... Um. ExCUSE me?

[kyrielle]

A boy was punished for using the word "gay" and explaining that it meant "when a girl likes another girl" to one of his classmates...while discussing the fact that he has two mothers instead of a mother and a father. He was told it was a bad word, sent to a "behavioral clinic", and made to write repeatedly that he would not use the word in school again.

ACLU article.

Actually, they pretty much say it all. That's ridiculous. And wrong.

Comments

[juliann.livejournal.com]

Although what is scarier is that this school system apparently doesn't teach kids how to spell. At age 7 (usually second grade) he can't spell "said" and "words" :(

[kyrielle]

True. I don't think that's scarier, though: I don't know the kid's nature, and whether he is ahead or behind his classmates, whether he pays attention, etc. I don't know if he's the exception to that or not.

His spelling's definitely bad. But it may or may not be indicative of the school district. The other action, that it happened even once....

Here's the school's phone number...

[davedujour.livejournal.com]

(337) 856-1934, but they seem to have turned off their answering machine.
I think the teacher should go to some counseling herself.

About the spelling, that's pathetic for 2nd grade work. I know my daughter is way ahead of that, but even compared to the other kids work I've seen at her school, that's early first grade work or even some kindergarten work at all the schools Alynna has gone to. That's 4 now in both CA and MN, and her 1st grade class in CA was, overall, below average according to the teacher.

Oh, here's the school district's info:

[davedujour.livejournal.com]

Lafayette Parish School System
113 Chaplin Drive, Lafayette, LA 70508
P. O. Drawer 2158, Lafayette, LA 70502-2158
337-236-6800

Just a spelling note...

[tigerchild.livejournal.com]

While I agree that spelling can be indicative of poor teaching/education, the two most brilliant people I know can't spell to save their lives because of dyslexia. Ironically they're both in academia (mathematics and ethnomusicology), but make good use of the spellchecker in their word processor, email client, ect.

And both of them were constantly ridiculed and made to feel stupid because of their spelling until they barely got into college where they could use those tools.

Having never had much of a problem with spelling and most grammar, myself, I also assumed that anyone with horrendous spelling/grammar either was an idiot or had shitty teachers--but my friends have really opened my eyes in that regard.

Not saying that's the case here, but...I'd be real careful about making an assumption.

Re: Oh, here's the school district's info:

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Dave. I'll be using this information.

I am going to be calm and polite. But OH I want to hurt someone. GRRRR.

And here's another

[pheon.livejournal.com]

A University of Virginia Medical Center employee was censored for using the word 'nigger'. Sounds OK, right? Well, no. He said it in the following context:

I can't believe in this day and age that there's a sports team in our nation's capital named the Redskins. That is as derogatory to Indians as having a team called Niggers would be to blacks.

See this article

Re: Just a spelling note...

[leora.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've always had poor spelling, although not bad enough to be ridiculed. And I always figured, who cares - I can do a whole lot of other things.

I've worked with second graders, and a lot of them have very uneven skills. One might be lagging behind in English, especially as when you learn to read and write can really vary from child to child, and to a certain extent it's schooling, but some kids just aren't ready as soon and pushing them does little good. But some of those poor spellers are whizzes at math or can draw beautifully, etc. Over time the strengths still show, but the weaknesses shore up a bit (with non-special ed kids, with special ed it's different and depends on the disability). So, I agree, don't draw too many conclusions from one second grader's spelling.

And now the school superintendent says it didn't happen

[pheon.livejournal.com]

The school superintendent says that the punishment never happened. “An apology is not due,” Superintendent James Easton said Tuesday. “The child was not singled out because his parent is gay.” He said that the student's "...discipline was unrelated to any judgment by school officials regarding sexual orientation or practices, or the student's discussion of that particular topic." and he "...concluded that the discipline was related to ordinary student disturbances." However, he was unable to provide any documents supporting that latter staements. And the ACLU has scanned images of the documents sent home here and here

Unless those documents are forgeries, I suspect the superintendent is digging an even deeper hole for the district. [Thanks to The Volokh Conspiracy for the links.]

Re: And now the school superintendent says it didn't happen

[kyrielle]

Bleh. *noddles* I think they're digging a pretty good hole there, yep....