The school was really worried about the immigration rallies

April 18, 2006

This is only tangentially a political story, but it’s probably the most bizarre report on the [tag]immigration[/tag] debate I’ve seen.

Recently, [tag]students[/tag] from several schools in southern [tag]California[/tag] staged a [tag]walk-out[/tag] as part demonstrations against congressional efforts to curb illegal [tag]immigration[/tag]. One elementary school was so worried about the kids joining the protest, it took rather extreme measures.

[O]ne Inglewood elementary school imposed a [tag]lockdown[/tag] so severe that some students were barred from using the restroom. Instead, they used [tag]buckets[/tag] placed in classroom corners or behind teachers’ desks.

Appalled by the school’s action, Worthington Elementary School parents have complained to the school board and plan to attend another board meeting next week.

Principal Angie Marquez imposed the lockdown March 27 when nearly 40,000 middle and high school students across Southern California staged walkouts.

And what a lockdown it was. Students were actually forced to use buckets in the classroom because school administrators were so concerned about children joining a protest that these drastic measures seemed like a good idea. Needless to say, the kids’ parents were not pleased.

Oddly enough, though, the school district is defending the principal’s decision.

The problem wasn’t that Principal Marquez showed poor judgment and forced kids to use buckets as toilets in the classroom; it’s that she misread the district handbook and ordered the most restrictive lockdown option — the one reserved for nuclear attacks.

Tim Brown, director of operations for the Inglewood Unified School District, confirmed that some students were forced to use the buckets but said the principal’s order was an “honest mistake.”

“When there’s a nuclear attack, that’s when buckets are used,” Brown said. The principal “followed procedure. She made a decision to follow the handbook. She just misread it.”

Nuclear attack, immigration rally — if only I had a nickel for every time I got those two confused…

Having worked as a K-12 assistant public school principal for a four year period of time (ending two years ago), I find this both laughable AND appalling. This particular principal’s decision is so far out of what is (and should be) expected that s/he must be relieved of duty. Did no one at the Central and/or Superintendent’s Office anticipate these student walkouts and provide some advance written instructions to their staff? Somebody screwed up IN ADDITION TO this particular principal.

Every profession has its idiots and scoundrels that unfairly (and very misleadingly) paint the rest with a very broad brush; this principal certainly qualifies!!

  • Wow!

    The notion in the 21st century that restricting kids to one room will save them from fallout and radiation poisoning for more than maybe ? a day ?

    I think the idea stinks, the handbook stinks and I suspect the classrooms stink 😉

  • Worthington ELEMENTARY?!! Like K-5 elementary school? 6-11 year olds? What are they going to do as a protest, shoot cap guns and braid each others hair?

    I do rest better knowing that these kids will not be exposed to radiation while hitting the head in case of nuclear attack. Wow.

  • I think the kids need to be prtected from the princepal, if it said to shoot any kids trying to leave the school would they? How much coomon sense is being used here?

  • One of the laws of organizational behavior:

    The organization must close ranks to defend the conduct of someone in the hierarchy at all hazards, at least up to the point where tangible costs are likely to accrue.

  • “Then EVERYONE will pissing in a bucket.” – Gridlock

    Actually, then no one will have a pot to piss in.

    As the old saying (for the really poor) goes.

    Bush nukes Iran. Oil goes to $100 a barrel. U.S. economy crashes. Everybody in America becomes poor. Mexico seals the border to stop U.S. citizens from illegally immigrating 😉

  • Weirdly, in the HBO movie “Walkout,” which is being credited with inspiring some of the 2006 protests and events, one of the reasons they walked out was because they kept locking the bathrooms.

  • Wow! I just realized that the “nuclear option” is shitting in a bucket rather than using a toilet! Of course some call it the constitutional option if it comes when you have to make your morning constitutional. …Or maybe this has something to do with “No Child’s Behind Left on the Toilet during a Nuclear Attack?”

  • Gridlock, no need to take such a preachy holier-than-thou tone. Lighten up and enjoy the apocalypse, man.

  • Quick question: Say you’re in a nuclear attack, do you really need a toilet or a bucket? I can’t say that would be the first thing on my mind.

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