So what so think about Kick a Ginger Day?
Seems several middle school kids were injured today because they have ewd hair.
Patty....you owe Ginger Day an apology....drunk and a bad typist perhaps, but not a liar. (and Ginger, if you weren't drunk, you have my apologies, too)
http://www.whdh.com/story/30574077/melrose-students-allegedly-attacked-for-having-red-hair
I had to remove "so disgusting's" post because it violated Channel 7's copy right infringement policy. Here is the original post without the story but includes the link to the story.
This falls on the administration for allowing such a horrible environment to be fostered, on the community for allowing such horrible administrators to keep their jobs even after multiple federal civil rights violations have been determined, and on the parents who are raising monsters like the ones who did this. It's too easy just to blame the kids, as the administration keeps doing with its dangerously provocative and atrociously managed race assemblies like they just did. The lame, incoherent letter from the administration at the end only amplifies this. This is on the adults! Shame on them!
http://www.whdh.com/story/30574077/melrose-students-allegedly-attacked-for-having-red-hair
Melrose students allegedly attacked for having red hair
Posted: Nov 20, 2015 10:41 PM
Updated: Nov 21, 2015 1:18 AM
Reported by Susan Tran
(STORY REMOVED DUE TO WHDH LEGAL POLICY AS FOLLOWS: (Copyright (c) 2015 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.) )
Subject:Incidents Today
A message from MELROSE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Dear Parents and Guardians,
I want to share with you some information regarding incidents that occurred today at MVMMS.
I received numerous reports that some students had been physically kicked today because of the color of their hair. This behavior was encouraged through a TV show and some students had found references to it on Facebook. Some students made poor decisions to take this information and act upon it physically with other students.
I made a school wide announcement to clearly articulate that this behavior must stop immediately. I shared my shock and disappointment regarding the behavior and explained to students that kicking someone is considered an assault. My message further highlighted that we are a school where everyone belongs and it had sadden me that some of our students would engage in such an egregious and thoughtless act that was clearly meant to marginalize a group of students. Students were assured efforts and resources will be utilized to prevent these acts from occurring again and that aggressors would receive consequences for their actions.
I wanted you to be aware of this incident so that you can help to support your child with positive conversations at home.
Thank you for your attention.
Jaime Parsons
Assistant Principal
And I apologize to the original poster for thinking his/her comment was a lie. I guess I was so incredulous that something like this would actually be true. But the truth is stranger than fiction. Thank you poster for posting this. Again my sincere apologies....and as a fellow red head I thank you.
Every parent of a child that was victimized because their child is a red head should go down to Malden District Court on Monday morning and file a criminal complaint against their child's aggressor! The school district WILL DO NOTHING!
And I’ll tell you what will happen since I’ve had to represent children in Melrose years ago who were bullied. The perpetrators will not be arrested, nor will the complaint be documented on their public record because they are under age. So if anyone has any qualms and may feel bad that “kids will be kids” or “I don’t want this to go on any child’s permanent record” it won’t unless that perpetrator has a prior history of violent assaults or other offenses. In which case it should.
What WILL happen is that a hearing will be scheduled before a magistrate or a judge. The perpetrators will have to come down to the court with their parents (and have to pay for a lawyer) and face you and your child and explain why they did what they did. Trust me. The kids and their parents will be scared ****less and the judge will rip the parents AND the perpetrators a new one. Judges HATE this crap! The kids will be ordered to do community service and after 3 to 6 months, if they stay out of trouble, the case will be dropped.
So what do you have to lose as a parent if your ginger was assaulted?? NOTHING! Standing up for your children lets them know that you have their back and will protect them. It sends a message to the perpetrator’s parents that their child needs guidance and this is a time for them to take responsibility for their child’s actions and parent.
Its unfortunate that the school committee and school administration's policy of illegally intimidating and retaliating against students and parents for lodging complaints about bullying, harassment, educator misconduct and various other types of civil rights violations has forced parents to address their complaints instead with the local press, state and federal officials in order to safely seek corrective action. This will continue until those who promote this policy by their actions are removed from our school district and city government.
Superintendent of schools
Assistant Superintendent of schools
Horace Mann Principal
City Solicitor
Mayor
SC Chair
SC finance chair
Get a load of this!!! Rebecca Mooney (Director of the "Melrose Alliance Against Violence") posted this little gem of advice on the facebook page "Real Moms of Melrose" in response to a poster posting that her friend's child had come home on Friday with bruises on her shins from being kicked.
Rebecca Mooney: "If she hasn't done so already, your friend needs to report this to the principal ASAP."
My reply post:
"Ms. Mooney, as the Director of “Melrose Alliance Against Violence”, you should be encouraging parents to report those incidents to the police as the School District has already admitted to Channel 7 they consider them to be “assaults”. How much more shame as a community will we have to bare until something is done? What will your group be doing to address this ugliness? And I ask this same question to the “Melrose Human Rights Commission”.
I hear crickets, Patty! These groups are all in the "bag" with the current administration and associated groups. They want their community to look good no matter if it involves cover-ups! You noted a fine example of these cover-ups by so-called responsible heads of organizations who are suppose to acknowledge and prevent these incidents. The hypocrisy is stunning and incredible!
THIS STRING AND THE ACTIONS OF THE KIDS PICKING ON OTHER KIDS IN SCHOOL IS ALL ONE IN THE SAME. WHITE TRASH MELROSE AT ITS FINEST. FROM THE BULLIES ON THE BLOG (on both sides of the nastiness on this site) to the bullies in the classroom. Pure white trash, including the originators of MM. Fortunately its a small percentage of the community.
Its sad to see the previous poster obviously aligned with the Melrose's corrupt administration and other so called human rights groups who claim to be standard bearers of civility but who stood by silently over the last couple of years and did absolutely nothing as Melrose children and their parents repeatedly became targets of the school administration and city solicitor for simply filing complaints. I guess we shouldn't have had any higher expectations from the "White Trash Melrose Mom" poster. Fortunately, this poster and her friends who support this type of behavior by looking the other away and sweeping it all under the rug rather than calling out the offenders are thankfully a small percentage of our community.
Myron, are you calling Ms Mooney a hypocrite and would you do so to her face?
To Truth - I think Ms. Mooney can speak for herself! Let's first see what she does about this information. I'm hearing crickets again!
Exactly what I thought.
To be honest with you, the kids just need to be scared a bit, a suspension and some public service and they will understand this behavior is not socially acceptable in a civil society. The judicial system at this age can have negative psychiatric consequences for a child. This is why it is outrageous that the superintendent's office actively participates in intimidating victims of educator misconduct by filing bogus harassment charges or false police reports against children (and parents too) as soon as they realize the victim's complaints are valid. Apparently, the city's legal counsel believes this is a clever way to get complainants to go away. What they don't understand is these are criminal offenses under Federal and State law and is considered child abuse by OCF. Lets focus on the real problem in Melrose, school administrators and city hall employees who illegally retaliate.
A couple of years ago seniors who skipped school and got drunk during the day were not punished. The "connected" parents pressured the SC, police, Dolan and Farrell to cave. Perhaps history is repeating itself.... Who are the kids who assaulted their red haired classmates? Are parents again protecting their "darlings"? It will be interesting to see if the FP or Weekly News covers this story. I hope Rebecca Mooney/ MAAV are working behind the scenes. Their Facebook page related to the incidents seemed somewhat tepid and was posted only after they were publicly asked for action.
If you think for a minute that RM/MAAV will take appropriate action, or that the HRC will, you are seriously deluded. RM parties and vacations with the family of the "connected" Sr Skip day ringleader, the same family that hosts the MAAV board for their summer "retreats" and the same family of attys who were kicked out of a restaurant last year when the prosecutor dad tried to insist that the restaurant give booze to his alcohol-abusing underage child using his muscle and influence (nice that it didn't work!). This is all part of the same cabal linked to RD's appointees heading up the various commissions, including liquor, substance abuse, etc., who knowingly contribute to the alcohol/substance abuse of their own kids, some of the most out-of-control ragers around. Then they parade around for their sanctimonious Walks and remain mysteriously silent when it counts.
I don't know about the senior skip day or the connection of the organizations to the city admin but I did notice that neither the HRC nor the MAAV group came out & said anything strongly against the ginger day or that assembly.
There is some weak a** posting on the MAAV facebook page from the Westford K-5th public school documents.
But is that the best you can do? Cut & paste another town's info directed at younger grades?
It's disappointing. Why have these groups if they're not even going to commit to a strong statement? Or maybe some action?
Personally, I don't care about seniors skipping school & getting drunk.
If they are not driving.
I do care when children are attacked at school during the school day in the place that is required to keep them safe. The school.
I'd wondered if that MAAV was fake. They seem all about the publicity and raising funds for god knows what. Something told me not to donate to them & now I know why.
The HRC is under the radar for me. I guess they have that multi-cultural dinner that several years ago got in trouble for not welcoming people. The people who have lived in Melrose long term. It was advertised as immigrant only which was offensive.
Speaking of the High school, did this Kick a Ginger thing spill over to the High school? Did Principal Farrell respond?[:-?]
Parents in this city are CRAZY. Who the hell would splash their kids face on the news... That mother just threw her poor kids to the wolves. Better send him private now lady.
More effective and safer for parents to just go to the press now or DOE's Office of Civil Rights. School administration just files retaliatory harassment charges or files a false police report against the child or parents or both if they dare file a complaint. Thanks Superintendent Taymore. Thanks City solicitor Van Campen. This is what it has come to.
Yikes Channel 5 Boston now has report on "Ginger Day" !
Jeesh! Now Melrose will be on the national map for this incident. Right up there with California. Districts in other states will be using Melrose as a "primer" of what not to do. Hope the Office of Civil Rights is paying attention.
[:-?]
Personally I am glad the word is out.
Check out the "You know you're from Melrose when...if" public Facebook page. There is a post by someone that identifies as a police officer and his post says:
"Moral of this story: If you look like Bozo....you get your ass whooped......Just sayin...."
I hope this person really is not a police officer. Very bad example.
That sounds like something on the Uncensored page!
Well...now this is on the radio news every 10 minutes...WBZ Radio 1030 am
Gee....why is everyone making a big deal out of all this? If you tuned in to see the school committee meeting of Tuesday, November 24th (on MMTV), when Ms. Taymore read a prepared statement about the event - then Chair Thorp - after it was read - asked if there was any discussion - crickets! I guess they don't think that it was even worthy of discussion! Nothing to see here folks - move along. This is the worse kept secret in the Melrose School system.
The Thanksgiving edition of today's Boston Globe has an article on page 2. Attempts to hide another incident (along with the city and school administration's ability to handle the situation with courage and professionalism) has failed. The cat is out of the bag and "Ginger Day" cannot not be "handled" easily, quickly or in the usual manner preferred by Melrose "leaders".
Quoting Mayor Dolan, School Superintendent Taymore, and Chair person of the School Committee, Kristin Thorp - "Move along people, nothing to see here!"
Looks to me like, "Three Blind Mice" - only this is not a fairy tale but real life.
Again, all about the kids who for the most part very good kids respectful and behaved, perhaps a dozen or less trouble makers here. However, never any coverage about the brave students and teachers who actually risk filing reports to the administration (despite the administration's well known reputation for retaliating and intimidating the victims and reporters of wrong doing)and are immediately retaliated against by the administration and city solicitor's office.
That's a big story that will never get reported in the newspapers...or maybe....
How about consistency? The administration looks the other way when one of the special well connected students violate the code of conduct.
Believe me, the administration does more than just look away when one of the well connected students, educators or administrators violates the code of conduct. They bully and harass the victim and their family if they report it to the school administration. Then everyone piles on starting with the aggressor, and as you move on up the hierarchy (principal, assistant superintendent, superintendent) the harassment actually gets worse, usually ending up with the city solicitor getting involved and you or a family member suddenly ending up in court on false harassment charges and with a false police report filed against you for good measure. You'll be so tired of paying for lawyers and missing work to appear in court that you won't have time to take action against them. This administration and city solicitor consider a good offense to be the best defense. So to beat them at their own game. It is easier to just go right to the US Department of Education's Office of Civil rights. Don't kid yourself thinking there is a process for filing complaints here in Melrose Public Schools. The school handbook is just window dressing so that they can say they are in compliance with State and Federal Law (which they are not).
MHS students who have not violated the rules are waiting and watching.
What unmitigated crap, KF!
Any parent who honestly thinks they can prevent a student beyond 4th grade (or maybe younger) from watching South Park (the same parents who give their children smartphones and pay no attention to what is actually going on in their lives) is naive beyond hope.
Make your targeted and personal accusations about PW since you are so compelled to do this (she offers herself up as an easy target by being honest, which is a cardinal sin in this disgrace of a community), but know that there are many, many residents and officials and media people very grateful to her for generously making this site possible at her own expense and for her brave stands over many years, regardless of whether one agrees with all of them.
You have an obvious agenda, and it's easy to see who you are defending and why. Thanks to PW you have the right to do so here. That, however, does not mean you are in the moral right.
Remember this TV show? Yes, the South Park of our time. Kids will always be watching stuff like this.
By the way, this is not a kid or parent problem in this city. It is the kids and the parents that are the victims of the school administration. Try to file a complaint with your principal or the superintendent's office about bullying, harassment or other misconduct by a teacher, administrator or politically connected child and you will pay the price. This is no joke. Retaliation is quite frankly out of control in this school administration. OCR should hand this over to the Department of Justice. It is that bad. [:-|]
According to my word jumble program, Ginger spelled sideways is ------
[:))]
Thanks to Ms. Kourkoumelis again for standing up for Democracy against Mayor Dolan's Fiefdom. Apparently (and unbelievably), the vote for the new SC chair has taken place before the two new members have even been sworn in, making the vote invalid, (but then again this is Melrose politics) and essentially preventing new members-elect from being nominated or nominating themselves for SC chair, as they have no legal standing yet until sworn in in January. And of course, Mayor Dolan immediately nominated( pre-selected) his SC stooge for the next two years to replace Kristen Thorp...none other than...you guessed it: Margaret Driscoll. As she has done as Chair of the Finance Committee, MD will carry the mayor's torch of anti-transparency, anti- public participation, anti-open meeting, anti-democracy, anti-deliberation...you get it. The McCarthyist Norms will be employed by MD with vigor to tamp down us lowly taxpayers from participating in our own government.
As Ms. Kourkoumelis stated at the meeting"... With all due respect to our bylaws, or our other documents of governance, I believe that this process (the vote for SC chair) occurring before our two new members have even been sworn into office, whether or not it is in our bylaws, whether or not any organization, MASC or otherwise thinks that this is okay, I really think this process is not legitimate. I will abstain from this process. I don't feel that it is appropriate, I think that it really does harm to us as a school committee that we are functioning in this way tonight. Thank you."
Just FYI. Driscoll has already been chair once before, to the enormous detriment of the school system and community. She was found to be in violation of the law by the Attorney General's office. She acted with total contempt towards the public and towards Mr. LaRock and Ms. Kourkoumelis. She has already begun the process of behaving this way again (still), with renewed and increased zealousness. Our public should be so ashamed that this is the best it could do.
And I am sure this is exactly why Mayor Dolan immediately nominated her for the position.