Teacher showed morbid lack of judgement about Colorado shootings

Teacher

showed morbid lack of judgement about Colorado shootings

As parents in a

community not unlike that of Littleton, Colo., we have

reeled in the wake of yet another violent tragedy in our

schools. As parents, we were faced yet again with the

grim task of explaining to our own children how sometimes

horrible things happen, even in school where most

students and parents would presume to feel safe.

In light of Colorado's

terrible tragedy, we were shocked to hear of a role

playing activity which occurred at Sandy Creek High

School in a Spanish class on Wednesday, April 21, the day

after Littleton. According to students, in order to

demonstrate past tense, the teacher instructed two

students to don hats and masks, carry toy guns, enter the

classroom and pretend to gun down classmates, in Spanish,

of course.

If this had been a normal

week and the violence in Colorado had not taken place, we

would be no less appalled. However, in light of this

tragedy, the morbidity, insensitivity and overall lack of

respect for human life demonstrated in this activity

shakes us to the core of our beings.

When students balked at the

activity and some even indicated that they intended to

speak with their parents about it that night, they were

countered with the glib response that this was in the

lesson plans for that day and had already been approved,

just as it had been done in the past and no reason was

seen to cancel it. We'll give you a few minutes to take

this in and pick yourself up off the floor.

You will no doubt ask

yourself, as we did, what kind of teacher would put this

activity in a lesson plan in the first place? Then, even

more alarming, what kind of teacher, department head, or

administrator would approve such an unbelievable idea?

Suppose another student had decided to carry a weapon

that day and shot back? (Not unthinkable, as an eighth

grader at Flat Rock, across the road, brought a gun to

school just a few weeks ago.)

Understandably in the

aftermath of an event such as the one which transpired in

Colorado this past week, fingers are pointed at parents,

schools, media and our society in general. Surely we are

all partially responsible for failing today's youth. When

a clear determination can be made in any of the above

mentioned groups of impropriety or malpractice, there

should exist swift and resounding consequences.

We think an even better

"real life" demonstration of past tense would

be to terminate this teacher's employment and issue a

statement in Spanish that "Ms. So and So used to

teach at Sandy Creek High School." Fayette County

teachers should know and parents should be assured that

an instructor with this type of mind set will not be

tolerated in our schools. Using scare tactics is not an

acceptable teaching method for any reason.

We have a zero tolerance

policy for students, which to our understanding includes

toy weapons. Consequences are made clear and we strongly

support this policy. Would not the same standards apply

to teachers?

Barry and Deborah

Angevine

Fayetteville @

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