^^ it was NOT a big deal.

Anonymous wrote:OK, I am not a teacher at Basis but I do teach middle school science and I am cracking up at this thread. This teacher made such a rookie mistake-- I learned long ago that if you are going to use food in a lab, you better make sure it's uncooked beans or something similar, because if you use candy it's not coming back. LOL. Once one of my colleagues had raw potato slices in salt water to show hyper-, hypo-, and isotonic solutions, and a kid actually ate a raw potato slice! Kids that age are nuts, man. (Excuse the pun.) I'm not saying it's okay, and obviously if a kid stole something he or she should be disciplined, but I can believe a kid taking some candy has blown up into some kind of federal case. Goodness.

You make a good point. But the deal is that it was. It a big deal, there's just a couple of unhinged people saying crazy shit. It's really more banal than anything else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Whoah, back up a second there - the problem didn't start with the Dean, it was caused by the student who stole candy that was intended as a prop for a classroom exercise, with callous disregard of ruining the exercise for the whole class. The Dean didn't just randomly swoop in out of nowhere and for no reason whatsoever. That student demonstrated criminal behavior, demonstrated fundamental disrespect of fellow classmates, disrespect of the teacher and staff, and disrespect of the classroom and of the school. It's behavior totally unacceptable coming from an 8th grader. And yet you don't think that kind of awful behavior is an issue and instead all you have to complain about is the Dean, whose job it is to make sure that kind of behavior isn't repeated?

Mischief vs misconduct...there is a big difference

I agree, and it might not even have been mischief, and it might not even have been those students

ok, and now that we have THAT straight, to the PP above

do you think maybe the child did not know it was the teacher's candy?
(I believe that, because no 8th grader would mess with a teacher's candy)

do you think maybe the child also did not know it was intended as a "prop?"
(I believe that, because no 8th grader would mess with a teacher's instructional materials, no matter how delicious)

Were you there when............ the Dean "swooped in" and scared the kids so much that the one who did not realize that it was the teacher's candy, or that it was intended as a "prop" in a lesson, got too scared to admit it?

Were you there when.......the kids were ordered to toss the room to look for it while he and the teacher stepped out? Do you think that how diligent the children were in looking for said candy might have stifled any possible confession?
Were you there when...... the Dean said, to the entire section after the unsuccessful search,
behaving absolutely awfully, unethically, and unprofessionally
"I will mess with your grades" and thus put the final nail in the coffin and stifled any possible confession?


Were you there........... on Thursday at the meeting when theft was discussed, and all veteran parents agreed you have to take all of your possessions to the bathroom with you?

When that wonderful lady blamed it on the parents because they are failing to instruct their children (how that helps the rest of us, I do not know - the comment was much less useful than the advice to keep your stuff)

Were you there............. last year when a child's $400 prescription glasses were stolen from her desk when she went to the bathroom?
No "Dean" swooped in there, and the glasses were ultimately recovered in an unused part of the building (because they cannot be eaten)

When a child forgot to lock the locker and lost something priceless (read irreplaceable) which was never recovered and the loss of which is still deeply mourned, but said child learned a lesson they will never forget

Were you there........... are you here.........
Do you really think that an 8th grader at Basis would have stolen a teacher's candy knowing it was part of a lesson?
Criminal behavior my ass
Callous disregard my ass
Hunger and ignorance that led to a stupid mistake, quite likely

And then the Dean effectively said I will have ALL your asses because I will mess with your grades

That comment, to a class of Basis 8th graders, to me is criminal - not, of course, literally
But it goes against every single thing Basis stands for, every single value they try to instill
About individual responsibility and academic rewards for personal hard work and intelligence
And to me that comment is a firing offense

Yeah, PP - the brunt of it's really just coming from maybe two parents out there, who evidently don't want any discipline or accountability for that kind of bad kid behavior whatsoever... they seem to want to keep ranting on and on and on about "how DARE the school even think of cracking down on bad behavior..."

OK, I am not a teacher at Basis but I do teach middle school science and I am cracking up at this thread. This teacher made such a rookie mistake-- I learned long ago that if you are going to use food in a lab, you better make sure it's uncooked beans or something similar, because if you use candy it's not coming back. LOL. Once one of my colleagues had raw potato slices in salt water to show hyper-, hypo-, and isotonic solutions, and a kid actually ate a raw potato slice! Kids that age are nuts, man. (Excuse the pun.) I'm not saying it's okay, and obviously if a kid stole something he or she should be disciplined, but I can believe a kid taking some candy has blown up into some kind of federal case. Goodness.

No accountability, no consequences, sure, great, just coddle the kid and wait til he "accidentally" takes some lady's purse by force when he's a hulking 18 year old...

Better to deal with it now when it's just kids doing something foolish, rather than later, when it's jail time and lives are ruined...

Don't you get that?

Don't come forward? Don't hold anyone accountable? Sweep it under the carpet? Hell NO! Pure idiocy!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This entire thread has been based on so much bullshit and the complete, over-the-top and inappropriate overreactions of two or three parents.

Entertainment factor has worn off.

Totally not worth the investment.

how bout the last one?
Whoa, you blame the Dean? This behavior is CRIMINAL and therefore anything and everything the Dean did in response was of course completely correct and totally understandable and justifiable..........

If Mr. Louis believes this we are sunk as a school

sorry to lose a member of the peanut gallery

glad you were entertained for a while

we aim to please

Um, yeah, last time I checked, taking stuff that isn't yours to take is indeed a criminal act - http://dccode.org/simple/sections/22-3211.html - and I said nothing about it being wrong to come down on the Dean if he was out of line but you on the other hand are the one suggesting we should just put up with students stealing things, ruining classroom exercises, disrespecting other students, disrespecting teachers and staff, disrespecting the school, and in fact posters above suggesting that the student should NOT come forward and that misbehavior should just be swept under the carpet and ignored - now THAT is what would be the ruin of the school, if everyone ran around doing that and there was nobody to crack down on it...

Sorry, but a free-for-all where kids take other peoples stuff and disrespect everyone and everything is NOT what I signed up for. You're having a serious reality problem, PP.

There were 12 bags of candy being used for a lab demonstration. at the end of the lab, only 11 bags of candy came back. Basis is a Title 1 school, perhaps there was a hungry kid who ate it, perhaps it got lost in the classroom, perhaps someone ate it thinking the lab was over and they would get to have it then, who knows. It's freaking candy. Failing the entire class for the semester in chemistry is NOT an appropriate response.

There are 25 kids in a class-one they should not result in everyone getting punished. And 8th graders are emotional, irrational and dramatic, so of course they are freaking out.

Anonymous wrote:Have the 8th graders discussed their concerns with the teacher directly? Surely you want to instill a degree of active problem solving with your child.

The 8th graders did discuss their concerns directly with the teacher and another member of the Basis team, but because they were not the ones who threatened the students and because they are not the Head of School, some of the students just did not believe them. The Chemistry teacher made it very clear that their grades would not be affected, but some kids still believe the Dean can and will overrule the Chemistry teacher and flunk them anyway. How sad is that?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This entire thread has been based on so much bullshit and the complete, over-the-top and inappropriate overreactions of two or three parents.

Entertainment factor has worn off.

Totally not worth the investment.

how bout the last one?
Whoa, you blame the Dean? This behavior is CRIMINAL and therefore anything and everything the Dean did in response was of course completely correct and totally understandable and justifiable..........

If Mr. Louis believes this we are sunk as a school

sorry to lose a member of the peanut gallery

glad you were entertained for a while

we aim to please

I'm still here
SO happy now that my child didn't enroll when they started up this school
this helps me manage my regrets

Anonymous wrote:

Whoah, back up a second there - the problem didn't start with the Dean, it was caused by the student who stole candy that was intended as a prop for a classroom exercise, with callous disregard of ruining the exercise for the whole class. The Dean didn't just randomly swoop in out of nowhere and for no reason whatsoever. That student demonstrated criminal behavior, demonstrated fundamental disrespect of fellow classmates, disrespect of the teacher and staff, and disrespect of the classroom and of the school. It's behavior totally unacceptable coming from an 8th grader. And yet you don't think that kind of awful behavior is an issue and instead all you have to complain about is the Dean, whose job it is to make sure that kind of behavior isn't repeated?

Mischief vs misconduct...there is a big difference

Anonymous wrote:This entire thread has been based on so much bullshit and the complete, over-the-top and inappropriate overreactions of two or three parents.

Entertainment factor has worn off.

Totally not worth the investment.

how bout the last one?
Whoa, you blame the Dean? This behavior is CRIMINAL and therefore anything and everything the Dean did in response was of course completely correct and totally understandable and justifiable..........

If Mr. Louis believes this we are sunk as a school

sorry to lose a member of the peanut gallery

glad you were entertained for a while

we aim to please

This entire thread has been based on so much bullshit and the complete, over-the-top and inappropriate overreactions of two or three parents.

Entertainment factor has worn off.

Totally not worth the investment.

"If you build it, they may still come" (especially because of the dearth of good middle schools in Washington DC)
but "if they come, they will not stay"
unless they start getting some

R-E-S-P-E-C-T,
This is what it means to me,
R-E-S-P-E-C-T,
This is what it means to me.
RESPECT
(just a little bit)
RESPECT
(just a little bit)

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
do not threaten my grades because of some lost caaaandy
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
please tell me when I was tardy
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
please before you punish me
RESPECT
(just a little bit)
RESPECT
(just a little bit)

maybe the man messaging himself in the mirror should sing himself this song............
and the Dean........
and his Fiancee......

TAKE responsibility
MAKE improvements

is there any mention of respect in our motto?
cannot remember the final phrase because right now it rings so hollow.........
(just a little bit)

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