From Hilary Jenkins-Spangler:
Apparently, Principal at Aberdeen High thinks he’s ‘retarded’…
Dressed in a pink shirt with a fake pig nose, over the televised school announcements on Wednesday, Mike O’Brien said ‘I look retarded’. What exactly did he mean?
When he said ‘retarded’ was he suggesting he looked like a special ed student with a learning or intellectual disability? Or perhaps someone with Tourettes or Down’s Syndrome? Were these just careless words that the ‘PC’ police jumped on? Was it a harmless off the cuff comment? OR could it reflect a deeper held belief that people with special needs have little value and it’s OK to mock and ridicule them?
On closer examination, it seems that Mike O’Brien has been a champion of antisocial behavior, he has displayed a broad generosity and tolerance for it. He protected an aggressive football player who had history of aggression towards other students. During a game against Harvre de Grace, this particular player attacked a member of the opposing team which resulted in a nasty brawl on the field. The game official, had to immediately end the game with time remaining on the clock. Principal O’Brien was only then willing to remove the player from the team – after sufficient parental pressure forced him to do so! There is plenty of evidence to suggest that Aberdeen High School is a hostile environment for students with disabilities, where they often get little respect or protection. Last year, a group of parents ‘Concerned Citizens’ sent a letter to the Board of Education sharing their disgust and concern over the principal’s behavior during the graduation ceremony of 2014. The students filed across the stage to receive their diplomas and recognition of their hard work; when the five special education students proudly walked across the stage to receive their hard earned diplomas, they left confused, empty-handed and humiliated! The Principal did not have diplomas for them (or even paper rolled into a scroll). A cherished and valued milestone in a person’s life, stolen by an act of outrageous discrimination. It was considered a ‘mistake’! Apologies were given, but that moment cannot be recreated. I have no affiliation to this school or principal, but as a Harford County resident, I am offended by his comments and actions.
My husband and I moved to Harford County to live in a family friendly place; we were drawn to a great school system and low crime rate. The people I know who live here are intelligent, hardworking and decent – at least that’s how I like to think of Harford County residents. (Although, there is a sign behind the Equestrian Center that advises people not to ‘play or walk in the manure piles’ – tempting as it may be! I’ve often wondered who the signs are there for – probably for the type of people who will leave nasty mean-spirited comments about special needs students at the bottom of this letter.) I would like to believe that the attitude and actions displayed by this principal are not reflective of the majority in this county – we’re a little kinder and more sophisticated than this – aren’t we? So, is it OK for someone in an influential, strong leadership position making comments like this – with no repercussions? What kind of example does this set for the students at Aberdeen High and other students in the county?
If Mike O’Brien had made a racial slur, or a sexist comment directed at women he would have at the very least been reprimanded. At the end of the school day on Wednesday, Principal O’Brien did issue an apology, (probably under the advice of a kinder and more enlightened co-worker.) I asked my son who is in middle school what he would think if his principal said ‘I look retarded’. He replied ‘it would make me wonder why I am even at this school!’
Hilary Jenkins-Spangler
Dear PC police,
Up until only a few years ago, people enjoyed the term “freedom of speach” for over two hundred years. We were used to saying things cretin ways. Then along came your ilk and put an enormous red rubber P.C. stamp on things. You were great at getting your agendas passed. However you did not issue written guidelines for the United states past the revocation of the first ammendment. Please provide at least an Internet link to the new rules for the people’s speak for we do not wish to offend.
#feeltheberniesanders
#walletburn
#nomorefreedom
#retard
Clearly you didn’t read the whole letter……his actions speak louder than words, it could have just been careless words. but it wasn’t. As for free speech – your are free to say pretty much whatever you want, but if you are in a leadership position, it may be wise to choose words more carefully.
Then Hilary let’s stone him. Let’s get you a bunch of rocks and you can stone him because he used the word “retarded”. Better still let’s get you a torch and you can storm his neighborhood – maybe bring your son who you’ve indoctrinated to your own tortured sense of righteousness over next to nothing, you can light his house on fire. Better still let’s have this man fired for using the word “retarded”, let’s have him loose his house, his family, his community and his profession because he used the word “retarded”. What is it you want? He used the word “retarded” in a moment of time of his entire life so what sort of ruination would satisfy you?
So Hilary, aside from this being a vain, immature, meandering rant that convinces me that I should give O’Brien the benefit of the doubt; and besides- the fact that you have no constructive suggestions (virtually no constructive words at all); and besides the fact that your language is disrespectful, self-absorbed, and full of conjecture, hearsay, and insults; I do have one question for you: do you think its okay to “mock and ridicule” people who might not have the mental capacity to avoid a pile of manure?????? WOuld you forgive them their lack of intelligence if they were smart enough to avoid stepping in your letter?
Get over yourself.
Down with the Thought Police. Down with those that would dictate others’ word choice.
You are the problem, #SJW.
lol @ “low crime rate”
Aside from the random comment – nonsensical and of no cogent connection; manure pile behind the equestrian center? Wasn’t even aware there was a manure pile behind the equestrian center but that makes sense that it be there…a lot more sense than whining about an ill chosen word and how a mistake like that ought to ruin someone’s career. Lighten up, people shouldn’t be judged on a mistaken phrase, or ill chosen word. People should be judged on the 9999.99% of behaviors they’ve exhibited in their own lives. People that write a letter trying to smear somebody over nothing like this are the ones that should apologize for wasting everyone else’s time. This lady needs to find a hobby other than whining about everything. She’s using this misplaced activism to mask her own shortages in parenting.
You are absolutely right! Actions speak louder than words…..take a look at the actions behind those words -they speak for themselves. I invite you to check the facts and bring to our attention anything that is untrue. HCPS has a troubling tolerance for bullying – in fact this particular Principal is responsible for a 1.2 million lawsuit currently in Federal Court – your county taxes are at work defending the allegations!
The only bully I see here is you – that’s exactly what the word police do is bully people over nothing. Must make small people feel powerful to demand we punish other people and to get others to go along is nothing but a bunch of bully’s formed into a modern mob.
You ought to know, that’s for sure.
Harford County Public School’s needs a butt hurt report app for parents to submit.
Hillary – the Money Tree is the one with nothing to do but troll and comment on EVERY article written on the Dagger – talk about needing a hobby. Anyway, good for you. Now days you would think a principal would know better – unbelievable. He should go visit John Archer for a day, he might think better about using that word next time. But nobody cares about those kids. They don’t matter in the grand scheme of HCPS.
When you are the principal of any school, freedom of speech takes on a whole new meaning, especially during public displays of supposed leadership. These principals should be uplifting, shining examples for our youth. Shame on anyone, particularly in that position, who isn’t.
Your Retarded Special Needs child should be kept in a Special Needs School with all the other special needs children and parents. Putting Special Needs students in with normal children just uses up resources that cause the normal children to be held back.
God forbid you ever have a special needs child and know what it feels like. That was just rude!
Wow!!!! This is clearly not about inclusion, a separate issue. You are a free as a bird to communicate that stupidity, but your point is quickly lost when you do it that way.
Wow! What an ignorant person you are! Yes let’s just keep everyone who is alike together. Makes perfect sense! Right!!! And what is normal anyway????
Thats a good question Rachel.
I bet if you email HCPS they will send you a well drafted, multiple proof read,tippie toe’d, politically correct response of how “normal” is defined.
There is definitely a NOT NORMAL as there are words like “special” infront in a lot definitions that some children need.
L
You are a complete ignoramus. Should we herd the “retards” up and ship them off somewhere? Is your kid more worthy of an education than mine is? I am just going to assume from your post that your kid is not likely to become President one day either. Maybe we should save the money that would otherwise be spent on your kid for a child who had a chance at success in life.
First Ms. Jenkins-Spangler had her autistic child in Youth’s Benefit but pulled him claiming the classrooms were too loud – imagine that a classroom of elementary kids being too loud. Thereafter she put her son in Red Pump but again pulled him because there were “other disabled” kids in the classroom with disabilities that made it hard for her son (read between the lines – the wrong kinds of disabilities). In both cases I have to assume she acted with true concern for her son’s education, but what is it she wants? Should we have all the elementary classrooms be on “silent” so autistic kids aren’t distracted or should we segregate kids by type and severity of disability even when mainstreaming so as to maximize the learning potentials? If it’s the latter then isn’t the argument about mainstreaming learning disabled kids into “normal” populations and causing disruptions to learning equally as valid?
An educational environment (HCPS defined) has to be safe, healthy and conducive to learning, and yes there is some variability between children. Surprisingly, one-size does not fit all! Kids learn differently and accommodating those differences yields a more effective learning experience. Do you always think in sound bites?
How in the world will our school systems, our teachers teach to some standard of perfection to a myriad of abilities each with what you seem to want – a custom curriculum and have that not create havoc to the learning potentials of kids with normal learning abilities? That is insanity. We’d have to triple the number of teachers, triple the amount of spending.
Disabled kids are not normal kids no matter how much money you spend, no matter how hard you try to force them to be more like the kids that are not disabled.
The problem is not the disabled children, the problem is that parents of them not accepting that simple fact they have a disable child.
The problem we are at now in our “culture” is obvious. These “Disabilities” is just as common as doctors giving out prescription pain killers for tooth aches.
If a kid is shy, they’re labled as some sort of new medical term and their parents mooch off the special treatment.
Now before you sack riders polish your coexist stickers, I know there are many children that need “special” treatment and have legitimate problems, but don’t act like there aren’t parents milking that feet off a scam and faux medical diagnosis of just a shy kid.
Losers.
Feet should be teet. Retarded autocorrect!
I cannot believe the comments I am reading in response to this letter. No educator should use that word in that way, especially in the guise of humor. It’s just ignorant. And cruel. How could anyone in such an important leadership position be so clueless?
Its called colorful humor. It was used inappropriate given the circumstance.
Maybe the word “ridiculous” is more appropriate? I’m sure the butt hurt crowd could figure out an offensive twist to it in no time, though.
If you don’t like what you are reading, don’t read it.
Everybody at some point or another has said something they’d like to take back almost before it comes out. If you’re in public more often that most (such as this principal), chances are not if you will but when you will say something you regret. The man apologized. Get over yourself you bunch of bullies.
@Money Tree – you the biggest bully of them all! LMAO
So what is it you want? You want this man fired? You want him to grovel in some way beyond the apology already offered? How about he crawl from Aberdeen to the front door of the John Archer school – maybe flogging himself the entire way? Other than just blitching about it what more do you folks want? We have classrooms mainstreamed with disabled kids in some way sacrificing the quality of education for everyone else and that’s apparently not enough. The taxpayers are spending 5 times the amount to educate “disabled” kids and that’s not enough? Get us a list of the allowables please so we can tiptoe around everyone, carefully choosing our words and actions to ensure everybody lives on a marshmallow.
Money tree, are you aware that kids with disabilities are one of the few groups of kids that actually BRING money into this county through state and federal funding to help pay for their education? HCPS can also bill medical assistance (if the child has it) to pay for services like speech or physical therapy. Additionally, have you ever actually looked at the supplies kids with special needs are given by HCPS to “educate” them? Take a trip to one of the classrooms for kids with disabilities, you might be shocked to find the material severely lacking compared to your kid’s educational material. You may want to educate yourself before you open your mouth and speak. A wise man knows when to hold his tongue.
So if I pay state and federal taxes and that money comes out of my pocket and filters back to Harford County then in your world that means these kids are more productive? That is the most dishonest, worst form of convoluted thinking imaginable. That’s like saying Obamacare is free because somebody else pays for it. Not to mention if the money is being reimbursed for services required how is it that helps anybody other than the person receiving the services. Absurdity at it’s finest, unless you’re trying to tell me that Harford County routinely inflates the costs of educating the disabled overcharging and pocketing those monies for other purposes. That would be fraud…seriously, that’s not even legal.
What’s the agenda here? The guy didn’t fired so the author wants to go to war with him and start drama?
That’s the big question, isn’t it? Having read her other posts on here, obviously she has some kind of beef with HCPS and how they handle students with special needs. That point has been driven home ad nauseam. What is not so crystal clear is what she wants done about it (other than “fix it”). Identifying a problem is an important start, but I’d have a lot more respect for her and her cause if she offered some concrete solutions.
Thank you Minion, I appreciate the question regarding concrete solutions….HCPS does a great job of educating kids who fit the mold – Youth’s Benefit is an amazing school. The things that make it so successful are: pride, parental involvement, excellent teachers, strong leadership and accountability. What I would like to see is the same pride and expectations for special ed programs in HCPS – why can’t we duplicate the successful models we already have in general ed? Instead, we have neglected programs that have resulted in abuse (and subsequent placements outside the county). Had these programs had proper oversight and had the student’s educational rights been respected, these things wouldn’t have happened. The money that is now leaving the county as recompense could have been better managed on programs here. 13% of students in HCPS are special needs, these ranges from mild reading problems to severe intellectual challenges. Our graduation rate is around 88% compared to Howard County which is 94%. If the special ed students here were valued more and received the services they are educationally entitled, it would help close the gap. This would result in more productive young adults in the workforce rather than being on disability, in jail, or on drugs. There’s a poster on route 40 of Albert Einstein, it says ‘as a student he was no Einstein!’ This illustrates the potential of all kids. Part of the problem is perception, special needs does not necessarily equal intellectual disabilities. Some kids just learn differently. Thank you for posing the question.
But Hilary you pulled your child out of Youth Benefit because you said the other kids were too loud – that it caused distraction. If you want your child mainstreamed and loud noises and conversations disrupt your child’s ability to learn so much so that you yanked your kid out of Youth Benefit what’s your beef? How do you propose to make all the other kids be quiet so that you’re one child can learn more effectively? You think that seems reasonable?
HCPS sucks because its the local gubermint and its involved with the moneys. Take a look at the two worthless flying blimps.
Tool: I don’t see the connection between internecine warfare over how the county’s public school system treats so-called special needs students and the federal government’s spending on the aerostats. Two different piles of money, the fact that ultimately they come from the shallow pockets of the same overtaxed working populace notwithstanding.
So you want special ed programs like they have in Howard County and you want those at every school? Is that right? How does a public effort to undermine the Principal of Aberdeen High School help you “win” what you seek? You mention a lawsuit – going back through that record of what occurred in Abderdeen outside this use of the term “retard” there was a child that was harrassed according to the record but there was also evidence this child used racial slurs against other kids. So this disabled kid called them n!ggers and they called him retarded and that’s what the lawsuit is about? Does the fact this disabled child used racial slurs mitigate the atmosphere of hostility against the disabled that you say existed?
Actually no that’s not what that entire lawsuit is all about. There is way more to it then that. And you are referring to one incident in that disabled kids entire academic career. The one time the child reacted out of the daily abuse that child endured his entire academic career, day in and day out. Was it right? No. Did he apologize? Yes. So if everyone on here seems to accept O’Briens apology then???
What this particular principal mean by saying “I look retarded” is that given his current state of appearance, he felt as if he looked quite silly. Merely imitating the local teenage colloquialism. Haven’t you ever heard a teenager refer to any particular idea or concept as ‘gay’? I believe it is physically impossible for ‘Timmy not being able to hang because he has an AP Bio midterm the next day’ to be homosexual in nature. It’s just how kids talk these days.
Dare you ask what ‘colloquialism’ means because it is a term you’ve never heard before? Well, I suggest that you formulate a strongly worded email about this to your local politician. You should also highlight points about how common-core is bad and stupid because you don’t understand it.
Obviously the synonym of “special needs” applies to the author of this letter.
You must need something special. Why do I care an Aberdump principal said retarded? He apologized.
Time to move on with life? Maybe not?
“could it reflect a deeper held belief that people with special needs have little value and it’s OK to mock and ridicule them?”
Who made the connection between people with special needs and the word, “retarded?” I thought that link was supposed to have been broken a long time ago…but it sounds like someone on here is trying to keep it alive and flourishing.
Without seeing the video or having any more context, it would seem that O’Brien was mocking and ridiculing himself. It would be interesting to know if any people with special needs themselves (NOT their caretakers) would have felt mocked and ridiculed by that comment.
You know, that is a great point, Minion. The author is the one that brings about the connection between “retarded” and “special needs”; not the principal. Interesting-isn’t it.
Definition of RETARDED
: slow or limited in intellectual or emotional development or academic progress
While I agree that those in positions of power, working with children should be held to a higher moral standard, it is a WORD.
We should be grateful we are not fleeing our country under fire, with our life tucked away in a knap sack! Perspective People!!!
Really, yes it’s a word – but did you read the whole letter? Do you condone abuse/neglect of students with disabilities? The point of the letter is not just the word, but what is behind the thinking of the Principal who uses those words? I am a firm believer in actions speak louder than words -so I invite you to take a deeper look. Tell me, if you had a child that was being constantly bullied, would you not want them to be protected? Or is it character building, with the occasional unfortunate suicide?
If your child is being bullied, by other children and/or adult employees of HCPS.
You should teach your child to stand up for themselves, and if need be, resort with necessary force to stop anything physical.
who comes up with this crap? I mean WTF? did this really happen?
Should he have used that word? No. Does he probably feel awful for doing so? I’m guessing so. The fact is he apologized to the entire school body, which unto itself sent a powerful message to every single student: when you screw up, own it. Think about all of the students who heard him offer the apology. I say there is a learning experience buried in here.
I am not one to defend the PC police. However in this case it goes way beyond that. This is just one tiny incident among many that involves Principal Mike O’Brian. He has been for several years now allowing, participating in and turning a blind eye to bullying in AHS especially when it comes to special needs children. AHS has and did become unsafe for many students to the point they had to leave and become home schooled. O’Brian has refused to address the issue even when it has been brought to his attention. In fact he himself has been caught bullying students, students parents and his own collugues. This isn’t about being politically correct or freedom of speech. This is about being at the highest position in the school, being responsible for the safety for ALL students, making sure that every student has the right to a safe environment to learn and upholding that position. Mr. Obrian is NOT doing this!! This incident of him using the word retard is just another example of how he shows little respect for children with special needs, how he doesn’t value all of the students as equal in their right to a safe environment to learn and how little he thinks of special needs children. It’s a shame that HCPS and the Board of Education stand behind a man who has such little regard for true education for all and not a popularity contest!!!
no offense, just my opinion, All people have the right to be treated equal, however we all no that most people laugh at others, pick on others, talk about others, so if you say its not you thats crap, just think of the last time you talked about a co-worker behind their back. We pick on people who are different, people who we think are week. We all have done it,.
If you’re going to slander the man, at least spell his name right. This entire letter is completely ridiculous. You people need something else to spend your time on.
It’s called auto correct. I care more about getting the truth out then fixing the times I spelled his name wrong. Number two, you should look up the definition of slander before you accuse someone of it. Everything I said above is true and can be found in public record documents!!! If I were saying untrue things that would be slander. So, nice try!!! So don’t you dare accuse me of slander when I can back up my statements with court documents!!! Look up the case aganist him and the school!!
The case which was dismissed because it was deemed frivolous…ok then
The case was dismissed due to unspoken immunity school officials have. If you look at the exhibits and documents, you will see it is far from frivolous. The case is now before the Federal Special Appeals Court. Although we have little faith in the court granting justice due to the unspoken immunity school officials are more often than not given.
Now I get it. You folks lost your lawsuit and are all jazzed up to get your pound of flesh. If I were the principal of Aberdeen I’d be contacting my lawyer to have the bunch of these activists hauled into court for slander and harassment.
Money tree,
I wish the principal would do that so it would give us a second chance at possibly having the truth recognized. We don’t want a pound of flesh, we want accountability and positive change.
Henry, thank you for your comment. Yes, people can be careless with words, and an apology was issued, (probably out of necessity). Did you read the rest of the letter? He has a history of undermining students with disabilities and has consistently protected bullies, not those being bullied. Also, there is a 1.2 million dollar lawsuit in Federal court not because of unkind comments, but because students with disabilities have suffered greatly under his watch. His comment appears to be consistent with his beliefs – his actions speak louder than words. Does this information change how you think about this comment? You seem to have some insight……I’m just curious to know.
You should just home school.
Thousands of HCPS employees, you don’t think a few arent the greatest people ever? Get real.
Get rid of one dirt bag, and there are many more lining up.
Enough already, parent your job is to prepare your child to come to school and learn. You failed, So don’t blame the school system for your failure. School it not place to come and socialize. So teach your child respect for authority, and the value of and education.
Apparently your parent failed as well from the way you write. So I wouldn’t make fun of others!! School is a place to learn. It also is supposed to be a safe place to learn without the constant fear of being bullied, threatened and abused by other students because you are different.
From your comment you teach your children to bully to, you got the meaning event if was not PC in your little world.
Yer kids a tard deal with it.
He used a poor way of describing himself as looking silly. That word is offensive, and shouldn’t be used. He knows that, and probably and hopefully feels terrible about it. When you talk for a living, you’re going to shank one now and then. Like others have said, everyone should have learned something, including owning up to bad judgement. Let’s hope if he gets forgiveness on this one that he learns to give it as well, to his staff and his students when they mess up. Personally, I would rather be judged on how I live and act the majority of the time, and get a little slack the rare times I need it.
Let’s take up a fund to move Hilary to Howard County.
HJS can you please let the populas at large know if the following words strike you and you ilk as offensive:
Spic and span
Black ice
Sped
Dumbell
Jackass
Cracker
Honkey
Colored
Oriental
Arab
Uncle Tom
Dirty sanchez
Aunt jemima
Thug
White out
Black out
Brown out
Hillbilly
Bumpkin
Pecker
Dill weed
I assume you will hope to eliminate them as well.
I’m confused…is the child he said this to “special needs”? Are we really concerned about Mr O’Brian using a word that over half the county uses to describe silly, ridiculous or something along those lines. Just like the use of the word “gay”. Looks like all the comments have taken a turn to only talk about “special needs” and the lack of programs or help for these children in schools. Is that the real issue and you just want to make someone take the fall for it? I had Mr O’Brian as a history teacher many moons ago, he was a very profession and caring teacher. He did what every other teacher in the world does. You build a relationship with the kids you teach and you “fit in” start talking like them for example. Using slang or what not. It never took away from his teaching ablities. He treated all the kids with the same respect even if they didn’t show it to him. So what is the really issue here? Are we just trying to ruin someone’s life because we are unhappy with our own?
Confused,
It is good to hear you had a positive experience with Mr.O’brien. Let me clear up some of your confusion….Unfortunately my AHS student, who was nothing less than respectful to Mr.O’Brien, did not have even close to the same experience. The things Mr.O’Brien did directly and indirectly to my AHS student were unbelievable, so I understand why people are so quick to not believe parents, students, and staff. Mr.O’Brien’s actions are often so outrageous it is even difficult for me to believe them, even when they occur right in front of me….Mr.O’Brien saying the word wasn’t the outrage, due to the fact that it is frankly a medical term. The outrage came from Mr.O’Brien’s extensive history of hatred expressed towards special education students, which are often retarded, and the manner he made fun of this said retardation. Mr.O’Brien’s actions have been, and continue to be outrageous due to Harford County Public Schools not holding him accountable thus far. This principal has no limits or boundaries!
Methinks that if this mom spent a fraction of the time, energy and resources on finding constructive, positive, practical solutions for her child than she seems to be spending on browbeating, grandstanding, self-pity, whining, and waging egotistical, vindictive verbal attacks; then things would be a lot better for her child. C’mon mom, cut the drama, stop talking and start DOING. I could be wrong, but just sayin’…
I agree. Maybe she’s just caught up in the backstabbing nature of the Dagger. There may be people out here who want to help her…maybe even people with the power to help her…but she hasn’t told us how.
“What I would like to see is the same pride and expectations for special ed programs in HCPS – why can’t we duplicate the successful models we already have in general ed?”
We’d all like to see that. How do we get there? More teachers? Specific training for teachers? More autism classrooms? Problems can be solved by throwing money at them, it just has to be found, then thrown accurately.
Jenkins-Spangler’s campaign here kinda reminds me of Trumps. He wants make America great again. Awesome, me too! Who doesn’t? He still hasn’t told me how he’s going to all that. Create jobs? Yes, I’m all for it! What jobs are you going to create and how are you going to do that? ::crickets:: She wants students with special needs to reach their full potential and live happy productive lives. I’m all for that too! Heck, I want that for ALL students.
HCPS is doing the best they are able or know how to with what they have. If there is a better way, show them. Don’t expect any different results than you’ve been getting if you simply say, “Your plan is no good. Find a better one.” You need to say, “Look, this plan is better.” To do that, though, you need a good DETAILED plan.
To the point of this article, what should be done about O’Brien? Should he be fired, fined (how much?), publicly humiliated, transferred or demoted (how far?)? To some level, I think we all agree that he was wrong. Now what? (I’m listening…am I gonna hear crickets?)
She sounds like a chronic complainer. Many kids have distraction problems at school. No learning environment is perfect, hell we didn’t have air conditioning in my middle or high school yet we still found the way to overcome. If the public schools aren’t working for you, feel free to send them to a private institution, home school or move to a district that is more suited to your specific needs. Public schools have limited resources now and to demand all of them to excel at meeting the needs of disabled kids is impossible both fiscally and logistically.
Not everyone can afford to just pull their kid out and send them to a private school or have a parent at home to home school and not work. So should we just turn a blind eye to the bullying and harrasment these kids face because they are different? Should we not hold the staff responsible for keeping the environment one of a safe learning environment for all as much as possible? And when things are brought to their attention they would handle it. Why do we expect parents with disabled children to have to find other alternatives for their children to learn other then public school because the administration refuses to deal with the issue of bullying in the school. So let the bully stay and the other child now has to find another place to learn?
To Minion: well said
To What: well said
To Hmmmm: translation of what you just said: ” crickets, occasionally interrupted by spurts of emotional, nonconstructive rhetorical posturing”
And what happens to the children who are distracted by the antics of the disabled kids? As long as the disabled kids are treated like the non-disabled kids who cares if the non-disabled kids are negatively impacted right.
Good point Minion. And she sure doesn’t sound like she’s the type of person who makes it easy for someone to help her. I’m willing to bet that more than one helpful person has had their hand slapped for interrupting one of her soliloquies!
Mr.O’Brien spent the school day today pulling students out of class to ask them very personal questions, completely unrelated to school/teaching, about one of his staff at Aberdeen High School. I know this is not related to this article in any way other than to show how completely unprofessional and self serving this principal is. Seriously, what kind of principal puts high school students in the middle of his personal vendetta against a staff member? I guess the same kind of principal that is rumored to have affairs with subordinates.
What an immature inane post by “atownparent”. Who ARE these morons and how do they think they’re helping? I may have been sympathetic to Hilary’s plight at the beginning; but I’ve realized that her and her ilk care nothing about solutions. HCPS, I’m with you. These people are incoherent.
Hilary nor anyone else can control what other people such as Atownparent post. It is unfair to discount her and her attempts to hold HCPS accountable and work towards positive change. It is also unfair to assume she would have anything to do with that kind of nonsense. I highly doubt she, nor anyone else trying to hold HCPS accountable cares who the principal is having affairs with. The only thing I see worth noting with Atownparent’s ridiculous comment is the fact that Mr.O’Brien may have involved/bullied students into his personal battles. I can’t speak for Hilary, however I can assure you we did everything we could to work towards a resolution with HCPS, and HCPS stonewalled all attempts. It was only then, when we were left with no other choice but to file a federal complaint against HCPS in the hope for positive change. RH8
This is ridiculous. Mike Obrien is a fine man. He was sent to Aberdeen after the former principle was relieved of duties. He had a hard task. The slackers didn’t like it. The wives of the slackers like it even less. So it’s lies, cries, and fake alibis. And now to bring it complete lies about affairs—you want to go to the next school down 40 for that. It would be easier to count who she hasn’t had an affair with
This entire thread is so disheartening to me. The negative discussion of special Ed students and their parents, as well as the underlying tone of hatred for a man who has an incredibly difficult job to do even in the best circumstances are not going to help anyone. Cutting one group or person down to make another look better or to advocate for another group/person has done nothing positive. This is a terrible example of advocacy for our children and educators alike. It is a sad day when people feel the need to cause public disgrace to someone for making a comment he then apparently apologized for. I’m glad my child was at school that day and that she respected her principal for owning up to his mistake and teacher her a great lesson.
I have lost all respect for Hilary. And I believe that she is the cause of all of her problems. To the detriment of her child. What a shame.
I agree. Egotistical, self-absorbed, and enamored with her own rhetoric. Stop building your house and get a life. Your boy needs you.
Somehow a conversation turned into schools down in a bar at the ocean once.
This guy told me he photoshopped a teacher’s license plate and printed correct sized paper copies after an entire school year of civil “bullying” and lies.
I didn’t believe him until I saw his vehicle outside. He said he gave them to friends, and he used his own vehicles that had never been seen at school.
This site should be closed down. It indirectly promotes and supports slander, negativity, and unhealthy comments about our community. OR, at least require formal accounts in order to post comments to decrease anonymity.
Carol if you don’t like it don’t read it. But your Hitler like book burning attitude to destroy the message isn’t welcome in this country.
Go back to where you came from.
and what is your full name, address and phone number?
If I read correctly there was a pig nose involved, did this offend any Muslim students? Was this a slight on Islam, was the principal going after the prophet. Does that sound off the wall? Perhaps I’m taking it a bit too far and perhaps this has all been taken a bit too far?
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Good Grief…such a PC crowd with nothing better to do than to throw the first stone…..unreal