Yes, it really happened 12 years ago. http://www.gazette.net/stories/010507/montcou171330_31991.shtml Fortunately, principal Benz retired last year (at age 78!). Our DS has recently been complaining about being the only black student in his intermediate to advanced classes, and about the difficulty making friends with the many Asian students in his classes. But he says that he has not experienced any overt racism. Well Churchill Asians don't like to hang out with anyone else, especially the rich entitled white people who tend to get the same GPA's as them due to bloated county-based grading system. Don't take it personally. |
| This is stupid stuff teenage boys do. Who cares |
| Churchill would benefit if it were rezoned to include a more diverse population. Perhaps, it could be a test case for the BOE's new zoning rules. |
+1 |
Which areas can be included? Not too many pockets nearby with low income. |
+1. Many people seem to care -- the moderator is deleting many comments that agree with you. Dcum is BS |
There are lots of groups that have to face an unwelcoming environment on a daily basis at Churchill. Churchill has a large Special Education population because of its Bridge program. How inclusive is the school when it comes to meeting the needs of Special Education students in the least restricted environment? How often are children targeted based on the nature of their disability not only by the bullying by students but also via ignorance and insensitive comments by staff. How welcomed do these students feel in their school? My children have experienced discrimination and bullying that made them at times to not want to go to school. Problems started at Hoover then quickly escalated at Churchill. The cyber bullying which included a death threat was evidence we brought to the principal. No apologies were given and no plans were made to support change so other students wouldn't experience the same treatment. |
It's close enough to Rockville/Kennedy that they could figure something out. |
Look on a map. Not close to Rockville HS or Kennedy HS but close to Richard Montgomery HS which is overcapacity. There's RM areas that could be shifted to Churchill for greater diversity. |
+1000 Sexual harassment was reported but not fixed within the school, much like how the problem was reported and ignored at Blair HS. If you have a daughter at Churchill, you should really have a heart to heart regarding the language and treatment she has experienced especially by creepy men who have no business working with children. Its sad that MCPS teaches girls to accept sexual harassment so they are not denied educational opportunities. Its sad that girls are taught by the adults that their appearance matters more for success than their abilities and effort. It sad that administrators treat students who come forward to report such acts as unwanted in the school. Of course, its sad that such students are threatened with retaliation to the point many (but not all) have stayed silent. |
Kidding aside it would probably benefit the kids in these environments to gain greater empathy for others. |
| When you make saying a word a crime you have to expect some people to see that as ridiculous. Also drawing a picture. Then it becomes national news? Some teens drew a picture? |
| My DD goes to Churchill and says that she has never heard anyone say the word at school and that this whole thing was between a group of friends. Instead of calling the police (blown way out of proportion) this should have been a big moment for education. My older child (in college) says that most kids these days have no context for why these types of words are so hurtful to people. They see people on the Internet in videos etc. saying these words and that sets the standard for them. What the school should do is have several seminars that all students are required to attend (maybe at lunch) so that they can be EDUCATED about why these words should not be used. Do I think the kids should receive some type of punishment for the cards they were handing out, yes. Did the police need to be called, no. Did they need to get suspended for five days? I don't think so. That's not going to fix this. |
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My AA dd says she hears it sometimes from white kids (often from black kids). I agree that the remedy is education. We have an entire generation of kids who don't really understand the hatred and bigotry that the word denotes. All schools ought to find a way to make kids see history in a tangible enough way to understand this.
I don't really understand what the role of the police was in this. I heard that police actually went to kids' houses-- but I'm not understanding what the crime is. Surely, using the word is against school policy. But it's not an actual crime. |
| Whatever education is done at Churchill ought to also be done at Hoover. The same thing happened there, a week or two before it happened at Churchill. I believe more kids were suspended at Hoover, too. It seems like the principal acted swiftly on the punishment side, but nothing much happening on the education side. |