Hoax

I figured this may have strong feelings on both sides so it would belong on this board.

My not-so-humble opinion? Just another way the public school systems are TOTALLY screwed up.

By Bobbie~moderatr on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 06:14 pm:

Ridiculous!!! That is a bunch of bunk.. I mean really, do you think those kids learned a thing? I am pretty much sure the answer to that would be a huge, NO!! After having to listen to stories my children shared about their teachers and other kids in their school this past year and stories like this that keep making the news I am honestly thinking about home schooling my children.. Which is something I said I would NEVER do. So many of the people that they are allowing to teach, the people they are allowing to be in charge, and society in general are making it so that I am feeling I might have no other choice... I agree "TOTALLY screwed up."

By Nicki on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 07:58 pm:

I'm surprised to read in the article that there were only a few parents who called the school and complained after pulling such a stunt.

What a heartless, stupid thing to do. What if one of the more fragile students had been so upset that he/she left the school very distraught? Sure they were going to tell them the truth before the end of the school day, but I can see an upset student taking off without notice or permission. They may have caused the very thing they thought they were trying to avoid.

By Karen~admin on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 08:07 pm:

I totally disagree with doing that. I find it appalling.

Scared straight - possibly a good program. The way THIS was done - NOT good.

I DO understand wanting to get a point across. This is not a new thing. Every year, teens are killed in alcohol/drug related accidents, and prom season is the worst.

This was just cruel, IMO.

By Dawnk777 on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 08:20 pm:

Way over the top! I don't think they should have messed with their heads, like that.

By Bobbie~moderatr on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 10:14 pm:

I agree with Nicki, they didn't have the forethought about what could possibly happen. We lost several people while I was in high school, car accidents, suicides, health issues. It wasn't uncommon for us not to hear about the death until we arrived at school and it was also not uncommon for kids to leave once the announcement was made. What if a an emotionally fragile child, or some child rushing to be with their parent, died because of this ignorance?

This isn't scared straight.. This is scared by the stupid.

By Ginny~moderator on Saturday, June 14, 2008 - 12:46 am:

I agree, totally wrong. Many schools and police departments have programs where someone who was involved in or affected by a prom-related DUI comes in and talks about how it affected their lives; others bring in a car smashed up in a DUI and talk about the passengers. But this is way over the top.

To tell kids someone they know is dead, when it is false, is truly awful. For mercy's sake, when there is an actual, real student death most schools bring in counselors to work with the kids because they know the kids will be traumatized and that period is a dangerous time for the kids - to do it as a fake to "teach a lesson" is totally wrong.

By Kaye on Saturday, June 14, 2008 - 10:08 am:

When my kids were young the local police had planned a park abduction, so we could see if they would really leave with a stranger. You signed up for it, gave a picture of your child, etc. We did not participate, because we thought it was CRAZY! Which is how I feel about the above story. The world is full of horrible things happening, we don't need to fake it, you can find stories, you can find people that lived it.

By Vicki on Saturday, June 14, 2008 - 11:16 am:

During my high school years, I had two classmates pass away at different times. During dd's elem school years, she had two classmates pass away. One during her 3rd grade year and the other about a year later during 4th grade. I can feel the feeling in my body to this day of how it felt to be in the building the days we all found out about all the different deaths. To do that to anyone as a learning lesson is just flat out wrong. There is nothing to describe how it felt. All they did was give the kids just one more reason not to trust the adults.

By Karen~admin on Sunday, June 15, 2008 - 04:40 am:

Jen and Jeff knew six kids who were either killed or committed suicide when they were in high school, and we live in a small community. When I was in high school, I knew 4 people who died by accidents or suicide. As Vicki said, there is no way to describe that feeling. Deliberately and falsely causing someone to endure that emotional trauma is unforgiveable, IMO.

There are other ways to teach a lesson and get a point across. And sadly, there are probably a few kids who just won't GET IT, no matter WHAT method you use.

I agree with Bobbie, this is scared by the stupid.

By Reds9298 on Sunday, June 15, 2008 - 08:06 am:

That is APPALLING!!!!! I agree with everyone. I cannot imagine an administrator agreeing to this, and the one that did should no longer be in that position. It was a complete breech of trust and a terrible thing to do to anyone, let alone these kids. Definitely other ways to get the point across. My outrage would be so all over the newspaper, all over the school, and all over the community as a parent of one of those kids. I would be making some serious noise, not sure where that would go since the damage is done, but I would still be doing it. That administration would so be called on the carpet by me leading an angry group of parents.

By Tarable on Sunday, June 15, 2008 - 12:06 pm:

My senior year in high school 4 of my classmates died due to drunk driving (surprisingly only 1 of them was drunk themselves). To this day it sends a horrible morbid shiver down my spine to think of those Monday mornings when you walked in school and everyone was in small groups next to their lockers hugging and crying. My graduating class was only 64 so we were all pretty close. I can't imagine putting an entire high school though that as a lie. I am right there with you Deanna, I would have had a fit at the school and everywhere else to make sure that everyone knew how stupid it was.

I also think that teenagers don't trust adults much to start out with, so lying to them about something as major as this is just going to make them trust adults even more.

By Bellajoe on Sunday, June 15, 2008 - 07:08 pm:

That's ridiculous and sad.

When I was in high school they would take the senior class out to the football field. We sat in the stands and they staged a sort of car accident, fire trucks and ambulance would come and cut the kids out of the car that was crashed. Nobody was really in the car, it was all staged. All I really remember was that the kids who were supposedly in the car crash got to go home from school that day. Meaning they were supposed to be dead and we were supposed to feel the effects of them not being at school anymore. The way they did it was eerie, and you can feel the tension and I do remember feeling sad while they were staging the whole thing. The stands were so quiet, you could tell that everyone was thinking about how they would feel if this really had happened.

I also remember the school picking several people throughout the whole school. Their faces were painted white and I don't think they could talk the whole day. I believe this was done around prom time, they were supposed to be dead or ghosts or something like that. This was a message telling us not to drink or drive during prom.

It would have been awful if they had told us that certain people had really died. How heartless!!!!!