The principal at Sacred Heart Catholic School said he did not intend to discriminate against a seventh-grader when he kept her from playing in a basketball game after she apparently used the Menominee language in class.GB Press
Miranda Washinawatok, a seventh-grader at the school, said she was reprimanded by a teacher for exchanging phrases used by the Menominee Tribe of Indians with two other girls and later was suspended from a Jan. 19 basketball game.
The teacher "slammed her hands down on the desk and stated, 'You are not to speak like that. How do I know you're not saying something bad? How would you like it if I spoke in Polish and you didn't understand?'" said Miranda's mother, Tanaes Washinawatok. "I had Miranda re-enact what happened for me. I was literally in shock."
The family has met with school administrators three times about the incident, she said.
Sacred Heart School Principal Dan Minter said Wednesday he made the decision to bench Washinawatok before he was completely aware of what had happened."It was breakdown in communication," he said. "It was very unfortunate and I do apologize. I wasn't aware that the Menominee language was involved. We plan to host cultural events, and hope to put a positive spin on it. There are things to be learned and ways to grow."
Fox6 is reporting that she said "I love you" in Menomine.
3 comments:
Gezzz, They just went back a few hundred years. I would pull my kid out of thier in a=n instand. I would if the teacher know sign langauge. What would her reasponce be to people who sign to each other. She sounds like she has issues!!!!!!!
Maybe the teacher thought they were talking about her - like the Seinfeld episode when the Korean manicurists were making fun of Elaine.
Kidding.
But seriously, the teacher must have issues.
The teacher would have been right to scold students for talking in class, students are always gonna try to talk in class/pass notes, etc. the teacher needs to keep the focus on the lesson, but beyond that the teacher should have really kept cool.
Due to the history of US Gov't efforts to do away with native langauge/culture etc. (typically in public schools) this incident takes on all kinds of bagage which I am sure the teacher did not intend and will probably be harshly (and unfairly) judged for by many.
Wasn't Shawano where that adoption article dispute just occured? What is it with Shawano Education-bureocrats and power trips all of a sudden?
I also don't understand what is with these 3 meetings? A teacher yelled at a kid, it was kind of stupid, but it's over. A simple, "sorry for talking during the lesson" and "sorry for losing my temper" from each party should suffice.
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