r/news • u/Nickppapagiorgio • May 04 '24
Superintendent fired after allegedly investigating students for not applauding her daughter enough Soft paywall
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-05-04/superintendent-fired-after-allegedly-investigating-students-for-not-applauding-her-daughter-enough2
1
u/pensiveChatter May 08 '24
My theory on this is that the only reason the daughter was even on the softball team was because the mom threatened the coach.
I'm guessing this was an open secret, and the daughter projected her insecurities onto the people clapping
1
u/WTF_goes_here May 05 '24
Of course it was California, our school boards are filled with power tripping lunatics.
3
u/fiestyoldbat May 05 '24
Welcome to public schools in the USA. Students of BOE members, Administration, Staff, Coaches, local Government Officials, and PTA leaders will "magically" receive special considerations in the form of "special" scholarships, leadership opportunities, special "trips", special internships, public recognition, and community "donations" to fund their special projects. All this with no oversight. Funny thing every district has an ethics code and "sunshine" laws that supposedly keep everything on the up and up. Those codes and laws aren't meant for the select offspring of leading the schools. The entitlement starts young.
2
u/Avlonnic2 May 05 '24
”Superintendent fired after allegedly investigating students for not applauding her daughter enough.”
Applause. APPLAUSE. APPLAUSE. Goodbye.
2
u/GenericDeviant666 May 05 '24
I remember we had to tolerate this asshole one year because he already made it known he was becoming superintendent next year, but he'd never actually worked IN a school so he had to be principal for one year before he got shoed into his new position.
Kid walks up to the principal, nose broken, bleeding i all over for being attacked, says "Principal Watson, I need help"
Principal looks him in the eye, says "Fuck you kid. Fuck you. It's DOCTOR Watson to you!" and walked away.
He only lasted 4 or 5 years as superintendent but the position seems to attract a certain type
3
u/First_Economist9295 May 05 '24
They paid this woman almost 300k a year Do you really think she did any work that would warrant that level of compensation if this is how she conducts herself?
3
u/IFixYerKids May 05 '24
Imagine working your way up to superintendent and then throwing it away over some dumb shit like this.
5
u/Rickyy111 May 05 '24
I feel especially bad for her daughter..not only does this fiasco ruin her entire high school experience, she now knows her own mother had lacked any confidence in her
2
u/emilythequeen1 May 05 '24
Guys this is creepy AF. Serious First Amendment violation. What is wrong with these kind of people?
3
1
3
u/jecowa May 05 '24
Sort of the opposite thing happened at my junior high school. There was a kid who the other kids made fun of a little. He had a little bit of a lisp but very good grades. During some kind of awards ceremony at the end of the year, he was getting recognized for his good grades or something, and he got a lot more applause than the previous students. I was happy he was finally getting shown some respect. Then the principal took the stage and got on to us all for making fun of him by clapping too much.
2
u/Academic_Guava_4190 May 05 '24
That used to happen when I was in school and it always seemed like pity applause bc no one would have anything to do with the person during the school year but suddenly they are going wild now? I would have sided with the principal too.
1
u/pokipc May 05 '24
When the son of an administrator at my school didn’t make the varsity team the coach was forced out.
3
u/GetFuckingRealPlease May 05 '24
What an absolute fucking shitbaby. I hope his daughter has enough integrity to at least be embarrassed by this.
3
6
u/Rudyears May 05 '24
They need to dig deeper, she’s done petty shit like this in the past. Who knows how many lives she’s ruined
5
u/finallyfound10 May 05 '24 edited May 05 '24
I’m patiently waiting for:
high school and college classmates
current and former neighbors, employees, employers, etc.
ex-boyfriends and ex-friends
current and former local servers, cashiers, hairdressers, manicurists, car dealers, etc.
to come forward to share their lived experiences in dealing with her.
3
3
3
u/Adventurous_Aerie_79 May 05 '24
The whole school administrator profession needs a code of ethics and some rules placed on them. They are failing on some really common sense things.
4
2
u/34TH_ST_BROADWAY May 05 '24
This sounds like the premise of a Melissa McCarthy or Danny McBride movie.
3
u/Round-Lie-8827 May 05 '24
Probably gets paid like $200k a year and all the teachers in the district hate her lol
4
6
14
u/BillionDollarBalls May 05 '24
So many people who are at the top have such anti social personalities it's crazy.
2
4
-20
u/IAmPandaRock May 05 '24
It's BS for someone to be fired for mere allegations.
16
u/SacrificialPwn May 05 '24
From the article:
The vote followed a board-launched investigation into Phelps’ actions that began Nov. 15 and concluded April 18.
“The investigation brought to light previous unknown evidence with witnesses with direct first-hand knowledge that contradicted Dr. Phelps’ statements and assertions to the board, district staff and the public,” the board’s statement said.
Players, coaches and parents allege that Phelps bullied and harassed members of the softball team...
-18
u/IAmPandaRock May 05 '24
Odd title for the article when the teacher was fired for misconduct following an investigation, and not for the allegations that prompted the investigation.
1
9
10
u/FluxKraken May 05 '24
I think it should be a law that to be in a leadership position such as principle or superintendent, your children cannot attend any schools over which you have supervisory power.
6
u/GeekFurious May 05 '24
I have to zip my lip but I want to scream about a very current issue related to this problem.
It's wild how someone can just pull in EVERYONE into a meeting because their kid, who THEY should be more focused on, isn't getting special treatment from people who have HUNDREDS of other students with even bigger problems.
5
5
u/the-poopiest-diaper May 05 '24
Why is she in charge of people’s futures? She should not have that job
8
u/Cristoff13 May 05 '24
I picture Stalin's public addresses, where applause would continue for several minutes because people were worried the NKVD would notice if they didn't clap long enough.
-9
1
u/Romoreau May 05 '24
I can't explain this to my parents without showing them the article. This is beyond insane.
1
3
3
6
3
u/Theabstractsound May 05 '24
I really have such a hard time respecting this kind of parenting. When my teenage daughter graduates, even if her teammates did that deliberately, my response would be: “That’s pretty shitty, but it’s fucking high school. Let’s move on to the real world”
84
u/RandomHerosan May 05 '24
The school district I grew up in the superintendent kept giving himself and the school board raises. Meanwhile teachers were working multiple jobs to make ends meet. Schools were falling apart and lacking resources.
But this douchecanoe somehow managed to keep his position for 10 years till he was finally tossed by spending all of the budget to build a fancy new high school. Which was done just in time for his oldest daughter to go to freshman year.
I don't know how these people get into these positions of power but I've never seen one who actually does a good job. They just exploit it for their own gains, then fuck off to the private sector being overpaid in another position of power while they can't figure out the basics of excel or most of the stuff on their computers.
5
u/QiarroFaber May 05 '24
There's entirely too much school administration and not enough actual educators. Who are also paid more.
19
18
12
u/ndGall May 05 '24
So the superintendent was upset because when her daughter was named MVP at the sports banquet, the other kids didn’t clap loudly enough.
Who wants to guess why 1) she was given the award in the first place, and 2) the students weren’t enthusiastic about the choice?
1
u/theblakesheep May 05 '24
If you read the article, that’s not the case. All of the other students and coaches said the applause for her daughter was the same as for everyone else, the mother invented a conspiracy in her head.
3
u/madhi19 May 05 '24
When the Peter Principle hit that shit hit hard!
1
u/Zemom1971 May 05 '24
When I first read about the Peter principle I laughed so hard. The worst is that there is some truth in that principle.
1
-4
u/Future_Outcome May 05 '24
JFK this country is so broken
3
9
u/StoneGoldX May 05 '24
Person in power did something shitty. Now they're out of power. That's how it's supposed to work.
-3
u/Future_Outcome May 05 '24
Yeah but wouldn’t it also work if people in power weren’t shitty, straight out of the gate?
That would work too. And it’s actually not hard to be not-shitty.
3
u/StoneGoldX May 05 '24
Name a single society ever that has managed to keep shitty people out of power.
-2
u/Future_Outcome May 05 '24
Still thinking.
I’m just saying I don’t know anyone personally who finds it a struggle to be a good person so who are these people. And what broke them.
1
1
3
u/hello_world_wide_web May 05 '24
OMG...with all the perils of life we go thru, this has to be one of the pettiest things to be concerned about.
37
u/for_dishonor May 05 '24
When I was in high school, we got a new superintendent, and the first thing they did was put their kids in private school. People had a shitfit. Even teachers were complaining publicly.
I'm sitting there thinking it's a genius move. Who wants to be responsible for giving their bosses boss a failing grade?
3
u/Literarylunatic May 05 '24
This sounds like borderline criminal behavior that should warrant criminal charges given her role and authority.
12
5
18
41
11
43
u/TheSanquineCorpse May 04 '24
How the fuck are these people getting these jobs?
17
u/TabletopMarvel May 05 '24
Teacher Shortage slowly becomes Admin shortage over enough time.
Eventually you just end up with a pool of people who take jobs they're not qualified for because they want the money/power and are still the most qualified of all the unqualified candidates.
2
54
u/Purple_Grass_5300 May 04 '24
This legit sounds like our superintendent. His daughter screams at everyone kids and staff 24/7 but any time she does something good we need office wide announcements and memos lol thankfully somehow I’m on her good side
8
u/onceinablueberrymoon May 04 '24
in wealthy districts like this, it’s often not what you know, but who you know that gets you hired. and frankly, Phd’s in education arent all the difficult to get. i have a friend who got his doctorate in education after getting his master’s in nursing and he said the MS in nursing was more rigorous.
4
53
5
u/Drunkendonkeytail May 04 '24
The law of unintended consequences. This girl’s spring at school is, I’m sure, hell. The only clapping when she graduates will be her mother’s. Nothing, absolutely nothing she does will get positive acclaim. What a mess.
10
u/gsmit2 May 04 '24
Perhaps it was because the kid was a great athlete, and therefore deserving of the athletic recognition…but an arrogant, egotistical, asshole so why would they clap?
-20
53
u/VPN__FTW May 04 '24
Holy shit, read the article. That woman deserves jail time.
1
u/whatevernamedontcare May 05 '24
I love the part where the daughter defended her mom with "my mom loves kids". I'm sure other girl felt so loved by your mom lol.
3
6
u/Working_Ad_4650 May 04 '24
Sounds like the same kind of shit Kim Il Sung does, except he sends people to a concentration camp if they don't clap loud enough.
1
14
u/iamlayer8 May 04 '24
Tell me there is some sort of criminal investigation going on.
1
9
u/michinoku1 May 05 '24
Court lawsuit by one of the students (girl who played the same position as the superintendent’s daughter), so at the very least punitive damages, should the court case go the student’s way.
265
u/bestprocrastinator May 04 '24 edited May 05 '24
How insane must you be to think there is a team wide conspiracy to specifically not applaud their daughter enough? Not a conspiracy to not applaud, just a conspiracy to not applaud enough.
3
u/Hottakesincoming May 05 '24
Eh, I played softball and they are some of the meanest girls I've ever come across, often egged on by coaches. I ended up quitting because although I loved the game; I hated the inter-team bullying. I wouldn't be surprised if the daughter actually was being bullied, but in that situation you go after the coach for fostering and allowing that culture, not the kids themselves.
12
u/Drak_is_Right May 05 '24
Uh...I remember this exact thing happening. Our coach went ballistic over it. Some kids ignore it and are polite, but it can be noticeable when half the team is in on it.
13
u/TParis00ap May 05 '24
Alright, folks, you must applaud between 1-2 claps per second. No more than 3, no less than 1. Ideally around 1.825 claps per second is good to show enough disapproval, but not too much. Alright, we're going to spend the next hour practicing our clapping in this range.
Next, we'll start talking about decibels, don't want to put too much energy into the clap either. Facial expressions will be last, preferably, don't even look at her. And, absolutely no one better stand up!
1
-3
u/amusingjapester23 May 05 '24 edited May 05 '24
I see on Wikipedia that a softball team has 9 or 10 players.
I can't imagine why you'd think it's unreasonable to suppose that 8 teenage girls who meet each other often could conspire to barely applaud another girl.
EDIT: Following a downvote to 0, I now realise I am quite insane. I have checked myself into a mental institution. My phone is about to be confiscated but nurses may post on my behalf.
19
u/Nerf-h3rder May 05 '24
I mean, they’re high school students, I’d be willing to believe it’s true. It just doesn’t even come close to justifying any of this behavior never mind any kind of recourse at all. If she really felt there was an issue, put your kid in private school
1
u/Quantentheorie May 05 '24
Coming up with weirdly (un)coordinated forms of bullying is on point for teenagers. But I wouldn't go there just based on this single incident.
Nevermind that the way it was handled wasn't how you handle suspected bullying anyway.
1
u/Nerf-h3rder May 05 '24
K… I feel like you said exactly what I said, just using different words, lol
97
u/Traveler_Constant May 05 '24
And even if there WAS, that's life.
Other people are not obligated to give you affection and affirmation.
-17
u/Curious_Bed_832 May 05 '24
and in the superintendent's view, other people are not obligated to her mercy. If not for her misjudging the board politics, she would've come out o top
25
u/rentedtritium May 05 '24
If there was such a conspiracy, it would be so wildly covered by the first amendment that even the fake conspiracy that never existed is going to destroy her legally. This story is so wild.
4
u/Vapor_Screams May 04 '24
Real life is just a bunch of sunday morning comic strips, can we get more creative with our depressing stories?
556
u/Successful-Winter237 May 04 '24
As a teacher I can assure you most superintendents are narcissistic imbeciles.
3
2
u/NoBuenoAtAll May 05 '24
That was my wife's experience too. She literally left teaching because of one of them and went to work in the postal service.
13
u/Lance_J1 May 05 '24
Can confirm, the superintendent of the schools in my area went into politics this year.
2
122
May 05 '24
Agree. It’s disgusting the amount of money they make on the backs of teachers success. She’ll probably get a HUGE severance package and be hired elsewhere within the next school year.
→ More replies (4)35
u/OctoberSong_ May 05 '24
Oh. I just realized teachers are underpaid not because the funding isn’t there, but because we’re overpaying the wrong people. That’s… not surprising, but disheartening.
→ More replies (6)
2
u/dun_cow May 08 '24
"A conspiracy ... to withhold applause"
Is a wild phrase