My Prom Date…NOT!

I just read an article about a high school in Mississippi that cancelled their prom rather than allow an openly gay couple attend and have one of them wear a tux and play the role of a man. This 18 year old young lady had a girlfriend who was a sophomore at the same high school where she attended and they have an openly gay relationship inclusive kissing, making out, etc and have no reason to hide their affection for one another. After reading the article and watching the story on one of the news channels I found it very strange that no one was addressing several glaring issues that I saw as I learned of it.

As one of my coworkers and I discussed this situation when she brought it to my attention, we both said the same thing. "There's more to this than meets the eye." The news story said that she'd asked the school if she could bring her girlfriend to the prom as her date. What school has students clearing their dates through the administration prior to bringing them to the prom? The mere fact that she asked says that both she feels that what she wanted to do was wrong and she needed to get permission to do so. Or she had a desire to cause a stir and controversy by presenting this issue for consideration. As soon as I found that the ACLU was involved I made the statement that they'd probably put her up to this just to grab some headlines.

Then I read people making statements like, "…what's next; outlawing interracial dating at the prom?" I'm so sick of folks comparing ethnicity to sexual PREFERENCE. I don't care if you're gay, straight, bisexual or trisexual; do what you do. But stop trying to drag me into your battles because of my skin color. Let's clarify something here. If you're homosexual (LGBT or whatever you want to be called this week) and you walk into a room no one knows, or needs to know, your sexual preference. They won't know unless you CHOOSE to make it known. When I walk into a room, everyone with the sense of sight knows I'm a black man whether I say it or not, whether I want them to know or not. My point is this, heterosexuals don't run around throwing up in other folks faces that they're heterosexual, I'd venture to say that a lot of homosexuals don't either. However, should you choose to, deal with what comes with the revelation you share.

I wouldn't have cancelled the prom if I were an administrator at this school or in this district. Nor would I have entertained the notion of changing the rules that were in place at the school. The young lady had a choice, she made it and she would have had to deal with it. Everyone reading this had at least a couple of groups of girls who went to prom together as a group. They didn't ask anyone for permission to do what they did, this girl was trying to cause a commotion and she should have been left to deal with the quandary she put herself and her girlfriend in. The prom would have and should have gone on without her and her date. I won't even get into the fact that she was 18 and her girlfriend was either 15 or 16. Hmmm…in most states that's illegal. Guess there are some things that are allowed in Mississippi that this girl doesn't have issue with and she's happy to take advantage of.

It's Just My Opinion, But I'm Not Wrong.

Blame It on the Rain…Blame It on Someone

I recently heard about a school district that thought they'd open the eyes of teachers in a particular school by firing all of the teachers at one particular school because of low performance scores by students of this school . They fired approximately 80 instructional personnel because they didn't take the suggestions of the administration. To be more specific, they didn't comply with some of the district's demands in order to try something different for the students. Here's what they suggested:

• Add an hour to each school day and make this extra hour instructional
  


• Add an hour weekly for tutoring outside of the regular hours worked
  


• Have teachers to eat lunch with the students daily to engage them more
  

I believe there were a few other suggestions they made, but these were the glaring ones that hit me over the head like a brick. THESE ARE GREAT IDEAS!!!!! Then comes the ignorant part…they want them to do these things with no extra pay involved.

A district spokesperson advised that these teachers needed to be more involved in the lives of their students so that they can find out what's going on with them and aide them in raising their test scores/grades. I know someone reading this will say, what's the problem? Why can't they just do it? What's wrong with having lunch with your students?

Being the husband of a teacher, I take exception to these suggestions, especially since they were asking these things of the teachers without any offer of remuneration. Teachers are already grossly underpaid for all that they do; and these idiots want more FOR FREE!!! Not only are they underpaid, but then every teacher I know spends money out of their own pocket for instructional needs and needs for kids that aren't provided from home. This is so prevalent that the IRS gives each teacher a line item deduction of about $2,500 without needing to substantiate these costs. [If you want to claim more than that you need receipts] Each year I ask HR Block if the laws have changed and I can finally claim the ISD on my taxes as a dependent. Not to mention the raggedy healthcare benefits they provide.

For a teacher to just cover themselves (health, vision and dental) the cost is approximately $1,000 a month in some school districts. A teacher is almost forced to marry someone in corporate just to have decent insurance at a reasonable cost. Someone help me understand why each ISD is negotiating insurance plans for their employees. Every town, city, village, hamlet will have schools and teachers. So, why aren't they put on the plan that the state employees are on? That would give them a larger pool of folks to bargain with and therefore get a lower price for more coverage. Oh yea, I forgot, the district wouldn't get the kickbacks they get from the carriers. Interesting how that happens.

I say it's time that parents get back involved with their kid's lives, education and moral well being. The education of a generation is not just the responsibility of the teachers in the classroom. It is the responsibility of the whole community, whether directly or indirectly. Parents have to talk to teachers; they have to prepare their kids for life today so they can be a success tomorrow. Blaming teachers for the failure of the parents and the kids, or even worse, the system isn't the answer. How about this, get those moronic windbags out of the administration office and put them back in the classroom and see if they can get the scores up. I doubt it…more often than not these people fit into one of two categories. Either they haven't been in the classroom for more than 10 years or they have never been I the classroom. Either way the kids will suffer. I'm normally never o the side f the union, but in this case, I agree with them for standing up for these teachers and encouraging them to ignore the suggestions that were made by people who won't do what they themselves suggested. Kids are a gift and should be nurtured, taught and molded to be productive men and women [one day]. While there are those that will be rotten regardless of what you teach, there are those that simply need a word of encouragement to make it through. Teacher everywhere had to stand up and cheer for these teachers saying NO, we won't be taken advantage of. I say they fire the superintendent and some of the school board members and see where that gets them. We need to revamp our whole mindset on education. Stop blaming teachers for underperforming kids who grow up in environments that are not conducive to learning and in households where education isn't fostered, encouraged or even a priority; having parents that could care less about their child being mediocre, much less excelling educationally. Stop blaming others for the poor decisions of kids and start holding them responsible for the direction in which they are headed. Why you ask? They can't learn if they're not given the opportunity to learn, or they aren't pushed to be better.

It's Just My Opinion, but I'm Not Wrong!