Greely Middle School Principal: "La la la! I can't hear you!"

[giza]

Earlier today, Jayne Hitchcock (netcrimes) was scheduled to give several talks to both students and parents at Greely Middle School in Cumberland, Maine. She talks about cyber bullying, privacy online, and that sort of thing. One of the things she did before this talk was do some searching online and pulled up Myspace pages and the like of several students, to show how easy it is to find this stuff, and how anyone can view it. As expected, the students were shocked that Jayne found this, which was the intent of the presentation. :-)

Well, one of the things that Jayne pulled up was an online "hate group" directed at one of the teachers. This caused quite a bit of a stir among both the students and the teachers. Not surprisingly, the group is now "private".

So, after giving one of the talks, Jayne gets called into the Principal's office. No, really. The conversation went something like this (and yes, I'm taking some artistic license):

Kim Brandt: "I'm cancelling the rest of your talks."

Jayne: "What?"

Kim Brandt: "That poor teacher is devastated that some of his students actually don't like him! And I'm afraid that parents are going to come after you with pitchforks!"

Jayne: "I can take care of myself. BTW, did you know about this group?"

Kim Brandt: "No."

Jayne: "Well, you need to know about this group, before it gets any worse."

Kim Brandt: "LA LA LA! I can't hear you!"

Jayne: "Do you still want me to give my talk to the parents tonight?"

Kim Brandt: "Get out!"

Jayne's full account can be read over here.

The end result is that we have a middle school principal who won't even admit that her school has a problem. I cannot help but wonder if it is head-in-the-sand attitudes like this that lends itself to school violence.

Comments

[netcrimes.livejournal.com]

I had to post a new message under friends only, but I had an interesting phone call with someone from the school. I am totally pissed off now.

[gizmo-nine.livejournal.com]

Have you considered going to the media about this? I can think of a few news stations in the area who might be interested in such a story.

[netcrimes.livejournal.com]

I have. I'm waiting to see what else may happen first. I don't want to jump the gun. . .just yet. I'll keep everyone posted.

[omnibahumut.livejournal.com]

Immaturity at its finest

[kellic.livejournal.com]

The immature teaching the immature. Joy.

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

As I post to Jayne, this is what Diana calls a "Baseball Bat" moment.

Someone walks up to you, hands you a baseball bat, then insists that you hit them with it. And when you do, they look at you with SHOCK! How DARE you hit me with a baseball bat!?!

I want SFS' school to have her come in and give this talk!

[netcrimes.livejournal.com]

I'd love to! Email me at netcrimes@netcrimes.net

[giza.livejournal.com]

You try and get home to come to your school, I'll try and get her to come to Anthrocon!

[netcrimes.livejournal.com]

DId you just call me a homey? LOL

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

Why I think he did!

Or he just can't type.

I know I have Harry Potter on the brain, but I'm suddenly reminded of the whole HP & The Order of the Phoenix thing, with Umbridge plot.. turning a blind eye to the return of evil to the point of beating the students when they point it out.

[netcrimes.livejournal.com]

You are correct, sir! (on both counts, LOL)

[gizmo-nine.livejournal.com]

I don’t think the sand is what she has her head shoved into.

That school isn’t far from where I live.. in fact its on the way to a friend’s house.
The reaction doesn’t surprise me though. From my own personal experiences, it seems principals are always idiotic.
I could give you a great story about what my on high school principal did during a "gunman on campus" drill... but I’m not sure if I’m permitted to talk about it.

[netcrimes.livejournal.com]

Email it to me privately if you want - netcrimes@netcrimes.net

I didn't know you lived in my neck of the woods. I'm in York.