NJ schools...

[Taxman10]

are saving money on tables and trays.


usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/15/13291145-new-jersey-kids-win-500000-settlement-after-being-forced-to-eat-on-schools-gym-floor?lite

Seven students forced to eat lunch on their New Jersey school's gymnasium floor for two weeks as punishment won a $500,000 legal settlement, their attorney said Tuesday.

The 2008 incident involved fifth-grade students at Charles Sumner Elementary School in Camden, N.J., who were disciplined after one child spilled water as he tried to lift a jug onto a cooler, according to lawyer Alan Schorr.

[Deleted]

OTOH, whatever they saved, they lost in the settlements for the lawsuits. (For those of you unfamiliar with the insurance business, they most likely have a very high per-claim deductible on their liability policy so most of this will come straight out of the pockets of the taxpayers.)

And the Vice Principal was transferred. I hate the public school system.

[Taxman10]

Aug 15, 2012 9:32:53 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

OTOH, whatever they saved, they lost in the settlements for the lawsuits. (For those of you unfamiliar with the insurance business, they most likely have a very high per-claim deductible on their liability policy so most of this will come straight out of the pockets of the taxpayers.)

And the Vice Principal was transferred. I hate the public school system.

that should solve the problem! :-)

[Opti]

Somebody over-reacted on the punishment. Not surprised it happened in Camden as it won't attract the cream of the crop like most poorer school districts. It also makes the financial burden of the tax payers sadder as well.

I wonder how much of that settlement will actually find its way into the households of the 7 students. At first 500K seems overkill, but my guess is more than half of that will be diverted to legal fees.

[Deleted]

Aug 15, 2012 10:13:32 GMT -5 Opti said:

I wonder how much of that settlement will actually find its way into the households of the 7 students. At first 500K seems overkill, but my guess is more than half of that will be diverted to legal fees.

Yeah, almost that.

Under the settlement, the students will split $280,000, which works out to $31,428 each. Their attorney, Alan H. Schorr of Cherry Hill, will get $220,000.

While I'm not fond of contingency fees, in this case they accomplished their purpose. Those parents probably couldn't have scraped up enough money to pay a retainer to a lawyer and this gave them access to the court system. And while I'm also not fond of lawsuits, this one brought to light the incompetence of the school staff.

[zibazinski]

Freakin big deal. You had to eat lunch on the floor. Was your food on the floor itself? Or on a plate on the floor? Things like this make me hate lawyers. What BS. So kids who misbehaved somehow got rewarded for doing so. Really sad. I'm sure those lawyers made out like bandits, though. Such trauma, I'm sure those kids will never recover even with 31k in their parents pockets!

[Deleted]

According to the article, the kids on the floor were from Ethnic Group #1 and the Vice Principal and the kids who taunted the kids on the floor were Ethnic Group #2. In this context it doesn't matter what the ethnic groups are. It's just plain wrong to allow that kind of taunting to go on. That's why adults are supposed to be in charge in the schools. Unfortunate that frequently the inmates are running the asylum.

[973beachbum]

Aug 15, 2012 10:45:25 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

According to the article, the kids on the floor were from Ethnic Group #1 and the Vice Principal and the kids who taunted the kids on the floor were Ethnic Group #2. In this context it doesn't matter what the ethnic groups are. It's just plain wrong to allow that kind of taunting to go on. That's why adults are supposed to be in charge in the schools. Unfortunate that frequently the inmates are running the asylum.

I agree but Camden is such a poor district. This is just going to take more money out of their district and leave them with even worse idiots working there.

The teacher seems to have not liked this either because she told the kids to tell their parents and she also got a settlement it said.

My kid sold school saved money but getting rid of spoons, forks and knives in all cafeterias. they replaced them with sporks. they are the most amazing invention ever. They manage to completely replace both a spoon and a fork yet manage to do neither the spoons job nor the forks.

Anyone want fun try watching 200 elementry students eating spaghetti with sporks.

[hoops902]

::So kids who misbehaved somehow got rewarded for doing so.::

Based on the article, there were no kids misbehaving. One kid tried to put the water jug onto the dispenser and spilled the water. Then the principal punished the entire class.

[973beachbum]

Aug 15, 2012 11:48:32 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

::So kids who misbehaved somehow got rewarded for doing so.::

Based on the article, there were no kids misbehaving. One kid tried to put the water jug onto the dispenser and spilled the water. Then the principal punished the entire class.

To me this sounds like th discord was fueled by the Vice Principal although what the Principal was doing while this was going on for two weeks is beyond me since they didnt' dicipline them. The implication to me is that she/he felt they were animals so they should be treated as such.

He said the incident took place against a backdrop of discord between the black and Hispanic populations in the impoverished southern New Jersey city. The children were Hispanic.

Schorr said the vice principal, who was African-American, punished all 15 students in a bilingual class by making them eat off paper liners normally used on lunch trays. (While there were 15 students in the class, only seven sued.)

"The African-American kids were eating at tables, with trays, taunting these Hispanic kids who were forced to eat on the ground," Schorr said.

[Deleted]

Aug 15, 2012 11:48:32 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

Based on the article, there were no kids misbehaving. One kid tried to put the water jug onto the dispenser and spilled the water. Then the principal punished the entire class.

Good heavens, it just registered that an elementary-school kid was trying to heft one of those giant bottles into a water-cooler dispenser. I'm a full-sized adult in good shape and quit doing that at the office 20 years ago because I started getting twinges in my back. Where in the heck was the adult who should have been making sure that the water dispenser was kept refilled? Another case of an adult in charge of something and asleep at the wheel- being paid by the taxpayers.

Oh, yeah- what's wrong with water fountains instead?

[973beachbum]

Aug 15, 2012 13:21:45 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Aug 15, 2012 11:48:32 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

Based on the article, there were no kids misbehaving. One kid tried to put the water jug onto the dispenser and spilled the water. Then the principal punished the entire class.

Good heavens, it just registered that an elementary-school kid was trying to heft one of those giant bottles into a water-cooler dispenser. I'm a full-sized adult in good shape and quit doing that at the office 20 years ago because I started getting twinges in my back. Where in the heck was the adult who should have been making sure that the water dispenser was kept refilled? Another case of an adult in charge of something and asleep at the wheel- being paid by the taxpayers.

Oh, yeah- what's wrong with water fountains instead?

I think it was intentional. Reading the article and I think I have heard of problems there before. It has some serious racial tension and it is fed from the top down not the bottom up.

These kids weren't just punished for this the VP made sure that they were eating off the floor like animals and let the rest of the students taunt them about it for the 2 weeks.

The one person who tried to intervene on their behalf's was apparently the teacher who they fired.

ETA Athena I think that district has problems with the pipes are old and leach lead so they aren't allowed to drink from the water fountians. IICR

[Taxman10]

Aug 15, 2012 13:21:45 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Aug 15, 2012 11:48:32 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

Based on the article, there were no kids misbehaving. One kid tried to put the water jug onto the dispenser and spilled the water. Then the principal punished the entire class.

Good heavens, it just registered that an elementary-school kid was trying to heft one of those giant bottles into a water-cooler dispenser. I'm a full-sized adult in good shape and quit doing that at the office 20 years ago because I started getting twinges in my back. Where in the heck was the adult who should have been making sure that the water dispenser was kept refilled? Another case of an adult in charge of something and asleep at the wheel- being paid by the taxpayers.

Oh, yeah- what's wrong with water fountains instead?

someone complained about kids drinking Camden city water...so they had to take out the water fountains and put in bottled water instead...

[973beachbum]

Aug 15, 2012 13:25:51 GMT -5 Taxman10 said:

Aug 15, 2012 13:21:45 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Good heavens, it just registered that an elementary-school kid was trying to heft one of those giant bottles into a water-cooler dispenser. I'm a full-sized adult in good shape and quit doing that at the office 20 years ago because I started getting twinges in my back. Where in the heck was the adult who should have been making sure that the water dispenser was kept refilled? Another case of an adult in charge of something and asleep at the wheel- being paid by the taxpayers.

Oh, yeah- what's wrong with water fountains instead?

someone complained about kids drinking Camden city water...so they had to take out the water fountains and put in bottled water instead...

Taxi I posted above but the problem are the old cast iron pipes that have been leaching lead. They didn't do it because it tasted bad it literally had lead in it.

[973beachbum]

Like Camden's politics, its water system remained troubled. In September 2002, about two dozen schools were provided bottled water by the state after drinking fountains were shut off amid lead concerns. A coalition of community groups found high levels of lead in 21 schools between 1999 and 2002.

Rick Pfleiderer, a regional manager for United Water, which was acquired in August 2002 by Suez subsidiary United Water Resources Inc., said the lead comes from pipes inside the schools. Camden City is responsible for fixing the pipes, but Pfleiderer said he has offered the company's assistance.

The state is working with the schools to fix the problem.

Pfleiderer also explained that the city still has 100-year-old lead pipes that supply water to homes. The city is slated to replace at least 3,000 of them this year, he said.

The company is responsible only for pipe under streets, he said, and so far, United Water has replaced just under 1,000 of them.

www.iwatchnews.org/2003/02/12/5731/water-system-troubles-troubled-city

The story is about what I remember although it is almost ten years old. From all i have heard the problem has actually gotten worse they just stopped reporting it.

[Deleted]

Wow. You start to realize why some kids just don't have a chance from the get-go. The adults who are supposed to be providing these kids with an education and safe conditions in the schools belong in jail.

[Taxman10]

Aug 15, 2012 14:05:41 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Wow. You start to realize why some kids just don't have a chance from the get-go. The adults who are supposed to be providing these kids with an education and safe conditions in the schools belong in jail.

well you can't fire teachers or administrators so......

[hoops902]

Aug 15, 2012 14:15:13 GMT -5 Taxman10 said:

Aug 15, 2012 14:05:41 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Wow. You start to realize why some kids just don't have a chance from the get-go. The adults who are supposed to be providing these kids with an education and safe conditions in the schools belong in jail.

well you can't fire teachers or administrators so......

Sure you can, the teacher who didn't approve of the punishment got fired I believe.

[Taxman10]

Aug 15, 2012 14:46:34 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

Aug 15, 2012 14:15:13 GMT -5 Taxman10 said:

well you can't fire teachers or administrators so......

Sure you can, the teacher who didn't approve of the punishment got fired I believe.

good point...

she also got $75k in a settlement

[hoops902]

Aug 15, 2012 15:31:37 GMT -5 Taxman10 said:

Aug 15, 2012 14:46:34 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

Sure you can, the teacher who didn't approve of the punishment got fired I believe.

good point...

she also got $75k in a settlement

Which in teacher numbers is really like $100K when you factor in the 3/4 year they revolve around. 3....2....1......