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Mayor: School boss should apologize to boy who drew cross
Boston Herald ^ | 12/15/09 | Darkwolf377

Posted on 12/15/2009 3:46:27 PM PST by Darkwolf377

Mayor: School boss should apologize to boy who drew cross By Laura Crimaldi and Laurel J. Sweet | Tuesday, December 15, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage

Photo by Taunton Gazette Taunton Mayor Charles Crowley called School Superintendent Julie Hackett from his vacation today and asked her to apologize both privately and publicly to the family of an 8-year-old special needs student sent home from school and ordered to undergo psychological testing after drawing a stick-figure picture of Jesus Christ nailed to the cross.

“Mayor Crowley’s sentiments were that he would hope Dr. Hackett would meet with the family today, apologize, make a public apology on behalf of the school department, pay for the psychiatrist and come up with a policy to make sure this never happens in our school system again,” said Crowley’s assistant Todd Castro.

Castro said this evening he is unaware of any response from Hackett. Hackett has not responded to repeated requests for comment from the Herald.

The Lowell M. Maxham Elementary School second-grader was booted from the school on Dec. 2 when school officials feared his artwork - drawn to depict what he did on his Thanksgiving break - might be exposing violent tendencies. The child was allowed to return on Dec. 7 after a two-day risk assessment by psychiatrist Helene Titelbaum determined there was nothing wrong with him.

“(The boy) does not appear to be a threat to himself or others at this time. Therefore, I recommend that he return to school as soon as possible,” Titelbaum concluded in her report, a copy of which was obtained by the Herald.

The boy’s father, Chester Johnson, 40, a part-time maintenance worker for the Taunton School Department, told the Herald his son drew Jesus after visiting the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attelboro to see its Christmas display. He then put his own name on the cross instead of Jesus.

Toni Saunders, an educational consultant with the non-profit Associated Advocacy Center in Sandwich, who was asked to help the family by their pastor, said, “I heard the story and I was appalled, to put it mildly.”

“My intention is to shed light on what is happening to children in schools because of zero tolerance,” she said. “I’m sure they expected Santa Claus or a reindeer, but that’s not where this child’s mind was.”

Johnson, she said, ”just wants to get his son out of the school. His son is really traumatized from this event.

“This is one of those ‘How is this possible?’ scenarios,” she said. “We live in a society where we’re supposed to honor children and their imagination.”

In June 2008, a Taunton fifth-grade student was suspended for a day for a stick figure drawing that appeared to depict him shooting his teacher and a classmate.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1219085

Related Articles: Jesus iron smooths out woman’s ‘issues’ /news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1215021 Woman sees image of Jesus on her iron /news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1214926

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TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: apology; charlescrowley; christianstudents; christmas; cross; freespeech; mayor; religion; schooldiscipline; taunton
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1 posted on 12/15/2009 3:46:28 PM PST by Darkwolf377
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To: Darkwolf377

Didn’t see this posted, if it has been posted, please ask to have it pulled.


2 posted on 12/15/2009 3:48:37 PM PST by Darkwolf377 (Godspeed, T, on your fourth tour of duty in Iraq.)
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To: Darkwolf377
Apologize, and then be FIRED!
3 posted on 12/15/2009 3:49:40 PM PST by lumber1 (It is not what you do now, but what they will do later with what you've "done now" that matters.)
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To: Darkwolf377

Appalling.

Our schools are run by morons.


4 posted on 12/15/2009 3:50:09 PM PST by Psycho_Bunny (ALSO SPRACH ZEROTHUSTRA)
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To: Darkwolf377

Apologize?

FIRE THIS BITCH


5 posted on 12/15/2009 3:55:41 PM PST by A_Former_Democrat
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To: Darkwolf377

The parents are choosing to keep that child in school, from what I gather.

Not me man. My kid would be out of there in a New York Minute. No way would they peg my kid as a psych patient for drawing a picture at eight years old.

And BTW, did he explain why he put his name on the cross?


6 posted on 12/15/2009 3:58:25 PM PST by netmilsmom (I am Ilk)
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To: Darkwolf377
Taunton Mayor Charles Crowley called School Superintendent Julie Hackett from his vacation today and asked her to apologize both privately and publicly to the family of an 8-year-old special needs student sent home from school and ordered to undergo psychological testing after drawing a stick-figure picture of Jesus Christ nailed to the cross.

There are moments when the idiotic actions of allegedly "educated" people in government are simply beyond belief.

This is one of them.

Whatever passes for School Superintendent Julie Hackett's "brain" is little more than sewage. She should be kicked to the curb . . . . . then just kicked for being so demonstrably stupid!!!

7 posted on 12/15/2009 4:03:58 PM PST by DustyMoment (FloriDUH - proud inventors of pregnant/hanging chads and judicide!!)
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To: Darkwolf377
I'm sorry, Ms Hackett. Next time I'll draw an AIDS awareness poster.


8 posted on 12/15/2009 4:12:41 PM PST by VeniVidiVici (I'd rather be a AGW denier than a dumbass watermelon)
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To: Darkwolf377
She should apologize, but probably won't.

Funny how liberals react like Dracula to garlic when exposed to Jesus Christ, yet see no evil at all with Islam.

I'll never understand...

9 posted on 12/15/2009 4:14:07 PM PST by kromike
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To: DustyMoment

FIRE HER.


10 posted on 12/15/2009 4:31:24 PM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: kromike

They are rebelling against God, and they know Him to be true. They are in denial.


11 posted on 12/15/2009 4:41:07 PM PST by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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To: A_Former_Democrat
Better yet. Have Julie Hackett suspended & forced to undergo psychological evaluation.

I'm willing to bet the psychologist will not be so quick to send HER back to school. This woman has some serious judgmental problems, at best. There may be racial, sexist, or religious motivations for her actions. Perhaps she likes to harm children. This should investigated thoroughly!

Beyond that, she deserves to be subjected to the same scrutiny as the boy, so that she understands what her victims are going through.

12 posted on 12/15/2009 4:43:41 PM PST by Mister Da (The mark of a wise man is not what he knows, but what he knows he doesn't know!)
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To: Darkwolf377
He then put his own name on the cross instead of Jesus.

Damn ... this 'special needs' kid has a theology that is awfully deep...

First putting up a Cross for Christmas - understanding that the reason Jesus (God manifest in the flesh) came into the world was to save sinners - ultimately dying for us on the Cross. God's ultimate Gift. Most people forget that when they think of Christmas. And then understanding that Jesus became sin for us, and we became the righteousness of Jesus by HIS works...So putting his name on the Cross wasn't 'entirely' in error (albeit - putting his name on the Risen LORD would have been more appropriate. Jesus bore all our sins on the Cross, and HE alone paid the penalty for all of us -- but still, the kid wasn't really far off...).

13 posted on 12/15/2009 4:51:19 PM PST by El Cid (Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house...)
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To: Darkwolf377

The school way over reacted, but I think there was cause for some concern, or at least the parents needed to be made aware: “He then put his own name on the cross instead of Jesus. “


14 posted on 12/15/2009 4:56:38 PM PST by Balding_Eagle (Perfection is the enemy of Good.)
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To: Darkwolf377

Oh, I see: If you’re a Christian, you need Psychological testing. Got it.


15 posted on 12/15/2009 5:01:11 PM PST by YHAOS
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To: Darkwolf377
“This is one of those ‘How is this possible?’ scenarios,” she said.

I guess she has missed the decades of liberal/progressive/communist PC indoctrination and intimidation going on PRIMARILY in the public school system.

16 posted on 12/15/2009 5:09:25 PM PST by TigersEye (Sarah Palin 2010 - We Can't Afford To Wait)
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To: A_Former_Democrat

Fire her? How about throwing her into federal prison for violation of freedom of religion, Freedom of expression, and creating a hostile educational environment.


17 posted on 12/15/2009 5:09:47 PM PST by Walkingfeather
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To: netmilsmom

I believe they are moving him to a different school.


18 posted on 12/15/2009 5:13:35 PM PST by Politicalmom (Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government. -- James Madison)
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To: Balding_Eagle

Perhaps he was just writing his name on his picture. We don’t know what his special needs are. Perhaps he is developmentally delayed.


19 posted on 12/15/2009 5:15:21 PM PST by Politicalmom (Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government. -- James Madison)
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To: Balding_Eagle
The school way over reacted, but I think there was cause for some concern, or at least the parents needed to be made aware: “He then put his own name on the cross instead of Jesus. “

You have to be kidding. A Christian child identifying with Christ's suffering on the cross in a drawing sounds rather normal and healthy to me. All I see is that he knows the fundamentals of the story of Christ.

20 posted on 12/15/2009 5:16:28 PM PST by TigersEye (Sarah Palin 2010 - We Can't Afford To Wait)
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