What happened at Hoover MS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can we put the issue in context? A middle school boy (age 12/13) put a symbol that offends people on a sticky note and posted it in the bathroom and on a door. Poor judgment by the kid? Sure. A hate crime? I think not.

This is the same school that treated a toy gun on the same level as a real weapon. I think the principal has a tendency to overreact as well as some parents.

Yes, but that sort of poor judgment needs to be nipped in the bud. I am not Jewish and it offends me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can we put the issue in context? A middle school boy (age 12/13) put a symbol that offends people on a sticky note and posted it in the bathroom and on a door. Poor judgment by the kid? Sure. A hate crime? I think not.

This is the same school that treated a toy gun on the same level as a real weapon. I think the principal has a tendency to overreact as well as some parents.

Yes, but that sort of poor judgment needs to be nipped in the bud. I am not Jewish and it offends me.

I agree. Kids should be taught to think ahead of the consequences of their actions and to exercise better judgment. I'm not sure labeling the student as a criminal and the principal's letter to the school community sent that message.

[Anonymous]

FYI, the principal letter did not mention "hate crime", it uses "messages of hate".

Also, MC Police was not involved in this investigation, but school staff/security.

Agree, it was a over statement to call "hate crime".

A crime has to be prosecuted.

[Anonymous]

My son attends Hoover and I discussed the Principal's letter with him this afternoon. He did not see the notes being posted but he knows the kids involved. It was a group of boys that dared one boy to post the sticky notes. Some members of this group are Jewish so it seems like a lesson in stupidity instead of an attempt to spread messages of hate.

The timing of the notes happened to be the week that a Holocaust survivor is scheduled to speak at the school. The boys were not in school today but I hope the school sees the important value of having them hear and possibly talk with the survivor. Have this be an important learning lesson vs. a campaign to punish a group of ignorant kids. I'm not sure this group of boys understood the emotional offense swastikas carry. That is why continually teaching the next generation about the Holocaust is so important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son attends Hoover and I discussed the Principal's letter with him this afternoon. He did not see the notes being posted but he knows the kids involved. It was a group of boys that dared one boy to post the sticky notes. Some members of this group are Jewish so it seems like a lesson in stupidity instead of an attempt to spread messages of hate.

The timing of the notes happened to be the week that a Holocaust survivor is scheduled to speak at the school. The boys were not in school today but I hope the school sees the important value of having them hear and possibly talk with the survivor. Have this be an important learning lesson vs. a campaign to punish a group of ignorant kids. I'm not sure this group of boys understood the emotional offense swastikas carry. That is why continually teaching the next generation about the Holocaust is so important.

+1 Hoover parent as well. Very well put.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son attends Hoover and I discussed the Principal's letter with him this afternoon. He did not see the notes being posted but he knows the kids involved. It was a group of boys that dared one boy to post the sticky notes. Some members of this group are Jewish so it seems like a lesson in stupidity instead of an attempt to spread messages of hate.

The timing of the notes happened to be the week that a Holocaust survivor is scheduled to speak at the school. The boys were not in school today but I hope the school sees the important value of having them hear and possibly talk with the survivor. Have this be an important learning lesson vs. a campaign to punish a group of ignorant kids. I'm not sure this group of boys understood the emotional offense swastikas carry. That is why continually teaching the next generation about the Holocaust is so important.

If your son knows something, please have him speak to an administrator as one student is shouldering the blame and was potentially facing expulsion.

[Anonymous]

Get a load of this. Kids were throwing food at each other in the cafeteria and saying "allah akbar." This is considered a "message of intolerance" and the kids are facing serious consequences. A food fight while saying "god is great" is a message of intolerance? Every time I get a "Serious Incident" report from this school, it's more and more ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get a load of this. Kids were throwing food at each other in the cafeteria and saying "allah akbar." This is considered a "message of intolerance" and the kids are facing serious consequences. A food fight while saying "god is great" is a message of intolerance? Every time I get a "Serious Incident" report from this school, it's more and more ridiculous.

My thoughts exactly. Kids will do stupid things and they do not always equate their actions with consequences. Sure the kids should be punished but did a food fight signal a need to send an email out to the entire school? If "Allah Akbar" wasn't said, would the note still have been sent?

I think probably the school psychologist should be brought in to educate the school team on childhood behavior and how to equip the school with a means of positive reinforcement vs. punishment and threats. There seems to be a lack of discussion of tolerance and acceptance till suspensions are handed out and the offenders are offered up as role models of what not to do. It makes me wonder what type of experience does the staff have with this age group and gender (considering all serious incidences thus far have involved boys). There has to be better ways of achieving the behavior you expect from children at school.

If those boys were my kids, I would start by asking why they said what they said as well as talk with the kids that they were aiming the food at. Knowing a popular video game uses that terminology, I can see a kid saying something that is a reflection of what he has been exposed to and not intended as a message of intolerance. I would be concerned however if another child or group of children were being bullied, however, interviewing kids in the cafeteria and throughout the grade could bring out why the food fight occurred to begin with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Glad you all think this is a big joke. The fact that a 7th grade student thought that putting a swastika in a bathroom and on a door is disturbing and not something to be made fun of.


As someone whose father's side of the family was completely wiped out by the Nazi's and who lives in Potomac I am quite disturbed and rattled by this.

That's what they want- fear. You're letting them win. Odds are it was someone pathetic wanting attention. We shouldn't be feeding these trolls.

[Anonymous]

Religion = intolerance of anyone not like you. Keep your religions out of public schools.

[Anonymous]

This whole Nazi theme is getting completely out of hand among kids these days. One kid at my son's tennis class called another a Nazi based on the kid's very light skin and hair. Seriously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This whole Nazi theme is getting completely out of hand among kids these days. One kid at my son's tennis class called another a Nazi based on the kid's very light skin and hair. Seriously?

well, it's not just these days. When I was growing up I was called a Nazi all the time, just because my mom was German. That was in elementary school and my response was to read every book in the library about the Holocaust. It was quite distressing.

I wish people focused less these days on the Nazis specifically and more on the general lesson of what happens if intolerance and prejudice are taken to extremes. (and look also at examples like Rwanda and Cambodia.) It's important for people to realize that genocide can happen anywhere and to think about how we can prevent it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole Nazi theme is getting completely out of hand among kids these days. One kid at my son's tennis class called another a Nazi based on the kid's very light skin and hair. Seriously?

well, it's not just these days. When I was growing up I was called a Nazi all the time, just because my mom was German. That was in elementary school and my response was to read every book in the library about the Holocaust. It was quite distressing.

I wish people focused less these days on the Nazis specifically and more on the general lesson of what happens if intolerance and prejudice are taken to extremes. (and look also at examples like Rwanda and Cambodia.) It's important for people to realize that genocide can happen anywhere and to think about how we can prevent it.

+1. And every school should organize trips to Native American reservations, to provide another quite relevant exmple

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This whole Nazi theme is getting completely out of hand among kids these days. One kid at my son's tennis class called another a Nazi based on the kid's very light skin and hair. Seriously?

I blame it on Seinfelds Soup Nazi episode.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:are they sure it wasn't Buddhist symbols

Get real.