Former Washington Middle School teacher Kerstin Westcott resigned in front of the school board after detailing incidents of violence, abuse, and fear for the safety of students and staff.

Westcott goes on to detail the following incidents that happened during the 2016-2017 school year:

-"Student set 3 fires in the bathrooms-we were never evacuated"
-"[Redacted] was kicked in the face during a fight and his glasses were broken"
-"Drugs and cigarettes have been both sold and used in and around the school"
-"So many fights that students have started arming themselves with weapons (including brass knuckles, knives, a large stick, and a lock) with which to fight"
-"Student jumped and beaten to the ground and kicked in the head and stomach repeatedly while she was down"
-"Student approached a teacher personally and said he had a gun and was going to shoot that teacher"
-"Student told staff, 'I am going to kill the teacher. I am going to get a shotgun and find out where he lives. Watch me. I am not kidding.'"

During a fight, Westcott recalls an administrator telling a teacher, "We're numb to fights around here. Is it a real fight?"

The letter says 11 percent of Washington Middle School students were in the "red zone" for behavior, meaning they had committed at least six major offenses during the school year.

I don't get why the fuck you would do this in the first place? Those dudes were pulling hella hard. *I* wanted to punch them in the face for that douchebaggery.

What the fuck dudes? What is wrong with you? This is how you get noticed? Just ask her out. Christ. Are we in fucking middle school here? This is why so many dudes are afraid to approach women. We've programmed them to be automatically full-defensive mode. I'm talkin deflector shields, weapons locked, targeting systems at the ready. Guys, seriously. Stop being dicks.

I was in middle school/jr. high in 4/6/1990 before becoming a HS frosh!

Actually, the video is about manipulation.

But yes, he's kind of dumb. And I'm not saying that because I disagree with his politics (hell, I don't even know what he truly believes). There are plenty of conservatives that I think are brilliant. It's just very obvious from hearing him talk that Trump is dumb. The vocabulary of a middle-school kid, the lack of knowledge about history an adult should posses (let alone the President), lack of intellectual curiosity, lack of self-awareness, etc.

He's extremely confident and arrogant, and this has helped him succeed. I know people like that from my childhood. You think they're so stupid they wouldn't even graduate high school, but they somehow end up successful.

They bet big because they don't question themselves, so they go all in, and sometimes they win. Meanwhile, a lot of extremely smart people constantly doubt themselves, are too self conscious, etc. to make any bold moves.

But of course when you bet big, you lose sometimes too. And we've seen Trump lose a BILLION dollars in a boom economy in the fucking CASINO business.

What a disgusting bitch. As if she isn't ugly enough physically, she has to display an even more sickeningly ugly personality publicly.

There's no way she would have paid him overtime for being there 15 min longer, and the fire dept might have fined them if he hadn't given them access, or just left and not inspected, closing the school and definitely costing the janitor his job for not letting them in.
Do they not have a punch clock? That should back him up completely with HR. I can only hope they're addressing Susan's inappropriate behavior and reprimanding her strongly.

He's better off. He'll get another job thanks to this video, a better one with a boss who's not using a pineapple for a butt plug.

I think you are going to be sorry....Mrs Susan Opferman of Alpharetta Georga, for this behavior. Someone's going to be offended and find you and/or use these overhanded, insulting, unfair and dehumanizing tactics against you and your children. I expect Webb Bridge middle school will be getting a large number of complaints about this woman working with children, maybe costing her job. Turn about is fair play...get ready for a shit storm.

A good question I have, why would a custodian's hours end at the same time school gets out? Do they leave the daily messes to dry and harden overnight until 6:30 am? It would make far more sense if he got off at 4.

Edit: oops. I made a mistake. I just realized this is normal and accepted behavior for a beachmaster. Carry on.

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Most of the stuff he mentioned (human rights, taxes, writing a check, how stock market works, etc) were taught in my high school civics class. My high school (and middle school) had other practical classes too - wood shop, metal shop, home-ec, etc.

Of course all this was pre no-child-left-behind, so who knows how shite it is now compared to then...

Reminds me of a computer they brought into my middle school in 1971. I was in 6th grade and they let some of us math geeks check it out. It didn't have a monitor, just typed out the words on a continuous flow of paper with that same ball device.
At one point it wrote out "type the letter R" and we typed "RRRR" and it typed out 'NO, I said type just one R!" We almost ran screaming from the room, we thought we had angered the robot. We had no concept of computer programming at the time.

My wife was a teacher at a middle school where several teachers were assaulted (pushed, punched, etc.) yearly and there were almost daily fights between students--no exaggeration. School policy is that teachers can't touch the kids for any reason, even to break up fights where one student is kicking another on the ground, due to threats of lawsuits in such cases. The police officer is there mostly to diffuse/stop such instances because they are allowed to get physically involved. They are also on hand to file charges against threats of assault, rape, or when drugs are found.

And this is all at a middle school where the kids range in size from pre-pubescent four footers to early-bloomer six foot plus and much larger than some of their female teachers.

The efficacy of this is obviously influenced by the individual cop, the school administration and how the students and their parents view police in general.

I suppose that makes sense, but ignores the idea (one I certainly HOPE they teach) that OUR government (technically) derives ALL it's power from the consent of the governed. (If only it were the INFORMED consent...but we have what we have). If that idea is taught along with this one, and that the representative government is made of, and by the people, then there's no longer an issue. The government IS the people, so their rights flow from, and back to themselves, enforced by the government (which is them). No?

As for Texas, it is certainly indoctrination in my eyes, into the far right's revisionist history in order to make their present stances make logical/rational/moral sense. That's how I see it.

The government has proven that it has that right by it's creation in the first place. Our government is nearly unique in that it was created by consensus of all those involved in it's creation.

I see this as not so much a political ploy, but a slightly lazy, poorly worded, over simplified lesson, one that I hope will be clarified in later lesson plans, but not something to get upset over, when there are far more egregious lessons being taught....or not.
In second grade, you are still barely building a base of knowledge with which to question much. That kind of teaching is better suited for after middle school in my eyes, but I'm not an educator.

From http://banbossy.com/

When a little boy asserts himself, he's called a “leader.” Yet when a little girl does the same, she risks being branded “bossy.” Words like bossy send a message: don't raise your hand or speak up. By middle school, girls are less interested in leading than boys—a trend that continues into adulthood. Together we can encourage girls to lead.

The confidence
gap starts early.
Between elementary and high school, girls’
self–esteem drops 3.5 times more than boys’.

Bossy holds
girls back.
Girls are twice as likely as boys to worry that
leadership roles will make them seem “bossy.”

Girls get less
airtime in class.
They are called on less
and interrupted more.

I went to lower and middle school in Texas, private and public. In public school I was paddled with the 'board of education' for refusing to say there was no such thing as a negative number in 5th grade. (private school had taught me that there certainly WAS such a thing by that point, but no one had taught my 5th grade teacher).
This is a great reason for other states to ignore Texas when purchasing text books, their board of miss-education has a clear history of ignoring or re-writing history, science, and (from my experience) even math!
When the board is populated mostly (or solely) with people that don't believe in public education, you end up with books and teaching methods designed to prove that point rather than teach. That's not a method others should emulate.

As a kid I got bullied, but it sounds like this kid has it worse. One thing that really struck me the first time I saw an "it gets better" PSA was that those kinds of spots can apply to bullied kids in addition to LGBT kids. Glad to see something like the evolution of that.

To me, it seems like we've got something institutionally wrong with schools that allows bullying to be as prevalent as it is. I say that because in my experience and that of most other people I know that were bullied, things are at their worst from roughly middle school to early-mid high school (say, 12 to 17 years old). Usually the senior year is noticeably better than those before it, and then the experience at college is like the difference between night and day. Obviously increasing maturity levels are responsible for some of that, but not all.

To me, administrators and teachers need to take this a lot more seriously. Good for this kid for getting in the school board's face and making them feel uncomfortable, because the status quo clearly doesn't make things any better.

Oh, and a hearty /second to Yogi's comment about the title.

I'm a father, and this rings all too true. Already with my son in middle school, I see many of the boys withdrawing from genuine bonding into carefully crafted fronts and defensive posturing. It's alarming as a dad, but sadly not a surprise. I remember this transition all too well - not much has changed on this topic since I was a kid in the '70s and '80s.

But we can teach emotional sensitivity to our boys - and still demonstrate real masculinity (and strength). Like most dads, I've taught my son that strength of character often means facing fear head-on. Yes, being strong.

But does that mean to just "man up" and act tough? No. Everyday, the single greatest thing most men are afraid of is sharing their true feelings (and not just irritation or rage). For a lot of men, it gets to the point where they themselves don't know what they're feeling anymore - let alone have the ability to tell anyone else.

I've taught my son that real bravery is facing that fear. Express your feelings to someone you trust regularly. Share them with friends, and (especially) reach out for help when you're feeling sad/down. Overcome the fear that buries your inner world, and you're on your way to becoming a real man - the kind of man that's not afraid of the very thing most men cower and retreat from.