Texas principal sends awful letter to parents after Ahmed Mohamed was wrongfully arrested

[damnedifIknow]

Fourteen-year-old Texas student Ahmed Mohamed was arrested this morning for bringing a clock to school, after his teacher and police confused it for a bomb. While charges were eventually dropped, the school district issued a memo to parents stating that it succeeded in its goal of keeping students safe. That memo fails to acknowledge that it confused an incident ultimately fueled by Islamophobia for a legitimate one, instead showing the school trying to hide behind the reasonable aim of taking school security seriously.

In a memo sent to parents, MacArthur High School principal Dan Cummings states that the local police responded to a suspicious-looking item on campus. That item turned out to be a clock Mohamed invented for class. Despite the confusion and subsequent media fiasco, parents are now urged to take this opportunity to go over the Student Code of Conduct, as bringing dangerous items to school is strictly prohibited."

Read letter here: http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/16/9337857/ahmed-mohamed-texas-school-district-letter

[gopiscrap]

1. Fucking ignorant redneck shitbags

[dhill926]

10. succinct....and accurate.....

[gopiscrap]

24. Thank you

BTW: love the Cubs moniker. That was the very first real paycheck I got. I was working as a child for the then Tacoma Cubs, the AAA affiliate of the Chicago Cubs.

[dhill926]

25. very cool!

glad to be watching them and not the debate. Following the thread is much more fun, and better for my liver...

[Luminous Animal]

2. Dangerous items, eh? So the school is going to remove all clocks?

[mythology]

5. Obviously they have carefully screened their clocks.

It's an exhaustive process involving background checks, interviewing other clocks for recommendations, sending the clocks through TSA scanners and then making the clocks sign an affirmation to not be used as a bomb.

[KansDem]

13. The clocks also have to take off their shoes...

[HassleCat]

3. What dangerous means

"Anything we don't recognize, if it occurs to our paranoid minds that the student has a Muslim sounding name."

[RKP5637]

4. Yet another asshole principal!

[tularetom]

6. OMG, he brought a CLOCK to school!!?!

What do you suppose the chances are that he would have gotten into deep shit if his name was Bill Jones instead of Ahmed Mohamed?

[olddots]

7. Enough of this ignorant fear mongering

[Skittles]

8. Trump mentality, I call it

[yuiyoshida]

14. Right on the button

Skittles, right on the button!

[Skittles]

22. I know Texas very well

Trump mentality is rampant around here, unfortunately

[Tommy_Carcetti]

9. Why did MacArthur High School principle Dan Cummings throw the clock out the window?

Because he wanted to see time fly.



Also because he thought it was a bomb. Because he's a moron, you see.

[Daemonaquila]

11. The picture at the bottom is made of awesome.

Going to meet his lawyer. Go Ahmed!

[Hortensis]

12. The principal's in trouble, his precious career path to a cushy job

at the Board of Education, or whatever they call it down there, derailed. At least one hopes. No doubt authoritarian fascist types will howl, but, these days, following the progress of these stories usually reveals that even more of the people in the white hats are also outraged.

On a genuinely happier plus side, Ahmed has been invited to the White House to display his invention. So he'll be just fine.

[ananda]

34. He probably considers it a job application.

The School Board is one bag of crazy nuts already.

[Hortensis]

36. Oh, boy. I noticed Ahmed was not returning to that school.

[get the red out]

15. Poor kid

He made something cool for class and this happens. Horrible.

[RKP5637]

17. Yep, they destroy our youth and creativity! The principal wants to churn out

F'ed up kids like himself. What an ass.

[GeorgeGist]

16. Just as I thought ...

[lonestarnot]

18. Idgit motherfuckers.

[Rex]

19. Sure it kept all the students safe, except for the one it tried to destroy.

School board...meeting...firings...city council...meeting...PD firings. Parents...lawyer...meeting...SUE!

[hamsterjill]

20. Oh, this makes me furious!

There's got to be more to this story than at least I've read myself - so someone please catch me up if they can.

But was the clock that this young man brought to school part of an assignment to invent something? Or a class project?

I mean, a kid doesn't just invent a clock and take it to school without having a reason.

If the people at the school KNEW that an assignment had been given to Ahmed, then they should have been congratulating the creativity, and certainly shouldn't have been suspicious when he was trying to TELL them that it was a clock. Couldn't this poor child's intentions have been substantiated by his teacher without him being arrested?

I mean, come on. The principal of the school just ASSUMES that the kid built a bomb. Good gravy - talk about letting his paranoia show! The principal has no business being involved in education when he so very much needs to be educated himself!

[jeff47]

28. The kid was just playing around with electronics.

It wasn't a formal assignment. He was being a younger version of all the geeks that built Silicon Valley.

[spanone]

21. so dan, is a clock a 'dangerous item' that is 'strictly prohibited'?

[ProfessorGAC]

35. Yeah, So Don't Be Wearing A Watch

And, don't even think about using the cellphone to see what time it is!

[REP]

23. Time is a known killer.

[B Calm]

26. The school have clocks on school room walls? The principal have clocks

in his office? The principal wear a watch?

[Duppers]

29. They so dangerous too.

[X_Digger]

27. Zero tolerance, zero thought.

For people who claim to inspire thought, they sure want to avoid liability for doing any of it themselves.

[Volaris]

32. They don't want to inspire thought

What they want for us is for us to repeat what we're told.

[icymist]

30. Dangerous clocks!

You better believe it! Danger!


Danger!


Danger!


Danger!


Danger!


Really dangerous!

[Danascot]

31. Presumably Irving parents have access to news and the internet

so they're aware of the fiasco, or they're bigots so screw 'em.

[OriginalGeek]

33. we can only hope

that time wounds all heels.

[frankieallen]

37. is there a picture of the clock ? I don't see one on the linked article.