First in Her Class: The valedictorian sued, and the town turned on her

The Weekly Standard ^ | 07/14/03 | Jonathan V. Last

[honeygrl]

But wouldn't they have needed some sort of proof of a disability for the school to allow it? Why did the school allow it if she wasn't really disabled? I can't imagine they would just go by her dad's word that she was disabled, they would certainly need proof from a doctor if it wasn't an obvious disability. It's very obvious that the people in town don't like her or her family so they didn't want her as valedictorian. If their system screwed up in her case, it should show them what they need to fix in the future. They should've seen this coming before her senior year and worked on it before then, rather than after the fact and trying to make rules retroactive to just to effect her. None of us have any idea what is wrong with her, if anything. She may really have something like chronic fatigue syndrome. My hubby had that in his 20's and lost a job over it so I know it can be dibilitating for some people. Without all the facts, I have trouble saying there is nothing wrong with her and she abused the system. I'm sure it will come out eventually what is or is not wrong with her. Her dad sounds a little over the edge but I'm not sure I can blame a dad for wanting to get the best of everything for his daughter, especially if she really is ill. I'd rather see parents trying to get their kids a good education than parents letting their kids vandalize people's homes during the night. It could be a case of the parents hating the father and encouraging their kids to demonize his kid. If it's a small town, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. The 2 million dollar lawsuit is likely her dad's doing rather than her own. But I'm not going to call her a brat just because her dad isn't quite right. I think i'll just wait until it comes out what is actually wrong with her before I make my judgement on her. I'm just torn in two directions on this one because I remember how horrible high school kids can be to each other and teachers can be to kids they dislike without any good reason behind it. Not that my opinion matters in the case. But I'm sure I'll have one anyway.

[honeygrl]

"I had chronic fatigue when I was in high school too... it was brought on by lack of sleep (going to class all day and working and studying at night, etc.)."

Chronic fatigue Syndrome is quite a bit worse than that. When my hubby had it in his 20's he was told it was caused by a virus and there wasn't anything they could do for it. He lost a great job due to it too. It doesn't just involve being tired all the time. He said there were quite a lot of other physical symptoms along with it like puking all the time. Luckily for him, when it finlly went away he found another job that he enjoyed.

[honeygrl]

"She will manipulate the system to her advantage for the rest of her entire life"

But if she does that, won't it help them to fix the system when she(or likely her dad) shows them the loopholes the hard way?

[honeygrl]

I totally agree with you on that.

[b9]

Take a good look at hers eyes. They aren't smiling.


Just had an eery feeling...that's the same non-smile on
Elizabeth Smart's face. Her eyes NEVER smiled, in all
those old photos those many months.
Very tired eyes on both girls.

[honeygrl]

"Just had an eery feeling...that's the same non-smile on
Elizabeth Smart's face. Her eyes NEVER smiled, in all
those old photos those many months.
Very tired eyes on both girls. "

You must be a mother. We can see it in kids eyes when they are tired.

[b9]

"You must be a mother..."

Bingo. I'm also majorly camera shy...years of being
hounded as a kid. I can spot poor puppets like radar.

[razorback-bert]

I just wonder if she took any science classes, I see no say she did any lab work.

Oh yes, we have computer science and eco-whacko study.

[autoresponder]

Oh just bloody terrific!

She used her "disabled preferences" unethically, unequally, unfairly, and dishonestly achieved high school longer time limit tests and grade point level class standings get the "Congressional Gold Medal" that the US Congress wants to give to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair for his brave leadership in supporting the USA in the UN, Afghanistan, and Iraq with troops in combat.

Also for being the first foreign leader to visit New York City's "Ground Zero" WTC site after 9-11.

I find it difficult if not impossible to believe this "disabled" high school student could work out at private gyms, attend summer college courses, and run a volunter food and clothing bank for the homeless and needy if she could not possibly attend public school classes.

This retaking a course again a second time just for grade level points enhancement in which she had previously received an A+ is patently an unethical and dishonest method of achieving higher grade point scores then any full time student possibly could ever achieve.

Also her "MENSA" qualification and membership proves she should never been allowed to have longer times to take tests and exams then the other non-MENSA regular full-time students who were required to complete the tests within standardized time limits.

I qualified for MENSA at age 12 and wonder if her qualifications for MENSA were based on longer timed tests and SAT tests.

Also on the Minnesota Test for Mental Maturity.

I qualified on all, plus my HS psychology and logic scores or 99 percentile and later (not meaning to) in my US Army DOD and OCS tests during basic training.

Catch this garbage:

"For instance, Blair took Latin 1 in middle school, over the course of 7th and 8th grades.

Unusually, she then retook Latin 1 as a freshman--and got an A+.

During her sophomore year, Blair was enrolled in AP U.S. History and was taking it at the school with a teacher whose policy is to never give A+ marks.

But she dropped the course and finished it the following year at home, with a different instructor.
She got an A+.

*Blair was enrolled in gym class in 9th and 10th grades (receiving an A and A+, respectively). Just weeks before the end of her junior year, she received a doctor's note waiving her from gym altogether.

*Still, an A+ for the class showed up on her transcript.

*Her father wanted the grade removed, and since she shouldn't have been graded for a waived class, it was.

*As Kadri explained to the court, an A+ in gym is worth only 4.3, and thus would have lowered her cumulative GPA, which was well above 4.3 by that point.

At Moorestown High, the calculations for valedictorian are made at the end of the first semester senior year.

Just a few weeks before that semester ended, Blair dropped AP European History--one of the two courses she was taking at the school--citing exhaustion.

"The papers are killing her," Judge Hornstine told the child study team while trying to withdraw Blair from the class.

At the time, Blair had an A- in the class. It would have been one of the lowest grades of her high school career.

And while she was on home instruction, Blair's experience was markedly different from that of other students.

At the most basic level, she had about half as much class time as school-bound students, freeing her up for extracurricular activities.

(When asked by the Discover Card scholarship how she got everything on her résumé done, she replied, "There's plenty of time in the day!")

Her education plan stipulated that she would be allowed "more time to take tests and quizzes," and "will not be required to take more than one test or examination per day."

What's more, "When absent or significantly fatigued, teachers will make appropriate accommodations to due dates for assignments. The parents will advise teachers when Blair has been "too fatigued" or otherwise
unable to complete" or to submit work in timely fashion."

Shakespeare was right about lawyers, it should apply double for judges like her father, and her as she plans to go to law school (getting "disabled preferences" as in high school for courses and time to take test) and become an attorney.

All her college and law school professors and Harvard are now on notice that she and Judge Daddy throw around multi-million dollar civil lawsuits like a Frisbie.

--- Too bad the principal, school board, and their defense attorney did not get video taken (secretly) of her working out at her Chi Chi private gym.

Devasting with examination of her work-out video by a prominent physician and his or her testimony in court.

The school and their defense attorneys were fools.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - a u t o r e s p o n d e r - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Yes, another bloody Limo-Leftie-Lib ACLU type bloodsucking creep!

The "Blair B!tch"!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SC DOC]

The Blair Witch Project

[KneelBeforeZod]

a full point for AP classes??? what a joke. My school only gave .5

Guess it didn't matter, I went to the school I wanted to go to just off my SAT

[KneelBeforeZod]

I went to a pretty boy high school, with SATs averaging up in the 1300s. One male, one female valedictorian

Neighboring cities had an honor roll in some of their high schools that was just the top 10, one school's top ten list didn't have a single 4.0, I think 3.8 was the highest.

these honor rolls have become a joke, but no doubt they are the spawn of social promotion

[KneelBeforeZod]

Wait'll they get aload of us

[mo]

me thinks daddy was manipulating a whole lot more than the school ssytem alone on behalf of his offspring.....

[MissouriForBush]

The Hornstines and Harvard deserve each other.

[Jimmy Valentine]

She does have a disability thanks to her family. She is overly focused on a single issue, academic achievement.

It will be interesting to see how well she does at the game of Life.

I bet 8/5 against her ultimate success and happiness.

Regards,

[fml]

I don't know, what at first was the school working with her special needs was manipulated into a fraud scam to ensure her the position she was after. Instead of stopping the scam and causing more ripples they simply added another valedictorian who actually met all the conditions to achieve the highest average that all the students were to follow. It was the deceitful narcissistic family that would not share the honors.

[friendly]

Post #73: This is most unfair comparing Blair Hornstine to the Joker. The manipulative, narcissistic little scam artist shyster in training befouls the good name of cartoon villians everywhere.

The Blair Witch photo emits pure evil, whereas there is definitely a sense of humor in the more appealing face of the Joker. And there are some sleezy, crooked things shysters try to get away with, that are beneath the higher ethical standards of Joker.

[Mmmike]

Perhaps trying to change the rules retroactively was a last, best effort to call attention to the dirty tricks of the shyster and his kid, e3ven if they knew the rule change itself couldn't withstand close scrutiny.

[bvw]

It is far worse. Her high pimping Dad is a JUDGE.