Chesapeake high school band denied permit for Disney trip

Ira, you don't know of what you write. I've been independent in mind, since childhood. My parents reared me to be so. I've never even followed a so-called fashion, even as a student. You just can't deal with anyone disagreeing with you. You really do need to get a life. I don't think persons disagreeing with me on any subject are being used. I think their opinions are based on what they sense as valid to them. That's every one's right. Stop trying to trump someone in disagreement with you, by using juvenile insults & statements based on nothing other than your twisted logic.

Hey twomiler, tell us the one about tort reform not being needed again. C'mon, I love that one.

Obama is going to vote for anything that helps him politcally and will dodge any thing that may be a detriment to his career. He listened carefully to what people wanted to hear and repeated it. Listen to his replies in the future.

This my friend is the same old song and dance. Your being used.

to Obama, was in response to another post mentioning Obama. When you experience, first hand, kicking in doors with the authorization of no-knock warrants, as I have, on many occasions, then perhaps your belittlement of my opinion on the Frederick issue, would carry a little weight. Mary, Obama knew these companies were acting under the directions of the USA government. That's why he voted that way.

Why do you think it is difficult for these types of events to proceed? Same reason your doctor has trouble operating: Lawsuits.

While you chide us w/ your imagined free health insurance via the goverment, perhaps you should spend some time educating yourself as to why it is so expensive.

Check out

protectpatientsnow.org

as a start. I am not here to educate you on all of your issues but I am willing to lend a hand here in there in hoping I can help you become a better citizen. Quit posting and do some research.

They better cancel all sports. I know that in high school I got more banged up from playing sports than I ever did on a band trip. (Which included a trip to Disney).
Good job, way to punish the kids who work hard.

Lawyers are the ones that stop us from having a normal and enjoyable life. My youth baseball league is almost out of business paying insurance in case some dollar thirsty lawyer comes after us. This is the same for the school liability, there is never a shortage of lawyers to mess it up for the rest of us.

It sounds to me like you are trying to start an arguement on what you THINK twomiler was saying. Nah! You wouldn't do that would you?

I am amazed at how ignorant some of the claims are that have been posted. Learn how your government works! The school board is an elected body of citizens who serve for what amounts to be a monetary stipend. The board operates autonomously from the government. School employees, from the superintendent, principals, and teachers etc. are employees of the school board, not the City of Chesapeake. The reason for having a school board is to maintain autonomy so that government does not interfere. The only "hold" that the state and federal governments have on education is through minimal funding which is dwindling every year. The more funding dwindles, the less influence government will have. City council has always cooperated with funding and has not used funding as a pawn to influence education-related decisions. Sorry Great Bridge band. There is good reason for the decision whether you

He was commenting on somebody's earlier assertion that "things will get worse with Obama" -- so he is staying on point. I could level the same charge -- what does this instance have to do with tort reform? How would "tort reform" solve this? That argument makes about as much sense as "public schools are bad for America" and this is a result of "socialism". At times, I wonder if some of the people here actually know the true meanings of the words they use. How on earth does socialism come into play here? Much less the presidential race? And as a
reason for homeschooling? What type of lesson are you teaching? Take your ball and go home? But back to tort reform. I am eager to hear what torts you intend to reform, and how. How would reform solve this problem? Do you attack negligence? Where do you draw the line? Usually "tort reform" is an argument made for medical malpractice claims (which actually is not a

Make a stand! Quit the Band! Deny my child a chilhood due to political, touchy feely, left wing, lawyer induced lawsuits etc etc.
The longer the public who suffers and pays the price for what this nation is becoming stands around and allows it to happen the worse it will get.
Do not like my opinion? Then do as those who are destroying this country would do and call Lowell "The Hammer" Stanley!

But Mr. Obama does want to hold the telecommunications companies harmless for the warrantless wiretaps so . . . he may not be for them but it is a little hard to tell nowadays. Cheers, MGM

twomiler, this is not your political blog. Try to stay on subject. Someone may have to bring up how you spent today defending a girl who pointed a gun at an officer after tear gas was shot through her window, then touted how you thought Ryan Frederick should have been shot on sight. Lessee, one has their door kicked down and the other was warned quite well w/ phone contact and tear gas. Yet you feel the officers who shot the girl are wrong and the guy in the dark should have been shot.

Let us allow some of the other posters to guess what the difference was between these two cases. Any ideas what twomilers motivation may be? Anyone? Any continuing themes in his posts?

The superintendent really didn't have any choice. The principal and band director bailed, and it can't forward without them. The question is why did they do it? Was it because some peon parents actually dared to challenge their authority?

Grading on the "curve" is, rewarding mediocrity (the GB administration) and punishing excellence (the students).

Unfortunately, it would suit the school and the school board just fine if the band just quit, because they see band/chorus/orchestra/anything arts as a waste of time and money (arts funding usually gets cut first when any cuts are made in the school system). You can be sure they'd let their football team go wherever they want though, including an amusement park, and they'd find some excuse (loophole) for not abiding by their rule.

Liability of the school system for a school trip,(even one taken during school break), is a genuine concern. There is no need for tort reform. Too many people & entities are negligent as is. Without fear of being sued, some would be even worse. OSHA rules make sense, especially in workplaces having inherent dangers. Obama doesn't belong to the party that insists, arresting USA citizens, denying them access to family, lawyers, evidence, etc., is legal, simply because it's claimed they're "enemy combatants". Nor does he belong to the party that claims warrantless wiretaps, looking into private bank accounts, etc., is legal. So, he can't be blamed for the loss of rights.

"Am I right to assume that we can also be sued while driving a friend's child around with our child? Cheers, MGM"

Absolutely. In fact, let's put a different spin on it. Let's sat that the utility company digs a hole on your property and an uninvited child falls in it and becomes injured. Yep, you can be sued for that as well. More importantly, you can 'sued' for anything. Even if you are found to not be at fault the defense costs will be crushing.

I wonder why the principal and band director don't support the trip anymore?? Probably because the sup. of schools forced them to not "support" the trip and write a letter stating that! I'm sure everyone realizes what's going on here!!

Since my child is in the GB Marching Band Now, I wanted to clear up a major detail. Our trip to Disney was not going to cost the Chesapeake Public Schools, or the City of Chesapeake Anything. Our trip would have been over Christmas break so no instructional time would be missed. The Parents, not the city, would have funded this trip 100%. All that was asked from the school administration was a blessing. To bad they chose the blessing of bad press instead. Our Band director has stood by our students and this trip fully. He only wants to see the students have the reward they have worked so hard for. Personally I say "Thank you Mr. Carrol for all your hard work". To the Band President, Thank you for all the many hours you put in trying to make this happen. Our students know that the parents worked hard to try to get the blessing of the administration. They may not get the honor of going but they have gotten the honor of seeing school administration FAIL. For this I say "Way to go Administration, You have failed our children, not only at GB but every school in Chesapeake."

Submitted by ltcwb on Mon, 09/08/2008 at 7:08 pm.
"Face it parents...You are no longer in charge of the people that educate your children.

Now let's see what you are going to do about it."

Brian Kirwin also said it. Government schools are virtually killing our kids, and filing their heads with hatred.

Unfortunately, the same idiots will always be voting in the same idiots to run the schools and government. Come Obama time in November, it wil only get worse.

What would happen if the band quit? Do they have the huevos to face down the school administration? Or are they sheeple?

Am I right to assume that we can also be sued while driving a friend's child around with our child? Cheers, MGM

That's the battle cry, every year. The picture painted is trailer additions to the schools, overcrowding, underpaid teachers, broken air conditioners and obsolete computer labs.
The reality is if the money was spent on teachers' salaries, computers, a worthwhile addition to schools and maintenance then there wouldn't be these problems. Instead schools toss money around like the Congress to have childcare services (take care of your kid if you're a parent), buses that cater to some kid to get off his cell phone in front of their driveway (gas money), ridiculous breakfasts, snacks and dinners(raising someone's kids for them), and silly things like trips to Disneyland.
Sinking more money into schools is like giving an addict more drugs. There's no accountability. How about BRAC go around and look into schools expenditures?

"You people are so weak...always afraid someone will sue you...geez...if the whole world acted on those grounds...we would never get anything done. "

Your right. However that is how it is. Unless we start pushing tort reform you will lose all of your freedoms. It doesn't matter if you can do if you cannot afford to do it. it is actually funny there are som many psots here when nobody ever responds to legislation giving the lawyers and easier path to sue the schools/doctors/parents and so on. Lawyers always say that they are making the world safer w/ these suits. Well the kids should feel very safe sittiing at home this year.

Mary, you cannot draw a contract. Juries disregard them when minors are involved. Plus you cannot defend any perceived negilence.

This is what happens when government runs something. Get ready for government health care!

I marched in the Mardis Gras parade at IC Norcom my sophomore year. We had soo much fun, people were acting crazy! Taking beads and throwing them into the horns, walking around drunk, and some other things that won;t be mentioned here...but we all were safe, healthy, and came back home with a feeling of sheer satisfaction...let those kids be kids and let them ride Space mountain, c'mon...

The School Board is responsible for selecting the Superintendent and monitoring promotions of school administrators. These are the same administrators that came up with the "No Trip" policy, as well as other policies and protocols that are equally as asinine, all while the Elected Board acts like the Three Wise Monkeys.

I would wager that if one of the kids in the band was a son or daughter of a School Boards member, or other high ranking administrator, then the Band would be heading to Orlando.

You know what they say about that. The message I see being sent to the hard working students that want to put their school name in the lime light, are work harder, we want you to look good for our school/community and be an inspiration for others to want to come here. But you cannot have any fun as a reward.
And what is wrong with the kids getting some down time to relaxe and enjoy themselves after the hard work that got them to Disney. All the fund raisings, practices, etc to put their school and community in a national presentation. Now they have nothing to show for it all. The band students are the loosers in this one.

The School Board is elected, they are our control over the un-elected education administrators that set the policies for educating OUR KIDS. We are THEIR bosses and we should tell them what our expectations are and if they do not perform, then get rid of them and vote someone is who does.

The Band Trip has touched a sore spot with parents because it affects their kids in the short term. The real problem here is our lack of focus on the long term issue - quality education. Look closely at the "Education" our kids are NOT receiving if you really want to get angry, same administrators, same approach, same results (6 Chesapeake Schools failed to meet standards).

is after all the brouhaha in the paper we find out the principal and band director do not support the trip after all. Why would the band director be directing and training the band students all summer and letting the students and their parents go about petitioning the school board without saying whether he supported going to Disney World or not. Something smells really fishy here. Sounds like public school politics at work. It's very likely the principal and band director were behind the students at first, but are now being pressured by the administration not to support them. Says a lot about the personal character of the people who are supposed to be educating our children. Petty politics at the expense of children is yet another reason why I decided to homeschool.

When I was very active with Boy Scouts there was a Joke about the Girl Scouts that went "...Oh Look a trail, ooo I broke a nail...". Obviously that is not true, but the Chesapeake School Super, Board, Principal and Director are afraid that such a minor incident would cause major problems. Chesapeake has always been a city without a plan, like most in Tidewater and still demonstrate the same "asinine" mentality with the obviously overboard rule in place and not being flexible. I wonder how many students get hurt each year in the schools from falling down stairs, tripping in halls, during PE and other "safe" events compared to maybe 50 students in three days at an amusement park and then only for probably a single day visit. Paraphrasing Gov of California (Arnold) words..." a bunch of sissy boys and girls run the schools"