My Leave From Blogging, Halloween, and Drag Queens

I haven't written a post in a little more than a week. It's not because I've been busy...I just haven't felt like it.
Well, I guess that I should catch up on what has happened to me.
I was excited in my last entry for Halloween. This guy that I liked was supposed to spend that night with me, I was taking my niece trick-or-treating, throwing a going away party for a good friend, and I had my GSA.
Well, the GSA and going away party went great. Then, I got home and started to get ready. An hour before we were supposed to pick him up, I texted him to remind him. No answer.
An hour later, and we were running late anyway, I texted him again and no answer. So, I decided to call him. I had to use my mom's phone since the microphone on my own is busted. When I called, a girl answered the phone. She then informed me that he had went out skating and left his phone there. Okay...Can you have him call me back? 
During the course of the night, I sent him two more text messages. One last attempt to see if he was coming and then one telling him where he could go for standing me up. I haven't heard from him since and that's fine. I deleted his number.
I understand standing someone up once in a blue moon, but twice in one week? Hell no!
It was all good though. I had a great time with my niece. She's three years old and she's like an adopted daughter to me. I took her trick-or-treating and she seemed to really enjoy it. On top of that, someone followed us for a few moments to give her a big treat. It turns out that they were saving them for 'the cute ones'. They were probably for the babies in general, but it made me smile.
Once we were almost home, she looked up at me and thanked me for helping her trick-or-treat. My heart melted.
When we got back, dad had been drinking and he was rowdy. He got to spend the night on the back porch. =D
He called my niece a nigger. Yeah, she's black but she's still part of the family and I love her like she's white. Nobody talks like that around her.
I fell asleep by nine that night...Super early for me.
Other things of mention this week...?
Well, there was the presidential election. I'm really glad that Obama won but I feel a bit bad for Romney. I mean, he came so far and tried so hard, but now he's leaving politics. Not just the running for president, but politics in general.
Four more years. =D
Other than that, yesterday is mentionable.
I had my GSA on Wednesday like every week. Every other week, we aim to have a speaker.
Well, I invited a professional drag queen. She's a volunteer with the organization that I work with and she's been nothing but kind every time I've talked to her.
She most certainly didn't deserve the welcoming that she got to my school.
In fact, I feel ashamed to say that I am a Lee High General.
I hurried out of the building as soon as the bell had rung because I didn't want to leave her outside waiting for me. Two of my friends that also attend the GSA caught me going out and joined me. We all walked in together. Within a few feet from the door, we started hearing people talking.
"Is that a dude?" "Aye man, that's a dude!" "Get out of here!"
All kinds of cruel things. The talking then began to roll into yelling. People were following us and yelling things at her! She hadn't even said one word to them.
Luckily, the staff came out and stopped them and we got on the elevator because he knee is bad. Nobody threw anything or tried to touch her.
She was okay with it though...In fact, she seemed used to it.
We had the least amount of members that we've ever had at that meeting. Go figure.

It's The Victim's Fault

.......Said no one ever!
Oh, yeah....Wait a moment.

That was Wardyinski's defense in tonight's school board meeting. Kids may get raped, beaten, even killed, but it's not our problem! It's their fault! Why is it their fault?
Because they aren't where they're supposed to be.

Umm....The cases that we were talking about involved a girl leaving an after-school activity, a girl with permission to go to the restroom, and a girl that was bullied in gym.
I'm a little lost at what he means..
I thought that I was supposed to participate in school events and when a teacher told me I can go potty, that it's totally okay. As for gym, well, I don't take it, but this girl did. So I'm not supposed to go to my classes?

Wait, Anna, slow down on the angry rant! What the hell are you talking about?

Okay, okay...

I attended the school board meeting with my mom and several other people as a concerned citizen. We got there early, held signs that said "Stop the violence, end the silence" and talked to the news about different cases of bullying. After that, we went into the school board meeting.
It was pretty boring, talking about buildings and money. Then, we got to citizen talking.
The first person that stood up was the mother of the girl in the Butler incident.
She talked about her daughter and how her safety was compromised when the super intendent told what school she was being transferred to. Her daughter had permission to go to the bathroom during class and while in there got jumped and stripped. Let it be known that two of the three attackers are still in school with her.
Then I went. I talked about my friend that was raped after school. She had stayed after to help sell Lee memorials from the old building as a Creative Writing fundraiser. Of course, this to was swept under the rug.
Third went another woman with our group. She spoke about the bullying and how she couldn't be pushed down because she was a nobody. Unlike my GSA, they couldn't take any school clubs from her. They couldn't fire her. They couldn't harm her.
Fourth went a man who's son was harmed at recess and the school didn't handle it properly. They let the hurt boy stay hurt without informing the parents.
Lastly went an old woman who demanded that they forget their 'damn buildings' and pay attention to the kids.

After, Wardyinski closed by telling us that the behavior problems had gone down. The only problems left were because the kids weren't where they were supposed to be....
Umm, even then, it's your job to take care of them.
Also, these kids were where they were supposed to be!

Prick.

GSA, School Board, & Fear of Losing Jobs

I started a GSA. We've only had it two weeks before my sponsor told me that she couldn't do it anymore. She has been talking about dropping us, but I didn't think it would be this fast.
She called me out of class to tell me that she was done with it. Apparently someone told her that I posted on my Facebook wall, we were going to talk about our super intendent, Wardyinski. That was all it took to scare her into dropping it.
I never once said that we were going to use a meeting to talk about him. I've actually gotten in touch with a bunch of people to come and talk about LGBTQ things from transgendered people, stonewall, and even local groups that they can help with.
I, however, am going to be attending the school board meeting Thursday to speak out about the injustice in our schools and what should be done about it. I was also on the news last night speaking out against it. People are being beaten in our hallways! Raped, stripped, beaten, even killed and nothing is being done about it.
Teachers are so afraid to have their name in anything. This isn't the first time that she's told me not to do something because she was afraid for her job. I don't understand how my speaking out against the injustice will make her lose her job or even connect back to her, but it doesn't matter.
I was so excited to, now I kind of feel like I'm going to cry. I know a lot of new members that were going to join and I was so happy that I had got what everyone seemed to think would be interesting guests.

I never thought that it could be this much trouble to start a school club. I had to push to get it past the principals, ask every teacher to be a sponsor, and fight all the hate. Kids are afraid to come because students have been talking bad about it. I hear from the kids that do come that people in their class act like it's a joke and talk down on it. Our signs get ripped down and drawn all over. We get lectured when we follow the rules and told that we haven't and now we just don't have a club anymore. Within a matter of minutes.
I don't know what to do, I kind of feel like giving up.

Huntsville City Schools Gone to Hell?

You often see school classified as two things. Kids classify it as a prison that is full of learning and boredom while Hollywood classifies it as a fun place.
It's always sad to find a school system that is closer to the kid's dramatic vision.

Lately I've been hearing and seeing several terrible things about Huntsville City Schools. Now, most of these issues weren't present to me until I began to volunteer and offer an ear to everyone. In fact, despite being in the school system for fifteen years, I never realized just how bad it had gotten until recently. Unfortunately, I can't bring myself to believe that these issues just started occuring.

I'll start with a few experiences of my own from the very recent pass and then move on to others that I have confirmed to be true.

September 24th of this year, I was stuck after school. I had just gotten out of an after school club and my ride was extremely late. While I was wandering the building, I came across a friend. She was walking down the hall in front of me. Immediately I could tell that something was wrong. Usually she's pretty perky, but today she was shuffling her feet and her shoulders were drooped. I called out to her and asked if she was okay. When she turned around, the fact that something was terribly wrong was written all over her face. She had been crying and she was shaking just a little bit. She whispered when she told me as if she was afraid that someone would hear her.
She had stayed after school to help with a Creative Writing fundraiser. After the fundraiser, some boy asked if he could walk with her and she said yes. She told me that she was wary about keeping her distance because she didn't know him. She then went on to tell me that he took her phone and held it hostage as he tried to force himself upon her. Forcing himself upon her included ripping her blouse open, trying to undo her belt, and pushing his hand into her pants.
She kicked him several times and fled the scene.
Because of what had happened, she was scared to tell anyone. She asked me to wait to tell people and I informed her that I couldn't. She left too soon for me to do much else for her so I immediately went to the office and asked for security. Turns out that neither security or the principal was available. Since none of them were available, I went to a teacher that I trusted. He took action as soon as he could. Nobody was there so he called around. Within thirty minutes, he had the vice principal on the phone. I explained what had happened and he asked me to come to his office as soon as school started the next day.
I did as he asked. Because I didn't see it actually happen, I just wrote a statement, gave my number to them, and left.
However, I've kept updated through my friend. They contacted the police and her parents as well as an investigator. Then, they tried to pull the camera footage. They were able to get the downstairs footage where he was acting shifty, but apparently they can't get the upstairs footage where it actually happened.
I don't know how they can't get the footage, but apparently they can't.
The punch came later when I called another friend and learned that the school board was telling a news reporter that she was lying. Apparently her rape was all consensual. Tears like that just don't come from consensual playtime in the hall. My theory is that they're trying to say that so that they don't look like they have an unsafe school. Kids messing around in the hall isn't a big deal, a girl being raped in the hall is.
I don't know what's going to happen with this situation, but I'm worried that she may drop it. Also, the school refuses to provide her with protection from several other students that want to hurt her since they were friends and family of the boy. She has been getting threats, but the school has ignored them.

Last year at the same school, we had an issue where a boy was jumped in the bathroom. They recorded it with a phone that caught several students faces, then posted it on Youtube. I don't know all the details of this case so I can't claim too much corruption on the school board simply because I don't know. I do know that the boy died later that night and the video of him getting beaten was posted on Youtube and the news. I also know that there are kids who participated in that event still here.

Yeah.... I feel super safe in my schools.

Moving on to other stories that I know of, but haven't been a part of.

I know a girl at another school here in town that was bullied by her JROTC teacher for making a pro-gay comment. She was talking to a friend about how she wanted to move to San Francisco and the teacher butted in, asking her if she realized that there was a high gay population there. She told him yes, that's why she wanted to move there and he began to preach to them. Her and another student asked him to stop several times but he used his position of authority to continue to the point that it sent her and another student fleeing from the class room in tears. When the parents followed up with the school, they did nothing. The mom wasn't asking for the teacher to be fired, she stated that she simply wanted all of the correct forms to be filled out and they weren't. When they continued insisting that all of the forms be filled out, the school sent back a letter telling them that it was over and that was it. They have now filed with the Board Of Education of Alabama.
The student continues to receive hate letters online about the situation.

Another such story of the lack of action on the schools part is from another school in Huntsville.
A student was jumped by three other girls in the hallway and had her bra and shirt stripped from her. She was then forced to walk down the hall topless. Despite being treated by the hospital for bruised ribs and the school having the video footage, they took two weeks to transfer her to another school. Not only did they refuse to transfer her, they have been claiming that there was a mix up in information and that they don't have proof that she was stripped. They have the video footage, but no proof...?
When they finally agreed to transfer her, they transfered her to a school way out of her range. She had put in for a particular school that she could get to every day and they refused her request.
I'm not sure what all is going on with this situation, but I've heard that only one out of the three attackers was arrested.

Another thing that caught my attention, but isn't about the schools becoming a dangerous place is the Star Testing.
Our super intendent has been bragging about how test scores have shot up since he's been in office..  That's fantastic! Wait...The tests have to be taken once a month? It's the same test to?? I couldn't possibly fathom why the scores are going up!?