BS: Youth Runs Amok

Subject: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 02 Jan 07 - 10:55 PM

This might have gone in the "Read it in the Newspaper" thread, but it's possible people might have comments ...

Headlines:
Scandal: Cheerleaders Run Amok in Texas
Boozing, bikinis and bullying: how the scandalous behavior of five high-school cheerleaders rocked a bedroom community near Dallas.
WEB EXCLUSIVE

(ho hum already?)

A rather quaint story of how 5 girls on the cheerleading squad drove 5 squad coaches in 3 years to quite, posted scandalous pictures at "MySpace" that the writer compared to "Girls Gone Wild"^***, resulted in a $40,000 bill for investigation by an attorney, resignation of the prinicpal, suspension of an assistant principal, and lots of fingerpointing and head shaking (an lots of "cluck-cluck" noises one presumes) in a small(?) typical(??) Texas community.

^*** The writers don't actually watch those do they?

Read the whole story at Scandal and see if you can figure out who did what to whom and when and where, and who should be cruxificated.

(Surely we can get some good "moral opines" out of this one - or at least a good laugh?.)

John

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Jan 07 - 11:08 PM

A payoff of $75,000 and a letter of recommendation because her daughter was an undisciplined brat? What a job! Maybe her daughter can get a job at Playboy.

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 02 Jan 07 - 11:45 PM

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ook! Ook! Undisciplined young human female cheerleaders go berserk in Texas. Ha! Ha! Ha! I love it. Didn't I see this script in at least 3 Hollywood teen exploitation movies? Send those girls to Chicago after they graduate. We can always use more sleazy dames here at the smaller nightclubs, and the southern twang can only help.

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 02:29 AM

Gosh golly gee.

I thought sure Chongo would be THE ONE who'd actually read the article.

Those girls had some cute tricks he'd be sure to find a use for.

(but a chocolate tampon for the coach? ... might be a little over the edge even for Chongo.)

John

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 09:21 AM

just the word "Texas" in the story says a lot.....a few years ago, a mom in Texas tried to ensure her daughter's place on the squad by hiring a hit man to remove her opposition.

I don't think my 85 page synopsis of the state of decline of Youth in America would be read, so I'll just say....*tsk*

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 11:01 AM

Texas may well be one of the few places left in the US where being a cheerleader is enough of a highschool status symbol to allow toleration of such behavior. During my highschool days our cheerleaders were, without doubt, the best-looking, most popular girls on campus. But the cheerleaders I saw at my step-son's highschool basketball games were a very motley lot. I definitely got the impression that, at his school at least, cheerleading just isn't as cool as it used to be.

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 11:06 AM

I say congratulations - theres many a showbiz professional(including a few on our own po-faced UK folk scene) who would be pleased to get that much mileage from 'a glimpse of panties'.

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 06:29 PM

[sigh]

Sports is still king in Texas, and the affiliated cheerleaders do run amok. But I don't think Texas is alone in having large numbers of children growing up without much responsible adult supervision.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: GUEST,Derek in TX
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 06:25 PM

Hey Bill D.!

Not everything in Texas is represented by these brats. North McKinney just happens to be home of "new money", with families with million dollar houses and BMW's and up to their eyeballs in debt. Fortunately, they were all transferred in from Chighetto, Des Moines, Orlando, L.A., and probably wherever you're from. Please come visit and see for yourself. Then go home.....

...and add a line or two about "The Decline of Parenting in America"

D

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 06:30 PM

I had a chance to work in Texas once...but other than in Austin, I wouldn't consider it. I know there are many fine people in Texas, but the overall culture & value system are pretty foreign to me. I'd say the wrong thing and get myself in a HEAP of trouble.
   (I barely got out of Kansas in time! *grin*)

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: GUEST,BillyBobsButthole
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 07:54 PM

Everything is bigger in Texas. To this city boy here in Bush country (That'd be Connecticut, shucks) it sounds like you Texas folks just can't handle your women, sort of like that Ann Richards.
Of course it could simply be the cheerleaders were on a drive, and one saw a snake and simply got spooked and stampeded.
I'd love to chat till the Walabees came home, but I've got to hop in the Chevvy and pick me up a load of chocolate tampons down at the feed mill at the Mall. It seems Granny can't get enough of those.
BBB

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: GUEST,Derek in TX
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 08:36 PM

...and I have Googled the heck out of "chocolate tampon" and still don't know what it is!

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 09:11 PM

We'll need to ask one of our more knowledgeable connoiseurs for a catalog reference...

I'm sure we have several experts on chocolate.

I think the article made reference to a "Condoms To Go" store where the girls put on an act. I'd suspect they have a "complete inventory" of offerings. Maybe that's where they got it?

John

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 01:49 AM

Many communities in Texas have banned sexually explicit businesses as much as possible. The cheerleaders may have had to travel to find the store (The City of Mansfield and northwest Fort Worth and beyond on Jacksboro Highway are the hot spots in Tarrant County, west of Dallas County and McKinney).

And in Texas sex toys are illegal. Idiots in the legislature worry about this stuff instead of how to finance public schools and fund health programs for children and other uninsured.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 02:51 AM

"And in Texas sex toys are illegal"

Now that's something I didn't know. I thought all you Americans were really into free enterprise. I can't believe you wouldn't have some retail outlets for that sort of thing. Its a huge business, and you don't allow it.........?

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 03:36 AM

Condoms to Go: Dallas?

Local Stores in Texas

Seem to be mostly in the Dallas area, but I'm not familiar with all the little towns/suburbs etc.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 08:20 AM

"a bedroom community near Dallas" - that's a new one on me. I've heard of "dormitory communities", but "bedroom" makes it sound like Desperate Housewives. Perhaps that's the idea...

No doubt there'll be a movie inspired by this. And no doubt this was inspired by a previous movie. And so the circle goes round and round.

I know it's the next state over from Texas, but perhaps a new version of OKIE FROM MUSCOGEE is called for.

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 09:24 AM

"Bedroom community" has become a common term in North America.

As for the cheerleaders - this sort of stuff goes on in schools all the time. Well, some of the schools all the time, and all the schools some of the time, but not all of the schools all of the time. Must've been a pretty slow news day ...

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 01:50 PM

Bedroom communities is another term for suburb, though they tend to be established along transit lines, interstate highways, commuter rail, etc. for folks who commute work in the nearby large city.

If an object is called a sex toy then it is illegal to sell--it has to be "novelty". But most department and grocery stores sell all sorts of personal products sold as massagers and such. They aren't even called novelties, they are just there and it is up to the shopper to know what they are. In particular, the Wahl company has devices that were particularly developed to be used as vibrators (the history is available at the online museum at Good Vibrations, a Berkely, California store and mail order business). It's funny that Albertson's grocery store hasn't sold Playboy for many years, but they've always had vibrators on the shelf right near the toasters and alarm clocks. :)

Here is a recent story that describes the problem.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: dianavan
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 02:14 PM

Why was this girl allowed to attend the school where her mother was principal? Seems to me that its a conflict of interest and there should be a policy regarding this.

It happens that the children of teachers also attend the school where a parent teaches. This is really wrong! Here's an incident that happened in my school.

I observed the teacher's kid choking another kid by twisting a necklace around the throat. I quickly intervened and told the supervision aid to take the offender to the principal and I'd follow after attending to the victim. When I followed (a few minutes later)to explain the incident, the teacher/mother had interrupted the procedure and was discussing the problem with her child in the hall.

Our school has a zero violence policy and the child would have been suspended but...

When I explained to the principal the entire story, he simply said, "Thats the kind of thing that happens when parents are on staff." End of story. I was lucky I wasn't accused of professional misconduct for going to the principal instead of the fellow teacher.

Hats off to the teacher who quit her job and went to the media.

I'm going to write a book when I retire.

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 02:20 PM

Many Texas children attend the schools where their parents teach. It generally isn't considered a problem, and teachers get waivers from their districts so they can bring their children to school even though they might live in a different district. Normally you can only attend in the district where you live and pay taxes, and if you transfer you pay the equivalent of what you'd pay in taxes living there.

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 04:58 PM

That story dianavan guves there sounds like it might be quite good practice. Of course that might depend on what it was the teacher/mother was saying tio her kid, and what happened afterwards.

But "I was lucky I wasn't accused of professional misconduct for going to the principal instead of the fellow teacher" - that sounds as if dianavan must have a really pretty useless Teachers Union.

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 05:15 PM

Lots of teachers' kids attend the same schools their parents teach at. In many, if not most, cases, it would impose an unnecessary inconvenience on the family to require the kids to go to different schools. I went to the school my mother taught in; in fact, I was in her class one year; my son was in my class for a semester. It doesn't have to be any kind of a problem. In the incident dianavan talks about, it looks like the problem was not that a teacher had a kid in the same school, but that the principal had no backbone. And that, sad to say, IS a common problem.

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: dianavan
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 02:19 PM

McGrath - Teachers have a code of ethics. The union is a good union but professional standards state that before going to an administrator, you must first discuss the problem with the teacher. I should have discussed my concerns with the parent/teacher before complaining to the principal but I was on my way to a class. I went to the principal to see if it had been reported.

The teacher in question was simply intervening to avoid sending her child to the principal for discipline and/or suspension.

Choking another child on school property is not a trivial matter.

What about the victim? Did the mother go to the principal and explain what had happened? No! Did the mother talk to the victim or the victims family? No! She never discussed it with the principal at all.

Yes, I too, taught in the same school that my daughter attended. It was very convenient but I had to carefully explain that she was not to seek me out during school hours to sort out her problems and that she was to conduct herself as if I wasn't there. It was only for a year.

I'm sorry, but when you are the child of a teacher in the school, you are given special treatment - peers and teachers give preferential treatment to that student to avoid conflict. Its a no brainer and a definite conflict of interest - no matter how professional you are.

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 02:59 PM

I'm sorry, but when you are the child of a teacher in the school, you are given special treatment - peers and teachers give preferential treatment to that student to avoid conflict. Its a no brainer and a definite conflict of interest - no matter how professional you are.

In your opinion, despite evidence offered to the contrary.

Just to set the record straight.

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 11:44 PM

"Yes, I too, taught in the same school that my daughter attended. ... "

Do you feel that your daughter got "special treatment"? It is unclear from your post.

I couldn't count the number of kids I've taught whose parents I've worked with - sorry, I just don't see all this "special treatment" ... certainly not to the point that some broad new policy is required to deal with it.

I think your concern about the code of ethics is exaggerated. As you say, you "went to the principal to see if [the incident] had been reported". That is perfectly legitimate, since you were involved in it from the beginning and had directed that it be taken to the office, and if you recounted the incident that you were inquiring about, that too is legitimate; how else would the principal know what you were talking about? Unless, of course, you presented the matter to the principal as a complaint against your colleague - then it COULD be argued that it was a breach of the ethics code. At the same time, you could counter with a charge that your colleague was undermining your authority by intervening in a situation that you had in effect already dealt with - there must a clause in the code that she was contravening there. Anyway, unless you have some real dingbats running your union, I doubt they would do anything worse than give you a call and ask for your side of the story. Anyone with half a brain could understand why you would be reluctant to confront this mother/teacher, and because of the (unprofessional) way she blurred her roles, it would be unclear how the ethics code applies.

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: dianavan
Date: 07 Jan 07 - 03:41 AM

This happened a quite a while ago but I thought it was a similar situation to that in the original post. Its not something that usually happens when teachers work at their child's school but its a case of a few bad apples ...

Thank goodness, my situation didn't go to the union because I could not have defended myself as well as you, meself.

Personally, I did not like the special status that my daughter was given as the child of a teacher. Regardless, if it actually is a conflict of interest, it certainly could be perceived as such - especially where discipline is concerned.

When it comes to discipline, all students should be treated equally. This is obviously not always the case.

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 07 Jan 07 - 07:19 AM

" ... I could not have defended myself as well as you, meself" - Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but anyway, I'm actually better at defending other people than I am at defending myself. My first impulse is always to plead guilty as charged ...

Subject: RE: BS: Youth Runs Amok
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jan 07 - 11:14 AM

meself, you should go ahead and join the Mudcat. It would make PMs possible.