Image Credit: White County School Board / YouTube
The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
White County parents are asking questions after 8th grade students were required to complete a writing assignment about killing someone.
Shelly Daniels, a parent whose child is an 8th grader at White County Middle School in Sparta, asked school board members about the prompt during the public comment period at their August 10 board meeting.
Daniels said students were asked to continue a story that began with the following lead-in statement:
“I never meant to kill her. I only wanted to hurt her, but now her ghost follows me everywhere.”
Students were also given images to help spark their thoughts, including an image of a “woman with no face” and a picture of windows with “maybe possibly blood laying around.”
According to Daniels, her son came to her about the writing prompt because he was uncomfortable with the assignment.
“He said, ‘Mom, I sat there the rest of the class period, and all I thought was my mind was going to dark places,” Daniels said.
Daniels said the assignment was not related to anything the class was studying but was “just for fun.”
Madison Meadows has a younger sister in the same grade. She said her sister and her classmates were also unnerved by the prompt.
“I just feel like it’s wrong all across the board,” Meadows stated. “When I was in eighth grade, I can recall never having to write about murdering someone. It’s just crazy to me. I have a lot of questions as to why.”
Daniels also questioned what the repercussions would have been on a student who wrote the story and had it found by someone else.
“If a student finished that story and it fell on the ground and another kid picked that up, that kid would go to the office. The kid would probably be getting expelled. That kid would probably have to be investigated by DCS. The parents would be investigated and everything else,” Daniels said.
Daniels said she originally contacted the school and requested to speak with the teacher. She was unable to, but the principal told her he would take care of it.
The following day, the teacher, whose name has not been released, asked students to submit the assignment so she could throw it away.
She only went to the school board because she did not think her complaint was being taken seriously. She was able to speak with the teacher finally on Tuesday.
“We have enough violence, we have enough negativity in the world, for our kids to be subject to stuff like this,” Daniels said.
White County Schools Superintendent Kurt Dronebarger agreed that the prompt was inappropriate and issued a public apology to the student and his parents for a “bad assignment.” Several school board members also spoke, thanking the boy for being willing to speak out for something he knew was wrong and urging the superintendent to follow up and ensure that the issue had been properly handled.
The teacher has since issued an apology, stating that she wanted to inspire creativity in her students but realized in hindsight that she “lost sight of the importance of nurturing an environment that promotes respect, understanding, and comfort for each and every student.”
She also noted that she would be working closely with the district’s curriculum supervisor “to ensure that all future assignments align seamlessly with the educational objectives set forth by our district.”
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
6 Responses
Fire that problem.
OMG!!!! If I was that School Superintendent I would be doing more than providing an apology to parents. I would be firing the teacher for assigning inappropriate homework and images. I would further demand a psychological eval to determine if police need to be aware of this persons dark ideas of fun.
The teacher needs to be fired. She is EVIL!
“Daniels also questioned what the repercussions would have been on a student who wrote the story and had it found by someone else.”
Red Flags for everyone!
Why did the superintendent not immediately fire the teacher? Is that too harsh a consequence for such a grotesque offense? Foolish.
This assignment displays a crucial absence of critical thinking by the “educator” in question.