Hey there. I'm Lloyd Christmas, the bus driver around here if you didn't know. I for one find this to be outrageous by the school. What business do they have searching our kids web pages? This is something that they do outside of the classroom. It would be one thing if they were smoking pot and raping girls in school, but to take people's words for what happened with no hard evidence is just crazy! I feel like the school board always wants to find something wrong with kids these days, and to do that they have to search outside the classroom. Being a bus driver I hear all sorts of juicy gossip, but you never hear of me running to the principal telling them what rumors I heard. I say the only way the school should get involved is if it is happening at school, or if the kid is showing serious effects of a problem. The administration has obviously forgot what it was like to be kids, when they were that age they would not have wanted the school going through their personal life, and punishing them for it. I suggest that school reevaluates what they are doing to these kids, and take it easy on them. There is my two cents, love you, Lloyd Christmas. Oh also give this a look, a website that agrees with lowering the drinking age http://www.starttalkingnow.org/privacy.shtml
15 comments:
Bus Driver,
For one if you are hearing some comments from the students on the buss, the problems should be addressed. Also we are not trying to be mean to the students that are caught being involved in the harmful activities, we just care. The administration here at Grand Heights care about the wellbeing of our students and our community. We know that it is not only dangerous but illegal for these kids to be involved in the things that we see on MySpace. Whether or not we catch them in school should not be the issue. All that should matter is that they are doing something wrong and they need to know that. They need consequences.
-Mr. Man
Lloyd,
I agree with some of the points that you made. I like what you said about how it depends if they are in school or not. I also agree with what you said about how the administration has forgotten what is like to be a kid. In an interview with Frontline, a sociologist at the University of California, Pascoe, said that the internet has become the major way that teenagers feel independent since the invention of the car. A little, extreme, but I think the two of you have the right idea about respecting the privacy of a teenage online, unless their safety is in danger and that the administration shouldn't be involved.
the comment above was posted by Rudy Burgandy
Lloyd,
I realize that these activities are happening outside of school, but when these pictures are brought to the administrators attention then it becomes our problem. Like I said before, we are not going to simply sit back and watch our students make wrong decisions that not only hurt themselves, but the people around them including our school. We want our students to represent Grand Heights in a positive manner.
-Mr. Man
Mr.Christmas:
I first want to address how thankful the school is for your work everyday bringing the students to and from school safely. So if you care about their safety when you are driving, why not care about their safety outside of school? I realize that you may not know these young chaps very well, but I would hope you realize that safety goes further than in a car. It goes further to emotional safety, health safety and also personal safety.
Here at GHHS we care alot about how our fine young men and women go about their lives. We give quality education and we want the community to know GHHS as a good school with great students. What our students do is what represents us as a whole, and that is why we are taking action against these wrong doers.
cheerio!
James Johnson, Dean of Students
Hey Lloyd,
You always were my favorite bus driver. Nothing has changed with you either. You are still sticking up for the kids of this school like you always have. You are right when you say that the school has no business punishing kids for what is online. That is their personal life. If it is not done in school then it isn't the school's business. I'm glad that there are still some adults that still believe in freedom for kids.
Your famous quote says it all. "We got no food, no jobs... our pet's heads are falling off!" That is when the school needs to get involved, when people's heads start falling off. Thanks for being such a great bus driver.
-Joe Hyland
Mr bus driver eh
after reading some of you comments i would like to say that i am glad that you care about about our students but you are going about this in the totally wrong. obviously we know that goes on in high school we were once there our selfs just like everyone else that works at Grand Heights we are want to rid as much of it as we can and it the means losing some of my best players so be it. we need to think about there future not them having a good time.
Mr. Christmas,
I'm glad that you can see my point of view. Im sorry to say that I really don't agree with your point of view. It's true that these incidents didn't happen in school but they involve kids that go to Grand Heights. When things like this happen it's our responsibility to take action and maintain a good reputation. The things these kids are involved in are illegal and it shouldn't matter where or when they happen. These kids need to know that these things are not okay and there will be consequences for their actions.
Lloyd Christmas,
I understand that students make bad decisions but they should be punished for them so that they are discouraged from making these decisions again. I don’t think the school should be punishing the students that have already graduated. That is definitely out of our jurisdiction; but the students who still go here need to be punished to keep this under control. What these kids do outside of school reflects back to their school and the community. When I was in high school I was surrounded by kids making bad choices but my friends and I were never apart of that. It’s hard for me to sympathize with these students because I didn’t go through this when I was in high school.
Thanks,
Cecile Calibo
Guidance Counselor
Lloyd,
Yes, I can honestly say that I never drank underage in high school because when I was that age, 16 was the legal age to drink, so hah! But don't worry, I only stuck to the wine coolers.
Edna Quiggle
Dear Lloyd Christmas,
Hello again. I don't know if you remember because I was that shy girl that sat in the second seat on the right in your bus. But I do remember you. And I do remember all the secrets that were spread on the bus my freshman year. Honestly, I was surprised at first that you never called anyone on it, and yet it was kind of nice at the same time. I mean here are these kids living a double life and doing just silly things and being rather stupid at times, and you don't call them on it. You just let us be yet you don't invade our privacy as if we were some sort of alien. I know what the kids have done is wrong. I know we've all done some wrong. But do they remember, Mr. Christmas? Will they remember? Can they remember?
1985:
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BG&p_theme=bg&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EADEAD65E59E6D9&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
Will they remember Bruce Perry? I wish they would talk Mr. Christmas. I wish they would talk.
~Isabella Ophoven
Dear Mr. Christmas,
I agree with you that the drinking age should be lowered. There are less alcohol related problems in countries where alcohol is intoduced earlier to teens. Think Canada, France, all those wannabe US of A's. But sense the drinking age is where it is at the students actions are still illegal. Because the pictures and magazine was presented to the administartion there had to be somthing done about it. The people put in the position would have been fired if they hadn't acted with some sort of consequences. Well, thats ole Nigel's 2 cents. See you around the school.
From,
Nigel Klaus
Llyod,
It's good to hear that there was a golden age of school where teachers didn't creep on student websites. I think it all comes down to what the rules are. If it is in administrations jurisdiction then ya i agree, what can you do. I'm sure this issue comes up on the bus if you see something suspicious from one of your kids backpacks. Maybe they have an ax or saw to go lumber jacking. Regardless I know that you have the power to search them right?
Later
-Frank
Llyod Christmas,
Hi there. I have never met due to the fact that I have never ridden the bus to school, but you sound like a very interesting man. First of all, I would like to say that somehow your argument was mildly influential to me. I was starting to agree with you a bit even though my opinion on this issue is pretty different. I do however want to stay true to what i think was right. I do think that the administration had some power to punish the students. If the students were not posting there private life on the internet then I would say the administration should have absolutely nothing to do with it. As a part of the working world you yourself could be fired from exposure on the internet. If those students did not want to face the consequences of the school then they should not have made their business public. However I do think that the school went too far. They shouldn't have punished anyone outside of the school. I think it is great that you are one to keep secrets, but this information was no secret, it was public not private anymore.
Hop on the magic school bus,
Valerie Smith
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