Tossing This To My Readers…Is This Fair?

Principal issues statement after sending Calgary boy who tackled knife-wielder home

BRIAR WAS PUNISHED AT HIS SCHOOL, SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD FOR STEPPING IN A AND HELPING ANOTHER STUDENT FROM BEING STABBED TUESDAY MORNING

Credits: DARREN MAKOWICHUK/QMI AGENCY

 

CALGARY — The principal of a Calgary school where one student broke up a fight that could’ve turned into a stabbing has made a statement to parents.

On May 28, Briar MacLean, 13, a Grade 7 student at Sir John A. Macdonald school, opted for action instead of running in search of a teacher when a student pulled a knife during a fight.

After tackling the student, MacLean was sent to the school office, then home.

His mom, Leah O’Donnell, took exception to her boy being made to feel like he was in trouble, and QMI Agency readers shared that sentiment.

The school and Calgary Board of Education didn’t comment until Friday, in a letter to parents on the school’s website.

“The student who reportedly intervened was asked to remain in the office to explain what happened but was in no way disciplined,” school principal Michael Bester wrote.

“Two students were suspended as a result of their behaviour in this incident.

“It is not recommended that students intervene in incidents such as this to ensure their own safety. There was a teacher nearby who could have been asked to assist before the third student became involved.”

O’Donnell maintained MacLean was sternly lectured for “playing the hero.”

O’Donnell is still proud of her boy’s decision to step in. Weapon or no weapon, assault is assault, she said.

“If someone were punching me in the face, I’d want somebody to stop them,” she said.

Video of News

I toss this out to my readers to see what your opinion of this situation is.  Do you feel that this was handled correctly?
Did the student step over his bounds?
Should he have been suspended for his actions due to the circumstances of his reactions?

Would love to hear your reactions so leave me a comment.

Tammye Honey

Daily Prompt: Speaking to High School Alma Mater

Daily Prompt: Alma Mater

by michelle w. on April 7, 2013

You’ve been asked to speak at your high school alma mater — about the path of life. (Whoa.) Draft the speech.

Since my graduation class was so large, this is a far cry from my being the “Chosen One” to be doing this speech.  I did not come into Herkimer Senior High School in Herkimer New York until my Tenth year.  I did participate in sports.  However, the wind had been cut from my sails and I did not have the drive that I had in my previous high school where I was active in sports, chorus, the theater and other groups.

I had been pulled in the middle of my tenth year.  I landed in the hospital for three months for an exploratory surgery that went bad.  I had a stomach pump and two IV’s which I dragged along in the hospital corridors for exercise.  I had a tutor to try and keep my school work up till I returned after Spring break.

I was not out to win any popularity contests.  I was simply there to finish out my few years and get into college.  Something that was put on hold for me till my two daughters were much older and I was divorced.

My words of advice.  Do not put your dreams on hold.

Follow your dreams but be sure that they are realistic and are true to yourself.  Do not try and do something that is going to come back and make you shoot yourself in the foot later.

I appreciate having waited to go to college later in life.  Yes I was older in my class.  So was everyone else in my early morning classes.  I was able to get good grades and was able to get a good job on campus as a tutor to help supplement my costs of college.

Appreciate your skills and do not be afraid to think outside of the box for what you want in life.

Go after your dreams.  They are not going to come knocking at your door and come looking for you.

What would you say to your alma mater if you had the chance?

Would love to hear…

Here are what some of the early bird daily prompt writers had to say on the subject:

1. Daily Prompt: Alma Mater « Mama Bear Musings
2. The path of life | Taking time, making time

Tammye Honey

 

New Student, Part Two: Baby Blanket

For a student who has never sewn before to finish three projects that she can show her hubby proudly and state “I made these myself” is an accomplishment.

Perhaps it is the way that I teach, perhaps it is my patience, or just the fact that I listen to each student and their needs.

This particular student has jumped in the water instead of taking baby steps.  She is all about the learning and takes every open slot that I have.

Her next project is the baby blanket.  That type of project under other circumstances, I would discourage a new student that is fresh in the water from learning.  She is beginning to do an Olympic course of learning so that she can complete it before this baby is born.

This plus the curtains is what we achieved in six hours.

Her next session will be to apply the seam binding and then get to the new project that she has already selected which is Nursing Coverings.   Stay tuned for updates on our projects.

Thank you for reading

Tammye Honey

 

New Sewing Student

Having a new student of any age can be a challenge.  Not only for the student but also for the teacher.  Not knowing the level of what they can achieve you take it slow till you see their work.

Being creative and thinking out of the box has helped in these ventures with my students that average in age from 16 to 60.

My new student is in her twenties.  She is due in 8 weeks to have her first baby and has never sewn.

Our first project?  I taught her what a seam was by having her recover a lamp shade with her favorite material for the baby’s curtains and matching blanket.

By teaching her to use the lampshade as a pattern and using the glue gun instead of the machine, she learned to seam the pieces together to make a finished product.

A product that she will be proud of for years to come.  As the baby grows, the shade covering can be changed to meet the needs of the room.

Today is curtain day…

Finding a technique to have her sew straight and with confidence, we are trying a zig-zag across the edging to make a guide to follow when she is ready to sew.

 

Since I polish my table I was afraid that the material would be too slippery with the student first learning so I had set the machine on a table cloth.

By simply ironing the edges and smoothing out the material it made it easier for her to work.

 

By removing the table cloth after she became familiar with the machine she was able to not only guide the material but finish a complete curtain on her own.

She then felt secure enough to start the other curtain. Yeah!

 

Now she can go home and hang her curtains… stay tuned for part 2, the baby blanket.

Tammye Honey

 

 

9000 Social Security Names Were Released From School

This story is straight from the Channel 5 News station in Nashville TN http://www.newschannel5.com/story/18775033/analysis-9000-social-security-numbers-posted-in-hacking

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – A tech firm analysis of the hacking attack on the Clarksville-Montgomery County school district found that nearly 9,000 social security numbers were posted.

About 5,000 belonged to district employees, and the rest belonged to students.

The full names and student IDs of nearly 4,000 students were also exposed, and of those, about 1,30 also had their genders and birth dates exposed.

The affected students were born between April 1987 and September 1993.

The school district said they had gotten a call from Clarksville Police on Sunday afternoon that a 911 call had come in saying the personal data of 110,000 Clarksville-Montgomery County School system employees and student had been compromised.

A hacking group calling itself Spex Security posted the information of approximately 14,500 students and employees online on Monday.

All school system websites were shut down. The school system contacted the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

School officials urge individuals to closely monitor their financial accounts. Police also encourage people to double check their credit reports and financial documents, and shred any document with personal information on it.

This is a follow up story from the Clarksville school investigation that has been ongoing that I first reported on in my blog so I have ping back to that story… Sadly I am not making this up and have documented my story with the actual report included for viewing.

Please check your own school system and how protected your children and information really are.  They are not certain just how many years back this group went back and obtained information.  This is all that they published not how much information that they have.