Meltdown at a Middle School

[Anonymous]

Did any of you see the article in the New Yorker about what sounds like an absolute cluster at Amherst’s middle school?

https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-education/the-meltdown-at-a-middle-school-in-a-liberal-town

What is remarkable about this article is that not a single adult in the entire piece comes off well. The environment sounds profoundly toxic, the kids sound harmed and with serious mental health challenges, and the education seems entirely inadequate. What is going on there? It sounds like a complete mess.

Curious what others thought.

[Anonymous]

It all sounded so stupid. If a fraction of this happened at my school I would move far away rather than deal with these batsh*t crazy people. No one in the story came off well.

[Anonymous]

Summary: Someone put bunch of DEI hires in admin/ made up DEI positions and pushed woke liberal racist agendas on teachers and students. It majorly backfired and the whole town is calling them out on it. Problem was everyone in charge was too arrogant to admit they’re pushing policies most don’t want and have fukced everything up from the top down. Now DEI folks are suing for racism when they get called out and fired, other people are being accused of shyt they probably didn’t do just to be pushed out, their names are being drug even after they leave, and people are withdrawing applications because it’s a shytshow and you’d be crazy to work there. Parents are still pissed off and don’t want to send their kids there, woke people are still running the show, it will probably get worse before it gets better. Stay away from Amherst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It all sounded so stupid. If a fraction of this happened at my school I would move far away rather than deal with these batsh*t crazy people. No one in the story came off well.

It comes across as an advertisement for Catholic school to be honest.

[Anonymous]

So restorative justice is great for keeping kids in school, but a problem when the victim is trans. When two liberal agendas collide, which group do the woke care about more?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So restorative justice is great for keeping kids in school, but a problem when the victim is trans. When two liberal agendas collide, which group do the woke care about more?

OP. I don’t get the sense they cared for any of the kids here. Or the adults, for that matter.

[Anonymous]

Hot mess. But this part:

“ “I’m not saying that some of these students don’t cause problems,” an arms staff member said, of the kids who were frequently disciplined at the school, “but they are the ones who face the most social ills in society. They’re the ones with a single mom working two jobs. They’re taking care of their younger siblings.” Herrington described a divide between families as, on one side, kids who live in spacious single-family homes, and, on the other, kids who live in apartment complexes, many of whom use Section 8 vouchers. “The kids from the apartments—they’re those kids, whether people will say it that way or not,” Herrington said.”

Reminds me of the story behind the young woman (now in her early-mid 20s) and her family who are suing FCPS over mishandling her sexual assault allegations that occurred when she was a student. A school administrator told her when she reported being r*ped by a boy that the boy had been through a lot and you shouldn’t ruin his life, or something like that. So we’re definitely still protecting some kids over others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hot mess. But this part:

“ “I’m not saying that some of these students don’t cause problems,” an arms staff member said, of the kids who were frequently disciplined at the school, “but they are the ones who face the most social ills in society. They’re the ones with a single mom working two jobs. They’re taking care of their younger siblings.” Herrington described a divide between families as, on one side, kids who live in spacious single-family homes, and, on the other, kids who live in apartment complexes, many of whom use Section 8 vouchers. “The kids from the apartments—they’re those kids, whether people will say it that way or not,” Herrington said.”

Reminds me of the story behind the young woman (now in her early-mid 20s) and her family who are suing FCPS over mishandling her sexual assault allegations that occurred when she was a student. A school administrator told her when she reported being r*ped by a boy that the boy had been through a lot and you shouldn’t ruin his life, or something like that. So we’re definitely still protecting some kids over others.

This Amherst situation was faaaaaaar from rape. It was a whiny trans kid and their parents being ridiculous and an incompetent (is there any other kind?) DEI administration responding stupidly. Clowns. All of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hot mess. But this part:

“ “I’m not saying that some of these students don’t cause problems,” an arms staff member said, of the kids who were frequently disciplined at the school, “but they are the ones who face the most social ills in society. They’re the ones with a single mom working two jobs. They’re taking care of their younger siblings.” Herrington described a divide between families as, on one side, kids who live in spacious single-family homes, and, on the other, kids who live in apartment complexes, many of whom use Section 8 vouchers. “The kids from the apartments—they’re those kids, whether people will say it that way or not,” Herrington said.”

Reminds me of the story behind the young woman (now in her early-mid 20s) and her family who are suing FCPS over mishandling her sexual assault allegations that occurred when she was a student. A school administrator told her when she reported being r*ped by a boy that the boy had been through a lot and you shouldn’t ruin his life, or something like that. So we’re definitely still protecting some kids over others.

This Amherst situation was faaaaaaar from rape. It was a whiny trans kid and their parents being ridiculous and an incompetent (is there any other kind?) DEI administration responding stupidly. Clowns. All of them.

I think the post was more about Cunningham making excuses for the Latino and Black children because she claims they live in public housing with no father. She’s doing them a huge disservice by making excuses for bad behavior. So many children live in poverty and they have a parent at home who does the work and makes sure the child has what she needs. If she excuses the handful of one who are trouble they will stay that way.

And the Jesus stuff should have had the counselors terminated immediately. Massachusetts has always been strict about separation between church and state. Let them claim it’s their color and not giving out candy crosses and talking about Jesus got them fired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So restorative justice is great for keeping kids in school, but a problem when the victim is trans. When two liberal agendas collide, which group do the woke care about more?

The new hires in the article are not “woke” as the stupid expression goes and they were not doing their jobs when there were claims of bullying trans kids. They should have working on both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hot mess. But this part:

“ “I’m not saying that some of these students don’t cause problems,” an arms staff member said, of the kids who were frequently disciplined at the school, “but they are the ones who face the most social ills in society. They’re the ones with a single mom working two jobs. They’re taking care of their younger siblings.” Herrington described a divide between families as, on one side, kids who live in spacious single-family homes, and, on the other, kids who live in apartment complexes, many of whom use Section 8 vouchers. “The kids from the apartments—they’re those kids, whether people will say it that way or not,” Herrington said.”

Reminds me of the story behind the young woman (now in her early-mid 20s) and her family who are suing FCPS over mishandling her sexual assault allegations that occurred when she was a student. A school administrator told her when she reported being r*ped by a boy that the boy had been through a lot and you shouldn’t ruin his life, or something like that. So we’re definitely still protecting some kids over others.

This Amherst situation was faaaaaaar from rape. It was a whiny trans kid and their parents being ridiculous and an incompetent (is there any other kind?) DEI administration responding stupidly. Clowns. All of them.

I think the post was more about Cunningham making excuses for the Latino and Black children because she claims they live in public housing with no father. She’s doing them a huge disservice by making excuses for bad behavior. So many children live in poverty and they have a parent at home who does the work and makes sure the child has what she needs. If she excuses the handful of one who are trouble they will stay that way.

And the Jesus stuff should have had the counselors terminated immediately. Massachusetts has always been strict about separation between church and state. Let them claim it’s their color and not giving out candy crosses and talking about Jesus got them fired.

The Jesus stuff was disputed and honestly I think could have been entirely fabricated. It sounds very fake and the sort of thing an attention-seeking child with mental health issues would invent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hot mess. But this part:

“ “I’m not saying that some of these students don’t cause problems,” an arms staff member said, of the kids who were frequently disciplined at the school, “but they are the ones who face the most social ills in society. They’re the ones with a single mom working two jobs. They’re taking care of their younger siblings.” Herrington described a divide between families as, on one side, kids who live in spacious single-family homes, and, on the other, kids who live in apartment complexes, many of whom use Section 8 vouchers. “The kids from the apartments—they’re those kids, whether people will say it that way or not,” Herrington said.”

Reminds me of the story behind the young woman (now in her early-mid 20s) and her family who are suing FCPS over mishandling her sexual assault allegations that occurred when she was a student. A school administrator told her when she reported being r*ped by a boy that the boy had been through a lot and you shouldn’t ruin his life, or something like that. So we’re definitely still protecting some kids over others.

This Amherst situation was faaaaaaar from rape. It was a whiny trans kid and their parents being ridiculous and an incompetent (is there any other kind?) DEI administration responding stupidly. Clowns. All of them.

I get what you’re saying and don’t 100% disagree. No one came off well in this article and no one was 100% “the victim.” Not the two trans/NB kids or their parents, not the kids accused of bullying them, not the counselors or staff. It sounds like a total clown show. But some people under diversity initiatives, have continual excuses made for their behavior. Imagine if the trans kid was being bullied by a conservative white boy whose parents were Trump supporters. Even if he said all the same things the kids in this article did because he was Catholic or evangelical and those were his beliefs. He wouldn’t be let off the hook, even though the counselors would have seemingly agreed with him.

It’s tough to thread the needle on the trans stuff because most arguments against it and most people who oppose it do so from a religious point of view. And public schools should be secular and not endorse any religious viewpoint. And minorities in the US are more likely to be religious and hold conservative views in that regard while generally being liberal in other views and mostly voting for Democrats. There’s secular/feminist arguments against trans too but for whatever reason we tend to disregard them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hot mess. But this part:

“ “I’m not saying that some of these students don’t cause problems,” an arms staff member said, of the kids who were frequently disciplined at the school, “but they are the ones who face the most social ills in society. They’re the ones with a single mom working two jobs. They’re taking care of their younger siblings.” Herrington described a divide between families as, on one side, kids who live in spacious single-family homes, and, on the other, kids who live in apartment complexes, many of whom use Section 8 vouchers. “The kids from the apartments—they’re those kids, whether people will say it that way or not,” Herrington said.”

Reminds me of the story behind the young woman (now in her early-mid 20s) and her family who are suing FCPS over mishandling her sexual assault allegations that occurred when she was a student. A school administrator told her when she reported being r*ped by a boy that the boy had been through a lot and you shouldn’t ruin his life, or something like that. So we’re definitely still protecting some kids over others.

This Amherst situation was faaaaaaar from rape. It was a whiny trans kid and their parents being ridiculous and an incompetent (is there any other kind?) DEI administration responding stupidly. Clowns. All of them.

I think the post was more about Cunningham making excuses for the Latino and Black children because she claims they live in public housing with no father. She’s doing them a huge disservice by making excuses for bad behavior. So many children live in poverty and they have a parent at home who does the work and makes sure the child has what she needs. If she excuses the handful of one who are trouble they will stay that way.

And the Jesus stuff should have had the counselors terminated immediately. Massachusetts has always been strict about separation between church and state. Let them claim it’s their color and not giving out candy crosses and talking about Jesus got them fired.

The Jesus stuff was disputed and honestly I think could have been entirely fabricated. It sounds very fake and the sort of thing an attention-seeking child with mental health issues would invent.

Also, separation of church and state is not the whole story here. Religious people have rights too, even in public schools. But yes it sounds made up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hot mess. But this part:

“ “I’m not saying that some of these students don’t cause problems,” an arms staff member said, of the kids who were frequently disciplined at the school, “but they are the ones who face the most social ills in society. They’re the ones with a single mom working two jobs. They’re taking care of their younger siblings.” Herrington described a divide between families as, on one side, kids who live in spacious single-family homes, and, on the other, kids who live in apartment complexes, many of whom use Section 8 vouchers. “The kids from the apartments—they’re those kids, whether people will say it that way or not,” Herrington said.”

Reminds me of the story behind the young woman (now in her early-mid 20s) and her family who are suing FCPS over mishandling her sexual assault allegations that occurred when she was a student. A school administrator told her when she reported being r*ped by a boy that the boy had been through a lot and you shouldn’t ruin his life, or something like that. So we’re definitely still protecting some kids over others.

This Amherst situation was faaaaaaar from rape. It was a whiny trans kid and their parents being ridiculous and an incompetent (is there any other kind?) DEI administration responding stupidly. Clowns. All of them.

I get what you’re saying and don’t 100% disagree. No one came off well in this article and no one was 100% “the victim.” Not the two trans/NB kids or their parents, not the kids accused of bullying them, not the counselors or staff. It sounds like a total clown show. But some people under diversity initiatives, have continual excuses made for their behavior. Imagine if the trans kid was being bullied by a conservative white boy whose parents were Trump supporters. Even if he said all the same things the kids in this article did because he was Catholic or evangelical and those were his beliefs. He wouldn’t be let off the hook, even though the counselors would have seemingly agreed with him.

It’s tough to thread the needle on the trans stuff because most arguments against it and most people who oppose it do so from a religious point of view. And public schools should be secular and not endorse any religious viewpoint. And minorities in the US are more likely to be religious and hold conservative views in that regard while generally being liberal in other views and mostly voting for Democrats. There’s secular/feminist arguments against trans too but for whatever reason we tend to disregard them.

The bolded is not remotely true.

[Anonymous]

Another title for this article is “ A cautionary tale for Arlington Co and APS”

You could easily replace Amherst with Arlington.