'I would never do this': Fury over teacher's 'heartless' note to parents
Parents are outraged over a note sharing one teacher’s “philosophy” about feeding children at a class Christmas party.
The note begins with standard information about the upcoming holiday party at school and advises parents of the food the student has “been elected” to bring in.
However the note shared to Facebook by mum Takaira Scott, from the US state of Mississippi, threatened that children would go hungry if they failed to bring in their assigned food.
“My philosophy is: If they don’t bring anything, they don’t eat anything,” the note reads and instructs parents to confirm receiving the note on a messenger app.
The teacher’s strict guidelines for the party did not sit well with Ms Scott who took to Facebook to share her anger.
“Now for these kids to be between 6 and 7 years this should not be a philosophy,” Ms Scott wrote along with a photo of the note.
“This is definitely not acceptable in my eyes,” she added.
The Facebook post has attracted more than 3000 comments with people reacting strongly to the teacher’s instructions, with some describing the suggestion as “heartless and judgemental”.
“This is so sad,” one person commented.
“I would never do this!” another person added.
One user suggested that it was unfair for parents who may be struggling financially.
“Don’t punish a kid for what a parent may not be able to do, that’s like saying ‘no school supplies, no education’,” they said.
Other people questioned how much fun the party would be if some children were excluded.
“Some real Christmas spirit there, huh? How awful!” one person wrote.
Some backed the teacher and felt that the request was reasonable.
“Its called making parents accountable, send a snack to be a part of the party like everyone else,” one person said.
The school district issued a response to the note on their Facebook page, with Meridian Public School District superintendent Dr Amy Carter addressing the issue.
“We want our students to view school as a safe space,” Dr Carter wrote, adding that students in the school should feel “nurtured by their teacher”.
Dr Carter confirmed that all children would be able to enjoy the Christmas party regardless of what snack they brought.
“All students will participate and no students will be made to feel uncomfortable if they don’t bring refreshments,” she said.
Ms Scott spoke to US parenting blog Scary Mommy about the note and said that she wasn’t “completely satisfied” with the response, stating that she was unsure if there were any consequences for the teacher who wrote the note.
“I’m not sure something happened to the teacher,” she said
Ms Scott did tell the blog that she did ”appreciate everyone who reached out” online and hoped it wouldn’t happen again.
“I hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else’s child,” she said.
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