Teachers 'prank' results in tears

[Pixilated]

The teachers are "owning" the problem? That's nice.

They not only pulled off a cruel prank but they videotaped it and then showed the video to another class. But of course we're told that it was just a "lapse in judgement."

Their next step should be a "lapse" in employment ... a permanent one.

[Jetfire]

Yeah that was just stupid. Mindboggling stupid.

For my Grade 9 year, we did have a trip to Disney (coming from New Brunswick, Canada). But it was for the band (Grades 10-12 ) for a festival we worked our butts off to raise money for. We had a blast, 2 days in Disney, 1 at Universal (and we got to play at both locations too. ), a few tours and other stuff. Not a prank in any case, and something we were excited about through the entire year.

To tease with that sort of event and then say 'just kidding', even if it was immediately at the end of the first announcement, that's just cruel.

[Rageaholic]

Why would you even do that? I can't think of any reason to do something so douchey.

[Ladeeda]

Topolovec said it was explained to him that the prank was designed to stop one of the students from snooping on a teacher’s desk, with fake Disney trip information laid out on the Thursday.

Bull. They told the students themselves. They handed out information. This wasn't one kid finding false information and spreading a rumor.

[MrsEclipse]

That's the dumbest excuse I ever heard. It doesn't even make any sense. It's like saying "I tried to teach the kid to look both ways before crossing the street by killing his cat and nailing it to his neighbors door." What does one have to do with the other, and why would you think that's an appropriate response? It's like when someone first called them on their bullshit, the teacher just stood there like a deer in the headlights and blurted out the first thing that came into her head, lucky that it wasn't "UH... UH... I DID IT BECAUSE I FORGOT TO WASH MY STYROFOAM!"

Calling it a "huge error in judgement" is like calling the atomic bombing of Nagasaki a "pretty big explosion." Also, that whole "I don't believe they intended to be cruel" thing? Yeah, no. Doesn't fly. I didn't mean to hit that pedestrian in the crosswalk, that doesn't mean the judge will go easy on me. If you can't see how intentionally pumping up a group of thirteen-year-olds about experiencing something many of them can only dream about, only to shatter that, then you have serious problems. Seriously. To think yanking their chains that hard and then openly mocking them to their peers isn't cruel is borderline sociopathic.

My hope is that they're saying "we're not considering suspension or worse" so that it will be all the more fitting when they say "Actually, that was a lie. You're fired."

Of course, I'm a little sensitive when it comes to Didney Worl.

[Skunkle]

Here's hoping someone with a heart steps up and actually makes the trip happen. I won't sugar-coat my words. That was a fucked-up way of "fixing" a perceived problem, and I hope those involved get reprimanded. Maybe not fired, but something that still tells them this was not the slightest bit acceptable - I can only hope the genuine feelings of the students hits them harder and harder every day afterward.

[HYHYBT]

It's very easy to misjudge how a joke of this general type will be taken, and therefore how mean or otherwise it will turn out to be.

Which is why you shouldn't do them at all unless you know for absolute certain that the recipient will find it funny. Which you can't know for a group that size.

[Greenday]

It could have been a funny joke, but they clearly were too elaborate with it.

[draco664]

Their next step should be a "lapse" in employment ... a permanent one.

One of the comments went a bit further - they suggested the teachers be told that they should take the next few days off with pay, and then starting next week, they would have a 25% pay increase. And then when they turned up the next week, tell them, "Just kidding, you're fired."

[Bright Star]

I's a CLEAR case of bullying.

[Greenday]

I's a CLEAR case of bullying.

I feel like we are now overusing this word and applying it to situations where it definitely doesn't apply. I was bullied in high school and middle school and to see this bad joke considered bullying is a slap in the face.

[lordlundar]

Here's hoping someone with a heart steps up and actually makes the trip happen. I won't sugar-coat my words. That was a fucked-up way of "fixing" a perceived problem, and I hope those involved get reprimanded. Maybe not fired, but something that still tells them this was not the slightest bit acceptable - I can only hope the genuine feelings of the students hits them harder and harder every day afterward.

No no. Let's make it karmic retribution. Have someone step up and make the trip happen. Tell all the students and their teachers and have them all assemble at the school. Then when everyone boards the bus, stop the teachers and bring in some volunteer chaperones in there place and tell the teachers they weren't invited.

After all, if the teachers think it's such a great prank, they'll laugh when they're the butt of the joke.

[Seifer]

The problem is that they didn't just take this "joke" too far, they drove it into the stratosphere. Showing brochures, travel packages, and creating this elaborate presentation is what took this incident from "annoying" to "emotionally scarring." Video taping it and then showing that video to the student's peers was the icing on the douche-bag cake. While I don't think these teachers should be fired, they do need to be punished for what they did. They might possibly need to be transferred to new schools, too, since I doubt any of their students will respect them for the rest of the school year.

[SkullKing]

I feel like we are now overusing this word and applying it to situations where it definitely doesn't apply.

I agree with this, and do not think that prank itself can be considered bullying.

The video taping and showing to the other class, even though they already knew how intense the student´s reaction reaction was, comes closer to bulling though.

doing the prank was pad, showing it to other people and public humiliating the students was arguably worse.

Frankly, if they had done this to my sister(I don´t have kids), I would be screaming bloody murder.

[hinakiba777]

The problem is that they didn't just take this "joke" too far, they drove it into the stratosphere. Showing brochures, travel packages, and creating this elaborate presentation is what took this incident from "annoying" to "emotionally scarring." Video taping it and then showing that video to the student's peers was the icing on the douche-bag cake. While I don't think these teachers should be fired, they do need to be punished for what they did. They might possibly need to be transferred to new schools, too, since I doubt any of their students will respect them for the rest of the school year.

Exactly! I mean one student even expressed concern of the costs of the trips, but the teacher assured the child that the flights would be really cheap. It's just a really cruel thing to do.

Then to video tape it an show it to other students on top of that is just wrong. The whole thing just pisses me off.