Postcards From Far Away

I'm a little more than a little annoyed at the discussion grades in AP Lit but no one wants to hear me complain about that so I won't go any further. In physics, Colavita and I had a Napoleon Dynamite moment, and then we all went outside to throw tennis balls. I officially strongly-dislike APUSH. Not the material, not even the work load, just the teacher. Then again, it's only been 8 days. Only time will tell what the future may hold as far as my opinions go.

Practice was cancelled so we had to run on our own. I had a Class of 2014 meeting after school and we chose The Little Mermaid as our homecoming float (The theme is "On Broadway"). I stopped in at the SciOly meeting and then went to the auditorium with Adam to teach him piano. Sam, Danielle, and Kenny came down eventually and we had a grand old time. This is a picture of Sam and Kenny being dramatic on the stage. I went home, went out to tutor at 6:00, and now I'm home and blipping.

Disclaimer: All of the following information is just what I've gathered from news articles, my friends, and some teachers in the school. Some of it could be wrong, but the general idea is the same.

I couldn't go the school board meeting tonight, so I'll display my thoughts here. An autistic resident of my town had a part-time custodial job at the school. It's easy to see that he enjoys the job and interacting with the kids. He spends most of his time walking around the town and remembering kids birthdays. No harm done there. Almost every kid in Wantagh knows that certain words can set him off. He doesn't mean to lose it; he can't help it. A group of kids from the school (one is being singled out by residents of the town in particular) went up to him and knowingly set him off over the summer, and recorded a video of it. The video was shown to school officials almost a month after it happened. Apparently, after walking away from the initial encounter, he began to yell "threatening comments" when passing another group of kids later in the day. The school has taken action and fired him from the job. The entire town is outraged at this. He has been in Wantagh for years and never hurt anyone, and still hasn't. His neighbor said that he was just trying to vent after being bullied and that he didn't really mean what he said. All he wants is his job back; "I didn't mean what I said. I feel bad," he said. "I promise I will never say it again, and I need a second chance at my job." (I got that quote from News12) I'm patiently awaiting the results of the meeting at home, but what do you think about the situation? I'm well aware that the school has the power to hire and fire whoever they please, but it's a shame that the scum of my town had to ruin this for him. I personally feel that he should be given his job back, but that's just me and 99% of the town. I'll let you all know what happens, hopefully in tomorrow's blip.

Word of the Day: Heliotrope - A light tint of purple; reddish lavender