Stolen from EUOT:
http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x1903566059/Taunton-second-grader-suspended-over-drawing-of-Jesus
QuoteTaunton second-grader suspended over drawing of Jesus
A Taunton father is outraged after his 8-year-old son was sent home from school and required to undergo a psychological evaluation after drawing a stick-figure picture of Jesus Christ on the cross.
The father said he got a call earlier this month from Maxham Elementary School informing him that his son, a second-grade student, had created a violent drawing. The image in question depicted a crucified Jesus with Xs covering his eyes to signify that he had died on the cross. The boy wrote his name above the cross.
"As far as I'm concerned, they're violating his religion," the incredulous father said.
He requested that his name and his son's name be withheld from publication to protect the boy.
The student drew the picture shortly after taking a family trip to see the Christmas display at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette, a Christian retreat site in Attleboro. He made the drawing in class after his teacher asked the children to sketch something that reminded them of Christmas, the father said.
"I think what happened is that because he put Xs in the eyes of Jesus, the teacher was alarmed and they told the parents they thought it was violent," said Toni Saunders, an educational consultant with the Associated Advocacy Center.
Saunders is working with the boy's parents after a mutual acquaintance referred them to her.
"When I got that call, I was so appalled that I had to do something," Saunders said.
"They weren't looking at the fact that this is an 8-year-old child with special needs," she added. "They made him leave school, and they recommended that a psychiatrist do an evaluation."
The school, in fact, required the evaluation before the boy could return, the father said.
Maxham School principal Rebecca Couet referred all questions on the matter to the superintendent's office.
Superintendent Julie Hackett said district policy prevents her from discussing a "confidential matter regarding a student."
"Generally speaking, we have safety protocols in place," Hackett said. "If a situation warrants it, we ask for outside safety evaluations if we have particular concerns about a child's safety. We followed all the protocols in our system."
Hackett refused to specifically discuss the student's drawing or the school's reaction to it.
The father was flabbergasted when he learned his son had to undergo an evaluation.
"When she told me he needed to be psychologically evaluated, I thought she was playing," he said.
The man said his son, who gets specialized reading and speech instruction at school, has never shown any tendency toward violence.
"He's never been suspended," he said. "He's 8 years old. They overreacted."
The boy made the drawing and was sent home from school on Dec. 2. He went for the psychological evaluation — at his parents' expense — the next day and was cleared to return to school the following Monday after the psychological evaluation found nothing to indicate that he posed a threat to himself or others.
The boy, however, was traumatized by the incident, which made going back to school very difficult, the father said. School administrators have approved the father's request to have the boy transferred to another elementary school in the district.
This is not the first time in recent years that a Taunton student has been sent home over a drawing. In June 2008, a fifth-grade student was suspended from Mulcahey Middle School for a day after creating a stick figure drawing that appeared to depict him shooting his teacher and a classmate.
The Mulcahey teacher also contacted the police to take out charges in the 2008 incident.
:huh:
Teacher is the one in need of a psych evaluation.
Well, he was drawing pictures of dead Jews nailed to posts
Massachusetts :lol:
Kid got mixed up between Easter and Christmas, big deal.
Quote from: DisturbedPervert on December 16, 2009, 05:27:57 AM
Well, he was drawing pictures of dead Jews nailed to posts
:lol:
Point.
At first I was amazed and annoyed over this story. However, we may find this story to have been reported wrong initially. Hearing the response from the school on local news today, so waiting to find out what really happened. May not really be any story, don't know. The town school dept said now that the teacher didn't ask for Christmas pictures - the first story out there said otherwise. And the drawing being shown in the news is supposedly not the same one the kid drew.
Quote from: KRonn on December 16, 2009, 08:34:37 AM
At first I was amazed and annoyed over this story. However, we may find this story to have been reported wrong initially. Hearing the response from the school on local news today, so waiting to find out what really happened. May not really be any story, don't know. The town school dept said now that the teacher didn't ask for Christmas pictures - the first story out there said otherwise. And the drawing being shown in the news is supposedly not the same one the kid drew.
And that is why you should be carefuly about being outraged by news stories. Usually they are reported in such a way as to get the reaction they want rather than the facts.
In this case there is alot of buzz you can generate by playing to the paranoia some Christians feel that the western world is out to get them.
So the Catholic kids get to wear their crucifixes without a problem, but a kid draws a stick figure of something he's probably seen around and he gets shipped out for psych evaluation? I hope the parents at least threaten the school district into reimbursing them; if the district's gonna go around issuing frivolous evaluations, they should at least be footing the bill.
Quote from: DontSayBanana on December 16, 2009, 08:52:06 AM
So the Catholic kids get to wear their crucifixes without a problem, but a kid draws a stick figure of something he's probably seen around and he gets shipped out for psych evaluation? I hope the parents at least threaten the school district into reimbursing them; if the district's gonna go around issuing frivolous evaluations, they should at least be footing the bill.
I'd say wait to see what the story really is, and why the kid got the evaluation. This seems to have been very poor reporting so far.
Quote from: KRonn on December 16, 2009, 08:57:15 AM
This seems to have been very poor reporting so far.
All reporting is poor reporting. The ineptitude of journalists is matched only by their dishonesty.
God, I hate the zero tolerance policies.
QuoteTaunton officials dispute reports on Jesus sketch
Say boy not suspended, no evaluation ordered
By David Abel
Globe Staff / December 16, 2009
TAUNTON - City officials sharply disputed yesterday widely distributed reports that a local elementary school suspended a second-grader and required the boy to undergo a psychological evaluation for drawing a picture of Jesus on the cross.
The story, initially reported by the local newspaper, raised questions of religious bias days before Christmas and was broadcast by local television stations and other news media. Making the story more compelling, the boy's father held court for much of the day at his girlfriend's apartment, granting interviews to reporters from Providence to Boston, demanding that the school district compensate him for his family's pain and suffering.
"It hurts me that they did this to my kid,'' Chester Johnson, the boy's father, said in an interview with the Globe. "They can't mess with our religion. They owe us a small lump sum for this.''
But school officials say that the account in yesterday's Taunton Daily Gazette was rife with errors and that the father's description of what happened is untrue.
"The report is totally inaccurate,'' Julie Hackett, superintendent of the Taunton public schools, said in an interview in her office yesterday. "The inaccuracies in the original media story have resulted in a great deal of criticism and scrutiny of the system that is unwarranted.''
Dino F. Ciliberti, editor of the Gazette, did not return calls yesterday.
Hackett said the student, age 9, was never suspended and that neither he nor other students at the Maxham Elementary School were asked by the teacher to sketch something that reminded them of Christmas or any religious holiday, as the Gazette and other media reported and the father suggested, although his story changed as he explained it.
She said it was unclear whether the boy, who put his name above a stick figure portrait of Christ on the cross, had drawn the picture in school, which his teacher discovered Dec. 2.
"Religion had nothing to do with this at all, 100 percent nothing to do with it,'' Hackett said, adding that Taunton is known as "The Christmas City.''
She said the drawing was seen as a potential cry for help when the student identified himself, rather than Jesus, on the cross, which prompted the teacher to alert the school's principal and staff psychologist. As a result, the boy underwent a psychological evaluation.
She declined to comment on the results of the evaluation or whether the teacher had reason to believe that the student was crying out for help. The boy's father showed reporters a report indicating his son was not a threat to himself or others and could return to school.
"In this case, as in any other case involving the well-being of a student, the administration acted in accordance with the School Department's well-established protocol,'' she said in a statement. "This protocol is centered upon the student's care, well-being, and educational success. The protocol includes a review of the student's records.''
After reading the account in the local paper, Mayor Charles Crowley of Taunton asked Hackett to apologize to the boy's parents. But in a telephone interview late yesterday, he said he stands by the superintendent.
"Dr. Hackett has far more of the facts than I do, and now I understand that the report was not accurate,'' he said. "Based on her account, I stand behind my superintendent. She is in possession of the facts.''
Officials from the state Department of Children and Families declined to comment on the case because there was no allegation of abuse.
Johnson said his son was suffering as a result of the commotion. He said his grades have declined in recent days and that he wanted him to be transferred to the Elizabeth Pole School, the most recently built in Taunton.
"He said he was uncomfortable,'' he said. "I also think they should give him a fully paid scholarship to the school of his choice. We should be compensated for our pain and suffering.''
Johnson acknowledged that his son identified himself on the cross, but he said it was only after he told school officials that his picture represented Jesus.
"He was scared, so he changed his story,'' Johnson said.
School officials said the newspaper had an ax to grind, citing an opinion piece Ciliberti posted yesterday on the Gazette's website, in which he called the school's actions "a shame'' and argued that the district "turned this into a major story.''
Hackett said the Gazette published its story without giving the district time to investigate the allegations.
"The approach that is often taken is that an editorial or article in the local newspaper is completely inaccurate, but it gets published before anyone checks the facts,'' she said.
Globe correspondent Abbie Ruzicka contributed to this report. David Abel can be reached at [email protected].
So now it looks more like a case of a grandstanding parent, seeking his moment of fame, and trying to get some cool cash out of it all. Lol... What a murooon!!
Quote"The report is totally inaccurate,'' Julie Hackett, superintendent of the Taunton public schools, said in an interview in her office yesterday. "The inaccuracies in the original media story have resulted in a great deal of criticism and scrutiny of the system that is unwarranted.''
Hehe generally is a story sounds too outrageous to be true...it is.
Quote from: Neil on December 16, 2009, 09:07:03 AM
Quote from: KRonn on December 16, 2009, 08:57:15 AM
This seems to have been very poor reporting so far.
All reporting is poor reporting. The ineptitude of journalists is matched only by their dishonesty.
As an inept journalist, I concur.
America sucks.
Now the father claims that what he said was true, or at least some of it. Not a big deal, but it's local news. I'd think it shouldn't be hard to get the right story, if one of the vaunted newspapers or tv news asked a few questions.
Quote
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,580282,00.html
Mass. Father Defends Claim That Boy, 8, Was Sent Home From School for Jesus Drawing
A Massachusetts father is standing by claims that his 8-year-old son was sent home from school after the boy drew a stick figure of Jesus on a crucifix.
Chester Johnson, 40, said his son did indeed draw the picture circulated to reporters and that Taunton School District officials later said was not the same drawing discovered by the second-grade student's teacher earlier this month.
"I swear to God, on my grave, you could kill me if I'm lying," Johnson, 40, told FoxNews.com. "I wouldn't make nothing up. This is the holiday season — I don't have time for that."
Johnson, who said he works for the Taunton School District as a part-time custodian, said his hours have been cut since the controversy made headlines locally and nationally.
"It's put a toll on me," Johnson said. "Now I'm trying to get a transfer."
Taunton School District officials did not immediately respond on Wednesday to Johnson's claims, including whether he was employed by the district.
In a written statement issued late Tuesday, school officials said the boy was never suspended over the sketch.
"This report is totally inaccurate, and the student was never suspended," the statement read.
The school claims the incident took place nearly two weeks ago and says the incident was handled "appropriately."
School officials also denied Johnson's claim that students were asked to draw something that reminded them of Christmas or another holiday.
"Contrary to what has been reported, there was no request or assignment by the teacher for students to sketch something that reminded them of Christmas or any religious holiday," the statement continued.
Johnson said his son made the drawing on Dec. 2 after his teacher asked children to sketch something that reminded them of the holiday season.
Johnson, who is African-American, told WBZ-TV that he suspected racism was involved, but revised that assessment when asked by FoxNews.com.
"No, I want to take that out," Johnson said. "I don't want to use the race card. This is God we're talking about, we're past that."
Johnson told the Taunton Daily Gazette, which first reported the story on Tuesday, that his son gets specialized reading and speech instruction and has never been violent in school.
An educational consultant working with the Johnson family said the teacher was also alarmed when the boy drew Xs for Jesus' eyes.
The boy was cleared to return to school on Dec. 7 after the evaluation found nothing to indicate that he posed a threat to himself or others. But his father said the boy was traumatized by the incident and the school district has approved the family's request to have the child transferred to another school.
"They owe my family an apology and the kid an apology and they need to work with my son (to) the best of their ability to get him back to where he was before all this happened," Johnson told New England Cable News.
Johnson said in the days before the incident the family had gone to the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro, which displays crucifixion statues.
"That was fresh on his mind," he told NECN. "And that was a good thing that he saw."
Superintendent Julie Hackett said she could not discuss an individual student and did not address the drawing specifically or the teacher's reaction to it, but did say the school has safety protocols in place that were followed.
"It is unfortunate that the actions of our district staff have been classified as 'religious' in nature when, in fact, they were based solely on the wellbeing of the student," the school said in a statement.
In June 2008, a Taunton fifth-grade student was suspended for a day for a stick figure drawing that appeared to depict him shooting his teacher and a classmate.
FoxNews.com's Joshua Rhett Miller and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Oh wait, the father is a black dude? Lying. ^_^
Anyhoo, I await Sarah Palin's inevitable idiotic comment about this. :)
Quote from: Caliga on December 16, 2009, 02:54:37 PM
Anyhoo, I await Sarah Palin's inevitable idiotic comment about this. :)
I was thinking about that Treason chick.
Quote from: Caliga on December 16, 2009, 02:54:37 PM
Anyhoo, I await Sarah Palin's inevitable idiotic comment about this. :)
You realize she might be your next president do you?
G.
Chance of that happening: zero. It is possible for an incompetent idiot to win the White House if the MSM is in love with them -_- , but not if they despise said candidate.
Quote from: Caliga on December 16, 2009, 03:26:52 PM
Chance of that happening: zero. It is possible for an incompetent idiot to win the White House if the MSM is in love with them -_- , but not if they despise said candidate.
We shall see. I read in the papers the other that there are some GOPtards agitating to have that gangster Cheney run in 2012... Palin could become interesting as a running mate to rally the rabid christians?
G.
The "rabid Christians", as much as folks like you an Marti fear them (understandably so), cannot themselves put someone into office... not anymore.
Quote from: Grallon on December 16, 2009, 03:24:04 PM
Quote from: Caliga on December 16, 2009, 02:54:37 PM
Anyhoo, I await Sarah Palin's inevitable idiotic comment about this. :)
You realize she might be your next president do you?
G.
you betcha!
Quote from: Grallon on December 16, 2009, 03:24:04 PM
Quote from: Caliga on December 16, 2009, 02:54:37 PM
Anyhoo, I await Sarah Palin's inevitable idiotic comment about this. :)
You realize she might be your next president do you?
G.
I'd be very surprised if Palin did become a Pres candidate. She's just getting a temporary, but rather large, bump in her popularity, as Obama and the Dems tank a bit with all the politics going on lately. But as a real viable candidate I just don't see it happening. She'd have to go through quite a change and I don't think that's going to occur. Though she now is apparently polling nearly as well as Obama in some respects. :huh: And her book is a big hit, selling over one million copies in a very short time. Sheesh...
As for Cheney, no way, I'd have to say also. He's not the type, has no real ambition for Pres or VP again, and he's been pretty well tarred by his Bush admin days.
Quote from: KRonn on December 16, 2009, 03:54:33 PM
Though she now is apparently polling nearly as well as Obama in some respects. :huh: And her book is a big hit, selling over one million copies in a very short time. Sheesh...
Weren't they selling it for like a dollar or two when it was launched?
Quote from: Caliga on December 16, 2009, 03:26:52 PM
Chance of that happening: zero. It is possible for an incompetent idiot to win the White House if the MSM is in love with them -_- , but not if they despise said candidate.
The MSM love Sarah Palin. They may not want her to win but she provides stunning copy and, I imagine, circulation goes up big-time when you've got an interview with her or a story about her. They sell so many copies off of Sarah Palin that I imagine they're praying every day that she says something terribly controversial.
They love talking about her, yes, but always cast her in a very negative light. If the public is constantly told to hate Sarah Palin, it's not going to help her campaign very much.
And I thought the town smelled bad on the outside!
In any event it's unlikely that Obama will lose in 2012; and it's too early to seriously consider 2016. In the US it's difficult to unseat an incumbet president. In the twentieth century all the ones that lost faced a strong third party candidate (Bush Sr., Taft), a challenge in their own party (Ford, Carter), or the Great Depression (Hoover.)
Obama faces the Great Recession, belongs to a party that's turning out to be quite a challenge, and will surely face Lyndon LaRouche. :)
Quote from: KRonn on December 16, 2009, 08:57:15 AM
I'd say wait to see what the story really is, and why the kid got the evaluation. This seems to have been very poor reporting so far.
Agreed. A couple of spots in the article sound like the school has had reason to question this kid's stability before.
Quote from: Caliga on December 16, 2009, 04:24:29 PM
They love talking about her, yes, but always cast her in a very negative light. If the public is constantly told to hate Sarah Palin, it's not going to help her campaign very much.
apparently she makes $200,000 a speech right now. I think she's beyond help. ;)
http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/737482--palin-works-the-circuit-all-the-way-to-hamilton
Quote from: KRonn on December 16, 2009, 03:54:33 PM
Quote from: Grallon on December 16, 2009, 03:24:04 PM
Quote from: Caliga on December 16, 2009, 02:54:37 PM
Anyhoo, I await Sarah Palin's inevitable idiotic comment about this. :)
You realize she might be your next president do you?
G.
Though she now is apparently polling nearly as well as Obama in some respects. :huh: And her book is a big hit, selling over one million copies in a very short time. Sheesh...
Probably because Obama is still all over the news and she isn't, relatively speaking. If she did get the nomination, you'd see her poll numbers return to low levels as everyone remembers just how much they hate her.
Quote from: saskganesh on December 17, 2009, 01:13:44 AM
apparently she makes $200,000 a speech right now. I think she's beyond help. ;)
http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/737482--palin-works-the-circuit-all-the-way-to-hamilton
It's a hell of a lot easier to be a professional blowhard than to be elected President. Sooner or later Glenn Beck is going to try to run for some political office and you'll see what I mean. ^_^
Quote from: Caliga on December 16, 2009, 10:12:22 PM
Obama faces the Great Recession, belongs to a party that's turning out to be quite a challenge, and will surely face Lyndon LaRouche. :)
I just can't see a president 'Larouche' - sounds too much like 'douche'. But then again it's Amerikka so who knows heh?
G.
Quote from: Grallon on December 17, 2009, 07:52:08 AM
I just can't see a president 'Larouche' - sounds too much like 'douche'. But then again it's Amerikka so who knows heh?
Dunno whether you know anything about Lyndon LaRouche, but if you do you should know I was trying to make a funny by bringing him up. -_-
Quote from: Grallon on December 17, 2009, 07:52:08 AM
I just can't see a president 'Larouche' -
Neither can anyone else. :cool:
Quote from: Savonarola on December 17, 2009, 08:55:07 AM
Quote from: Grallon on December 17, 2009, 07:52:08 AM
I just can't see a president 'Larouche' -
Neither can anyone else. :cool:
I knew a guy who was dedicated to Larouche. Always going on about how terrible the UK is and how the Jews must be destroyed.
Quote from: Neil on December 17, 2009, 09:23:16 AM
Quote from: Savonarola on December 17, 2009, 08:55:07 AM
Quote from: Grallon on December 17, 2009, 07:52:08 AM
I just can't see a president 'Larouche' -
Neither can anyone else. :cool:
I knew a guy who was dedicated to Larouche. Always going on about how terrible the UK is and how the Jews must be destroyed.
Most Laroucheites always seemed to be non-Americans. I was accosted by a couple some years back. Both fucking foreigners attempting to lecture me.
It's weird, but back during the 1976 Democratic primary campaign (which was the 1st time he ran for President AFAIK), LaRouche (and IIRC, that's how it was written back then) he was pretty much a mainstream Democrat, or at least that's how he was portrayed in the few stories that I ever saw the media do on him.
Mainstream Democrats were kinda crazy for a while.