They baited them and duped them. And then they laughed at them.
An “error in judgment,” as public school board director Warren Kennedy called it?
No, what a group of teachers at Roseland Public School did to students in Grade 8 was mean, callous and twisted.
The graduating class is flying to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, the kids were led to believe. A dream trip! They were shown a PowerPoint presentation and a video on the famous resort, as The Windsor Star’s Doug Schmidt reported. Brochures and hotel information were passed out. There’s a great deal on flights, they were told.
Where are we going? the students were asked. “We’re going to Disney!” they all yelled.
Imagine the thrill, the anticipation. This isn’t a rich neighbourhood. Almost a quarter of the kids come from lower-income households, according to an Education Ministry profile of the school. Some of these kids have probably never been on a plane. Some of them have probably never been to Toronto, let alone Florida. Some of these kids’ families probably can’t afford to take them to Disney World.
Why did the students believe it? Because their teachers told them.
Then came the big finale: Nah, you’re not going to Disney World for your class trip. We’re just playing with you. You’re going bowling. Ha! Ha! Ha!
Imagine not only the crushing disappointment, but the utter humiliation – at the hands of adults they trusted. And then, still chuckling, the teachers, who had recorded the whole thing, showed the recording to another class so those kids, too, could have a good laugh at the expense of the luckless victims.
Who does this? Maybe immature teens and crass reality TV. Adults don’t do this, not to kids. And teachers – role models – certainly don’t do this to students.
We look to teachers to inspire our kids. We tell our kids to listen to their teachers. We tell them they can trust teachers. We teach students to respect not only their teachers but their classmates. These teachers just threw all that out the window.
We tell kids over and over and over that we don’t tolerate bullies. We spend all kinds of money on programs about bullying.
But that’s exactly what these teachers were: bullies.
And this, after teachers have held students hostage all year over their contract dispute with the government, refusing to supervise clubs or coach teams, even complete progress reports.
They certainly seemed to spend a lot of time on their elaborate hoax – the PowerPoint presentation, the video, the brochures. Is this how they spend precious prep time, when they’re supposed to be planning lessons or marking papers? Or do they have too much time on their hands since they’re not supervising clubs and coaching sports?
In four months, these students will graduate from Grade 8. Is this how they’ll remember elementary school?
More importantly, when these kids think of teachers and school, will this be a defining moment? I hope not because they have too many years of school left, and it’s simply too important. But I don’t know how they’ll be able to respect and trust their teachers again any time soon.
How the board deals with this will be a defining moment. It will set the tone for schools. This was principal Laura Bates’s response: “This is something we’re working through.” This was board director Warren Kennedy’s response: “They’re owning the problem.” What does this mean? Is it some sort of education jargon?
It comes down to this: Are we teaching respect and caring for others? Are we teaching responsibility for actions? Or is it, ‘Do as I say and not as I do?’ Because if that’s what it is, we’ve just humiliated these kids all over again. We might as well drop the pretense about bullying.
Every student and their parents deserve an apology from the teachers and the principal. And they deserve to know what the consequences will be.
And yeah, they deserve a darn good class trip, not just for this stunt, but for a whole year of cancelled clubs and teams.Find Windsor Star on Facebook