Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Student reportedly suspended after saying 'Bless you'
By Michael Clark @ WSMV.com
DYER COUNTY, TN - (WMC) – A young girl, who claims she was standing up for her religious beliefs in the classroom, was suspended after breaking a class rule of saying "bless you" after a classmate sneezed. When Dyer County High School senior Kendra Turner said bless you to her classmate, she says her teacher told her that was for church.
"She said that we're not going to have godly speaking in her class and that's when I said we have a constitutional right," said Turner.
Turner says when she defended her actions, she was told to see an administrator. She says she finished the class period in in-school suspension.
Students sent WMC Action News 5's Michael Clark a photo of the teacher's white board that lists 'bless you' and other expressions that are banned as part of class rules.
It sparked discussion with Turner's youth pastor Becky Winegardner last week at church.
"There were several students that were talking about this particular faculty member there that was very demeaning to them in regard to their faith," Pastor Becky Winegardner said.
Turner's parents say the school leaders claim the outburst was a classroom distraction and that she shouted "bless you" across the room.
"This was something that had come up previously in the last few weeks just since the beginning of school and I shared with all of those students what their rights were," added Winegardner.
Turner's family met with school leaders Tuesday. They say the teacher claimed Turner was being disruptive and aggressive. Some classmates showed support Tuesday by wearing hand made bless you shirts.
Turner said she doesn't want trouble for her teacher but says she'll stand up for her faith.
"It's alright to defend God and it's our constitutional right because we have a freedom of religion and freedom of speech," said Turner.
WMC's contacted the Dyer County Schools superintendent to get the district's side of the story, but he has not yet heard back at this time.
Link:
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Starbucks Serves Satanic Coffee to Catholic Schoolteacher
The '666' symbol and the inverted pentagram are often associated with the Antichrist
By Maria Tadeo
(The Independent) Starbucks has apologised for serving a Louisiana Catholic teacher two drinks drizzled with '666' and a Satanic symbol.
Schoolteacher Megan K. Pinion used social media to vent her anger, posting a photograph of the "Satanic" drinks accompanied by a long post explaining the situation on Starbucks' Facebook page.
"This is how my coffee was served to me. I unfortunately can’t give the young man’s name who served it because I was so appalled that I could not bring myself to look at him,” she wrote.
"The star is almost okay because it is in your Starbucks logo, the 666, however was quite offensive. I am in no way judging his beliefs or dis-meriting his beautiful artwork, I am however judging his lack of professionalism and respect for others."
She added: "I am a teacher in the public school system and if I were to present a child of atheist of pagan believers with a Christian art project I could be sued in a heartbeat.
"I am of Catholic faith and would love to share my beliefs daily. Fortunately I have enough common sense to present myself with professionalism and follow and ethics code. Perhaps that could be suggested to that particular location."
The number '666' is often associated with the Antichrist and is used to invoke the devil in Satanic rituals. The inverted five-point star- sometimes known as the 'Seal of Satan' - is also used by devil-worshipers.
The fear of the '666' is known as Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia and causes people to become nervous and agitated. Famously, President Ronald Reagan changed the address of his Bel Air mansion on 666 St. Cloud Road to 668 St Cloud to avoid 'the mark of the Beast'.
A spokesperson for Starbucks said the coffee giant apologised to Ms Pinion after seeing her post on Facebook and is investigating the issue.
The Starbucks barista who served the 'Satanic' drinks has not been identified.
Link:
Related:Friday, September 14, 2012
Thompson Valley High School student's rosary beads taken away
Manuel Vigil has had two sets confiscated in three weeks by the school, which says they're gang-related
By Jessica Maher
(Loveland Reporter-Herald) In an attempt to keep gang activity out of the school, Thompson
Valley High School officials say they take any number of measures,
including barring rosary beads when their use is deemed inappropriate.
And in the three weeks since school has been in session, Thompson Valley High junior Manuel Vigil has had two sets of rosary beads he wore around his neck confiscated.
Vigil, who is Catholic, has worn the rosary beads around his neck all summer. His mother, Antoinette Ramirez, said they've become especially important in helping him deal with the recent murder of an uncle in California.
"Having the rosary taken away was kind of like a huge hit for him," she said. "He wears it as a form of protection for himself."
But officials say that rosary beads themselves are not prohibited.
"It wasn't consistent with what would normally be a rosary, and because of that we felt like it could be gang-related," principal Mark Johnson said. "There was no punishment; we just removed it."
According to the Thompson School District dress code, unacceptable items include any clothing, grooming, jewelry, accessories or body adornments that "by virtue of color, arrangement, trademark, or other attribute denote membership in gangs which advocate drug use, violence, or disruptive behavior."
The school enforces its policy based on information from the Loveland Police Department.
"We meet with the gang unit on a regular basis, and they do tell us what to look for," Johnson said. "We want to make sure we keep on top of what is the latest gang stuff."
The latest in gang trends, and what the school may choose to ban, varies from year to year. At Thompson Valley High, bandanas and clothing with gang names or symbols are never allowed. At times, certain colors are prohibited if it appears a student is wearing a color to signal gang affiliation.
"It depends on what's going on in the world," Johnson said. "You have to pay attention to colors and what they're doing."
In Greeley-Evans School District 6, some numbers are banned based on street number gangs, which caused a recent firestorm when a third-grader had a Denver Broncos No. 18 Peyton Manning jersey barred.
Across the country, rosary beads around the neck have been barred in schools because some gangs, including the Sureños and the Latin Kings, wear them that way. If a student wears a rosary around his neck at Thompson Valley High, Johnson said it's the school's policy to ask the student why he's wearing it.
It's often a case-by-case situation, said Johnson, who said Vigil's response was simply that he had the right to wear the rosary beads.
"If we determine that something is gang-related, then we have the right to say they can't wear it, so some of that is subjective," he said.
While the purpose of the rosary is to aid in prayer and not as a means of fashion, the Rev. Sam Morehead of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Loveland said the church allows wearing rosary beads as a necklace. Particularly in Hispanic culture, Morehead said wearing a rosary around the neck has become an important part of Catholic identity in the past 20 or 30 years.
"It's actually quite distressing for me personally to hear that something that represents one's Catholic faith is being seemingly persecuted in the school setting when it is certainly not a symbol of gang membership," he said.
According to Loveland Police Sgt. David Murphy, who leads the school resource officers in the Thompson School District, Vigil's rosary had a red-flagging 13 beads in a row instead of a traditional rosary with 10 beads. The number 13 is sometimes associated with the Sureños gang, Murphy said.
According to Ramirez, her son purchased the rosaries at teen retailer rue21 and had not noticed the number of beads.
"For him, he feels safe when he has it on," she said.
While a rosary with 13 beads in a row might be considered suspicious, Morehead said he would be hesitant to rush to any conclusions.
"For all the lack of knowledge that there is and perhaps any naivete, there is still a lot of good will for people who want to have this symbol of faith," he said.
Jessica Maher can be reached at 669-5050 ext. 516 or maherj@reporter-herald.com. Follow her on Twitter: @JessicaMaherRH.
Link:
By Jessica Maher
And in the three weeks since school has been in session, Thompson Valley High junior Manuel Vigil has had two sets of rosary beads he wore around his neck confiscated.
Vigil, who is Catholic, has worn the rosary beads around his neck all summer. His mother, Antoinette Ramirez, said they've become especially important in helping him deal with the recent murder of an uncle in California.
"Having the rosary taken away was kind of like a huge hit for him," she said. "He wears it as a form of protection for himself."
But officials say that rosary beads themselves are not prohibited.
"It wasn't consistent with what would normally be a rosary, and because of that we felt like it could be gang-related," principal Mark Johnson said. "There was no punishment; we just removed it."
According to the Thompson School District dress code, unacceptable items include any clothing, grooming, jewelry, accessories or body adornments that "by virtue of color, arrangement, trademark, or other attribute denote membership in gangs which advocate drug use, violence, or disruptive behavior."
The school enforces its policy based on information from the Loveland Police Department.
"We meet with the gang unit on a regular basis, and they do tell us what to look for," Johnson said. "We want to make sure we keep on top of what is the latest gang stuff."
The latest in gang trends, and what the school may choose to ban, varies from year to year. At Thompson Valley High, bandanas and clothing with gang names or symbols are never allowed. At times, certain colors are prohibited if it appears a student is wearing a color to signal gang affiliation.
"It depends on what's going on in the world," Johnson said. "You have to pay attention to colors and what they're doing."
In Greeley-Evans School District 6, some numbers are banned based on street number gangs, which caused a recent firestorm when a third-grader had a Denver Broncos No. 18 Peyton Manning jersey barred.
Across the country, rosary beads around the neck have been barred in schools because some gangs, including the Sureños and the Latin Kings, wear them that way. If a student wears a rosary around his neck at Thompson Valley High, Johnson said it's the school's policy to ask the student why he's wearing it.
It's often a case-by-case situation, said Johnson, who said Vigil's response was simply that he had the right to wear the rosary beads.
"If we determine that something is gang-related, then we have the right to say they can't wear it, so some of that is subjective," he said.
While the purpose of the rosary is to aid in prayer and not as a means of fashion, the Rev. Sam Morehead of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Loveland said the church allows wearing rosary beads as a necklace. Particularly in Hispanic culture, Morehead said wearing a rosary around the neck has become an important part of Catholic identity in the past 20 or 30 years.
"It's actually quite distressing for me personally to hear that something that represents one's Catholic faith is being seemingly persecuted in the school setting when it is certainly not a symbol of gang membership," he said.
According to Loveland Police Sgt. David Murphy, who leads the school resource officers in the Thompson School District, Vigil's rosary had a red-flagging 13 beads in a row instead of a traditional rosary with 10 beads. The number 13 is sometimes associated with the Sureños gang, Murphy said.
According to Ramirez, her son purchased the rosaries at teen retailer rue21 and had not noticed the number of beads.
"For him, he feels safe when he has it on," she said.
While a rosary with 13 beads in a row might be considered suspicious, Morehead said he would be hesitant to rush to any conclusions.
"For all the lack of knowledge that there is and perhaps any naivete, there is still a lot of good will for people who want to have this symbol of faith," he said.
Jessica Maher can be reached at 669-5050 ext. 516 or maherj@reporter-herald.com. Follow her on Twitter: @JessicaMaherRH.
Link:
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Socialism
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class.
That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK,
we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan".
All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.
The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.
As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
Could not be any simpler than that.
[received via email]
That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK,
we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan".
All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.
The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.
As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
Could not be any simpler than that.
[received via email]
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Homeschoolers' Setback Sends Shock Waves Through State
Friday, March 7, 2008
(03-07) 04:00 PST LOS ANGELES
A California appeals court ruling clamping down on homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution.
The homeschooling movement never saw the case coming.
"At first, there was a sense of, 'No way,' " said homeschool parent Loren Mavromati, a resident of Redondo Beach (Los Angeles County) who is active with a homeschool association. "Then there was a little bit of fear. I think it has moved now into indignation."
The ruling arose from a child welfare dispute between the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and Philip and Mary Long of Lynwood, who have been homeschooling their eight children. Mary Long is their teacher, but holds no teaching credential.
The parents said they also enrolled their children in Sunland Christian School, a private religious academy in Sylmar (Los Angeles County), which considers the Long children part of its independent study program and visits the home about four times a year.
The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that California law requires parents to send their children to full-time public or private schools or have them taught by credentialed tutors at home...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)