(Last updated May 20, 2004)

 

The Rotten Apple Awards for Malfeasance in Education

 
Roger Shouse
Associate Professor of Education
The Pennsylvania State University
rcs8@psu.edu 

 

 

Rotten Apple Awards are handed out periodically (by me) to districts, schools, educators, or policy makers whose actions go beneath the line of duty. Special attention is given to those who abuse or abdicate their authority under the guise of “Zero Tolerance,” or other educationist claptrap.

 

Please note!  

1.  A Golden Apple is awarded to Cook County (Illinois) Circuit Court Judge Aaron Jaffe for stopping a district from railroading a 9-year-old boy. 

 

2. I know that some of the links below are broken. Rather than try to fix them, I've found that the simplest way to access the information is to copy the link and paste it into a Web search window (e.g., Google, Alta Vista).  

 

Current Rotten Apple Winner

Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School, Fort Worth, TX  8" wooden souvenir baseball bat seen in student's car leads to suspension, possible expulsion.

 

Previous Winners

Port Jervis City School District (NY), its principal,  Tom Bongiovi, and its superintendent, Joseph DiLorenzo  Twelve-year old "good student's" forgotten pocket knife knife leads to his 10 week suspension. Once again, adults fail to use reasonable judgment.

Principal Pete Davis, Madison Elementary School, Skokie, IL  Students barred from dressing as pilgrims and Indians at traditional Thanksgiving celebration.

Caney Creek High School, Conroe Texas  Student saves girlfriend's life, is expelled from school, faces felony charges.

Cherry Creek School District, Falcon Creek Middle School, Colorado  Teacher Placed On Leave For Showing 9/11 Video To School Kids

Park Ridge Elementary School, Nampa, Idaho  Student threatened with suspension for wearing patriotic t-shirt depicting an armed American soldier.

Middlebury Union High School, Vermont  School holds "secret" anti-war rally, shows "Zero Tolerance" for parents seeking information about it.

Sarasota Florida Public Schools, Burns Middle School  A cabal of "mis-educators" conspires to kick an innocent student out of school. 

Teacher Donna Long, Principal Betty Washington, Superintendent Sandi DiBacco, Struthers Elementary School, Youngstown OH Public Schools They all conspired to give a 10 day suspension to a 6 year old student who took a plastic knife out of the school cafeteria. 

 

Fred A. Anderson Elementary School Campus sponsors 'Camouflage Day, ' (kicks out 4th-grader for accidental possession of a gun shell)
 
Sue Stokes, Headteacher, Sundon Lower School, Bedforshire, U.K.  Parents barred from bringing cameras to children’s holiday play--fears of “child pornography.” 

 

Superintendent Jack Parish, Union Grove Public Schools, Union Grove GA  A high school student is suspended for two days for the heinous act of kissing his girlfriend on the …(wait for it)…forehead!

 

Pensacola High School, Pensacola Public Schools An honor student finds a plastic baggie containing prescription and non-prescription medicine and gets expelled for it.

 

Susan Hahn, Principal, Williams Elementary School, Wilmington NC Hahn reprimands one of her teachers for explaining the word “niggardly” to her students.

 

Pat Samarge, Principal, Franklin Elementary School, Santa Monica, California “Tag” is banned as a threat to children’s safety and self-esteem! Does a lengthy vacation not seem in order for Ms. Samarge?

 

Darci Mickle, Principal, Dry Creek Elementary School, Centennial, Colorado Please pay special attention to this one! Mickle believes that 4th graders playing “soldiers and aliens” and pointing fingers at each other deserve to be suspended from school without a warning. To do otherwise, she opines, would be “tolerance,” not “zero tolerance.” We ought to have no tolerance whatsoever for such nonsense.

 

Sayreville (New Jersey) Schools and Federal Judge Katharine S. Hayden

 

 

L.D. Bell High School, Hurst, Texas

 

Saratoga Springs (N.Y.) School District, its school board, its superintendent, the Dorothy Nolan Elementary School, its principal, and one of its first grade teachers (all working overtime to suppress a youngster’s rights to free speech and religious expression)

 

The School Administrators and Legislature of the State of Virginia

 

 

Supt. Larry Morris, Crosbyton High School, Lubbock, Texas (Special Award for

Distinguished Malfeasance Regarding to the Bill of Rights)

 

Connolly Middle School, Tempe Arizona

 

Five Forks Middle School, Gwinnett Co. GA

 

Madison, Wisconsin Board of Education (Special Award for Distinguished Malfeasance During Wartime)

 

Jeff Boyer, Principal, North Jefferson Intermediate School, MO

 

Michael Morris, Jefferson Middle School in Fort Wayne, Indiana

 

Prince William County, VA Public Schools

 

Oldsmar Elementary School, Tampa, Florida

 

Loudoun County Public Schools, Virgina

 

Charlotte Junior High School, Michigan

 

 

 

Visit the Zero Tolerance Nightmare Web Page

 

 

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