Vancouver Island school officials have ordered a reprinting of a middle-school yearbook after a teacher took scissors to 150 yearbooks and cut out the photograph of a Grade 10 student who had made "hurtful and untrue" comments about the principal.
"We want to put things right," Susan Barr, chairwoman of the Comox Valley board of education, said Wednesday amid public anger over the clipping of Brandon Armstrong's picture from the yearbook along with his comment -- which slipped past editors -- accusing Lake Trail secondary school principal Lori Carpenter of spending "all our money on a new fence instead of new textbooks."
The comment in question "slipped past the editors". Really? The only thing that editors have to do is read the stuff that other people have written and make sure it's accurate, interesting and coherent. I know- "tough job". It sounds to me like the editors were busy doing "other things" rather than editing.
The district, not the principal, made the decision to install the fence, Barr noted, while praising staff for resolving a contentious issue. Although she didn't know what the district would be charged for reprinting, she said "it's a cost that the district will gladly bear."
Superintendent Jordan Tinney later said a local printer had agreed to reprint the yearbooks for $750, well short of an original estimate of $3,000.
The teacher in question freely admitted to cutting out the offending student's picture and quote. The school district said that the cost of reprinting the books was "a cost that the district will gladly bear." I guess that's because why on earth would the guilty party ever have to take responsibility for his own actions? Really?
Furthermore, the local printing company agreed to reprint the yearbooks for $750 rather than the original $3000 estimate. I don't know what their actual printing costs were and I'd like to believe that they didn't lose money by reprinting at a discount but since they're Canadian, I'd have to lower my expectations. Let's imagine that they did charge actual cost for the reprinting. I wonder if they considered wear and tear on their printing machines. I wonder if they considered time lost from the people who operate those machines. Keep in mind that my experience with the printing business is zero so there are probably a slew of other hidden and unhidden costs of which I'm unaware.
Brandon's mother, Sherri Kennedy, said she felt the school mishandled the issue but she was pleased with the decision to reprint the yearbook to include her son's picture. "It's the right decision. Our goal was to get it reprinted."
On Wednesday, the school called Brandon and told him to come up with a new comment, which Kennedy said he would do overnight with her help.
Carpenter, meanwhile, said she received a flood of hate mail after the story was published by the local newspaper and picked up by the national media -- even though she did not order the excising and was at home with a sick child the day it happened. The decision to cut Brandon's picture out of every yearbook, except his own, was made by the teacher in charge of production, Ken Piercy.
Of course, the principal wasn't to blame either- "even though she did not order the excising and was at home with a sick child the day it happened." That cracked me up. As far as I'm concerned, there are no bad teams- only bad leaders. In this case though, they not only meep about the person who was actually guilty but also make it crystal clear that those who aren't guilty really are not guilty. No really- see? She wasn't even in the country at the time. They even iterate this assertion two paragraphs later. So... "really, no really"?
Upset to discover Brandon's comment post-publication, Piercy, a well-respected teacher, took action that he thought was right, Barr said. He inserted a note into every yearbook apologizing for the cut, but stating: "I will not allow anything to be published that is hurtful and untrue."
Although Carpenter didn't make the decision, she said she received "ugly" hate mail from across the country. "It's bordering on scary," she said in an interview. "People have gone way off the deep end."
Barr agreed, saying: "What has been really difficult for me personally and the district is the level of public anger directed at Lori Carpenter. ... That's really difficult for us to swallow." She said the e-mail, some of which was copied to her, included vicious, personal attacks.
Earlier in the day, assistant superintendent Sherry Elwood defended the decision to remove Brandon's comment from the yearbook.
"I don't believe that's censorship," she told the Comox Valley Echo. "That's about you being responsible for what you put in print under your name as being true. That's really what it's about."
She doesn't believe that's censorship. That doesn't change the definition of "censorship" any more than proclaiming "I don't believe in guns" will put a stop to homicides. I'm not sure of her use of "that's" instead of "it's" but it's likely that she's trying to distance herself from the situation as much as possible. She goes on to assert that "it's about you being responsible for what you put in print under your name as being true. That's really what it's about." Really? Does anyone believe this? Does anyone believe a 6 year old when they tell you "I don't want the chocolate milk for the chocolate, I want it for the milk."
But Kennedy said her son wasn't trying to stir up trouble. "It was just a random comment," she said. "He's 15 ... he didn't mean anything by it."
Ah, that's blissful. After all that, she strips away the last shred of dignity and integrity the boy could have because "posh- he's only 15... what does he know". Liberals are all about falsifying self-esteem but heaven help you if you show any signs of thinking and acting for yourself. There is safety in conformity. Now, get back in line.
From The Vancouver Sun.
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1 comment:
clearly you have no idea what you are talking about. The student wasn't even aware that the yearbook incident happened until an over- zealous PAC mother jumped all over it because she hates the principal. The student is not even in class the vast majority of the time and was upset that the fence was put up and blocked the pot smoking area. If you knew the principal you would know what a tough school it is and what a good job she does. The editors were other students who worked really hard on the books but missed something they should have caught. It was a mistake not censorship - the student's comments were wrong and hurtful and maybe his mother should have censored him. What a joke!
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