Unfiltered Opinion

Just Because You Return It Does Not Mean That You Did Not Steal It

School districts across the country are financially strapped as they continue to try and educate the nation's children. Imagine the concern, Mesquite High School had when their cameras and computers started disappearing for no reason. The equipment was disappearing because the school's athletic coordinator and football coach was stealing it. Police say Steve Halpin would take the stolen items to a pawn shop and later buy them back to replace at the school. Halpin is lucky that the school district allowed him to slither into retirement instead of prosecuting him. However the district is now coming under intense scrutiny and pressure for their handling of the episode.

It's obvious that Halpin was obviously was having some financial issues that pushed him to do what he did. There are a lot of people in this country like Halpin who have made decisions that have put them and their families in tight financial situations. Nevertheless, there is no excuse to ever steal school equipment. I'm sure Halpin is a good man who found himself on the brink for some reason. He probably did not think he was stealing because he always intended to return the equipment. Financial stress has caused plenty of people to lie to themselves and commit irrational acts that they would not usually do. Unfortunately, Halpin is no different.

Can You Spell - Stupid?

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is not allowing a young girl to participate in the national competition because of a clerical error by her school district.  Scripps is penalizing the student for the following reason:

"North Platte R-1 School District officials' application said only Platte County R-1. Because the application failed to use the word "district," it was missed in a database search that spelling bee officials used to contact districts that made the mistake".

This is a situation that calls for Scripps to use some common sense.  The school district did not purposely mess up the application.  There is no way Scripps should penalize the student because an administrator or staff person forgot to put "district" on a form.  Scripps should allow the girl to participate in the competition.  It's a spelling bee, not the Final Four. 

 

School Districts Are Supposed To Protect Children

Los Angeles Unified School District is one of the worst school districts in the country.  This time the school district is being scrutinized for transferring an educator with a troubled past to another school within the district.  Last week, the sexual predator, disguised as the assistant principal, allegedly sexually molested a student at his new school.  This incident happens after he was transferred from a local high school where he had previously been investigated for having sex with an underage student.

This latest incident could have been prevented if L.A. Unified administrators had done their job and fired the assistant principal instead of transferring him to another school.  I don't care if the previous allegations did not lead to criminal charges because the student did not want to cooperate.  The educator still displayed an unconscionable lack of moral judgment.  He should have been fired on that fact alone.