Furor forces pupils to move

[tom.wineman]

Protect the kids from what----reality ?

The Terri Schiavo Case
Furor forces pupils to move
Wary Cross Bayou Elementary relocates students
By DONNA WINCHESTER, Times Staff Writer
Published March 28, 2005

        PINELLAS PARK - Concerned about events outside the hospice caring  for Terri Schiavo, Pinellas school officials decided Saturday to  relocate 600 children from Cross Bayou Elementary, which is next to the hospice.
        "It's a very unstable situation," said school system spokesman Ron  Stone. "We thought it would be better for the children to stay in a  more controlled environment until the situation resolves itself."
        Throngs of protesters and news media have been gathered at the  hospice for weeks. During the weekend, the protests grew more  emphatic. It is uncertain, Stone said, when the students will return to Cross Bayou.
        Parents learned of the decision Saturday evening, when principal     Marcia Stone used an automated message delivery system to tell them   their children would begin the day at the Gus A. Stavros Institute, 12090 Starkey Road, Largo, about 4 miles from the school.  Some students will spend the day at Stavros. The rest will be transported to either Walsingham or Southern Oak elementary schools,  which are adjacent to the institute. Teachers and staff will go with  them.
        The Cross Bayou students are among 112,000 Pinellas children who   return to school today after spring break.           District officials, including Ron Stone, school superintendent 
        Clayton Wilcox and area superintendent Michael Bessette, met  Saturday afternoon to discuss options after they were briefed by city and county law enforcement.
        Teachers were given two hours Sunday afternoon to collect books and   materials they will need during the relocation.
        Fifth-grade teacher Irene Seybold arrived shortly after 3 p.m. and   carried several armfuls of materials from her classroom. Physical    education teachers Linda Fairman and Joe Brown arrived about 3:45   p.m. and used a wheelbarrow to transport balls, hula hoops and other athletic equipment.
        Pinellas schools police Officer Dan Hansen stood outside the school  to make sure no one but teachers came on the property. Meanwhile, a  plane cruised overhead towing a banner that read, "Gov.: Terri needs    you now." A protester down the street held up a sign that said, "An    adulterer guardian will choose death for his wife."    It was such distractions that caused the district to decide to move    the students, Wilcox said. He and other administrators talked  briefly of closing the school but decided that wasn't practical.  "Parents base their lives around a school being open," Wilcox said. "We had to look at our responsibility to parents and families."
        Laura Greco, whose three children attend Cross Bayou, learned of the relocation about 7:30 p.m. Saturday. She had no problem with the district's decision but expressed anger at the reason for it.   "It's a shame the school has to suffer because of the protesters," he said. "I'm angry that they've been asked to leave and they still    stand out there. I'm frustrated that they've torn our kids' lives    apart."
        The move has prompted questions from her children that Greco doesn't    know how to answer.
        "They want to know, "Are we going to have our books? Are we going to    have PE?' They don't get it. This has forced me have a conversation      with my children I wasn't ready to have."
        Administrators tried to take everything into consideration in  planning the relocation, Ron Stone said. Arrangements have been made    for children who attend before- and after-school programs to receive the same care at one of the other schools.
        Pinellas Park police officers, who closed the narrow, dead-end   street to traffic about 2:30 p.m. Sunday, planned to be on hand    early this morning to direct parents who did not receive the   principal's message.
        Children who normally walk or ride bikes to school will be shuttled  from the top of 102nd Avenue to the Stavros Institute. Bus drivers will be notified of the changes when they pick up their route sheets 
        this morning.
        [Last modified March 28, 2005, 09:12:05]


        Tampa Bay headlines

 

[Tantum_ergo]

Gee, somehow I knew it wouldn’t be long before we’d be hearing “Think of the CHILDREN” on this.

Yes, heaven forfend that these parents are “forced” into having conversations with their children about good, evil, life and death.

Oh the humanity!