Bad school memory- from light to heavy

Lafalum84
Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:45:58 +0000

In high school we had a creepy band director with greasy hair who was always making inappropriate comments. I remember telling my mom about it, and she said, “Oh, he’s just trying to fit in.” Well, the next summer he was arrested for exposing himself at a nearby mall. We said to the parents, “We TOLD you he was creepy!” Nowadays, I think kids complaints about stuff like that are taken a lot more seriously.

Also, my kids’ school had a 5th grade teacher who was just awful, and everyone knew it. On the “open house” day the night before school opens, the kids could come in to see their classrooms. All of the rooms were decorated, with books & supplies piled neatly on each child’s desk - except evil teacher’s room, whose walls were bare. Books, etc were still in boxes next to her desk. If she had set foot in the room, it wasn’t apparent. She was known for yelling and berating kids, and for boring lessons that did not prepare kids for middle school. My friend’s daughter, who had always loved school, began having stomach aches every Sunday night and begging to stay home sick when she had her for a teacher. For years, we were told that nothing could be done because she was on the union negotiating team. The year we re-districted, all the new kids in our school’s 5th grade were put into her room, because the parents wouldn’t know to complain and try to transfer their kid until it was “too late.” Finally, we got a new principal. One day a parent was in the room and heard the teacher call one kid a an effing a-hole. The principal got the teacher suspended and swore that she would never be in that classroom again. After the monthlong suspension, the school board said the teacher had to be returned to the classroom. The principal said, “You will have to fire me first. I promised those kids and parents that she would not be in that classroom and I will not break that promise.” The school ended up buying her off.

And a coaching story - recently our school’s girls cross-country coach was unhappy with the results of a meet. He yelled at the girls until they cried, then told them they couldn’t ride the bus back to our high school, instead they’d have to run home (6 miles on a fairly busy road, parts of which have no sidewalk). The girls took off running, and he sent the bus a mile or so down the road to wait for them and pick them up. Parents were ballistic, and the principal was livid. But the next day, there were parents and runners saying the story was overblown, and they didn’t want the coach fired. I think he was suspended for a week, and told he can’t come back the next year. But I’m not sure.