saw his penis, exposed and enormous, rising out of him, the color of pig flesh….

My grandmother yelled into the darkness from the porch: “That’ll teach you to fuck with a country girl.”
“Your language, Tolitha,” my mother said, still in shock. “The children.”
“The children just watched a guy with his dick in his hand trying to get to their mother. A little language won’t hurt ‘em much.”

So, Danielle and Daddy Anon, how did those make you feel? How would you feel if your daughter had read those books and then been asked by a teacher paid to draw kids’ feelings about literature out how it made her feel? If the single, literary, 40-ish lady teacher next door asked your daughter how it made her feel to read about an older man having sex with a younger nameless woman, a la Bukowski, would you feel equally slimed? Be honest now. Did it give you just a little tingle of horror to think about Precious reading about rape, about writhing naked bodies on the high school campus, about a stiffie conversation between the guys?

How about Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle? Illegal alien meatpacking workers warming their feet in newly-slaughtered flesh? That one okay?

Everything I’ve quoted above is approved by your school administration as appropriate reading for a ninth-grade student. I won’t comment on the fact that they recommend authors without specific books — clearly, there are some authors on that list who have written across the gamut of taste, though their best and most powerful books don’t shy away from the truth, no matter how graphic.

Are you all ready? Here’s the raciest image in Eightball #22, courtesy of Journalista:

Oooooh, birthmark porn. Between adults. How does it make you feel? You don’t mind me asking that, do you? Seeing as how I’m a woman and all, with a 13-year old daughter in eighth grade. She just finished “To Kill a Mockingbird”, another tale of the rape of race and women. She’s better for reading it. Her teacher, a youngish sort, asked her how it made her feel, too, although she could ask my daughter in a classroom because my daughter finished her summer reading assignment in July. Both of them.

Man up and apologize for your smarmy smear of a young, talented teacher instead of going on a witchhunt and recruiting your brother (unverified source) policeman to not only try for criminal charges but also to see to it that “he never teaches again”.

I felt sorry for you when I first wrote; now your hypocrisy makes me sick. The only one worth even an ounce of sympathy is your daughter, who I’m sure is dying a thousand deaths inside as a result of your campaign. Go read Rick Green’s column for a reality check. How did it make you feel?

To USRNGRX:

Quit trolling and come out of your closet. When you’re registered at sites like this one and the other one that’s just hard-core, you have no business putting on the sanctimonious suit about this teacher’s behavior with regard to this student. After seeing where you’re registered, I just don’t know what to think, except that maybe you wish you could try to seduce that child. Do you get a lascivious shiver every time you copy and paste this?

Blue Bunny: I’m back in town, kids, fresh-sprung from prison!
Blue Bunny: I paid my dues! It’s all about me this time!
(bunny passes people on street)
Blue Bunny: Wha’ choo lookin’ at, doosh?
(blue bunny passes female on street)
Blue Bunny: Hey red, how’sabouta suck-job? I been living on state pussy for eighteen months!
Blue Bunny: That’s alright for you then, bitch!
(bunny passes sign “now hiring”)

Note to readers: Please compare this language with the language quoted from the authors above for perspective.

USRNGRX, you should come out of your hidey-hole and fully disclose your relationship to this case. And I hope beyond all hope that your involvement in the adult websites bearing your handle has some sort of reasonable explanation. Otherwise, you may be more dangerous to this child than Nate Fisher ever was, even in Mystery Dad’s wildest fantasies.

Finally, to Thomas Forcella, Ed.D., Superintendent, Guiford Public Schools.

In response to your letter, posted 9/19/07, with this admonition:

It is important for parents to know that the material in question rose to a level of unacceptability that is far beyond that of materials normally questioned in educational circles. Also, I want to be clear that no particular student or parent complaint was the cause for this
action. Unfortunately, when issues like this arise the rumor mill begins and in the end can cause harm to some very innocent people.

Respectfully, Mr. Forcella, I call bullshit. Just look at the snippets I posted from other approved authors on your list. Saying Eightball #22 rises to a level of unacceptability is just damage control because you bent to the pressure of a bullying parent who was demanding the head of a talented teacher on a platter. This is just a crap compromise that no one believes because it defies common sense. We don’t feel it. Also, between you and the media, someone has the facts wrong. Did you investigate and then terminate or terminate and then investigate? Which?

No one should blame the daughter for anything other than failing to complete an assignment. Everyone should place the blame where it belongs, on the heads of overzealous, toxic parents who have the nerve to think they can demand someone’s balls along with his head on a platter whenever something offends their sensibilities.

For a community that prides itself on NOT banning books, you’ve just been served your own hypocrisy on a platter. Do the right thing and reinstate Nate Fisher with an apology and back pay.

Aside: I see that the excellent and talented William Dow is now representing Mr. Fisher. Dow, as you might recall, helped Julie Amero with the appeal of her conviction. See also this article documenting counterpoints from other parents and students.

If you’ve landed on this blog since I went on a tear over Julie Amero’s case, I should explain that as a parent, as the descendant and relative of many, many talented educators, and as someone passionate about literature and the way it stirs emotions, thought, analytical thinking and just the desire for the arts, I don’t much appreciate seeing teachers bullied by overbearing parents. If the criminal investigation against Nate Fisher is dropped and he receives an appropriate apology and offer for reinstatement, I’ll shut up. If you’re sick of hearing from me about it, you can always blog it too, so that the truth rises and is heard by those who have the power to make things right.

Technorati Tags: Nate Fisher, Guilford, Connecticut, fired teacher

In honor of banned books week, I bring you the story of Nate Fisher, former freshman English teacher at Guilford High School in Guilford, CT. Mr. Fisher is a second-year freshman English teacher who by all accounts was quite popular with his students. He did, however, expect them to complete summer reading assignments, and when one of his students hadn’t, he gave her a choice of books to read over Labor Day to complete the assignment. They agreed upon a graphic novel by Daniel Clowes — Eightball #22, which was republished as Ice Haven. Eightball #22 was listed by School Library Journal as having an age rating of Grade 10 and up. From what I’ve read, it had some mature material in it, but nothing that could be considered pornographic in nature.

Freshman Girl’s parents had objections to the chosen assignment. In fact, their objections were so strong they bypassed the teacher entirely, marching themselves and their objections right past the teacher’s classroom into the principal’s office. When they didn’t receive the response they anticipated from the principal, they went to the police. Then they went to the police in a neighboring town — a relative of theirs — and really stirred things up. The next thing you know, Mr. Fisher was placed on administrative leave and then forced to resign, effectively ending his career or at the very least, putting the brakes on it till the dust dies down.

When I first saw this on BoingBoing, I thought Mr. Fisher had probably exercised some bad judgment in the choice of reading material he assigned to the girl. But two things changed my mind. I actually went through the approved authors published by the Guilford Schools, and there were authors on there with far more explicit and adult material than what I’ve seen quoted from Eightball #22. See this comment on The Beat, quoting a passage from Charles Bukowski’s ‘Women”.

Second, after reading the comments of the person claiming to be this girl’s mother, it’s clear that the objection had less to do with what he recommended to read and more to do with their belief that a MAN gave it to her to read, suggesting with lots of inline innuendo that Mr. Fisher is some sort of smarmy predator out to molest their Precious. The reasoning behind this? He told her to read it first, and then tell him how it made her feel. Hmmm. Have you ever had an assignment like that? Read this, respond. Responsive reading. Not really what I’d call the act of a predator. But it’s clear that the parents wished to paint him in a sinister, ugly light and when they did not raise a response from the administration, they shouted out to a police buddy to put some pressure on. That happened. Fisher was told, resign or we make it ugly for you — you’ll never work in this town again. (Sound familiar? Shades of Julie Amero?)

To get a sense of the depth of evil that such a baseless accusation brings, read the comments of usrngrx here. In particular, this remark frosted me:

We do not have the luxury of assuming everything is OK, so we can only go with what we see. And what I see is a teacher having an inappropriate interchange with a student, which, in every one of these cases below led to some sort of sexual crime.

BTW, usrngrx sounds like a lawyer or a cop close to the case.  Just sayin’.

You can read “Danielle’s” comments here and here. She claims to be the mother and the detail contained in her comments lend themselves to some credibility on that score. But it’s the Internet and without some verifiable way to know, you can take it with whatever grain of salt you wish. If you don’t want to read the whole thing, then at least read these quotes:

Now let me tell you, I am not shocked by much, but the first page I turned to was the fluffy blue bunny page - and I was shocked. Why would this teacher think my 13 year old would want to read this! I could not imagine what this teacher had in mind with my daughter by giving her this comic. I was fearful that I knew what might be on his mind!

So the afternoon goes by and my Daughter gets off the bus, I ask her what happened in his class that day and she tells me that - He pulled her aside after class and asked her how reading that comic made her feel.

She told him that she really thought it was disgusting and inappropriate and he said yes, I told you it might be a little bit mature.

Well when I heard this, I was really disgusted. What can I assume in this day and age was this teachers motives?? I put her back in the car and I went back down to the school. I asked to see the principal again and I told him what was said to her after class.

That gives a pretty good picture of what these parents assumed. It wasn’t about the book; it was about their belief that Fisher had evil intentions. So without any evidence to the contrary, without meeting this teacher face to face and confronting him with their concerns and objections, without so much as having the first CLUE as to what this man was all about, they jumped to a conclusion and forced the school administration to force him out. And it really is because he had the misfortune to be a man. Had her teacher been female, I’m guessing they would have had a different approach.

Now the parents are still a bit miffed because their daughter has been the victim of unintended consequences. All they wanted to do was protect her; but there was some serious peer backlash over his resignation, including Facebook hazings, ridicule and rejection. I feel for this kid, I really do. Had her parents chosen a more private pathway to resolution, she wouldn’t be the target of her peers’ anger. It must feel rotten to be new in a school, a freshman, AND have parents who have no qualms about drumming someone out with no facts and then trumpeting about it in the local newspaper. From the New Haven Register:

[Superintendent] Forcella said that the school district’s investigation is closed now that Fisher has resigned. But the girl’s father rejected that explanation, calling the school’s acceptance of Fisher’s resignation a “cop out.”

“Now they don’t have to worry about it,” he said. “They can close the investigation, they’re done with the matter and now they’re out of a sticky situation.”

The student’s parents said they met with Forcella and other school officials on Monday and were told the district would send an e-mail to parents explaining that the girl was not at fault, which they had not received as of Wednesday afternoon. Forcella said the district is planning to e-mail a statement and post it on the school system’s main Web site.

“I’m extremely upset with the administration for not following through with their word of contacting the parents,” the father said. “It looks like we got some teacher fired (over) a Harry Potter novel or Catcher in the Rye.”

The girl’s mother said her daughter has been “crying every night” and asking not to go to school because students who liked the teacher are blaming her. The mother said that some students set up a group on Facebook, the social networking Web site, calling for Fisher to be reinstated and criticizing the student. The family called the police when, they said, a video was posted on the site with a picture of their daughter and a song with the lyrics “Don’t hesitate to exterminate.” The Facebook page has since been removed.

“He’s the cool, favorite teacher of all the kids,” the father said.

His wife said she became especially concerned when her daughter told her Fisher asked her “how the book made her feel,” although the mother added that she has no idea “what his intention was.”

“She was victimized by him to begin with and over and over again for 2½ weeks now,” she said. “We just feel like if people understand what he had given her, then they would understand that it’s not our daughter’s fault.”

Hey, it WASN’T their daughter’s fault. It was THEIRS.

Frank Krasicki (a fellow Julie Group member and member of the Board of Education in Ashford, CT) views the insinuation that Fisher was a predator as a hate crime. He’s got some pretty strong words for the administration of Guilford High School, and I agree with him. First, they should reject Fisher’s resignation and reinstate him with an apology. Second, they should make clear to all parents, students and teachers that they will not entertain insinuation as accusation, but will insist on solid evidence of misconduct before placing a teacher on administrative leave.

I echo Frank’s sentiments and add one more. De-certify the union in that district. Any union that wouldn’t get the facts and stand up for this teacher’s rights should be de-certified at once because the union dues are a complete waste of money.

MiniVan Diaries notes that as a result of the parents’ actions, Fisher’s resignation and the resulting backlash on their daughter, everyone loses. Yes, yes they do.

The father is honest about his vendetta:

“I personally don’t ever want him teaching again,” he said. “There is nothing that he could say that would account for this. … That poor judgment is something you can’t take back.”

Notice how it’s become “poor judgment” now, instead of “child predator”?

Over at Blogher, Leslie Madsen Brooks has an interesting post about “stalker moms“, the K-12 version of helicopter parents. She asks,

In understanding what’s going on in our kids’ schools, are we aiming for transparency or surveillance? And where does transparency end and surveillance begin?

Or put in this context, are we aiming for complete character assassination or just protecting “the children”?

More information about Eightball #22/Ice Haven:

TIME: Dan Clowes Returns to Form
Review at Silver Bullet Comics

More about this case:

Krasicki: Manufacturing Predators - One Teacher at a Time, Shock and Law

Technorati Tags: Guilford, Connecticut, Nate Fisher, false accusation, Eightball, Ice Haven, comics, graphic novelbanned books week

Via Liz Ditz, this really interesting group writing project: Can I Sit With You?
What it’s about:

Dealing with the other kids at school was complicated even if you didn’t have a label. For those of us who were socially awkward, culturally juxtaposed, same-sex attracted, gender-cocooned, income-challenged, “weird” sibling-saddled, differently abled, atypical looking, religiously isolated, on the autism spectrum, or who somehow just didn’t fit in, it could be brutal. Even though most of us eventually developed coping strategies, grew up, left school behind, and tried not to think about how much that time in our life sucked.

Until some of us starting having our own kids. And saw those kids start to flounder, saw them start fretting about how to fit in. Aiigh! What to do?

Well, we don’t know what most people would do, but we’ve decided to take action. We want to help our kids. We want to give them some ammunition, or at least some mental armor. We want to show them that almost everyone has been mystified or terrorized by the schoolyard social scene, though for different reasons and in different ways. We want them to see that their angst is both universal and timeless. We want them to know that other people totally understand.

How it works:

So, we are asking you to send us your most memorable stories about surviving, succeeding, or sucking it up while dealing with the other kids at school. We’re going to post one of your stories on this blog every week day, starting October 1st. We’ll keep posting as long as the stories keep coming.

If you have a story, consider sending it to them. You can find the submission guidelines here.

Continuing on from last night, we’re now in serious CAM (Computer Acquisition Mode).

So should it be a Mac? Or a PC?

He’s looking at the MacBook with the SuperDrive, student price $1199.

Dell’s comparable laptop (with a bigger screen - 14.1″) is $1,204 with student pricing.

He also wants to upgrade his version of Sibelius from 3 to 5. It’s a dual edition, so it doesn’t matter which flavor of notebook he has. The real question is which computer will last the longest, handle his music creation and transcriptions, and still have general purpose uses for school and fun.

Cast your vote in the comments.. I haven’t figured out how to integrate polls into this theme quite yet, but I’d love to hear your opinion…convince me (and him) one way or the other.

Technorati Tags: mac, pc, Sibelius, macbook, dell, dell 1420

DG Honors Update:

She was placed back into the Honors classes today. I received an email informing me that there was room after they placed all the GATE-qualified students first. I did my best to ignore the implication that it was somehow a gift, given that she has met the Honors criteria every year since she was tested for the GATE program. The outcome was the right one for DG, so it’s all good. I just wish we hadn’t had to go through a week of angst and drama to get there.

Sticks is looking more collegiate by the day:

Sticks did his first round-trip commute in the new car today…and is now beginning to understand the love affair Californians have with their cars. We’re trying to give him incentives to keep riding the train, but he has such a weird schedule — classes end around 12pm T/Th and the first train back doesn’t leave till 5 — that he’s lobbying for driving 3 of 5 days per week. We’re pushing for driving 2 of 5 days, with train commutes on the days where he doesn’t have late rehearsals to 9pm. Today he spent 4 hours in the practice room…always a good thing.

College has been an adjustment for him, musically. His first jolt was when he didn’t pole-vault into the top bands on the first round of auditions, and I’m glad to say that he has handled it with grace. (My personal reaction was relief…it’s about time he had a challenge to rise to instead of hitting the big time on the first round…) He was a little bit bitter about one placement, but not that bad, and he freely admits that the top drummer dogs in the jazz department are awesome musicians that he can learn a lot from. Good for him for being humble instead of arrogant…I remember a time where it wouldn’t have gone that way.

So now it’s computer purchase time. The dilemma: Mac or PC? Honestly, the PCs I’ve seen don’t impress…it’s been nearly 2 years since I bought this laptop and I’m not seeing much that makes me sit up and want another PC. Macs, however, are another story. They are definitely looking good to me and also to Sticks, particularly since Parallels allows for a Windows XP installation and the ability to run software we already own.

The dilemma is that if he buys a MacBook, he won’t have enough $$$ left to get the new version of Sibelius, even at the student license rates, which he would have if he bought a PC. On the other hand, the machine of choice on this campus (especially in the music department) is a Mac. Decisions, decisions….

Technorati Tags: back to school, mac or pc