Mass. principal bans students from saying 'Meep!'

[The Straight Story]

Mass. principal bans students from saying 'Meep!'


DANVERS, Mass. — Who knew "Meep!" was a four-letter word? The utterance favored by bungling lab assistant Beaker of "The Muppet Show" has been banned at Danvers High School in Massachusetts after students said it to repeatedly interrupt school.

Principal Thomas Murray said the word was part of a disruption planned using Facebook.

The Salem News reports that parents recently got an automated call about "Meep!" from Murray. He warned them that students who said or displayed the word at school could be suspended.

Murray says the warning was needed because students didn't heed his "reasonable request" to stop the meeping.

Danvers High sophomore Melanie Crane says it doesn't mean anything in particular.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jE_jGmk8NKFD7AB1b20ncitdtxAQD9BU8GVG1

[sandnsea]

1. The adults should start saying meep

And within a day the kids would find something else to do. Real lack of imagination in problem solving.

[Voice for Peace]

73. hahaha exactly! you are so right.

a mountain is made out of a molehill, a big complicated problem is created for no good reason.

[niyad]

2. I thought that was what the roadrunner used to say??

[dionysus]

38. i think he says beep beep, but it does kinda sound like meep.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. How did someone THAT stupid get to be the pirincipal of a high school?

[OnyxCollie]

4. Peter principal.

:P

[BrklynLiberal]

46. Guess you are right.....Is that Beauty jumping thru the tire?

[OnyxCollie]

49. No, that's Dante.

[BrklynLiberal]

50. Oh...There is someone who has a Belgian Shepherd named Beauty

that looks just like Dante. Is he actually a black collie?

Here is the picture of Beauty
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=9114810&mesg_id=9114840

[OnyxCollie]

55. Yes, I've said "Hi" to alsame and Beauty before.

Dante's a Belgian sheepdog. "Onyx Collie" was something I made up when people ask if he's a black Collie.

[BrklynLiberal]

56. Oh...so I wasn't totally off base. They are both magnificent dogs...

[OnyxCollie]

57. Thank you!

[tonysam]

51. LOL!!!

He will probably be administrator of the year or something.

[Posteritatis]

32. They're more common than you think; my HS principal forbade disagreement one year

There were a handful of fights, the principal overreacted, and actually announced that he would treat students who disagreed with each other about anything as though they came to blows.

Shortly afterwards, a couple of my friends parked themselves outside his office during the lunch hour and had a loud, hostile-sounding, hammed-up argument about their interpretations of the books they were currently going over in their English class. They made a point of having completely civilized, polite, on-topic language; they just voiced it as though they were saying "I'm going to kill you really a lot" to each other.

The dumbass very quickly gave up on trying to enforce his new policy.

[BrklynLiberal]

47. Obviously my experience is not very vast. You are right.

[phasma ex machina]

67. Probably a pointy headed peep making moar meep.

[tblue]

5. Like the Knights Who Say 'Ni!'? Lol! What a silly principal. Get a life, dude. nt

[Skink]

6. MK

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. They probably meeped more because it annoyed the principal. He should have ignored it.

[WolverineDG]

9. Yup, my thoughts exactly

and if he couldn't handle kids saying "meep," he damn sure couldn't have handled a situation my HS principal had to handle....everyone thought he was a geek & we openly mocked his heavy Southern accent, but when some seniors dumped tear gas in the ventilation system, he kept his cool while everyone else went nuts.

dg

[nemo137]

10. +1

[adamuu]

37. He should have joined them in laughing about it

rather than resorting to Draconian threats.

[Selatius]

8. Isn't this a First Amendment violation? nt

[drm604]

11. Not if they were doing it repeatedly to interrupt class.

I can't imagine that the first amendment would be interpreted to allow that.

[Selatius]

14. Well, then it depends on how the ban was implemented.

If it was spoken in a context other than to interrupt a class but still landed the student in suspension anyway, then I would think the wronged student would have a case.

[paulsby]

16. you are kidding right? nt

[baldguy]

75. Since when has the First Amendment applied to students in public school?

[Posteritatis]

77. 1969. (nt)

[TlalocW]

12. Meep? How pathetic

In college, I had a job as an in-class math tutor at a local high school. When someone felt the class was too quiet, he or she would yell, "Sniper!" and anyone who wanted to join that person in detention would dive onto the floor.

TlalocW

[Alamuti Lotus]

13. Sure, that'll stop it...... what an idiot.

[Webster Green]

15. Freedom of Meep!

Freedom of Meep is our God-given right as Murkens! :P

[TheKentuckian]

17. What a lame ass! Mr Rooney is that you? You'll get Ferris this time, I betcha

Of course I'm just pleased as punch that kids that age even know about some Beaker to the point of probably patting them on the back.

[Swamp Rat]

18. Meep! Meep! Meep! Meep! Meep! Meep! Meep! Meep! Meep! Meep! Meep! Meep! Meeeeeeep! Meep! Meep!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpcUxwpOQ_A

[Generic Other]

31. hahahahaa

they banned beethoven?

[SoCalDem]

19. we always said "meh"..

and it drove teachers crazy..which is why we said it:)

[Lilith Velkor]

20. meep

[villager]

21. Does this mean they can't sing "Yellow," either? :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phyg_uIPQII

[Voice for Peace]

74. hahahaha and meep

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KANI2dpXLw&feature=fvw

[Occulus]

22. The principal best hope and pray there are no Monty Python fans at his school.

There's an outside chance the next word banned will be "Ni!"

[TorchTheWitch]

23. How about banning class disruption whatever the cause?

Banning the word is stupid - kids will just pick a new word or sound or action to disrupt with. Ban the DISRUPTING and have harsh penalties for it.

Simple.

[Louisiana1976]

44. +1

[Ignis]

45. Yep. Kids will get tired of a single word or phrase, anyway.

Ban "meep," and next week they'll all be saying "bleep" or "ni" or "single payer now!"

;)

[saltpoint]

24. Goddamit, a Zero-Tolerance Meep Policy should be instituted at once!

Indeed, why isn't one in place NOW!?

[Turbineguy]

30. Kindly leave

the guns, knives and meeps at home.

[saltpoint]

58. LOL. Anybody caught bringing in meeps, there'll be hell to pay!

[saltpoint]

25. Also, it's clear that this is a crisis likely to spread unless it's nipped early.

I'm assuming Governor Patrick is laying plans to fly in, likely before noon today, to chair a Concerned Citizens Against Meeping panel in the school gym.

One can only hope there's money in the budget for on-site counselors, to be made available for both the kids who are punished for saying 'meep' as well as those who never said it and are experiencing conflicting guilt for not facing the same emotional navigation through meep consequences as their offending classmates.

Finally, an extensive school policy manual should be updated to include a new chapter on meeping. This should be announced via letters home to parents; a signature page should be included of course and parents should be expected to read and sign the signature page on meeping and return it post haste to the school administrators' offices, certainly before Thanksgiving. Something to the effect of "I have read and understand the School Manual as regards meeping on the behalf of my child/children and will stand in support of said policy to bolster the meeping prohibition."

[no_hypocrisy]

26. Meep -- The first step towards juvenile delinquency.

Nip it in the bud now.

[LeftinOH]

27. Remember this one: "when he clock strikes 1:15pm, everybody drop their pencils..!"

[jberryhill]

60. Yeah... Remember this one....

...where everybody agrees to bully some kid by making up a word and taunting them with it relentlessly?

That one is also hilarious.

[Orsino]

28. The principal fell for it.

He let himself be put in the utterly ridiculous position of banning a nonsense word.

You don't let yourself get dragged into it. You simply issue warnings about disruption in general, and maintain your dignity. This is a principal who lost his cool.

[Mari333]

29. oh how silly. thats just the martians talking. from sesame street

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qxWGr8VhzQ

[DearAbby]

54. Oh I loved that segment Yip yip yip uh huh

:bounce:

[TorchTheWitch]

64. Koozbings! I LOVED them!

They'd hide behind their chins when they were scared.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fQaj31Wtko&feature=related

[ipaint]

33. That's my high school.

When I went there in the early 70's we had war protests during school hours, sit down strikes in the hallway during school and streakers, both male and female, running through the parking lot regularly. The teachers and staff took it with a grain of salt and no-one was punished.
It was a great time to be anti-authoritarian.

Not so much now, conform or else seems to be the norm.

[WolverineDG]

39. Today's teachers, principals, & parents would have heart attacks

over things that showed up in my senior class *informal* photo....shot guns, beer bottles, middle fingers, sexually suggestive signs.... :eyes:

It's as if the administration had the bright idea to let the kids have a picture where they could "get it all out" instead of blowing the formal class photo....strangely enough, it worked.....

dg

[ipaint]

41. Same here.

Not quite as overt but we had arm bands and stuff. It's a shame. I learned to question adults. Being young I may have been a complete pain but I was thinking, especially regarding the war and student rights and the value of stopping normal controlling day to day life to make a point. A complete high school walk out, planned only by students/word of mouth, to protest the war would bring in the cops in full riot gear today.

Back then we learned about our collective power. Now that's mostly forbidden knowledge for kids.

[BoneDaddy]

34. Meep you principal

meep off too.

[babydollhead]

35. "No paper footballs" is in our kid's student handbook

NO PAPER FOOTBALLS? where else can you have so much fun with them, as in school?

[jberryhill]

61. It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye... /nt

[adamuu]

36. I wonder if a sense of humor about it would be a better approach

Let it play out. Entertain it for a while... the kids will get bored of it in time, no?

[Stuckinthebush]

40. OK, so now the kids will say MOOP!

and the principal will ban "Moop".

Then the kids will say Beep....

and on and on it goes. This principal needs to sit back and get to the heart of the issue instead of knee jerk banning of a word.

[johnnie]

42. It could have been worse

They could have banned students from talking about chickens.


B-)

[Canuckistanian]

43. Oh, what sad times are these

When passing ruffians can say Meep at will to school principals.

There is a pestilence upon this land, nothing is sacred.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

48. Everybody should call this principal's office phone...

and ask if he has a copy of Battletoads for rent.

[pipi_k]

52. I think they should all run around saying

"fuck" instead.

After a few days of that, "meep" won't seem so bad

:7

[DearAbby]

53. Isn't that what the Road Runner sayz?

Meep Meep?

[eppur_se_muova]

68. I read your post right after #52 -- thought it was a response to that one! nt

:D

[jberryhill]

59. I'd be interested to see a picture of this principal

...or other staff at the school.

Were the students mocking the physical characteristics of the principal or a teacher chosen as a victim?

Or was this an organized bullying effort of some kind directed at another student?

I can recall an episode from elementary school in which use of a particular common everyday word would result in discipline, because it was used to relentlessly torment a student as a reminder of an embarrassing incident.

The ban was ineffective and the student's parents removed the student from the school at what was probably great expense to them.

If this involved bullying, then the principal cannot explain the underlying problem, because of privacy issues and potential exacerbation.

[uppityperson]

62. TGIP! MEEP!

[Drunken Irishman]

63. He can go meep himself.

[CoffeeCat]

65. Is one of these guys the principal?

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgh3P0eqLmk/SOy2Tj9xTxI/AAAAAAAABGs/D1VFFIfW5tE/s400/old+muppets+on+balcony.jpg

[Libertas1776]

66. Hmm, can they still say

Bork, Bork, Bork, Bork?

[eppur_se_muova]

69. OK, kids, the next Word For The Day will be "mebs" ... nt

[intaglio]

70. There's a good blog post about this - from an NY attorney

http://theodoramichaels.com/articles/meep.php

... I took about five seconds and sent an email to Principal Thomas Murray ( [e-mail] ), Assistant Principal Mark Strout ( [e-mail] ), Assistant Principal Cornelia Varoudakis ( [e-mail] ), and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Lisa Dana ( [e-mail] ). All of these addresses are publicly available on the Danvers High School website.

My subject line said (in full), "meep." The body said (in full), "Meep."

Yesterday I received a reply email from Assistant Principal Mark Strout, which said (in full) "Your E-mail has been forwarded to the Danvers Police Department."

LOLwut? That simultaneously annoyed and amused me enough to write this article. (Plus, my train was late.) ...

and as Fark has picked it up as well ... can you imagine the number of meep-mails being sent?

[rvablue]

76. Hilarious! I hope every adult that meets him on the street over the weekend, walks up and says

"Meep!"

It's doubley hilarious that he forwarded the email to the PD? The principal sounds like he's at the end of his rope, but he better watch that temper....he's going to end up getting sued do to his anti-Muppet zealotry! :rofl:

[SoCalDem]

71. Kids will just substitute a different "word"..or will make one up

Remember the Knights who say "Nee!"

[MilesColtrane]

72. The CMC reports that this is spreading among school age children throughout the country.

(That's the Center for Meep Control.)

[backscatter712]

78. [e-mail]

(NOTE! This principal's email address was publicly available from the school's web site, so we're not invading privacy.)

If you want to seen this guy a MEEP, here's his email.

[Posteritatis]

80. I love that they're forwarding such emails to the cops

Yeah, I'm sure there'll be hordes of arrests over that. ;)

[leeroysphitz]

79. Cat-Tails go "meep".