Photo courtesy of the office of Senator Mike Green | From left, Senator Mike Green and Casey and Angie Fountain served cupcakes to senators and staff today. Twenty-six senators signed a birthday card for the Fountains’ son, and Sen. Green also made a statement on the Senate floor Tuesday about the situation.
By Bill Petzold
Editor
CARO — A story about Schall Elementary School principal Susan Wright’s decision to not permit cupcakes decorated with little green Army men to be served for a student’s birthday went worldwide this week, generating thousands of online comments.
But nothing was said of the situation during Monday’s Caro School Board meeting, even though Casey and Angie Fountain, parents of the student about whom the story was written, were in attendance.
Casey Fountain said he wasn’t at the meeting to speak, only to represent himself and his family if the topic came up in discussion. But instead of an hour of impassioned public comment as some expected, attendees instead learned about the school’s efforts to improve student performance in the classroom, increase student safety by purchasing new surveillance and security equipment and improve communication between parents and faculty to better address bullying and other student behavior issues.
Fountain spoke with the Advertiser in the hallway outside Caro Middle School’s media center after the meeting, saying that the whole thing began with a venting post on his Facebook page and escalated from there.
“I don’t see (the school’s decision) as an anti-military thing,” Fountain said. “I just see it as disrespect for common sense.”
Angie Fountain took cupcakes to Schall for her son’s ninth birthday on February 28. Shortly after leaving the school, Angie said she received a call from the school saying there was a problem and the cupcakes hadn’t made it out of the office.
“I was thinking, ‘What, did somebody drop them on the floor?’ ” she said.
But the Fountains were extremely disappointed to find out that the issue was over the decorations, the little green Army men played with by American kids for generations and featured in several animated films for children.
The Fountains said that school staff offered to run out and purchase new decorations for the cupcakes, but the Fountains declined, saying the cupcakes could just be served without decorations and the cupcakes were served.
Caro Schools superintendent Bruce Nelson said that the decision to remove the toys from the cupcakes was the correct one according to the school’s policy regarding toys, but the situation could have been handled differently.
“We’re looking at changes in terms of addressing those kinds of issues,” Nelson said. “I’m sure that the (decision) of removing the Army men wasn’t the wrong one, it’s procedurally the way it was executed that I have concerns about.
“Bascially it wasn’t that (the principal) was wrong, it’s just that, from my perspective, it was a process that could have been more gently handled if we had been like, ‘Look boys and girls, this is why we don’t want them to be on cupcakes. It’s not because we’re opposed to soldiers; they’re toys, and we don’t want toys in the school. And when you have this cupcake, clean off the frosting and put it in your backpack and take it home. Don’t play with it here at school.’
“It’s not that we’re against them playing with them — just don’t play with them here at school, and we apply that to all toys. We don’t want them to bring electronic toys in, bring toy trains in, and we do provide (an explanation) that if you have a basketball you want to bring in, be careful because it’s your basketball and not ours and we don’t want it to be an issue where one student says ‘You’ve got a nicer basketball than I’ve got, so I’m going to steal yours,’ and now we’ve got to deal with that issue, and that’s primarily why we discourage toys in school, (because they distracting from learning), and you take (the toy) and now we’ve got a fight, and she breaks it and now we’ve got another issue. School is for school, and people put things on cupcakes — and they’re nice decorations — but they don’t think about the other side of it.”
The Fountains said that their son, for his part, didn’t let the controversy ruin his birthday. Casey and Angie Fountain said that instead of having just one little green Army man to play with, their son suddenly found himself with 30 of them. Angie said she washed the frosting off the plastic toys and her son spent the evening playing with them.
But the story has struck a nerve with many people around the country. Casey Fountain posted on his Facebook page that he was told that conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh had discussed the situation on his show, and on Tuesday he traveled with Senator Mike Green (R-Mayville) to the Michigan capitol building in Lansing to pass out cupcakes on the floor of the State Senate. He posted a photo Tuesday on his Facebook page of a birthday card for his son signed by 26 senators.
The story has generated strong emotion, reaching blogs around the country and in Great Britain and eliciting powerful and sometimes vehement response from commentors. Both the Fountains and superintendent Nelson commented that the details of the story were widely misreported by media sources.
“People we talked to … understood our point of view, but let’s face it: Talk radio is interested in sensation,” Nelson said. “Any sensational issues in schools are a target for that. I’m amazed at some of the responses; just vile responses. To me, it panders to the worst in us, but we live in a society where people can say that. That’s part of their freedom.
“(The media) politicized it, and once the story goes out wrong it just gets built on. The cupcakes were never confiscated, but the story is we took them away and the kid didn’t have his birthday party. Not true. We offered to put a replacement decoration on top of them, and there was no intent to disrespect the military — at no time was there that intent.”
Bill Petzold is the editor of the Tuscola County Advertiser. He can be reached at petzold@tcadvertiser.com.
Keep up the good work Sen. and the Fountains. Lets let everyone know that we have rights too! Its getting where you can’t do or say anything without being punished. Wake up people we are already living in a cummunism USA. And its getting worst with this president. He thinks we are all to stupid to think for ourselves.
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I think it is hilarious that now the school is saying because no toys are allowed at school. Really, cause I am pretty sure that most cupcakes my kids get at school parties have a little toy ring on it. It would be interesting to know if they have removed all those toy rings!
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From the schall elementary handbook posted on their website.
“Toys- We prefer that students do not bring toys to school unless there is prior administrative/teacher permission. Toys can be lost or stolen and the school is not responsible for these.”
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Where did you find the handbook online? I have looked and have been unable to find it. Also had they removed them for being toys I would have had no issue because i know it is in the handbook, however many times my kids have brought home rings and other trinkets from birthday celebrations so I did not think it would be an issue.It was the “because they have guns” comment that found offensive.
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Go to Caro school’s website (You can google it if you don’t already know it). On the left hand side they have have a tab labeled “schools” and you can choose schall elementary. On the left hand side of that page, there is a tab labeled “schall elementary handbook”. Click on that and you will get the handbook.
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Also, I don’t really have a dog in this fight. I think the toys are just fine and appropriate. I had a bunch of them when I was a kid and usually conconcted some sort of battle in my sandbox. The comment before mine suggested that the school made up the toy rule after the fact. I was just pointing out that it is actually a rule in the handbook. This story is interesting in the sense that the story takes a lot of twists and turns depending on what it is you want to focus on. I think it is hilarious that Rush Limbaugh made this his issue to champion. It sounds like something right up his alley. Good luck to you and happy birthday to your son.
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Thanks cwhitney.
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They are talking about kids bringing toys to school, yes there have been many cupcakes that have had toy rings, etc on them.
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The reasons Superintendent Bruce Nelson gave are not the same ones given by Principal Susan Wright in her press release to Channel 5.She talked about “In the climate of recent events in schools, arming teachers, some parents prohibiting gun toys etc. She certainly didn’t say it was because they didn’t allow toys at school !! They might want to get their story straight before they go the press. They are just making it worse.You can find Susan Wrights press release on line in channel five’s article” Birthday Cupcakes Cause Controversy At Michigan School.”
she certainly didn’t say it was because they didn’t allow toys!! They might want to get their story straight before they go to the press. They are just making it worse. You can find Susan Wrights press release in channel five’s article ” Birthday Cupcakes Cause Controversy At Michigan School.” on line.
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I have two sons at this school. I am a retired military member (23 years). I have got to know the principal pretty well and she is NOT anti military at all. If this is the worst thing that happens at my kids school, then she and the staff are doing a FINE job!
Since the family directly involved with this is fine, I sure wish the stupid media would go find another firetruck to bark at….
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I think the school was fine to handle it the way they did, my father and grandfather served our country. I don’t think it was not supporting our troops, either way it would have raised a stink thanks to media attention just like anything else in the media. I would much prefer the senator spend his time bringing awareness about a bigger issue though such as child abuse or neglect at least this child has a family who cares and loves him.
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Good article that seems to be directed at the Caro Schools.
Schools making sissies out of our kids
Posted: February 13, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
When I was a little girl about 5 or 6 years old, my mother instructed me in the proper response to anyone hitting me. She said, “Never, never hit anyone first; but, if they hit you first, hit them back immediately and twice as hard!” Today, at 57, I have had a stint on talk radio preachin’, teachin’, and naggin’ for a span of about 30 years – and that is precisely the advice I have been giving children and suggesting to their parents that they do the same. I have even recommended martial arts for the timid as well as the edgy children because of the development of self-assurance and serious self-discipline.
Along comes the public-school system and undermines all of that. John Longenecker of Lakewood, Calif., sent me this letter: “You wanted reports on school malfeasances; here’s one. Picked up my kids in Lakewood this afternoon, and my beautiful, loving children reported to me a new Bellflower School District policy that specified, among other things, that both children caught fighting will be disciplined and that the discipline could be a citation that could run as high as $800.
“This is a new twist to a long-standing USD policy to punish both bully and victim, thereby punishing the victim twice. I object to teaching my children not to resist violence. I object to the school district’s inability to discern who bullies whom. I object to their victimizing anyone’s child twice. I object to empowering the bully to hold my child (and his academic record) hostage. I object to their unwillingness to share how this policy can be changed by parents (taxpayers).
“For the first time, I am referred by headquarters (the buck passed) down the chain of command to the principal – as if he has the power to hear and change policy.”
In response to Mr. Longenecker’s letter, I called the Bellflower School District headquarters (for clarification and corroboration) only to get the usual response when I call any public school or district headquarters: “Oh, sorry, I know nothing about that and the only person who does is in a meeting and can never be disturbed – that is our policy.”
In response to my on-air “rant” about this issue, many parents from across the country wrote me with similar complaints – most having given up trying to influence the system: “I just shrugged it off at the time and threw my hands in the air and let it go. I think now that was a mistake (after her fifth-grade child was suspended for having been hit and not hitting back … it was enough that he was “in the fight”). It just seems to make life easier for your kid in public schools if you don’t make too many waves. No excuse … I know. Thanks for the reality check.”
Another parent, this one from San Diego, wrote about the four boys who ganged up and attacked her son and hurt him seriously. Her boy, based on what he was taught by the school district, did not raise a hand in his own defense, and neither did his group of friends who stood by. Some adult passing by rescued her son. “As it stands,” she wrote, “the boys who attacked my son were just ‘slapped on the wrist.’
“Victims have no rights whatsoever and are not allowed to defend themselves. They are treated almost as bad as the criminal. My son said that he was interrogated the following day by the school police. My son and his friends were commended for not fighting back. I can’t believe that if you are being attacked you can’t defend yourself, you just have to take it and pray you don’t get hurt enough to kill you. What is this world coming to?”
Her boy is suffering from various stress disorders.
My request is that you parents vociferously defend yourselves and your children. Barbara Brink did just that and won! Her eighth-grade, black-belt son was attacked from behind at school. He didn’t get to use his martial arts expertise because he was surprised from the back and pinned to the ground. He and the attacked were both suspended for three days for fighting.
“I became instantly ferociously angry and was at the school in less than five minutes to find my son in the principal’s office very upset. The assistant principal told me that he had witnessed the attack, but had to suspend my boy anyway because he had ‘participated in the fight.’ Needless to say, the entire school heard my protests and I did not stop until the superintendent of the school district was on the phone. My argument was just like you expressed – ‘How can you expel someone for defending themselves? Aren’t you punishing the innocent?’ To keep my son’s increasingly enraged mother calm, the superintendent agreed to let him remain in school and the attacker was suspended for five days.
“I am proud of that day. I taught my son that someone in his life would stand for what was right and, more importantly, stand up and protect him. To this day, he stands for what is right and is, by the way, now graduating from a University in May with a computer engineering degree.
“Thank you, Dr. Laura, for fighting for all that is right.”
One particular public-school teacher explained that teachers don’t like to get involved at the “who dunnit” level because of litigation issues, not being backed up by the administration and the fact that teachers are desirous of teaching, not playing “prison guards.”
I think there is one more issue here – that of the left-wing indoctrination of children to be subservient and not stand up to defend each other, much less themselves, from attack. You can readily see this philosophy being expounded on the national campaign trails by those who don’t seem to have the clear vision of evil-versus-good and the moral obligation to stand between evil and the innocent; the tendency to define all violence as bad, such that when a country defends itself against suicide bombing of innocent children, it becomes morally equivalent in their minds to targeting a terrorist in his car; the argument that because America did not find a nuclear bomb in Saddam’s closet the mass graves of innocent Iraqis don’t qualify as sufficient motivation for defense from the outside.
This is, in my opinion, a concerted effort to morally enfeeble our children – and that will not only weaken our country. It will make the world more available for evil to have a triumphant reign.
Dr. Laura Schlessinger holds a postdoctoral certification in marriage and family therapy from USC and a license in marriage, family and child counseling from the state of California. She is the author of seven New York Times best-sellers, as well as four children’s books, and the host of an internationally syndicated radio program. She may be contacted by fax at (818) 461-5140, or by writing: Dr. Laura Schlessinger; P.O. Box 8120; Van Nuys, CA 91409.
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This is a perfect example of why this is such an embarrasing story for the community of Caro as well as their school system. When you take this opportunity to try to relate this issue to a few school decisions from around the country that we only know one side of, you embarass the reasonable people of this city who generally support their school and community. Caro schools are not anti-military and at worst they made an insensitive decision while trying not to be insensetive. I’m amazed that none of these self proclaimed experts ever get involved in the school to try and make it better. Or, once they do, they realize its not as cut and dry and Dr. Laura makes it sound. I’m pretty sure that schools have not allowed fighting for some time now and it is not “indoctrinating” them in order to make the sissies. If you think your child is a sissy, don’t blame Caro schools. The article is not aimed at them in the least. Only in your mind. It’s time to let it go and move on. I’m pretty sure the school learned its lesson. If you want to toughen up the kids in school, get involved, be a football/wrestling/powerlifting coach. Otherwise, let the people who work with children on a daily basis do their job.
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Members of the military community — veterans, active-duty, reserve, National Guard, or their family members — benefit from several types of charitable associations and organizations. These charitable organizations can provide advocacy, emergency assistance, grants, counseling, and other types of direct and indirect support.
The following is a directory of charity associations and organizations
Service Specific Aid and Assistance Organizations
Air Force Aid Society
Army Emergency Relief
Coast Guard Mutual Assistance
Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society
Charity Organizations
American Red Cross
American Gulf War Veterans Association
Armed Forces Relief Trust
Armed Services YMCA of the USA
Fisher House Foundation
Reconnect America
Aerospace Education Foundation
Air Force Enlisted Widows
Armed Forces Foundation
Astronauts Memorial Foundation
Billy Blanks Foundation
Blinded American Veterans Foundation
Blinded Veterans Foundation
Blue Star Moms
Comfort for America’s Uniformed Services Elite
Enduring Freedom K.I.A. Fund
Fallen Patriot Fund
First Command Educational Foundation
Folds of Honor
The Freedom Alliance
Freedom Is Not Free
Global War on Terrorism Veterans in Need
Help Hospitalized Veterans
Homes for Our Troops
IMA Hero(TM) Collection
Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund
Marines Helping Marines
Men of Easy Company Association
Military Chaplains Association of the USA
Military Community Youth Ministries
Mission Continues
National Defense University Foundation
National Veterans Services Fund, Inc.
Navy Safe Harbor Foundation
Officers’ Christian Fellowship
Operation First Response
Operation Gratitude
Operation Homefront
Operation Interdependence
Operation Love Reunited
Our Forgotten Warriors
Paralyzed Veterans of America
Phoenix House, Inc.
Points of Light – Ponte Vedra Beach Rotary
Project Keeping Cadence
Raising Consciousness America
Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Service Systems
See Your Troops Foundation
Skip Cares – Military Care Packages
Snowball Express
Special Operations Warrior Foundation
Survivors of Servicemen (SOS) Fund
The Hugs Project
Toys for Tots Foundation
Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS)
USO
United States Military Chaplains Association
United Through Reading
Veterans Families United
Veterans Helping Veterans & Others
Veterans of Foreign Wars
Vietnam Veterans Assistance Fund
The Walter Reed Society
Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation
Women’s Resource Center of Manatee
Wounded Warriors Fund
Wounded Warrior Project
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Chris your looking at the pin head thru a microscope, there is a bigger picture being played out in the school systems than you are capable of understanding.
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Yes, I am capable of understanding. A couple of anecdotes from Dr. Laura’s show doesn’t represent schools or provide the insight to understand publc schools. Her generalizations certainly do not apply to Caro schools. Exactly what role do you play in public school systems that gives you the wisdom and insight to understand the big picture? I am a teacher, certified to teach who has been a practicing public school teacher for the last 18+ years. Including my student teaching, I’ve taught in 4 different schools. I’ve attended numerous conferences that have covered topics that included math specific content as well as accrediation, ajudicated youth specialties, at-risk youth intervention, and numerous other topics. I’m involved with coordinating with other teachers from other schools. I’ve toured inner city school in the Detroit Public school district. I’ve studied violence in schools as part of my training both before and during my teaching experience. I have several other family members who are public school teachers as well as another who is a principal in a parochial school in Minnesota. Not to mention, I have my own life experiences that tell me otherwise. Tell me again how you are able to see the big picture and I am only able to view a pinhead through a microscope? I am convinced that your insight is clouded by your biases toward public education. You are clearly against public schools and not fond of public school teachers. You’ve made that very clear. You found an some examples of poor decision making and tried to generalize it to apply to Caro and it was quite a stretch might I add. You haven’t seen the uncountable examples of teachers and administrators helping young people overcome their fear and stand up to bullies in an appropriate way. How many fights in the hallway have you jumped into in order to break to boys up? How much blood have you got on your clothes in the process? You haven’t seen example after example of teachers and administrators making the right call and being fair when justice was called for. You haven’t seen the look of thanks in a child’s eye year after year when an adult proved that they were trustworthy and helped them to take on the world when they needed that help. Again, a couple of bad examples from a Dr. Laura show aren’t going to change my perception from what I see and hear with my own eyes and ears day after day. If practical real life experience is what you think clouds my vision, than I’m sorry but you are wrong. It is very similar to the plight that police officers face. No one likes the police until they need them.
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Now on the flip side of that coin, I suggest you interview a few teachers or administrators and ask them about some of the parent meetings they’ve sat in where the parent of the bully tries to explain away their child’s behavior. They refuse to believe that their child is capable of inflicting abuse on another student so they project their denial onto the school system and cry foul when justice is being served. Granted, these parents are in the vast minority, but they exist in reality and in much greater numbers than the examples that you and Dr. Laura provide for us. As a coach, I’ve heard many parents demand that their child get as much playing time as every other child in spite of the fact that they’ve never invested any of their own time into training their child to become competent in that sport. They want the same reward as the parent who’s spent countless hours in the yard as well as time and money getting professional training for their child. In my own teaching experience, I’ve had several parents attempt to argue their way out of their child’s failing grades unable to grasp the reality that their child doesn’t do their work. They will accuse the teacher of not caring and ignore the fact that they’ve never been to a parent teacher conference or respond to a personal email until its too late. All they can think to do is ask for as much extra credit at the end of the semester as it takes to “give” their child a D-. Most parents do an adequate job and many parents are shining examples in my school district, but there are bad examples by the dozens I can refer to this year alone. In spite of that, I don’t blame “parents” for problems at school. Problems have always and will always exist in spite of the best teacher’s and parent’s efforts.
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Teabagmebaby … did you also post the same comments on another issue … I am confused …..
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Just prioritizing cupcakes, charitable capitalism, and caring for veterans as reflected by these articles of greater importance.
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