It’s not often that I read a story so disgusting to me that I simply cannot write a a calm and thoughtful article. I came across just such a story on foxnews.com, reported by Josh Rosenthal of KLRT Foxnews 16 of Little Rock, Arkansas involving the yearbook of a local Middle School. When I read the story I could feel my blood pressure rising and decided I’d defer to Josh Rosenthal‘s short and to-the-point story:
Open up the Russellville Middle School yearbook. You’ll see the students’ pictures, the administration, and a pretty controversial list that’s supposed to be covered with a piece of black tape.
"My problem is the tape can be removed easily," said School Board Member Chris Cloud. Cloud has two kids in the Russellville School District and one brought home the yearbook.
"I’m furious as a parent and as a board member and as a tax payer and as a resident of Russellville," he said. "It’s wrong."
The list is titled "Top 5 worst people of all time." The top three, in order, are Adolph Hitler, Osama Bin Laden, and Charles Manson. Numbers four and five are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
Superintendent Randall Williams calls the list "an oversight." Parents caught it after the yearbooks were printed. The district’s solution was to cover the list with tape. It didn’t work.
"Really?" said Williams when told the tape could be pulled off. "Well that’s disappointing because the yearbook supplier told us this was a definite fix."
When asked if the yearbook sponsor, a paid teacher, thought that it was appropriate to include the list in the yearbook, Williams said no.
"I think it’s just hard to explain, and I’ve talked to the sponsor and she is very very very upset about it. That she didn’t pay any attention to that particular part of that particular page," he said. "I think she maybe just scanned the whole page and went on."
Williams says the yearbook editing process is under review. He won’t comment on what’s happening with the yearbook sponsor, saying he can’t talk about disciplinary issues.
I don’t like to suggest the dismissal of anyone, so I’ll wait to see if there’s an honest and open “review.” There can be no dispute that he yearbook sponsor was either negligent or intentionally inserted his or her own radical, hateful left-wing idiocy into a memento that will forever remain a part of the history of the students that attended that school. Regardless of the outcome of the review, this is not someone that should be paid to to serve as an educator and example to impressionable young students. I do not believe this list was formulated by a middle school student; I could be wrong, but I doubt it. Do middle school students even know who Charles Manson is?
Hate Bush’s policies if you so choose. Disrespect Chaney’s views. Dislike them for no reason whatsoever. Keep your political beliefs the hell out of the publically funded education system. Placing any public servant, no matter your opinion of the individual, on a list with the likes of a man who murdered millions, the most notorious terrorist in history and a megalomaniac leader of a murderous cult, demonstrates a deranged mind that has no business being involved with the education of our future. Sad. Just plain sad.
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