Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never realized how homophobic my kid's middle school was until this letter came out. I actually thought moving to Rockville was a liberal safe area. It seems most of the parents are supportive in person, but here on this board - a lot of hate. Maybe it is just the same conservative person?

I commented earlier. My child is gay, as are several other close family members. It is not clear from what was in the letter how serious this was and not is it clear it’s not an “in-joke” among kids who are gay themselves-I assure that type of thing happens. Of course it’s possible that it’s actually hate based and was an actual attempt to foment homophobic hate but that is not evident at all. Furthermore, the principal seems to be treating it as though they were actively recruiting to the club-if you want kids to sometimes think better of bad ideas and delete them you should distinguish in your response to actual events and aborted passing ideas.

you are troll and not from Wood - the LGBTQ community is horrified and scared for their kids. Not thinking "oh a gay person in the school did this." That is not this kid or their friends. So please stop

Oh please. These are middle-schoolers. They push boundaries and do dumb things. There’s no indication these kids did anything that actually harmed anyone else. There is no crime here. There’s stupidity, certainly, but nothing that rises to the level of criminal act.

Doing dumb things has consequences sometimes. Starting a homophobic club is one of them

See letter earlier:

Here are the facts, a teacher notified school administration about finding a presentation and google form titled, “Homophobic Club Hub” on a student’s Chromebook. Our investigation found that the student shared the documents with at least two additional students prior to deleting them. We found no evidence that any other students participated in generating the documents, and no evidence that a club was actually formed.

they are still investigating that at this time

Do they expend the same resources investigating violence ?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[b]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wood parent here. Mrs Slatcoff isn’t perfect but I would much rather she overreacted than to sweep it under the rug and try to hide the situation from the parents and students. And I assure you that the kids are talking about it and the message that this behavior is serious and will not be tolerated has come across loud and clear.

Having said that, there is still a lot of work to do at Wood on bullying issues, many of them racial in nature. I hope she comes down on those issues the way she has on this one. I think this incidence has shed a lot of light on many issues that entire community needs to openly address and I hope she is the one starting the conversation.

Problem here is the principal is sending the message that the actual crimes like fighting and underage smoking/vaping won’t be dealt with and kids know it, but thought crimes- oh dear no you can’t do that- send in the COPS NOW! Unleash the dogs. Teach those kids they can’t write a word and delete it without police involvement, but they can beat the crap out of each other on a regular basis or smoke daily in the bathroom but that’s ok.

Do you really not see that as a problem?

Who said they are beating the crap out of each other and smoking in the bathrooms? I said there was some bullying issues but it’s not like kids are getting into fistfights daily.

At Wood? Yes, there are a good number of fights.

What middle school do your kids attend?

There are fights at every school and knowing the MC police, they are not required to be called. It is for the school to decide. If you want the police notified for all fights, they would be at every middle school at least 2-3x a week. That is why they need an SRO at every middle school. But that isn't going to happen.

Memo down from administration is to call police on all hate crimes. Let the police decide. Otherwise principals sweep everything under the rug. She did her job and now the police will do theirs.

This right here. If the fight is a couple of attempted thrown fists, police aren't going to be called. Hate speech, hate drawings etc... immediately go to police. If she didn't contact the police and a parent found out and complained, central would have been all over here for not doing the right thing. I am shocked how many people think this is no big deal. that is scary. It's 2023, not 1973.

I’m shocked at how many people don’t understand that writing or drawing anything is not a crime unless it is a threat (and threats have a very specific and hard to prove definition). There may be grounds for school discipline but it is NOT a crime. How did we go from “never call the police, ACAB” to “report thought crimes to the police”?

Juveniles and adults have been arrested for drawings, so um yeah they can. :roll:

And on another thread I watched a video of a teenager choke a child on a school bus. The teenager was allowed back in the same school with the victim, despite the child having an order of protection in place. But no police involvement there, even though a child was clearly assaulted. But yet this incident is reported to the police. Utter insanity in our public schools.

Having a child that currently has a protective order against another child, I know for a fact they can not force the child out of school. Provisions are made during the school day for them to avoid each other or the victim can ask to move schools under a COSA. It's ridiculous but "every child has a right to a public education." is all we heard throughout the process. They can request the child move, but if the parents are uncooperative, 90% of the victim moves schools.

If there is video of the assault, the victim's family should have contacted the SRO and then the police themselves who would have started the case and investigation. That is what we had to do. I know first hand how little the school contact police for anything and even push back when the police are called and won't give out info to the victim's family or police without a case number. It is EXTREMELY frustrating as a victim. Ours was drawn out for months.

So that is why I am for the police being called for all clear cases of hate and assault. The problem is most of the time they are not. The principal was in the right here. The police can decide and drop the case when their investigation is done. But at least the principal did her due diligence. Most don't.

+1

Rather be safe than sorry. And guess what? Kids at that school will think twice before doing hateful things again, especially on their Chromebook. The kid won't be arrested, but at least it wasn't swept away and barely talked about.

Anonymous wrote:Never realized how homophobic my kid's middle school was until this letter came out. I actually thought moving to Rockville was a liberal safe area. It seems most of the parents are supportive in person, but here on this board - a lot of hate. Maybe it is just the same conservative person?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never realized how homophobic my kid's middle school was until this letter came out. I actually thought moving to Rockville was a liberal safe area. It seems most of the parents are supportive in person, but here on this board - a lot of hate. Maybe it is just the same conservative person?

I commented earlier. My child is gay, as are several other close family members. It is not clear from what was in the letter how serious this was and not is it clear it’s not an “in-joke” among kids who are gay themselves-I assure that type of thing happens. Of course it’s possible that it’s actually hate based and was an actual attempt to foment homophobic hate but that is not evident at all. Furthermore, the principal seems to be treating it as though they were actively recruiting to the club-if you want kids to sometimes think better of bad ideas and delete them you should distinguish in your response to actual events and aborted passing ideas.

you are troll and not from Wood - the LGBTQ community is horrified and scared for their kids. Not thinking "oh a gay person in the school did this." That is not this kid or their friends. So please stop

Oh please. These are middle-schoolers. They push boundaries and do dumb things. There’s no indication these kids did anything that actually harmed anyone else. There is no crime here. There’s stupidity, certainly, but nothing that rises to the level of criminal act.

Doing dumb things has consequences sometimes. Starting a homophobic club is one of them

See letter earlier:

Here are the facts, a teacher notified school administration about finding a presentation and google form titled, “Homophobic Club Hub” on a student’s Chromebook. Our investigation found that the student shared the documents with at least two additional students prior to deleting them. We found no evidence that any other students participated in generating the documents, and no evidence that a club was actually formed.

they are still investigating that at this time

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never realized how homophobic my kid's middle school was until this letter came out. I actually thought moving to Rockville was a liberal safe area. It seems most of the parents are supportive in person, but here on this board - a lot of hate. Maybe it is just the same conservative person?

I commented earlier. My child is gay, as are several other close family members. It is not clear from what was in the letter how serious this was and not is it clear it’s not an “in-joke” among kids who are gay themselves-I assure that type of thing happens. Of course it’s possible that it’s actually hate based and was an actual attempt to foment homophobic hate but that is not evident at all. Furthermore, the principal seems to be treating it as though they were actively recruiting to the club-if you want kids to sometimes think better of bad ideas and delete them you should distinguish in your response to actual events and aborted passing ideas.

you are troll and not from Wood - the LGBTQ community is horrified and scared for their kids. Not thinking "oh a gay person in the school did this." That is not this kid or their friends. So please stop

Oh please. These are middle-schoolers. They push boundaries and do dumb things. There’s no indication these kids did anything that actually harmed anyone else. There is no crime here. There’s stupidity, certainly, but nothing that rises to the level of criminal act.

Doing dumb things has consequences sometimes. Starting a homophobic club is one of them

See letter earlier:

Here are the facts, a teacher notified school administration about finding a presentation and google form titled, “Homophobic Club Hub” on a student’s Chromebook. Our investigation found that the student shared the documents with at least two additional students prior to deleting them. We found no evidence that any other students participated in generating the documents, and no evidence that a club was actually formed.

they are still investigating that at this time

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never realized how homophobic my kid's middle school was until this letter came out. I actually thought moving to Rockville was a liberal safe area. It seems most of the parents are supportive in person, but here on this board - a lot of hate. Maybe it is just the same conservative person?

I commented earlier. My child is gay, as are several other close family members. It is not clear from what was in the letter how serious this was and not is it clear it’s not an “in-joke” among kids who are gay themselves-I assure that type of thing happens. Of course it’s possible that it’s actually hate based and was an actual attempt to foment homophobic hate but that is not evident at all. Furthermore, the principal seems to be treating it as though they were actively recruiting to the club-if you want kids to sometimes think better of bad ideas and delete them you should distinguish in your response to actual events and aborted passing ideas.

you are troll and not from Wood - the LGBTQ community is horrified and scared for their kids. Not thinking "oh a gay person in the school did this." That is not this kid or their friends. So please stop

Oh please. These are middle-schoolers. They push boundaries and do dumb things. There’s no indication these kids did anything that actually harmed anyone else. There is no crime here. There’s stupidity, certainly, but nothing that rises to the level of criminal act.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never realized how homophobic my kid's middle school was until this letter came out. I actually thought moving to Rockville was a liberal safe area. It seems most of the parents are supportive in person, but here on this board - a lot of hate. Maybe it is just the same conservative person?

I commented earlier. My child is gay, as are several other close family members. It is not clear from what was in the letter how serious this was and not is it clear it’s not an “in-joke” among kids who are gay themselves-I assure that type of thing happens. Of course it’s possible that it’s actually hate based and was an actual attempt to foment homophobic hate but that is not evident at all. Furthermore, the principal seems to be treating it as though they were actively recruiting to the club-if you want kids to sometimes think better of bad ideas and delete them you should distinguish in your response to actual events and aborted passing ideas.

you are troll and not from Wood - the LGBTQ community is horrified and scared for their kids. Not thinking "oh a gay person in the school did this." That is not this kid or their friends. So please stop

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[b]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wood parent here. Mrs Slatcoff isn’t perfect but I would much rather she overreacted than to sweep it under the rug and try to hide the situation from the parents and students. And I assure you that the kids are talking about it and the message that this behavior is serious and will not be tolerated has come across loud and clear.

Having said that, there is still a lot of work to do at Wood on bullying issues, many of them racial in nature. I hope she comes down on those issues the way she has on this one. I think this incidence has shed a lot of light on many issues that entire community needs to openly address and I hope she is the one starting the conversation.

Problem here is the principal is sending the message that the actual crimes like fighting and underage smoking/vaping won’t be dealt with and kids know it, but thought crimes- oh dear no you can’t do that- send in the COPS NOW! Unleash the dogs. Teach those kids they can’t write a word and delete it without police involvement, but they can beat the crap out of each other on a regular basis or smoke daily in the bathroom but that’s ok.

Do you really not see that as a problem?

Who said they are beating the crap out of each other and smoking in the bathrooms? I said there was some bullying issues but it’s not like kids are getting into fistfights daily.

At Wood? Yes, there are a good number of fights.

What middle school do your kids attend?

There are fights at every school and knowing the MC police, they are not required to be called. It is for the school to decide. If you want the police notified for all fights, they would be at every middle school at least 2-3x a week. That is why they need an SRO at every middle school. But that isn't going to happen.

Memo down from administration is to call police on all hate crimes. Let the police decide. Otherwise principals sweep everything under the rug. She did her job and now the police will do theirs.

This right here. If the fight is a couple of attempted thrown fists, police aren't going to be called. Hate speech, hate drawings etc... immediately go to police. If she didn't contact the police and a parent found out and complained, central would have been all over here for not doing the right thing. I am shocked how many people think this is no big deal. that is scary. It's 2023, not 1973.

I’m shocked at how many people don’t understand that writing or drawing anything is not a crime unless it is a threat (and threats have a very specific and hard to prove definition). There may be grounds for school discipline but it is NOT a crime. How did we go from “never call the police, ACAB” to “report thought crimes to the police”?

Juveniles and adults have been arrested for drawings, so um yeah they can. :roll:

And on another thread I watched a video of a teenager choke a child on a school bus. The teenager was allowed back in the same school with the victim, despite the child having an order of protection in place. But no police involvement there, even though a child was clearly assaulted. But yet this incident is reported to the police. Utter insanity in our public schools.

Having a child that currently has a protective order against another child, I know for a fact they can not force the child out of school. Provisions are made during the school day for them to avoid each other or the victim can ask to move schools under a COSA. It's ridiculous but "every child has a right to a public education." is all we heard throughout the process. They can request the child move, but if the parents are uncooperative, 90% of the victim moves schools.

If there is video of the assault, the victim's family should have contacted the SRO and then the police themselves who would have started the case and investigation. That is what we had to do. I know first hand how little the school contact police for anything and even push back when the police are called and won't give out info to the victim's family or police without a case number. It is EXTREMELY frustrating as a victim. Ours was drawn out for months.

So that is why I am for the police being called for all clear cases of hate and assault. The problem is most of the time they are not. The principal was in the right here. The police can decide and drop the case when their investigation is done. But at least the principal did her due diligence. Most don't.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What that child wrote was hateful, but was it a hate crime? I don’t think so.

People have commented that it’s a miss use of the school Chromebook well, let me tell you kids do a lot worse than that. But the police isn’t and shouldn’t be called. That should be dealt with at the school level.

MCPS and Earl seem to be dealing with a drug and bullying and fighting problem. Just browse through the most recent topics on this forum. The police is not called.

No, it was not a hate crime. It was essentially a ‘thought crime’ like someone else posted above.

It’s like we live in China or something.

And misuse of Chromebooks? I guess. But I know plenty of kids at Wood are looking at porn on their school-issued Chromebooks and there doesn’t seem to be much the school can do about that.

Umm, looking at porn isn't hate speech towards others in your school.

We don’t define misogynistic speech or even violence specifically directed at women as a hate crime, but there’s plenty of violence and degradation of women in pornography, and it affects female students in general to a far greater extent than a document that was only shared between 3 students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never realized how homophobic my kid's middle school was until this letter came out. I actually thought moving to Rockville was a liberal safe area. It seems most of the parents are supportive in person, but here on this board - a lot of hate. Maybe it is just the same conservative person?

I commented earlier. My child is gay, as are several other close family members. It is not clear from what was in the letter how serious this was and not is it clear it’s not an “in-joke” among kids who are gay themselves-I assure that type of thing happens. Of course it’s possible that it’s actually hate based and was an actual attempt to foment homophobic hate but that is not evident at all. Furthermore, the principal seems to be treating it as though they were actively recruiting to the club-if you want kids to sometimes think better of bad ideas and delete them you should distinguish in your response to actual events and aborted passing ideas.

you are troll and not from Wood - the LGBTQ community is horrified and scared for their kids. Not thinking "oh a gay person in the school did this." That is not this kid or their friends. So please stop

Oh please. These are middle-schoolers. They push boundaries and do dumb things. There’s no indication these kids did anything that actually harmed anyone else. There is no crime here. There’s stupidity, certainly, but nothing that rises to the level of criminal act.

Doing dumb things has consequences sometimes. Starting a homophobic club is one of them

See letter earlier:

Here are the facts, a teacher notified school administration about finding a presentation and google form titled, “Homophobic Club Hub” on a student’s Chromebook. Our investigation found that the student shared the documents with at least two additional students prior to deleting them. We found no evidence that any other students participated in generating the documents, and no evidence that a club was actually formed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What that child wrote was hateful, but was it a hate crime? I don’t think so.

People have commented that it’s a miss use of the school Chromebook well, let me tell you kids do a lot worse than that. But the police isn’t and shouldn’t be called. That should be dealt with at the school level.

MCPS and Earl seem to be dealing with a drug and bullying and fighting problem. Just browse through the most recent topics on this forum. The police is not called.

No, it was not a hate crime. It was essentially a ‘thought crime’ like someone else posted above.

It’s like we live in China or something.

And misuse of Chromebooks? I guess. But I know plenty of kids at Wood are looking at porn on their school-issued Chromebooks and there doesn’t seem to be much the school can do about that.

Umm, looking at porn isn't hate speech towards others in your school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[b]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wood parent here. Mrs Slatcoff isn’t perfect but I would much rather she overreacted than to sweep it under the rug and try to hide the situation from the parents and students. And I assure you that the kids are talking about it and the message that this behavior is serious and will not be tolerated has come across loud and clear.

Having said that, there is still a lot of work to do at Wood on bullying issues, many of them racial in nature. I hope she comes down on those issues the way she has on this one. I think this incidence has shed a lot of light on many issues that entire community needs to openly address and I hope she is the one starting the conversation.

Problem here is the principal is sending the message that the actual crimes like fighting and underage smoking/vaping won’t be dealt with and kids know it, but thought crimes- oh dear no you can’t do that- send in the COPS NOW! Unleash the dogs. Teach those kids they can’t write a word and delete it without police involvement, but they can beat the crap out of each other on a regular basis or smoke daily in the bathroom but that’s ok.

Do you really not see that as a problem?

Who said they are beating the crap out of each other and smoking in the bathrooms? I said there was some bullying issues but it’s not like kids are getting into fistfights daily.

At Wood? Yes, there are a good number of fights.

What middle school do your kids attend?

There are fights at every school and knowing the MC police, they are not required to be called. It is for the school to decide. If you want the police notified for all fights, they would be at every middle school at least 2-3x a week. That is why they need an SRO at every middle school. But that isn't going to happen.

Memo down from administration is to call police on all hate crimes. Let the police decide. Otherwise principals sweep everything under the rug. She did her job and now the police will do theirs.

This right here. If the fight is a couple of attempted thrown fists, police aren't going to be called. Hate speech, hate drawings etc... immediately go to police. If she didn't contact the police and a parent found out and complained, central would have been all over here for not doing the right thing. I am shocked how many people think this is no big deal. that is scary. It's 2023, not 1973.

I’m shocked at how many people don’t understand that writing or drawing anything is not a crime unless it is a threat (and threats have a very specific and hard to prove definition). There may be grounds for school discipline but it is NOT a crime. How did we go from “never call the police, ACAB” to “report thought crimes to the police”?

Juveniles and adults have been arrested for drawings, so um yeah they can. :roll:

And on another thread I watched a video of a teenager choke a child on a school bus. The teenager was allowed back in the same school with the victim, despite the child having an order of protection in place. But no police involvement there, even though a child was clearly assaulted. But yet this incident is reported to the police. Utter insanity in our public schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never realized how homophobic my kid's middle school was until this letter came out. I actually thought moving to Rockville was a liberal safe area. It seems most of the parents are supportive in person, but here on this board - a lot of hate. Maybe it is just the same conservative person?

I commented earlier. My child is gay, as are several other close family members. It is not clear from what was in the letter how serious this was and not is it clear it’s not an “in-joke” among kids who are gay themselves-I assure that type of thing happens. Of course it’s possible that it’s actually hate based and was an actual attempt to foment homophobic hate but that is not evident at all. Furthermore, the principal seems to be treating it as though they were actively recruiting to the club-if you want kids to sometimes think better of bad ideas and delete them you should distinguish in your response to actual events and aborted passing ideas.

you are troll and not from Wood - the LGBTQ community is horrified and scared for their kids. Not thinking "oh a gay person in the school did this." That is not this kid or their friends. So please stop

Oh please. These are middle-schoolers. They push boundaries and do dumb things. There’s no indication these kids did anything that actually harmed anyone else. There is no crime here. There’s stupidity, certainly, but nothing that rises to the level of criminal act.

Doing dumb things has consequences sometimes. Starting a homophobic club is one of them

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never realized how homophobic my kid's middle school was until this letter came out. I actually thought moving to Rockville was a liberal safe area. It seems most of the parents are supportive in person, but here on this board - a lot of hate. Maybe it is just the same conservative person?

I commented earlier. My child is gay, as are several other close family members. It is not clear from what was in the letter how serious this was and not is it clear it’s not an “in-joke” among kids who are gay themselves-I assure that type of thing happens. Of course it’s possible that it’s actually hate based and was an actual attempt to foment homophobic hate but that is not evident at all. Furthermore, the principal seems to be treating it as though they were actively recruiting to the club-if you want kids to sometimes think better of bad ideas and delete them you should distinguish in your response to actual events and aborted passing ideas.

you are troll and not from Wood - the LGBTQ community is horrified and scared for their kids. Not thinking "oh a gay person in the school did this." That is not this kid or their friends. So please stop

Oh please. These are middle-schoolers. They push boundaries and do dumb things. There’s no indication these kids did anything that actually harmed anyone else. There is no crime here. There’s stupidity, certainly, but nothing that rises to the level of criminal act.