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Reaction against NSA misses mark
Published Saturday, March 28, 2009
As a parent of two Nansemond Suffolk Academy children, I support last week’s police search at our school and used it as a teaching moment for my own children.
All of the other school parents I’ve spoken to also support what happened. Nowhere did I see evidence that anyone expects their children to be treated differently. Unfortunately, the local media’s reaction to all that has happened has upset me much, much more.
Drug sweeps are done at many schools and you don’t see them with major media coverage, repeatedly naming a student who was charged.
Before anyone gets mad that I’m defending the student, there are people charged with much more serious crimes who don’t make the front page of the local paper. He made a mistake, and he should suffer the consequences, but the constant media coverage seems overblown. (He has been named in every article I’ve read on this subject.)
Now to the bashing that Colley Bell is getting about his apology letter. Last year, our family’s bikes were stolen from our shed. A month later, the children who stole them rode into the park next to our house on our bikes. I recognized the bikes, confronted them and called the police on my cell phone. The police quickly responded and did what they needed to do, which was to try to scare the kids straight before they handcuffed them and took them off to the police station.
But do you know what was interesting? I felt bad for the kids. They stole our bikes, and I knew that calling the police was the right thing to do, but still I felt terrible about their having to go through that and imagining how their parents would feel.
While I don’t know exactly why Colley wrote his apology letter, I realize that he was probably feeling the same way I did about the kids that stole our bikes. That doesn’t mean he condones drugs or is caving under some sort of pressure. It means he has empathy and was obviously still distraught over the whole incident.
The timing of this, I’m sure, has contributed to these reactions. With Wall Street, AIG and people like Bernie Madoff getting people justifiably angry, America right now is ready to battle anyone who is seen as being too high on their horse. Judging from most of the Suffolk News-Herald and Pilot Online comments to this story, locally they seemed to have chosen NSA.
I just had to show that there are two sides to every story.
Amy Birdsong
Suffolk
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Comments
Posted by junebaby216 (anonymous) on March 29, 2009 at 5:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
When I read that there was a drug bust at NSA I cant say I was surprised. It doesnt take a genius to figure out that when someone repeatedly buys blunts or blunt wraps what they are doing. There is a good number of kids from NSA that frequent the gas station that I work at so you could say I see them more than regularly. Now when I heard that the principal sent home a letter apologizing for what was done I was a little more than mad. I went to a regular public school out in Va beach where drug inspections were a regular thing. To me it sounds like he is trying to say that just because this is a private school they are better than everyone else and dont deserve to have these inspections done. Now Im sorry but most of the kids that go to that school already have a complex of thinking they are better than everyone because they have money...like I said i deal with them on a daily basis. they dont need their principal reinforcing this habbit. And to the parents if you honestly think that because you are paying a lot of money for them to go to some private school that they wont smoke drink or do drugs you are sadly mistaken. the only difference between them and someone at a public school is that at least the kids in public school live in the real world where they have to work for what they have and mommy and daddy dont hand it to them on a silver platter.
I realize that this statement will probably anger a lot of people but I really dont care. Its time someone said something about the way those kids act and what they are doing.
You know the sad thing is that Josheph Mullen probably wont even get in that much trouble. but let it be a black kid from lakeland or kings fork and he would be going to jail. its amazing what money can do isnt it?
sincerly,
angry in suffolk
Posted by am (anonymous) on March 29, 2009 at 7:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What people are missing here is that the young man listed in the paper was 18 years old. He could have been from any school, but once he turned 18, he wasn't going to be identity protected as a juvenile.
Posted by MrJiggyFly (anonymous) on March 29, 2009 at 8:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Junebaby216 . . . that had to be one of the most ignorant and illogical responses that I have read on this site in a long time. You and many others have missed the entire point.
Posted by mcdb (anonymous) on March 29, 2009 at 10:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm kind of ticked!
Here I am, a graduate of N-SA, and never once did my food come on a silver platter! Junebaby216-What was wrong with my parents?! Didn't they have time in their 70+hour work weeks (at more than one job) to serve us as we should have been served!?! Should I have had a bell, too? A butler?
Here I was thinking that my parents were hard workers and provided me with an education that they couldn't afford because they wanted the absolute best for me...silly. rich, white girl. Guess that's all part of my 'complex'.
Those who defend the public schools always want to slam the private for being rich-and it couldn't be further from the truth. I'm now looking at trying to paying tuition for my 3 kids to go to N-SA- I have no idea how to make it happen but I can guarantee you one thing-IT WILL HAPPEN. I'm not going to shrug my shoulders and say, 'Oh well...least we can go on a nice vacation since we don't have to pay for school.'...because you know why? In 15-20 years- I'll be paying for my choices- and so will my children!
(and PS Juney, dear, maybe you're getting an attitude from your customers because of the chip on your shoulder towards them- brush it off- hate for you to have an inferiority complex)
Posted by junebaby216 (anonymous) on March 29, 2009 at 9:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Inferiority complex? i think not....neither I or the people I work with have ever been rude mean or treated any of those kids any different than any other customer. and yet they they still act like they are better than others. you may not act that way and Im not saying that all the kids there do either but there are a large quantity of these students that do act this way. of course just like most kids not all of them are willing to show it in front of some people but let them be alone in front of their friends acting like billy badass might be the coolest thing to them.
Posted by mcdb (anonymous) on March 29, 2009 at 10:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
June- your comment alone showed that you have a negative disposition towards the students. I cannot defend their actions/words/deeds etc- I haven't seen how they've acted in your store- but REALLY are the NSA kids THAT different in their actions, as compared to, say, Kings Fork High? Or are they just arrogant teenagers that you'd like to reach across the counter and pop up beside the head? I vote for the arrogant/obnoxious teenager. We've all seen them in action...some of us may have even been one...or at least had our moments. BUT my problem lies with your statement:
"To me it sounds like he is trying to say that just because this is a private school they are better than everyone else and dont deserve to have these inspections done. Now Im sorry but most of the kids that go to that school already have a complex of thinking they are better than everyone because they have money...like I said i deal with them on a daily basis. they dont need their principal reinforcing this habbit"
How did the principal of a school requesting a drug search intensify the kids views that they are better than everyone else? The ONLY problem I have with this entire situation is that he apologized for the inconvenience of the search (I'm sure the inconvenience was to the 23 sets of parents that had to show up to NSA while the search was conducted.) I don't think Mr. Bell should apologize or even offer an explanation of why he requested the search. It’s not like he didn’t requested them. Obviously he didn’t feel that NSA was above the law. If it were me, I'd have the police there weekly- proving to the students drugs are NOT tolerable. I'd have them at every school, every week-media attention or not.
And people, please, lay off the ‘NSA crowd has the money’ excuse/crutch—if anything, the parents who are putting their kids in NSA have less money than the average public school parent. With tuition starting at $10,000, the wallets are a little lighter in some pockets. Absolutely NSA does have wealthy donor families…but there are wealthy people in public school, too. Only in our Obama society is it bad to have money and chose to spend it wisely.
Posted by OD (anonymous) on March 30, 2009 at 7:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
ROFLOL at Junebaby, seems to me when looking at chocies of schools that are out there, you had at one time vouchers.Now the present adminstration doesnt want you to have a choice. But those who are pushing public schools, the kids that they have are not attending public schools.Schools should be run by the states and not the feds
Posted by TBSuffolk (anonymous) on March 30, 2009 at 8:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It just comes back to the fact that the school should have stood behind what it did and not tried to back-peddled from having a stance on drugs. Additionaly, the Suffolk PD did what they are supposed to do, and they did it well...NSA should support what the PD did as well. All the bickering regarding the social class of the students should be put aside. At the end of the day, NSA is a school--just like Kings Fork, Lakeland, and Nansemond River. If there's a need for a drug check, or a tip-off needing a search, or just a standard search...SO BE IT. It does help.
Posted by am (anonymous) on March 30, 2009 at 9:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you TBSuffolk - kids are just kids.....and unfortunately drugs are a part of the culture in society as a whole - NOT "just" a part of the public school landscape. There were drugs at NSA in the years that I was a student there, and thankfully my parents taught me to stay out of that culture. Now that I am a teacher, I see NSA students who enter the public school system having been (in their own words on occasion) expelled from NSA. Yes, some leave because the financial situation does not allow them to continue at NSA, some leave due to their grades, and some are expelled for various disciplinary reasons; drugs included. These incidents don't always make the newspapers, nor should they. However, we should not have our heads stuck in the sand so much that we don't realize that drugs are everywhere and NO school is immune to the problem. The SPD did their job and Suffolk needs to just get over their shallow minded class struggle. There is no moving forward until that happens, and no one will benefit from holding on to these hatreds.
Posted by saintsfan01 (anonymous) on March 30, 2009 at 10:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
junebaby216 you sound like a complete idiot. For real!
Posted by Anony (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 2:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think that this piece brings up a point that has been missed by the news media - that Bell really does care about his school and the students who attend.
However, I think the reaction against NSA came from Bell's insinuations and aspersions cast upon the police. He asked the officers to do a job. The officers did their job, and a criminal charge was the result. Really - what does Bell have to apologize for at all?
Posted by VA12345 (anonymous) on April 1, 2009 at 12:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
OK, junebaby216... I have a question...actually, I have a couple. Who are you to accuse the students of NSA of being spoiled and thinking they are better than the rest of us? How can you judge the character of these young kids, who you state are from NSA, when they have supposedly entered your establishment and flaunted their 'superior status' to you? I seriously doubt that you are able to judge their entire character simply by observing them purchasing a candy bar or a tank of gas, or these elegid blunts. Like seriously, do you have NSA radar, where you are able to detect which one of your costumers actually goes to that school? Doubt it. I also find it appalling and juvenile that you would bring one's race into the situation at the end of your statement. Frankly, your being racist for thinking that the situation was handled with race involved. Please, to save yourself from any further embarassment, put your big girl/boy panties on and grow up...you're honestly making a fool of yourself by accusing these kids of having pompous attitudes towards life, when studies at that school require a higher form of responsibility and discipline to make it through the school year.
yours truly,
Angrier in Suffolk
Posted by nuckles8 (anonymous) on April 2, 2009 at 4:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Dear Junebaby:
I honestly cannot comprehend your apparent vendetta against my school. In retaliation I will simply have to lash out in whatever fashion is my wont. First off, you do not strike me as a person with any direct contact with NSA or with its students. How can you even tell if someone in "the gas station" is an NSA student? That part of your argument makes no sense. In your introduction you make the statement "when I read that there was a drug bust at NSA I cant say I was surprised" which told me that you have no academic interest in whether the students were found to be clean or were even charged. All you seem to care about is childish finger pointing. Can we leave Kindergarten behind please? As for the letter itself, it was by no means an apology for the decision to have a raid performed. It was an apology to those students who were wrongly accused of possession for the scarring of their reputations. And for our "complex of thinking they are better than everyone because they have money" you are DEAD WRONG. My mom works several jobs, most of which are at NSA, so that I can attend a high-end college preparatory academy so that I will be able to go to college and make something of myself. The kind of superiority complex you refer to is an unacceptable quality for me and my peers. Your obvious lack of experience with our school shows me that I should not ignore what you say, but instead scoff at its petty rhetoric. Now I may have been a little harsh, but know that it is only because people who make gross stereotypical generalizations in such a childish decrepit nature disgust me. And trust me, I can tell the difference between a hawk and a handsaw when the wind is southerly.
Posted by junebaby216 (anonymous) on April 18, 2009 at 8:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
well to answer the question about how do i know which of my customers are NSA sutdents? its simple....UNIFORMS.......almost every kid at that school plays a sport of some kind or wears saints sweaters...and to be honest i could care less what you think of me or my views of the students...its my opinion which i am entitled to. and i never said anything about the parents who work their butts off so their kid can show their behind in public. but honestly...10Gs just to go to school? what makes them worth that money? other than the obvious fact that they dont conform to the SOL bs that all other school systems have resorted to instead of actually teaching.
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