Christmas Scrooging Becomes Christmas Cover-up

12/12/04 | justthefactsmaam

[Justthefactsmaam]

Getting away with cultural cleansing...

[Justthefactsmaam]

In the last week The Attic Theatre of Kirkland, Washington and Lake Washington High School in the Lake Washington School District have been in the regional and national news because of a Christmas scrooging incident. Reporters decended upon both organizations to get to the bottom of the story about the school principal cancelling a theatre full of students from attending the "A Christmas Carol" play. The Seattle Times and the Eastside Journal were on it, among others. Hannity (Colmes subbing for him, actually) talked about it on the radio, as did O'Reilly on The Factor. The scoop was that the principal pulled his students out a week before show time because 1. it was to take place during school hours, 2. it had been scheduled without his concent by some rogue "subordinate", 3. students were being charged a fee(although discounted), and 4. he didn't want to have to deal with the issues around letting kids go to something with a Christmas theme. It was reason #4 that got everyone's attention. The principal told all four reasons to a reporter, and then later on blamed the reporter for making it up. The first three reasons are BOGUS, so everyone anywhere near this knows the reporter (I believe it was Ken Shram) was telling the truth. The play was to take place at the end of the school day. Students frequently get charged for doing things at school and after school - all the time. Regarding scheduling, this event was put on the calendar in September and then at the last minute the principal got involved. The fact that the play was scheduled without his approval was the silliest phony reason of all since the Lake Washington High School employs a full-time theatre manager whose responsibility it is to schedule events in the theatre. Year after year the theatre manager in this high school and others schedule events without any signiture from administrators. Otherwise, why have a theatre manager? The principal actually made progress in spinning this cover-up. He brought his Defense Pastor on John Carlson to show what a good man he is, and cited reasons 1-3. Carlson softened. Dan Westneat of The Seattle Times backed off and seemed convinced when on 12/10/04 he basically recanted his previously described view that The Attic's performance was cancelled due to a (my words) cultural cleansing incident. He actually quoted Lake Washington High School Superintendant Don Saul who said the play was "booked improperly". Westneat thought he went too far, but he didn't. He had it right the first time, but he then bought a big pile of bull paddies from the school district. The real truth is that the principal made a quick, ego-centric, butt-covering decision to avoid controversy by cancelling his kids from seeing a Christmas-themed show during school hours. Then it blew up in his face. At that point he thought he needed to blame it on someone, so he chose the stage manager. He wrote a pretty negative letter to the Lake Washington High School community which he published on the school's website ("The Truth About A Christmas Carol"). It had little truth in it. It mentioned the "Subordinate" whose fault it all was. Everyone in the school community knows this subordinate is the stage manager. The principal, in case his butt wasn't covered enough by his radio talk show spins and denials and the web page letter, sent a copy of the letter to all the staff. I'd hate to be that stage manager right now - what a nice working environment to be humiliated by lies and intimidated by a bully bureaucrat. Not only is the Christmas spirit in jeapardy, friends. We also must worry about HUMILITY, HONESTY, INTEGRITY, and BRAVERY. THOROUGHNESS is also at risk, as the reporters on this case dropped the ball and let it go. They never got to the bottom of it - to the truth. If I was a reporter I would have wondered who that "subordinate" was, and what was his or her version of the events. If I was an administrator at Lake Washington School District Headquarters I would have grabbed the stage manager as well. I would have redirected the principal away from blaming things on staff - its bad for morale and it's just plain wrong. Take responsibility, man! How can you lead kids when you employ deceitful cover-up techniques over something that should have been a small issue? When John Carlson asked the principal on the air if he'd now let the show go on, the guy actually said the theatre group had to show some "goodwill" toward him first. He talked about "his building". Sorry, Mr. Principal. It isn't YOUR building. It belongs to those kids and their tax-paying parents. You do have the power to discipline them, but never forget they are your CUSTOMERS. You did deny them the chance to see an acclaimed theatre group perform a Dickens classic which contains all the good lessons we are trying to teach kids today. You should put your pride aside now and in the future and do the right thing. "A Christmas Carol" is about redemption and a changed heart. Perhaps there is a seat in the front row for you, Mr. Principal.

[deadrock]

HTML is your friend.

[bahblahbah]

Paragraphs are your friend.

[deadrock]

Slow poke.

[mhking]

Formatting is your friend.

[bahblahbah]

Well I actually tried reading the damn thing, then I said screw it and added a worthless comment to show my fustration.

[atomicpossum]

A warm puppy is your friend.

[xJones]

Oh dear, I am now cross-eyed after trying to read your post.

Think: paragraphs, good! No paragraphs bad!

HTML never killed anybody, and if you want to be read, use the < p> without the space before the p to make paragraph breaks. Thank you.:)

[deadrock]

Adding worthless comments to posts is my job, however, I can use any help I can get.

[EggsAckley]

Welcome to Free Republic.

PLEASE learn to format. My eyes are too old for calisthenics.

[xJones]

Well I actually tried reading the damn thing, then I said screw it and added a worthless comment to show my fustration.

Double-screw the damn thing, I'm on your side!:)

[FreedomCalls]

Here are some spare paragraph breaks I have left over that you are free to use:

<P> <P> <P> <P> <P> <P> <P> <P> <P> <P> <P> <P> <P> <P> <P> <P> <P> <P> <P> <P>

[GeekDejure]

A warm puppy is your friend.
=====
A dead Muzzle-em is your friend !!!

[Moomah]

You really thought someone would read this?

[monkeywrench]

I read it. (Because it was short.)

[FreedomCalls]

By the way, the code to produce a "less than sign" without it being operational HTML is to use &lt; and for the "greater than sign" is &gt;. That way you can show someone what to put in their post without it acting like a paragraph break. Like this: <P>.

Here's a page listing all the codes.

[processing please hold]

Believe you me, I feel your pain. My first looked like yours. I was a coward and ran off.......are you still here?

[xJones]

Thnnk you.
I strive
to get by

with the
limited skills
I learned
in the FR sandbox.:)

[mista science]

Getting away with cultural cleansing...

In the last week The Attic Theatre of Kirkland, Washington and Lake Washington High School in the Lake Washington School District have been in the regional and national news because of a Christmas scrooging incident. Reporters decended upon both organizations to get to the bottom of the story about the school principal cancelling a theatre full of students from attending the "A Christmas Carol" play. The Seattle Times and the Eastside Journal were on it, among others. Hannity (Colmes subbing for him, actually) talked about it on the radio, as did O'Reilly on The Factor.

The scoop was that the principal pulled his students out a week before show time because
1. it was to take place during school hours,
2. it had been scheduled without his concent by some rogue "subordinate",
3. students were being charged a fee(although discounted), and
4. he didn't want to have to deal with the issues around letting kids go to something with a Christmas theme.

It was reason #4 that got everyone's attention.
The principal told all four reasons to a reporter, and then later on blamed the reporter for making it up.

The first three reasons are BOGUS, so everyone anywhere near this knows the reporter (I believe it was Ken Shram) was telling the truth. The play was to take place at the end of the school day. Students frequently get charged for doing things at school and after school - all the time.

Regarding scheduling, this event was put on the calendar in September and then at the last minute the principal got involved. The fact that the play was scheduled without his approval was the silliest phony reason of all since the Lake Washington High School employs a full-time theatre manager whose responsibility it is to schedule events in the theatre.
Year after year the theatre manager in this high school and others schedule events without any signiture from administrators. Otherwise, why have a theatre manager?


The principal actually made progress in spinning this cover-up. He brought his Defense Pastor on John Carlson to show what a good man he is, and cited reasons 1-3. Carlson softened. Dan Westneat of The Seattle Times backed off and seemed convinced when on 12/10/04 he basically recanted his previously described view that The Attic's performance was cancelled due to a (my words) cultural cleansing incident. He actually quoted Lake Washington High School Superintendant Don Saul who said the play was "booked improperly".

Westneat thought he went too far, but he didn't. He had it right the first time, but he then bought a big pile of bull paddies from the school district. The real truth is that the principal made a quick, ego-centric, butt-covering decision to avoid controversy by cancelling his kids from seeing a Christmas-themed show during school hours.

Then it blew up in his face. At that point he thought he needed to blame it on someone, so he chose the stage manager. He wrote a pretty negative letter to the Lake Washington High School community which he published on the school's website ("The Truth About A Christmas Carol"). It had little truth in it. It mentioned the "Subordinate" whose fault it all was. Everyone in the school community knows this subordinate is the stage manager. The principal, in case his butt wasn't covered enough by his radio talk show spins and denials and the web page letter, sent a copy of the letter to all the staff. I'd hate to be that stage manager right now - what a nice working environment to be humiliated by lies and intimidated by a bully bureaucrat. Not only is the Christmas spirit in jeapardy, friends.

We also must worry about HUMILITY, HONESTY, INTEGRITY, and BRAVERY. THOROUGHNESS is also at risk, as the reporters on this case dropped the ball and let it go. They never got to the bottom of it - to the truth. If I was a reporter I would have wondered who that "subordinate" was, and what was his or her version of the events. If I was an administrator at Lake Washington School District Headquarters I would have grabbed the stage manager as well. I would have redirected the principal away from blaming things on staff - its bad for morale and it's just plain wrong. Take responsibility, man! How can you lead kids when you employ deceitful cover-up techniques over something that should have been a small issue? When John Carlson asked the principal on the air if he'd now let the show go on, the guy actually said the theatre group had to show some "goodwill" toward him first. He talked about "his building".

Sorry, Mr. Principal. It isn't YOUR building. It belongs to those kids and their tax-paying parents. You do have the power to discipline them, but never forget they are your CUSTOMERS. You did deny them the chance to see an acclaimed theatre group perform a Dickens classic which contains all the good lessons we are trying to teach kids today. You should put your pride aside now and in the future and do the right thing. "A Christmas Carol" is about redemption and a changed heart. Perhaps there is a seat in the front row for you, Mr. Principal.

[Polybius]

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