And In the “WTF?!!” Department . . . .
Yeah, the linked article’s headline – repeated in the link below – is accurate.
Seventh grader suspended for ‘liking’
a photo of a gun on Instagram
Sheesh. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, the idiots come up with something even more idiotic and prove you wrong.
Yes, I understand the school’s concern about school violence, but c’mon. Here, the district suspended a kid for “liking” a non-explicit picture – a picture of an airsoft pistol with the one-word caption “Ready” – he saw posted on Instagram while web surfing from home at 7PM. And they did it without giving the kid a chance to explain himself.
Yeah, like the kid’s parents I kinda got a problem with that.
Really? Do they also monitor their students to see if they visit pr0n sites late at night on the Internet while at home? Or what books they check out from the city library on weekends – or download from Amazon?
I think Hank Hill described the behavior by the school administration here quite well. Except here, laughter isn’t IMO in any way appropriate.
Big Brother approves. Those who value common sense and freedom . . . perhaps not so much.
If school administrators in that school district have nothing better to do than monitor their students’ off-hours off-campus Internet usage, well, to me that suggests a very different problem. Specifically: it suggests that perhaps that district has far too many school administrators. And the fact that they’d suspend a student for liking a picture of any gun on Instagram – without even asking the kid for an explanation, and with no other indication of a problem – shows an utter lack of common sense (though that’s regrettably often the case in education these days).
Maybe instead of playing “after hours Internet monitor”, the district should instead let a few administrators go. They could then hire a few more teachers with the money saved.
(Author’s Note: edited to reflect the fact that the “gun” in question was an airsoft pistol vice paintball.)
Category: "Teh Stoopid", "Your Tax Dollars At Work", WTF?, YGBSM!!
YGBSM. What business is it of theirs??????
Who in hell is monitoring these sick ass school administrators? their pedophile, drug induced, pot smoking,pornographic, liberal communist bullshyt lifestyles?? imo
Wow. Glad we home schooled, and more so every passing day.
+1
Yep! Here, too!
They should make a big stink. Get a lawyer.
and sqeeze the living shit out of that so called school system.
I am not a teacher, I am an internet monitor.
I can’t figure out which is more surprising, the idiocy of the school administration or the fact that AOL is still around..
“He loved Big Brother”
It seems that school district has had its share of issues recently.
This Superintendent is hypersensitive to anything that could be considered a threat. They had a young lady commit suicide that may have involved some bullying and there were reports of other kids wanting to shoot up the school.
http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/butler-county/trenton/bullying-may-have-led-to-students-suicide-two-arrests-at-edgewood-high-school
An obvious case of over reacting. “Liking” a gun photo hardly qualifies as a threat of any kind. Sounds to me like this school administration needs some help.
I once had a long retired teacher approach the Board to address problems with discipline. She voiced what is wrong in our schools better than I ever could. From memory:
“The major problem with our schools today is the School Board is afraid of the Parents, the Administrators are afraid of the School Board, the Teachers are afraid of the Administration and the Students are not afraid of anyone.”
I don’t agree with what this administrator did, but I do understand why he probably did it. It sounds like they corrected the over reaction.
They walked back the over-reaction, not corrected it. Another article I read about this incident yesterday said that while the administrator cancelled the suspension (after facing the wrath of the angry parents) he also issued an e-mail to every student’s parents/guardians stating “The school was made aware of a threat of violence made against the school and/or its students.” Still laying the blame at the foot of this innocent kid as if he e-mailed the school with a specific threat, when all he did was ‘like’ a picture and some busy-body noticed and decided they had to step in and ‘save everyone.’
When that administrator issues another e-mail plainly stating “We over-reacted to an innocent occurrence and there was no actual threat of any kind and we promise to thoroughly investigate any future reports before jumping to baseless conclusions,” then I will believe they are correcting their initial over-reaction.
There is probably more to this story. It’s hard to believe the school superintendent, Russ Fussnecker, pulled this on his own hook. What might have happened is that somebody ratted the kid out to somebody such as a member of the school board. If Fussnecker is, in fact, spending his time monitoring student home use of the internet, the school has bigger problems than pictures of toy guns.
It strikes me that the school superintendent is one of those people placed in a position of authority who is ultimately a physical and moral coward. When confronted with a complaint about a kid “liking” a gun on Instagram, he caved and had the kid suspended. When confronted by the kids parents because it was not a real weapon, he caved and had the suspension lifted. This is not a stand-up guy willing to fall on his sword for the sake of principle.
According to Fussnecker, “I cannot just turn my head and act as if, well, I think it may have been playful and take the chance that something happens…I can’t take a chance.”
To which a friend of mine from the Caribbean might have once said:
“Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die, mon.”
I can believe it, PG. The fact that he immediately rescinded the suspension when he found out it was an airsoft gun argues to me that it could well have been a unilateral, “knee-jerk” over-reaction on his part for no other reason than to cover his butt if there was a problem.
School principles get paid to run a school. They are the executive authority for the school. That requires both making decisions and the use of sound judgement.
Fussbudget here failed on both counts. He needs to be doing something else for a living – something that requires neither making difficult decisions or the use of sound judgement.
“Would you like fries and a drink with that burger?”, sounds about his level of decision-making competence.
I have several questions.
– Why is that kid using a school computer to surf the net? He/his parents should know better. If the school district is issuing computers for homework, that’s the ONLY thing they should be used for. Computers are so cheap now that even I can afford a new one next year.
– If the school admin is this paranoid, why aren’t those people doing group therapy? It would do them a lot of good. I don’t mean gather at the campfire and roast marshmallows and sing summer camp songs. I mean sit in a circle and snipe at each other.
What a bunch of cowards. Common sense seems to have flown out the freaking window nine years ago. I do, however, remember some kid getting arrested in 1964 or 1965 on orders of the school principle for getting a Beatles haircut, which is a girls’ pixie cut. May have been in Ohio.
You’d be amazed how much more connected kids are thanks to schools.
When I was in HS, the computer lab had just got a couple of Apple IIs.
A couple of years ago, the oil revenues in Pinedale, WY were such that the district could afford to (and provided) laptops to every student in the district, grades 1-12. Every. Single. Student.
the reason for every kid to have a school computer is they don’t give them books anymore. If it is on the Net is is correct.
sorry ***** NOT CORRECT*****
He was not on school computer equipment. He was at home, 7PM in the evening, on his own computer according to other articles I have read.
IF he was on his own computer, then how did the Fussnecker find out about it?
None of this smells right to me.
The other report I read yesterday said some ‘anonymous’ person (probably a social media friend – or parent there-of) reported the ‘like’ on the “gun” picture that started the ball rolling.
Yeah, Ex-PH2, schools in the US have a long history of idiocy – both on the administrative and student side. And the courts do give great deference to schools regarding setting policy and rules regarding conduct related to school matters.
My issue here is I don’t see how this is in any way a “school matter”. The administrators here first overreached – then overreacted. Both show p!ss-poor judgement on the part of the school’s administration.
Fifteen minutes of freaking investigation prior to issuing a summary suspension was all that would have been required to clear up the matter. Fussbudget here didn’t do that. Instead, he over-reacted with a knee-jerk that obviated the need for applying investigation, then good judgement. He took the easy way out (for him), screwing the two students involved in the process.
A school Principle is paid to be better than that.
Okay, Hondo…I let it slide once but now I have to make a correction. It’s “principal” for the school title. I remember it because I heard more than one Principal use the line “I put the pal in Principal!” However, my elementary school principal, Mr. Mack was of the opinion that there was nothing that a bit of judiciously applied wood couldn’t fix! He wasn’t about that “pal” stuff. Good man and awesome educator.
🤠
Hey, don’t pick on Hondo! I misspelled it, too! My bad!!1
Similar to my junior high school (what they called middle school in the dark ages) said during his first day remarks. He had an “open door” policy because he wanted you to remember that there’s not only a “prince” in “principal” … there’s a “pal” there, too. I could hear groans all up and down the hallway.
He was a good man, though.
Wondered about that, but thought I remembered the correct spelling. Should have checked. Mea cuplpa.
I wonder if the district issues/requires laptops/tablets for the students with specific software and also embedded is a program that is keyed to report whenever I the spying parameters are met, i.e. the word/picture “GUN”.
Given how some school districts have abused their “authority” regarding school-issued laptops, I’d have to say if my kids ever got issued one, they’d probably stay in the bag, period.
Case in point, look up Robbins vs. Lower Marion School District.
Merion. Fucking autocorrect.
My grandson had to make a trip to the head masters office because he drew a picture of a gun on one of his papers, now mind you, he is in the 3rd grade and loves to play video games. I guess I will have to limit the ones he plays? He has learned his lesson.
Litigation….that’s why they did it. Fear of litigation.
If the kid liked that weapon and then used a real one that looked like it to murder a dozen or so kids everyone and their brother would be asking why no one is watching these little fuckers….and the school would get sued if it was revealed this kid like gun porn and was liking images of weapons before he went on a murderous rampage.
95% of the rules in our youth sports program are based on insurance requirements to avoid litigation. Not because they make the sport better, but because they make the legal environment in which we operate less susceptible to large payouts. That’s it….litigation.
Was it stupid, sure it was stupid which is why it was lifted almost immediately. But I can absolutely understand it.
We had a memo from US Soccer regarding inappropriate items that could not be worn during a game because they represent a hazard to the children. We told a player she had to remove a specific item before she could be allowed to play, we got sued and ended up paying out 10 grand. We did nothing wrong and it still cost us 10 grand.
At the end of the day all of these seemingly idiotic decisions are based on fear of litigation. I am stepping down from my role after 30 years of involvement because I no longer feel it’s appropriate to risk my savings, my home, and my retirement over a fucking kids game. When people whose children you coached sue you over a decision made by US Soccer at the national level you start to realize everyone is looking for a fucking pay day today and it makes no sense to risk your personal financial health to benefit anyone but yourself.
I absolutely understand this “idiotic” decision. Get sued a dozen times (we get reimbursed for our attorney’s fees from our insurance thankfully but no one reimburses me for the lost time and aggravation) and you start to understand decisions that at first seem to lack any semblance of common sense.
That’s because nowadays, stupid liberal judges decide cases not according to the law, but on the basis of how their “feelings”. Or on the basis of some extraneous, irrelevant factor– like the two TROs on the Executive Orders restricting travel, which were issued because of something Trump said during the campaign that bothered the judges. Who are both friends of Obama, and who received either a visit or a phone call the same day each TRO was handed down.
Jeezus, Mary, and Joseph! How the hell do these people get through a single day? There was no “potential for violence.” The kid clicked a friggin’ “Like” button! There was no threat, no implication of a threat, nothing! Even if the pistol were real, it’s a lot more likely to be an indication that the individual is prepared for self- and/or home-defense than, well, ANYTHING else. They didn’t even look for context, just kicked both kids with a knee-jerk.
And another thing, what the hell are they doing tracking what the kids do online at home outside of school hours? If I was the parent in this case, my response would be: “All you need to know about that is that his homework is getting turned in on time. Otherwise, it’s none of your fucking business!”
as noted above, possibly a school-owned computer with parameters given for what is and is not considered acceptable web surfing with a school-owned monitoring program loaded. Not saying it is right, but it is about the only thing that makes sense. The thought that the school would have the capability to monitor students’ surfing habits on their own privately owned computers is a bit of a stretch. Or terrifying.
As I’ve said before, I’m a college dropout. I was pursuing a teaching degree and quickly realized after my pre-lab which was sitting and observing that I would have to get hired to teach in some private school because I wouldn’t last an hour in a public school without strangling an administrator. Many a good dedicated and competent Teacher these days is saddled with incompetent boobs in their School Administration and are not allowed to do their jobs to their best potential.
Which is why nearly half the teachers starting today don’t last 5 years in the field.
IN Ohio, Teachers have to have earned their Masters Degree within 5 years of starting to teach or they’re out the door. I have a Niece that teaches in Ohio and she got her Masters before ever taking a job as a Teacher.
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Perhaps it’s time that parents get copies of the internet habits of the teachers, administrators, and staff of their children’s schools. Everybody from the superintendent to the janitor. Level the field, so to speak.
/\/\THIS/\/\
Suspended for “liking” a picture of a gun? I guess I am lucky not to have been locked up and forcibly medicated for life. When I was in 5th grade a friend and I were constantly drawing pictures of tanks, guns, airplanes, battle scenes, etc..The teacher finally noticed and stopped us, but only because we were using paper we took from the supply closet without authorization.
I wonder what kind of games today’s “educators” played as children. And how they would react to a normal child from the ’50s and ’60s.
I would have been screwed if I were going to school today, considering when I was in HS I owned a 30-30 rifle and there were at least four other firearms in my home.
And when you consider the kind of bullying I went through in my school days (I wasn’t exactly in the popular crowd) it’s amazing all my classmates somehow survived going to school with me! Today I would likely be at the top of one or two watch-lists.
I was in high school during the mid eighties when kids often brought guns to school. A number of them had shotguns or rifles in their trunks because they went hunting right after school let out and those who DID bring guns INTO the school were members of the Rifle team.
My Dad’s gift to me on my 15th birthday was my M1 Garand. I read the operating manual for that rifle cover-to-cover during spare time in class. I got caught by one teacher, a Marine Vietnam vet, whose response was to give me a written test on the Garand’s nomenclature and manual of arms. I passed, by the way.
That was in southern California in 1999. I’m thinking the Ohio school mentioned above would be inundated with a yellow flash flood as all the staff piss themselves simultaneously.
PV8 Moerk goes to school.