Special needs student forced to remove letter jacket after parent complained he didn't earn it

[MerryBlooms]

Michael Kelley is a special needs student at Wichita East High School in Kansas. Like most Kansans, he loves basketball and plays in a recreational league. His parents are proud of his dedication to the game and bought him a letter jacket that he wore with pride. That is, until this week:

“Another parent, from what I am told, was upset that my son was wearing his letter jacket.”

The mother claims her son was asked to take that jacket off and was given a sweat shirt to wear instead.

The school claimed it was school policy, but the Athletic Director for the entire school district says it is NOT district policy:

The family turned to J. Means, USD 259’s Athletic Director. He told the family that when he was the athletic director at Northwest High their policy was to allow special needs students to earn letters, just like other athletes.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/27/1373746/-Special-needs-student-forced-to-remove-letter-jacket-after-parent-complained-he-didn-t-earn-it?detail=facebook_sf

What a fucking POS sorry excuse.

[NaturalHigh]

1. What kind of jerk would even complain about something like that?

School policy my ass. CYA policy is more like it.

[MerryBlooms]

3. I can't even believe it. There needs to be some serious ass kicking-

RELEASE THE SKITTLES

[Initech]

33. Just when I think we've reached the bottom, new lows are reached.

[Laurian]

2. My gawd! This meanness is appalling.

The student whose parents complained must be embarrassed as hell. At least I hope he/she is, but maybe not since hatefulness must abound in that home. Ugh.

[MerryBlooms]

4. I bet that the name gets released soon.

[etherealtruth]

5. WTF kind of person would be offended by this ...

... much less complain about it.

[onenote]

7. The kind that thinks special needs kids should be warehoused

out of sight in facilities that would make Dickens roll in his grave.

[etherealtruth]

9. blech ....

I can't even imagine wanting to do this to a kid

[onenote]

11. Sadly there are people who think that being exposed to special needs kids

sullies up their tidy little worlds. Of course, some of these same people will talk about "all God's children".

You're absolutely right -- Blech.

[etherealtruth]

14. I have witnessed this first hand

My (pseudo) niece was severely and multiply impaired (she died 3.5 years ago at the age of 21).

[liberal_at_heart]

15. Most of those people think special needs children are great as long as they belong to a

conservative Christian rich family. The second they come across one that needs financial help from a government program or are from a liberal family, these children are just a drain on society.

[joeybee12]

6. Stupid parents...

I hope they get a lot of grief for this incredible meanness.

[MerryBlooms]

8. There are a lot of letters being written.

[joeybee12]

12. Good! nt

[hifiguy]

10. WTF is WRONG with people like this?

Why are so many so obsessed with minding the business of others who are doing them no harm?

That "parent" is a brass-plated, four-door shitheel.

[JI7]

13. there really are fucked up parents around

[uppityperson]

16. Does that mean someone with a letter jacket can't let someone else wear it unless they also lettered

stupid thing to do and shame on the parent who complained.

[davidpdx]

30. Ah very true

It is almost tradition in American high schools for guys to let their girlfriends wear their letterman jacket from time to time. Certainly if it's not theirs they didn't earn it either.

[underpants]

17. Lettered 6 times and never bought a letter jacket

Freshman - Junior in soccer
Soph- Senior in football

This was the Reagan 80's. I wasn't politically aware at the time but I thought it was weird that the school promoted sales like this. I literally twitched in my seat during the mandatory assembly to sell us class rings - never bought one of those either.

I never understood the emphasis put in these things. It's stoopid freaking high school for crying out loud.

[liberal_at_heart]

18. My son is a sophomore and he brought home a package full of order forms for

senior class rings, key chains, and sweat shirts. It's disgusting.

[Jenoch]

23. My brothers and I ea h got high school class rings.

I think it was because it was somethi g our mother had done (dad's family didn't have money for such things). I remember getting it in the spring of my junior year. I wore it occasionally for a year. It went into a dresser drawer. It's in a differenr dresser drawer now. My brother's class ring is buried in silt in the lake across the street from our house.

When my brother's boys brought home the order forms, he offered to buy them each a shotgun instead. They will have them the rest of their lives. (They use them hunting grouse at our cabin.)

[Art_from_Ark]

36. My friend's high school class ring

is buried in the silt of the Illinois River.

[brer cat]

19. The name of the complainer should be released

and the parent shamed. I hope Michael gets to wear his jacket again.

[Wella]

24. There's enough witch hunting on the net. You want his address next?

It is enough that his community knows who he is. And enough that we come to the support of a special needs student.

[d_r]

20. a small thing you can do easily

here is a petition the mother will present to the BOE meeting in Wichita on Monday. It states only that children with special needs be allowed to earn a letter if they participate in a sport.

My take on what is going on here: the school has a team for children with disabilities, but does not allow them to earn letters. Separate and not equal.

and here is the link to the petition:
https://www.change.org/p/administration-of-wichita-high-school-east-allow-special-needs-students-the-opportunity-to-earn-a-varsity-letter-if-they-participate-in-a-school-sponsored-team?recruiter=264719566&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive

[davidpdx]

31. Thank you for sharing this

I shared it on Facebook, so maybe I can get a few more signatures to help out. Only 4,577 more to go to get to 15,000.

[d_r]

38. looks like your facebook worked

it has 36,000 now

[davidpdx]

40. Great to hear

Wish I could take credit for that.

[MineralMan]

21. What kind of small person does this?

For shame!

[Skittles]

22. no doubt a teabagger

[Initech]

25. I hope I'm not offending anyone when I say this:

But fuck those fucking assholes!

[leftofcool]

26. +1

[Kalidurga]

27. I wouldn't worry about it.

The only people that you would offend are probably those fucking assholes.

[irisblue]

29. +100

[mountain grammy]

28. Some people should just leave the human race

and live by themselves.

[Laxman]

32. If You Want To See How People Should Really Act....

in situations like this, take a minute to watch this video of kids from a high school near me. Their team was 2-8 last year but they're winners in my book!

[SheilaT]

34. Thanks for posting this.

I think that too many people have never known someone who is different, and so they just don't understand.

I'm 66, and when I was growing up there were rarely "special needs" kids to be seen anywhere. They were kept home or institutionalized. Fast forward several decades, I have a couple of young kids and I take them swimming at the local rec center. A couple of afternoons a week after school there was a group of kids with Down Syndrome, and while my boys didn't really interact with them, at least they saw them using the same swimming pool they were in. Something small, but it matters.

[Laxman]

35. This Is A Really Interesting Story....

this kid was seen hanging around watching football practice and was asked to participate as an "equipment manager". He was welcomed in by the team. One Friday afternoon before a game he was found sitting in the corner of the locker room talking to himself. One of the team members asked if everything was alright. He said he was just practicing his speech to the team. It became a regular event after that for this kid to address the team before every game.

Instead of just calling people who behave badly names or shaming them, I would prefer to provide them with examples of how decent people and people of character behave. This is one of those examples.

[woolldog]

37. Good. If he didn't earn it...

he shouldn't get to wear it.

[roamer65]

39. It was a choice between football and a job in HS for me.

I chose the job. Glad I did now given the strong correlation between football and CTE.

Destroying my body for a piece of cloth to sew on a jacket wasn't worth it in my book.