Ms. Christi Michaud, principal of Hallsville Elementary school ordered it to happen. Children being forced to scream profanities during an anti-bullying exercise held at the school in Manchester, N.H. angered a set of parents so much that they pulled their children from the school. Meetings are being planned, officials are being called, and a petition is being signed to encourage some consequences. (<~~Sign It!)
Many of the children protested, saying that they did not want to read the swears (such as “F#@K YOU!”, “You Gay Whore!”, and “You F@#KER!”) out loud. But they were told that they had to do it.
Parent Keith Katsikas reports in a note on his FB page:
“Many of the children protested, saying that they did not want to read the swears (such as “F#@K YOU!”, “You Gay Whore!”, and “You F@#KER!”) out loud. But they were told that they had to do it. The only option those kids were given was to pick a different paper, but they had to do it. They were not given the option to just sit down and not participate.”
When does the madness end? When do the schools remember that they are not raising our children? When will they remember that they cannot just do anything they want with other peoples children?
According to MyFoxBoston, school officials are meeting with Mr. Katsikas Monday morning.
I could retell the story, but parent Keith Katsikas tells it so well. We will let him..then comment!
According to students, and confirmed by at least one teacher, these are the events that took place in Mr Ryder’s 4th grade classroom on April 15, 2015, at approximately 12:30 pm:
It was right after lunch. The children were settling into the seats, preparing for the rest of the school day activities, when a stranger enters the room. The students have never met or seen this women before, but the teacher welcomed her in. Her name was Laurie Evens, and she was from Webster Guidance. Her purpose was to teach a lesson on bullying. The woman proceeded to setup her display: a life-size paper man that she taped to the wall, a small blue basket, and a handful of paper clippings.
The woman passed out the small pieces of paper to the class and told the young children that they had to write down insults, hurtful things that someone has said to them, and if it contained swears, that’s all right. She then collected the pieces of paper from the students into her blue basket and mixed them up.
“Now, I’m going to pick one of you, and when I pick you, you will have to come take a slip of paper from the basket.” She told the children that they had to read whatever was written on the paper out loud, so the entire class could hear. “Say it like you mean it,” she declared. The children had to yell the vulgarities at the life-size paper man. The woman then instructed the children to rip a piece of the paper man off: like his hand, his finger, an ear, etc… She then proceeded to demonstrate by pulling a piece of paper out of the basket, shouted the phrase at the paper man, and ripped off one of his fingers. She then turned to the class and picked the first child to get up to do the same.
Many of the children protested, saying that they did not want to read the swears (such as “F#@K YOU!”, “You Gay Whore!”, and “You F@#KER!”) out loud. But they were told that they had to do it. The only option those kids were given was to pick a different paper, but they had to do it. They were not given the option to just sit down and not participate.
Manchester’s Hallsville Elementary School, seen in this vintage postcard was built in 1891.
After all of the children had yelled vulgarities at the paper man and had ripped the man to pieces (only his head was left stuck to the wall), the woman then told the children that they had to go back up, in the same order that they went to swear at the paper man, and tape the pieces they had ripped off back on and then apologize for what they had said. When the children had finished taping the paper man back together, it looked a mess (as one might expect). It wasn’t even recognizable.
The stranger left the class, leaving the Frankenstein’s monster of a paper man taped to the wall for the children to look at the rest of the day.
The 4th grade teacher, Mr Ryder, was very pleased with the lesson and expressed is pleasure to his young impressionable students before moving on to another lesson.
When does the madness end? A 9 year old boy was suspended for using his imagination. Elementary school students recently had their pants pulled down in school to check for poop. A preschooler was shackled, handcuffed and hauled to the police station for throwing a tantrum. Students were suspended for a Facebook post.
My all time favorite, A teacher forced students to read a graphic sexual poem that was the equivalent of written porn out-loud in the classroom.
Every day a new story appears about some school that has severely crossed the line.
When will these schools learn? They will learn when we start showing up at school board meetings en masse demanding resignations. They will learn when thousands of Americans contact the schools and district offices demanding resignations.
Principal Christi Michaud needs to be fired. As I have said before, NOT for this incident, but for the ineptness that allowed this to happen in the first place.
She needs to find a non child related job because she is lacking that little “Common Sense” switch in her head that not only says, this is out of line, but that it will emotionally effect a student and adversely affect the school and the district. I publicly call for her resignation. I ask that you do as well!
This situation has caused grief among families, in the classroom, in the school, in the district, and in the community.
Here is some contact information for the school and district. Make you opinion known!
School: 603-624-6332 cmichaud@mansd.org
District:
Chairman of the School Board
Mayor Ted Gatsas (603) 624-6500 (603) 668-1233 mayor@manchesternh.gov
Board Members contacts can be found here.
Dr. Debra Livingston
Superintendent
superintendent@mansd.org
Karen Burkush
Assistant Superintendent
Office of Student Services
kburkush@mansd.org
David Ryan
Assistant Superintendent
Curriculum & Instruction
dryan@mansd.org
Contact District staff at (603) 624-6300
Manchester School District Social Media:
Twitter: @mansd_nh
Facebook: ManchesterSchoolDistrict
The latest according to Kyle Olson at EAGnews:
Superintendent Debra Livingston of the Manchester school district sent EAGnews this statement:
We are investigating the parents concerns. The investigation is not yet complete. When it is, we will meet with the parent first.
We will just have to see the outcome!
