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PTO Displays Trump Tombstone for Elementary School Fundraiser
A Gloucester, MA parent teacher organization held a fundraiser at their elementary school — and one of the members decided to make an ugly political statement. An unnamed parent at West Parish Elementary School brought a Halloween-themed bean bag game decorated with tombstones. The one in the center bore the name Don Trump.
One annoyed parent took a photo of the display and sent it to Massachusetts Republican Party committeewoman Amanda Orlando Kesterson, who shared it on Facebook.
I was sent this photo which depicts decorations from last night’s Halloween party at West Parish Elementary School. As you can see, the middle tombstone has the name of the president on it.
I find it absolutely despicable that the PTO of one of our local elementary schools would bring this political agenda before our children. The parents or teachers responsible for this disgusting display should claim responsibility publicly and apologize publicly as well. If it was an employee of our school system, I expect Dr. Safier to deal appropriately with this individual for this political ploy which has no place in our schools.
Donald Trump is our president and he deserves respect. We should teach our children that the office of the president ALWAYS deserves respect. Our school system is not the place for nasty political agendas.
The principal of the school, Dr. Telena Imel, wrote an apology to parents Monday. “Our school, and this includes school events sponsored by related groups, is not the place for politics,” she said. “In planning future events, it will be made clear to organizers that school is not the place to engage in or to display political agendas or opinions.”
The parents involved have also apologized.
But the main problem wasn’t bringing politics into a school event, as inappropriate as that is. This display didn’t call for higher marginal tax rates or promote a candidate for the Massachusetts legislature, but essentially wished for the death of a sitting president. What adult would think a Trump tombstone was in any way appropriate, especially at an elementary school?
The left has lost its collective mind.
Published in Politics
Jon, I wish you’d quit putting up posts that leave me speechless!! Aaarrrghhh!
It’s only going to get worse from here.
Lovely state, but having lived in Ma for a long time, this wasn’t a surprise. You have to walk on eggshells there if you have a conservative opinion about anything – this is the same place that rejected Melania’s Dr. Seuss books and satanists at Harvard wanted to hold a black mass on campus…..
Any member of the Teachers Union, and many “progressive” parents.
I sincerely hope that parent is now being thoroughly investigated by the FBI. We need to remember that Lee Harvey Oswald had made threats against JFK that were not taken seriously enough. This is a threat and isn’t the least bit amusing.
I like the way Charlie Cooke has expressed this idea in the past: it’s kind of refreshing to see people cavalierly burning the president in effigy or idly talking about violent insurrection, because that’s one way to know for certain that we live in a free land.
Obviously these people are morons who behaved inappropriately in what should have been an apolitical space, but the silver lining is that it’s nice to live in a nation where they can let their ridiculous clownishness show.
Oh, sheesh, as if the Left hasn’t been politicizing our schools for decades!! What a buncha liars.
In regular public school, my kid started her study of the world in first grade with “Oceania.” I’d never even heard of it and had to look it up (Australia, New Zealand, and surroundings). She also had to memorize which African tribes produced baskets and which produced woodwork. Really useful stuff like that. As long as they weren’t learning anything about western heritage, it was all good.
Oh, and the kiddies were freaked out when the teacher talked about the “endangered” wolves in the US. Yeah, talk to the ranchers around Yellowstone from which the Canadian wolf transplants have spread out and are taking out their livestock and pets (and kids, if you don’t keep an eye on the little ones). And the three “Rs” were taught like religious dogma: recycle, reuse, re-purpose.
We switched her to a Core Knowledge charter. This was 2004-2005. I don’t blame the teacher. She was working with the material she was given, but it was garbage.
Why do I think the next Democrat to be president, especially if a minority, and suddenly it won’t be so acceptable.
Well, to the hypocrites on the Left, no of course not. But to me, it’s a silver lining whether it’s Obama or Trump or Truman that you are not forbidden from knocking.
Just hang Obama in effigy and see how they react.
Relax, Jon. It’s #goodhate.
I shouldn’t always say what I think.
I’ll take your word for it….
I have been living in central MA for 28 years, almost half my life, and I love living here despite the politics, the winters, the Boston-centeredness.
Dr Seuss (Theodore Geisel) grew up in Springfield MA, on Mulberry St, around the corner from where i operate. His work would be unpublishable now. I agree it is innocent and a product of its time, but to a modernist, much of it sniffs of racism. Google FINALNEAReportDr.SeusssRacismandRAA for details.
Stay classy, Gloucester.
When I lived in Mass , 1969-1984, I knew a lot of rednecks. In my later years I noticed all the seriously lefty liberals. They are a difficult lot to have a balanced discussion with. Some are quite pleasant to chat with but a very high number degrade anyone who feels otherwise.
Some on the right act poorly when their side is not in power. I feel that % is far less than those on the left under similar circumstance. The behavior of the left in the last year has been abhorrent.
I’m going to reserve my outrage. There are so much worse things done by more public figures (i.e. The Honorable Representative Rockstar Empty Barrel Crazy Hat Lady or Conscience Of The NationTM Jimmy “Shallow” Fallon), I’m going to give a parent who may have been simply trying to make a poor attempt at humor the benefit of the doubt. After all, they immediately admitted that they were wrong and apologized. I think we should accept the apology with grace and good humor.
One of my friends from work – a really nice guy, overall – recently remarked to me that “NPR is the most balanced news source.”
When I pointed out that they were not even vaguely balanced politically, he just looked stunned.
…and even that guy is starting to notice just how loony the Left has become in recent months.
I didn’t know Don was The Batman.
I wonder if these parents and teachers imagine that these children will ever, thouughout their lives, be able to feel simple respect for, and confidence in, a duly elected president.
Meanwhile we keep getting our clocks cleaned in the culture war. Because they are permitted anything, and we can’t respond.
In other thoughts, I think, in the end, this was great actually. Not the despicable display, mind you, but the fact that some insular, Massachusetts bubble-breather thought, “Hey, this will be funny. I’m only saying what we all think. They’ll all love this.” And in the process they, the school, and the arrogant residents of the bubble, realized they don’t actually represent everyone in the town/state.
It’s like that scene from the “Lost” TV show when the writers first introduced the Tail Section People. Bwahahaha. Plot Twist!
I’m not concerned by the clownishness of individuals, nor aberrant opinions nor widespread ignorance. Rather this shows us the cumulative effects of decades of hate, spread pervasively through all the liberal captured multipliers that has reached a pinnacle with Trump. The absorption by osmosis of targeted hate campaigns, casual assumptions of false narratives. These are glimpses of the precursors of racist mob violence or government abuse. It does not show the vibrance of our freedom, but the results of systematic efforts to prepare the ground to eliminate that freedom. It’s an ubiquitous drum beat which these displays show us has an effect and we need to think seriously about the insights these thoughtless gestures give us.
This article in Masslive describes the taking down of a Dr Seuss mural from his museum in Springfield due to a few complaints about racism. If you read the comments afterward, it is clear that very few of those commenting support taking down the mural. There are lots of sane people in Massachusetts, you just have to know the places to avoid :)
Concur. Some are concentrated on uncouth statements tweeted by the President. I think they’re missing that these are just the pebbles exposed by the outgoing waters of the tsunami of hate from the Left. We ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
If this was a Obama tombstone the parent would be jailed, the school would have emotional counselors for all the students, and the teachers would have host their jobs. Since it is Trump the whole thing is a big yawn and a CYA letter to quiet the conservatives.
Things have quieted down a bit but for a while a day did not go by that my Facebook feed did not have a post calling for the death or imprisoning of Trump. Only saw maybe one of those about Obama in the 8 years of his reign. We live in a liberal world with liberal sensibilities.
This was a tasteless joke, in an improper setting. It is not a death threat, any more than the numerous joking comments about putting people in a woodchipper by our own beloved @DocJay are credible threats. Furthermore, it would make the president less safe if the Secret Service or FBI were to waste resources thoroughly investigating every time someone made a stupid joke about wishing this or any other president were dead.
May I suggest that many of those involved could have behaved better?
The parent(s) who came up with this display should have known better than to politicize a school event. He or she probably assumed that pretty much everyone probably agreed with him/her. They shouldn’t have made that assumption.
The parent who got mad about it could have just as easily inquired as to who was responsible for the display and then had a quiet conversation with them instead of informing on them to the MRP. If the parent responsible for the display was unmoved, the offended parent could then have escalated the issue to the school principal. The principal seems to be a person of sense.
The committeewoman could have refrained from pasting the pic on FB for the purpose of stoking the outrage . I guess the thinking is that outraged people contribute $$$$.
OK, the display was in poor taste and inappropriate. No one should be wishing for the death of a sitting president. But I think this could have been handled better.
It seems like many these days spend a good portion of their lives being outraged. I want my outrage to mean something.
*kimmel
Oh, my mistake. Is there a difference? All those liberal Jimmies seem the same to me.