[While I was principal at Parkview Elementary School] There had been problems over saluting the flag, Halloween, prayer in school, etc. I was trying to stay clear of those kinds of problems when I could, and had taken up the subject in building meetings, so I thought everyone understood what the district policies were.
One day a boy was sent to the office for talking back. I was asking him what the situation was, when he said he was only asking a question about writing his “Thank You” note to Oral Roberts for the bibles.
“What Bibles?” I asked
“The Bibles Oral Roberts sent us. Miss Taylor is going to pass them out after we write our thank-you notes.”
I made a quick and immediate trip to Miss Taylor’s room and sure enough, all of the students were writing thank-you notes. I told her she was not to pass out those Bibles to her students and to take up the thank you notes and destroy them. She could take the Bibles to her church, but she was not to bring them to Park View or to give them to her students.
Later in the day one of the boys told me they were going to meet Miss Taylor in the park and get their Bibles! I went back to the classroom again where I made it clear again that she was not to give any Bibles to her class, period!
One day [after that incident] it was brought to my attention that many of the students in Miss Taylor’s room had a lot of school supply type items such as staplers, pencil sharpeners, Eversharps, ball point pens, and note pads. When I asked one of the students where he was getting all of this stuff, he said that Howard and some of his buddies would get you anything you ordered. Howard said those kids were lying, and he named another boy who was shoplifting for the girls. It turned out that Howard and several of the boys were taking orders and then acquiring the items at nearby stores.
Maybe I should have looked the other way when Miss Taylor was trying to give them Bibles!
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