In Case You Skipped Church This Sunday

Contrary to what I was told by the priest of Annunciation Catholic Church, in Frankfort, Kansas; bad people are sometimes told to leave church and not come back. In fact, Pope Francis is kicking out the Mafia. I'm impressed. The priest in Frankfort told me that the high school guidance counselor who recklessly endangered a child by abandoning her four miles south of school "just made a mistake", and "should be forgiven"; and that the principal, a member of his congregation, is "a good man" even though he blamed an autistic child for an incident in which the autistic child was assaulted and battered by several older and bigger boys. This administrator was actually going to punish the autistic child, until his guardian, yours truly, made him aware of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Well and good, but what about the creepy church and it's carte blanche handed to it's members to harm and bully others any time they please, both locally and globally? After all, an autistic child certainly doesn't matter to any of the Gods, does he? The reverend and the principal might be surprised. Apparently, the padre was wrong when he told me that violent, rotten people should be free to go to church every Sunday and convince the rest of the community that they are good people.

It has never been easy for me to co-exist with the social girls and boys club called "Christianity", but now that I have actually heard a fucking priest call the school principal who lies and discriminates against autistic and disabled children a "good man", I have seriously not wanted anything to do with christians. Now, at least I know that the Pope does not agree with the notion that God loves enabling criminals and grants them assistance in harming their victims. Not that I will ever feel that I can safely allow my children to mingle with anyone who attends his church...it isn't safe...but at least I know the local priest is playing politics, and doesn't really care about morals.

As an encore, Reverend Sullivan told the victim of a hate crime that she was at fault for the actions of her assailant.

Teachers Surprised When Parents Speak Up

This is a complete outrage. A Michigan teacher bullies and jeers at an autistic student trapped in a chair, rather than helping him. She also encourages the rest of the class to do the same. Then the principal chimes in to announce that freeing him is not a matter of high priority. He wisely resigned, after the boy's parents shared the video the teacher played several times more the class, ridiculing the child.

Frankfort Kansas has a coach who "lost" a student during cross country practice, one day. Actually, since she was the only girl in attendance for cross country practice that day, she was dropped off by herself on a road where she had never been. When she got lost, and did not come back, Tom Schroeder, the cross country coach guidance counselor, not unlike the Michigan principal above, did not think it was a priority to find her. If he did, he certainly would have notified the teen's parents and law enforcement. But it wasn't a priority at Frankfort High School. Should he still be employed? Those of us who care about children all think not. Yet someone creepy little soul had this to say to yours truly for writing about it:

"Let's be clear here, if anyone is in a position to be sued, it is you. For slander. Most of this post is a lie. Your daughter wasn't running alone. The cross country kids have always been dropped off in a group. She at least started with the other kids. She wasn't on some desolate road. Tom has always dropped the kids off in the same area, and there are TONS of houses along the way."

The person who wrote this comment, or threat, to be more accurate; to me is nothing but a piece of filth. First of all, my daughter was running alone that day. To say anything else is a complete lie. Unfortunately, the intimation that the coach has always dumped the children on various stretches of back road and highway is true; with the twist that it has been in different places. A week earlier, the coach was using Centralia, and the road where he abandoned my daughter is not in Centralia. As for tons of houses in Marshall County Kansas, especially on Route 9, Utah Road, or any of the other side roads in that area, this sender of this comment is either very ignorant or very dishonest. Something that is quite clear on the sender's part is a desire to shut me up so that children in Frankfort may continue to be vulnerable to abuse from strangers or anyone known to them who may drive past, wherever Tom Schroeder has left them. I, like the parents who shocked the school in Michigan by sharing their footage of their son's abusive teacher, will never stop my public discussion of this incident until Frankfort School and USD 380 has publicly denounced this abuse of children, complete with actual, public sanctions against the abuser, and either consolidated with an actual, state run school system and become an actual school, or shut it's doors forever.

What were you really trying to do to my daughter, that day, Tom? Since you did not send me to go find her or pick her up? You also never once called her father, who didn't live in Kansas, and therefore would have done something counterproductive to the way Frankfort High School operates....specifically; he would have called the FBI or the KBI, who would have helped me find my daughter! But what were you really trying to accomplish by leaving her by herself, then keeping her status as lost and missing a complete secret from the police and from me? From the perspective of a person who spent most of her life among real people with real lives, your actions here do not look good. It's why I hate you so much.

Karen Spillman Vs. Banana Man

This is a GREAT story! A high school student, with lots of intelligence and a brilliant future, but also diagnosed with autism, (one wouldn't know it from his dialogue with news reporters, though) decides to don a Banana Man costume and run down the sidelines of his Stafford, Virginia high school during half time at a football game. An angry, heavy handed, authoritarian principal, Karen Spillman, gets on her high horse and suspends him for ten days! The average suspension for a fistfight in schools on the East Coast is three days....but I guess something as victimless as running in the sidelines in a costume is much more serious...........where's the eye-rolley when I need it?

Ok....making a long story short: the other children at Bryan Thompson's school thought this was assinine and completely wrong. So a large number of them got "Free Banana Man" shirts made, and wore them to school. But Free Banana Man is a terrible message for a young person to wear on a shirt, so these shirts were also banned, along with Banana Man. Enter the ACLU. The Free Banana Man shirts were reinstated as school appropriate apparel. But poor Mrs. Spillman just couldn't take any more. So she resigned. And Banana Man is back, his suspension cut short, because the heavyhandedness was finally deemed not fit for the situation. Here's the statement made by the superintendent:

"My staff, under my direction, has reviewed the recent actions at Colonial Forge High School relating to the wearing of yellow tee shirts and other activities in support of a student who had been recently disciplined. We have concluded that many of the actions that were taken by the school were inappropriate. We are sorry for any embarrassment or inconvenience incurred by the students who were appropriately exercising their freedom of speech and by the families of those students. This administration and the School Board fully support the First Amendment rights of our students."

And here's Bryan Thompson, in his unforgettable Banana Man get-up...

Just reading that a child diagnosed with autism has the self confidence and fun-loving sponteneity required to be such a great class clown is encouraging. Shame on Karen Spillman and anyone who supported her in her unkind, unteaching decision to punish this child for his commendable social skills. (yes; class clowning is a social skill) Anxiety often goes hand in hand with the different forms of autism, and Karen Spillman decided to compound this by calling the police and having this child handcuffed and thrown into a squad car after he did NOT commit a crime. This was reprehensible of her. I am so glad that none of those children have to see her every day, anymore.