"Special assignments, dress codes, mock ceremonies specific to this inauguration in our schools! What is this crap? Why do our teachers now have to supply principals with lesson plans for the inauguration to prove that they are participating and "on board" with this mandate? Why not have the same expectation for daily classroom assignments to see if they are doing what they are suppose to do. Because you don't care that's why. All you care about is force feeding this inauguration down the throats of my/our children and it is unacceptable. You want to make sure they don't forget it. You don't have to worry about that because the President Elect will make sure it is remembered as our children will be forced to live with things that his decisions will have made whether they be good or bad. They haven't done this for any white Presidents. Why do my/our children have to dress for this "historical occasion"? Why can our children now be exposed to politics in school when religion has been cast out for some time? Why can Margo Handy be allowed to do this and we let it happen?
Why wasn't Bush or Clinton given the same respect. I can tell you why, because this inauguration is the only one viewed as "historical" in her eyes. She is allowing her ethnic background and personal prejudice run our schools. All elections should be and are "historical" not just one when a African American (I guess he is, we don't know who he is or if he even has a birthday) is inaugurated. At least she is on board now and sees inaugurations as historical. Will it last four years? Time will tell.
Why are teachers being put through this crap and not teaching our kids something that matters. Obama is not GOD, he is not the Pope, we don't know who he is and our kids should not be forced to sit through and view anything that has been driven by ethnics or personal preferences.
The B.O.E has blocked access to these blogs and I ask why is that?
I say we have someone in the B.O.E abusing power, forcing political and ethnic related topics in the classroom and for that she should be terminated."
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
29 comments:
Get over it. The historical significance of the inauguration of Barack Obama is monumental to this nation weather you choose to keep your head in the Eastern Shore sand or not.
bigot (a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own) She is a racist bigot pig. Will she be in red, white and blue on Tuesday. What a waste of tax payers money having her in our school system.
I agree that it is a shame that the BOE did not get kids involved in the inaugurations of other Presidents, but there is nothing wrong with asking them to show respect for the office of President and watch the process. It teaches civics and social studies. No, this election shouldn't be treated differently, but any teacher worth their title would be using a major political event as a learning tool in their classroom.
When I was in 7th grade, we all dressed up, parents came to school, and we watched the unfortunate Challenger flight and crash in school.
We also said the Pledge every morning.
And frankly, as a teacher, I wish kids would some dressed more appropriately EVERY day. As a kid, I was taught that there were things that were appropriate to wear to school, there were things that were worn to church, and there were 'play clothes' that got dirty. Keeping school clothes clean taught both a sense of respect for school and was a reminder of the behavior expected.
Now, elementary students come to school in clothes with swear words on them, and girls in shirts that show their belly buttons and skirts that show their tush when they bend over. People show up in church in jeans and t shirts. This teaches kids to show up for job interviews and internships dressed in jeans and encourages everyone to treat events that should be viewed as important for all Americans as nothing but something to flip past on TV.
Get over it and dress your kids in something decent. It's just one day.
that's why my kids don't go to public school and go to private where this isn't happening
Affirmative action in our faces, thank you billy bob clinton you idiot.
Your a teacher and you think its about one day. Its about left wing liberal dems influxing their personal beliefs on the tax payers children. Tell me is there one private school going this far.
9:08 and 9:11 you have lost your friggin minds, Have you ever heard "to hell in a hand basket"? Thats where we are heading with this liberal bull crap....dress your kids all you want, my will be absent all day playing in the eastern shore sand you idiots!
9:11 you are right there is nothing wrong with asking, MANDATING is for abusive people that are power hungry , abusing the power that they have, THIS IS A MANDATE, not asking....you are absolutely lost
All of this is making a great case for home schooling.
Observing the inauguration is one thing. However telling a child what he or she will wear to school is an abuse of power. Telling a child he or she will be penalized for non-compliance is an abuse of power. The last time I checked, and that was this morning, my wife and I approve and disapprove what our children where to school. So "WCBOE Teacher" who are you penalizing? A child that does what he or she is told to do by their parents? Come on lets wake up now, you're the teacher we are the parent; the dress code is spelled out in the county school guidelines. Children/parents are to be held to that standard not an individual teacher's or principal's standard. I have seen on many occasions where a child receives extra credit for wearing a particular outfit to school as part of a lesson they are studying. Now you want to penalize them if they don't wear what you told them to wear. Can you define abuse of power for us? School is for learning not indoctrination. This is an abuse of power on the parts of individuals that are in key decision making positions. Have a party and dress up in formal attire, but not in school. Every year on MLK's birthday there is always a formal event at the civic center. That is the perfect place for the activities being planned for next week. It would be a nice change to see the same passion in planning on a so called normal school day as we are witnessing now.
Instead of demanding lesson plans and announcing classroom "inspection" visits, Ms. Handy should have told teachers that she would like to know the meaningful activities they have planned for the inauguration and hoped to share a few minutes of that day with them. Technically, Ms. Handy has no responsibilities for elementary curriculum or instruction whatsoever. It is Ms. Malone, not Ms. Handy, who is in charge of curriculum and instruction. Why Ms. Handy is issuing directives about instruction for this one event makes for interesting conjecture.
Mrs. Bock is the WCBOE's social studies supervisor for K-12, and Ms. Malone is the director for all instruction K-12. Mrs. Handy has no responsibilities for instruction or curriculum. Not one instructional supervisor reports to her. Who knows why she's wanting lesson plans for the inauguration but does nothing with lesson plans the rest of the year? Not having anything to do with teaching or curriculum is what makes her job as director of elem. ed. so much easier.
There is a picture in the Washington Post showing an entire middle school class attending. . . wait for it . . . George Bush's inauguration! So don't come here and say that this is the first time school kids have done anything for inauguration! And if you cannot recognize that this is, in fact, a particularly historic inauguration, then you need to go back and study U.S history. Seriously, people, you need to calm down. Everything isn't a conspiracy.
Cause shes black and so is Obama.
10:13
And was that picture taken in Wicomico County? Probably not. No one said that no class in the history of the U.S. had ever watched an inauguration. Many classes in Wicomico County have watched a Presidential swearing-in cermony. However, this year's edict about lesson plans being collected, Board personnel coming to observe teachers during the event, special dress recommendations has never taken place in our county before.
10:13, We are not talking about another school district, I doubt very seriously that a Wicomico County school was in the Washington Post. The good thing about your statement is that, yes it has been done, just not here. By the way is the topic! You are yet another clueless one. This may have been done here in Wicomico county had George W. been black. Margo Handy has been in office through more than this election, why wait until a black inexperienced speaker is elected. I would have no problem with this if it were a normal practice that started years ago. I will give her the benefit here and say, you have to start somewhere, she chose to start when a black man was elected. For her to show that all elections are "historical" do the same thing when the next white man is elected...than I/we will know that she sees all elections as "historical" and give us the chance to decide whether she is racist or not. At this moment she is, we have to wait 4 or 8 years to prove otherwise. Keep digging!
A director of elementary education who is not in charge of instruction or curriculum is ridiculous. Is that really the way it is at the WCBOE? Is the secondary director not in charge of instruction or curriculum either? Get rid of Ms. Malone and divide her job between the ed. directors or get rid of both of them. How can we afford such idiocy?
I can remember in the early 70's having to learn about Martin Luther King in middle school history class. I didn't like it at the time because I didn't particularly like my teacher who was black. Looking back I now realize the significance of it and am glad I learned about the hardships black people were forced to endure. These childred will always remember this inauguration day. Don't be so narrow minded people that you can't allow your children to participate and take away from it their own experience.
crisfieldgirl I understand what you are saying but MLK had proven himself and was at the time an American hero. BHO has not proven anything yet except that he could get elected. Why should this be different than any other inauguration? They never have done this before in the past and are only doing it because of race. I say that is racist!
9:11, if kids are coming to school with that crap on guess who I blame, Margo Handy. She should do her damn job clean up the dress code "like Delmar" and not olerate it daily. Don't try to clean things up for inauguration one day every four years. She needs to get her ass out and earn her money everyday instead of causing hardships over this election. All in all she is a prjudice racist, liberla bigot. If she was anything but, we wouldn't be talking about this as she would have started this earlier and made all inaugurations "historical" and made the dress code a better one years ago. The fact that she decides to earn her money during a time and topic that she can relate to shows nothing other than prejudice, racism, liberalism and dictator like behaviors. She just frankly doesn't belong in our school system.
I wonder -
Is the real concern here that students are being required to dress a certain way, or is this specifically because it is for Obama's inaguration? Would everyone be JUST as upset if McCain had won, and this requirement were handed down?
Reading the posts on this blog from the race through now, I see a lot of posts where people feel strongly for/against Obama's politics, or for/against liberals vs. republicans, but there are an awful lot that specifically bring up race.
Is race the main issue here, really?
I guess the only problem I have with this, as a teacher in the system, is that the powers that be in central office don't bother coming to the schools to see what is going on 179 days of the year, but on this day they will just to make sure teachers are following orders. It is historically significant and should be taught to the students. But then again so should the other inaugurations.
9:08 i think you mean "whether" not weather.
2:05, As Margo Handy would have it yes race is the issue here. George Bush was elected and these mandates weren't made. Therefore I think race is the main issue and she is the ring leader. 2:09 is a teacher in this system and probably has never seen Margo or anyone else in her school, why now, because a African American is being elected, I hate to say it but race is the card!If it were done before for other Presidents making it the norm we would be talking about something else, like why is she even in the position she is in, because she hasn't done shit until now but screw up one school and make a mess out of the BOE. She made this a rascial issue!
2:09 is correct. The powers-that-be don't visit the schools en masse to observe anything. Now, they all need to see instruction one day out of almost two hundred days? Having to turn in a lesson plan and then be "visited" to be sure that plan is being taught is insulting to all teachers. Many of us have watched inaugurations with our students, but NEVER ONCE has this level of scrutiny been in place!
I'll be keeping my child home that day. I refuse to let my child take part of that crap.
How many of you who have aimed so much venom at Margo Handy have ever met her? Because she is black, you assume that she is racist, liberal, etc. Ms. Handy is one of the most highly regarded educators in the county. She was an inspiring principal before being elevated to the BOE. To malign a lady whom you don't know and probably never heard of until this week is disgraceful. And for whatever it matters, I am white, and I haven't had the pleasure of meeting her. Fellow teacher friends of mine who have worked for her have talked about her management skills for years.
So many of these posts give cogent testimony that racism is still very much alive on the Shore.
I attended school in Wicomico County from Kindergarten up until I graduated and I DO NOT remember ever learning about or watching a president being sworn in. If we are going to make this a new "lesson" in our schools, then we should let the children observe the candidates while they are running so that they may form their own opinions instead of telling them to wear their country's colors on the day that the president will be sworn in, and glorifying him because some feel that he is the greatest thing that has ever happened. How fair is this to people in the school system that do not care for Obama? Is it right that after he was elected some of us had to go to work and see all of the Obama t-shirts flashing in our faces? You would have thought they were wearing jerseys for their favorite sports team who won a championship! Don't get me wrong, I am all for exposing children to these great historic moments, but when others are feeling uncomfortable then something has to give! There are children that feel uncomfortable as well. I have heard some say "my mommy and daddy don't like him" and "why do they have that man or their shirts?" Try answering those questions! It's not anyone from the Board or any of the parents who are saying "get over it" that have to try to answer the little ones questions in a nonbiased manner. I just wish that people would treat this president as they would any other president. Yes it's history, but does teaching or supporting it have to be so disrespectful to others' beliefs. I did not support Obama, but I certainly did not throw my McCain beliefs in anyone's faces...I went and voted and kept my opinions to myself and those close to me! Personally, I will be glad when he is sworn in and some of this nonsense goes away (for our children's sake)!
I find it interesting that there with the election/inauguration of Barack Obama my child's classroom was awarded a television to watch the inauguration. While I am excited that my child's room will have a television, I can't understand why the funds were never avialable in the past. Mysteriously the funding appeared to purchase a television just in time for the inauguration.
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