which I had not seen (she brought it over to correct that)

Good girl.

Oh man, this is just a clusterfuck of FAIL

A mother is angry about a trip led by the head football coach at Breckinridge County High School. The coach took about 20 players on a school bus late last month to his church, where nearly half of them — including her son — were baptized.

Michelle Ammons said her 16-year-old son was baptized without her knowledge and consent, and she is upset that a public school bus was used to take players to a church service — and that the school district's superintendent was there and did not object.

...

[Superintendent Janet] Meeks said she would have sought the consent of parents for the baptism of students if they had been "7 or 8 or 9" years old. But she didn't think it was necessary for the players who are "16 or 17."

She said that if Robert's parents didn't know that the outing was going to include a revival service it was because "he apparently was not forthcoming with his parents."

[link]

As infuriating as the whole thing is, it's the superintendent that's REALLY mind-boggling. Would have sought permission if the kids had been younger? LADY, there's this little thing called separation of church and state that you seem to be neatly avoiding. Not to mention, nice attempt at shifting blame back onto the parents-- the "Well, if you didn't know, it's because your kid doesn't trust you."

::boggles::

Sunset Boulevard was FANTASTIC!

As infuriating as the whole thing is, it's the superintendent that's REALLY mind-boggling.

As far as I can remember - my entire public school education, including AFTER I turned 18 (which was BEFORE I graduated as a senior), the school was legally required to have WRITTEN CONSENT from my mom to either 1) leave campus during school hours, or 2) participate in any activity that wasn't part of the state-approved educational curriculum.

• MY* age had nothing to do with it; it may be infuriating to some people, but in WA schools were invested with some of the same responsibilities as day-care...they don't get to make any decisions that would normally fall to parents.

Any teacher or coach or superintendent that was part of THAT clusterfuck would be not only out of a job, but probably up on charges.

I'm not just boggled. I'm audibly sputtering; my co-workers are asking if I choked on my coffee.

Just finished a tasty holiday brunch of eggs scrambled with crumbled bacon, onions, garlic, cheese and thyme. Accompanied by homemade hash browns made with the bacon drippings. mmmmmm.

Barb, I just read about that this morning. Sadly, I'm not surprised at the willful stupidity of the coach, or even the superintendent. However, I am surprised that the superintendent did NOT do a post-mortem attempt to cover the district's ass by saying, "Oh, yeah, that was wrong and the district doesn't approve of it."

But she belongs to that church, and it IS the Bible Belt, so there you are.

Sunset Boulevard was FANTASTIC!

One of my top ten. Maybe even top five. It bears repeat viewings.

We're at a baseball game and it's another gorgeous day in Portland.

It bears repeat viewings.

That's why she owns it. So she's got very good taste.

MY* age had nothing to do with it; it may be infuriating to some people, but in WA schools were invested with some of the same responsibilities as day-care...they don't get to make any decisions that would normally fall to parents.

Which is exactly as it should be.

Any teacher or coach or superintendent that was part of THAT clusterfuck would be not only out of a job, but probably up on charges.

Also exactly as it should be.

Sadly, I'm not surprised at the willful stupidity of the coach, or even the superintendent.

The coach, no, definitely not surprised at the willful stupidity there, but OMG, the superintendent's arrogance is absolutely mind-boggling to me. Church member or no, if she's got a parent breathing fire down her neck, she should be full of deference and "We're so sorry, Mrs. Ammons, it was a grave mistake and the district most definitely doesn't approve."

Then again, I grew up in the heathen confines of Miami-- I was shocked when Lewis told me that they used to say the Lord's Prayer over the stadium loudspeakers before every football game when he was in high school. Public high school in Pensacola. Also Bible Belt-y. That sort of thing would have been absolutely unheard of in Miami.