Friday Open Thread

As noted previously by a reader:
From the Capitol Hill blog, a man high on crack was arrested this morning inside Stevens elementary..
This was Tuesday, May 8th.


From the police report, it appears the police were on the scene - per a call from the school - at about 8:15 am. The man in question was asked to leave the school as he had been shouting at people walking by as well parents and students. He did leave the property but apparently remained on the sidewalk outside the school. The officer, recognizing the man was in crisis, asked him if he wanted help and the man agreed to leave to go to a Crisis Solution Center. But, upon entering the patrol car, said there was someone in the backseat who wanted to kill him (there was no one in the backseat).

The man went out into the busy street and cars/buses had to swerve to miss him while the officer tried to get him back to the sidewalk. Oddly (to me) they did get him back on the sidewalk and he refused services, so they just told him to stay off the school property or he would be arrested.

But he ran from the officers "and gained access to the school gymnasium which was full of young children." The man must of climbed up something because they "ordered him to get down." There was "a brief struggle" and then he was taken into custody and transported to Harborview.

I have asked the district if the man had any connection to the school, how he got into the gym (outside door or front door) and how many students were in there at the time. The district's spokesperson is out of town until Tuesday.

Very sad story from the NY Times about a Texas teacher who filed a lawsuit against her district charging discrimination.

At the start of the term at Charlotte Anderson Elementary School in Arlington, Tex., last year, Stacy Bailey, an art teacher, introduced herself to her new fourth grade students with a slide show of her life.

There were photographs of her family, friends and childhood. There was also one of her partner of seven years, Julie Vazquez, who Ms. Bailey explained was her future wife. They were dressed in fish costumes from the film “Finding Nemo.”

That image set off a sequence of reactions from parents and school district officials that Ms. Bailey, 31, says amount to discrimination, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in federal court in Dallas. She says her career was damaged when she was accused of showing inappropriate images to children, put on leave and told she would be transferred.

It said the issue was whether Ms. Bailey had followed district guidelines that require “controversial subjects be taught in ‘an impartial and objective manner.’ Teachers shall not use the classroom to transmit personal belief regarding political or sectarian issues.”

The lawsuit says that shortly after Ms. Bailey gave the slide show presentation at the end of August, the principal told her that a parent had complained she was promoting a “homosexual agenda” in class. The principal told her he did not believe she had done anything wrong, the lawsuit says.

Ms. Bailey has been a teacher at the elementary school since 2008, and she was voted teacher of the year twice during that time. 

Community meeting Saturday with Director Mack at Magnolia Public Library from 1-3 pm.