How mean is this?

[Foxyangel0425]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7884243/?GT1=6542

KINGWOOD, Texas - Karen Scherr is the top academic student in her class at Kingwood High School in the Houston area, and she has been for the past four years.


But when the 18-year-old receives her diploma this month, she’ll do so without the title just about everyone expected her to have: valedictorian.

Kingwood High school has handed that honor to another student, saying Scherr doesn’t qualify for the award.

“I was disappointed,” said Scherr. “I’d hoped the rule would not have to be enforced.”

Attendance record negates academic record
Scherr was referring to a requirement that the school’s valedictorian be enrolled in classes by the 20th day of their junior year.

It’s a rule aimed at keeping students from other schools from transferring into Kingwood late in their high school careers to claim one of the coveted top 10 academic spots.

Scherr’s been in the Kingwood school system since kindergarten. But she wasn’t enrolled in her high school on that 20th day of her junior year.

Instead, she was in a treatment facility seeking help for the eating disorder, anorexia nervosa.

“I was sick. That’s part of the disorder,” said Scherr. “It’s a mental disease.”

While the school warned the Scherr family of their strict attendance policy, her parents made the decision to keep her hospitalized in Oklahoma until her medical treatment was complete a few weeks later.

Through it all, she kept up her class work and stayed at the top of her class despite her illness.

Students rally behind her
“I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to help her immediately. She’s worked so hard for it,” said Lauren Bonds, the Kingwood school newspaper editor.

Bonds also battled the eating disorder and felt Scherr should be rewarded, not punished, for seeking help. “I know what it’s like to go through that. It’s always with you.”


Anorexia and bulimia primarily affect people in their teens and twenties, but studies have reported both disorders in children as young as six and individuals as old as 76. About 1 percent of female adolescents have anorexia. Ten percent of people with anorexia are male.


Despite student petitions and pleas from students on the Top 10 list at Kingwood High, school officials said the title instead would go to the number two student, Alex Gorham.

Gorham said the victory would be a hollow one for him and asked the school to reconsider.

Many in the senior class of 800 felt the same.

“She has a disease,” said Travis Boeker, a fellow student. “If it was cancer, this wouldn’t be an issue.”

“She was able to maintain her grades and still stay ahead of the class during a very difficult personal time,” said student Addison Beard. “The title belongs to her.”

Priorities intact
Scherr says she made the right choice to miss school to seek treatment. “That was the best decision. I don’t regret it at all. It was a choice made with input from my parents and doctors. I’m ok with it.”

School officials insist they won’t change their minds, saying it would be unfair to retroactively change the rules at the end of the school year.

Kingwood has offered Scherr the title Honorary Valedictorian — a title she’s not sure she’ll accept. More important than the trophy, the teen says, her self-esteem is intact.

“That’s more important than any achievement or any title you could ever get,” Scherr said. “I’m thankful I’ve learned that at this point in my life, at 18 years old.”

A young woman who says she doesn’t need a prize to appreciate all she’s accomplished, inside and outside the classroom.

Janet Shamlian is an NBC News Correspondent based in Dallas.

I never heard of such bull S*IT :macho

[450Racer]

if there's one thing that buggest me most about people...it's their cold-heartedness. we're human, we're not some cookie cutter robot that must follow strict guidelines about everysingle thing and exactly how's it's done. i think she deserves it all the more for what she went through! that is a bunch of crap! i know if someone did that to me say, if i went to rehab and came back, first in my class and it wasn't given to me through all that, i'd be so mad, i'd have a massive protest grad. night outside the school. that's crap! i hope that she knows she doesn't need a title to deserve credit. too much of this crap is going on these days.

its not the schools fault, rules are rules

[bansheeguy77]

Originally posted by MixMasterMike
its not the schools fault, rules are rules

yes sir. no matter how cold hearted it sounds everyone should be treated fairly. the rules been in place for some time it seems....cant just be bent because of that.

on a side note, i had to deny somebody a dental license today because their chemo prevented them from taking the required courses. they had over 2 years to inform us of this and they would gladly be granted a waiver. but they decided to do it a month late....rules are rules....cold hearted or no?

[I-7]

If the rules in place they have to enforce it. If they bend it for one thing sooner or later they going to have people wanted to bend it even more. If the school called them giving them a warning then thats all they could have and should have done. She was in the hospital but its not the schools fault. I dont really see anything wrong.

[bulkdriverlp]

too bad:D

[JR3]

Originally posted by bulkdriverlp
too bad:D :D

[AtvMxRider]

Originally posted by MixMasterMike
its not the schools fault, rules are rules

I agree

[DeerNuts]

So she's salutatorian. What the hell difference does it make?

[Jackie]

Originally posted by bansheeguy77
yes sir. no matter how cold hearted it sounds everyone should be treated fairly. the rules been in place for some time it seems....cant just be bent because of that.

on a side note, i had to deny somebody a dental license today because their chemo prevented them from taking the required courses. they had over 2 years to inform us of this and they would gladly be granted a waiver. but they decided to do it a month late....rules are rules....cold hearted or no?

So what about the little morons calling in prank bomb threats to schools i.e. the policies says indefinite expulsion and the turds are let back in and the government (police) can charge them with the anti terrorist laws and don't. This crap doesn’t make sense.

Excuse me would you remember the two-year rule while getting chemo?
What goes around comes around.
Do you think you will go to heaven?
:huh

i'm pretty sure that you get nothing for being valedvictorian or whatever and that this whole thing is a waste of time. It's like forgetting to celebrate someone's random birthday. NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL! You are going to be okay girl. ;) maybe do away with the whole system in that county and see what the whiners have to say about that

[sickmojave]

Would it be fair to Alex Gorham? He followed the rules..;)

[Doober]

rules are rules but...if the rest of the senoirs think she should have it...then i think she should be valedictorian

[Toadz400]

Originally posted by sickmojave
Would it be fair to Alex Gorham? He followed the rules..;)

That's true, except even HE wanted her to have the title.

Originally posted by Toadz400
That's true, except even HE wanted her to have the title. you know he was probably just saying that ...

[nosliw]

Originally posted by MixMasterMike
you know he was probably just saying that ...

probably. what else are you going to say when you have 800 pissed off seniors behind you?

[tdsongster]

Yupp, its cold hearted but if we don't have rules then people will be exploiting the system for their own gain.

Besides, they were notified.

[DeerNuts]

Originally posted by Jackie
So what about the little morons calling in prank bomb threats to schools i.e. the policies says indefinite expulsion and the turds are let back in and the government (police) can charge them with the anti terrorist laws and don't. This crap doesn’t make sense.

Excuse me would you remember the two-year rule while getting chemo?
What goes around comes around.
Do you think you will go to heaven?
:huh

What's your point? There's a big gap in your logic here. What you are doing is saying that if the rules have not been enforced for others, then they shouldn't be enforced for her. Do you not see the flaw in your reasoning? It's exactly like you saying, "Hey, even though I broke the rules, I want to be let off like the other guys."

As for remembering the "2 year rule" as you put, why isnt that a reasonable time frame to let him know? Do you honestly think Bansheeguy77 is cold-hearted and going to hell since he followed the rules? How could you? It only takes a few hours or whatever to let him know, and they were given 2 years. Why is that cold-hearted?

:confused:

Your argument is simply appealing to people's emotions and sense of "fairness" --- rules be damned. Sorry for the long post, but what I am getting at is you cannot make an argument about something totally unrelated to prove a point:)

[Toadz400]

Originally posted by MixMasterMike
you know he was probably just saying that ...

True, he was probably afraid of being beaten to death by 800 angry students.

Well, either way this situation sucks and it sounds like no one can change the school's mind on it, so why fret over it?

[derekhonda]

We had a girl move from chicago to my little town last year first semester senior year. She had the GPA to be salutorian but they wouldn't allow it which is why that rule was in place. We also had a top 20 breakfast (top 20 seniors by GPA) but the made it 21 for her.

I can understand the rule for that reason, it would be like

valedictorian - Tom with a 5.0
salutorian - susie with a 4.95
3rd - billy with a 4.94 so he leaves the school and goes to another where their valedictorian only has a 4.6 and he claims the title.

But seeing that the girl belonged to the school corporation her whole life I dont really see why they couldn't bend the rules, she isn't trying to cheat the system.

But rules are rules......

[Jackie]

Originally posted by DeerNuts
What's your point? There's a big gap in your logic here. What you are doing is saying that if the rules have not been enforced for others, then they shouldn't be enforced for her. Do you not see the flaw in your reasoning? It's exactly like you saying, "Hey, even though I broke the rules, I want to be let off like the other guys."

As for remembering the "2 year rule" as you put, why isnt that a reasonable time frame to let him know? Do you honestly think Bansheeguy77 is cold-hearted and going to hell since he followed the rules? How could you? It only takes a few hours or whatever to let him know, and they were given 2 years. Why is that cold-hearted?

:confused:

Your argument is simply appealing to people's emotions and sense of "fairness" --- rules be damned. Sorry for the long post, but what I am getting at is you cannot make an argument about something totally unrelated to prove a point:)

bad people get slack good people get screwed.
I am not saying that anyone is going to hell, what i am saying is good deeds will get you closer to heaven.
Peace out DeerNuts
:)

[bansheeguy77]

Originally posted by DeerNuts
What's your point? There's a big gap in your logic here. What you are doing is saying that if the rules have not been enforced for others, then they shouldn't be enforced for her. Do you not see the flaw in your reasoning? It's exactly like you saying, "Hey, even though I broke the rules, I want to be let off like the other guys."

As for remembering the "2 year rule" as you put, why isnt that a reasonable time frame to let him know? Do you honestly think Bansheeguy77 is cold-hearted and going to hell since he followed the rules? How could you? It only takes a few hours or whatever to let him know, and they were given 2 years. Why is that cold-hearted?

:confused:

Your argument is simply appealing to people's emotions and sense of "fairness" --- rules be damned. Sorry for the long post, but what I am getting at is you cannot make an argument about something totally unrelated to prove a point:)


yes sir. all it would have taken would be a simple one paragraph letter explaining the situation and we would have been more than willing to help them out in any way shape or form that we can. even if she was very out of it from the chemo have somebody else write the letter. ya would think within 2 years somebody would have thought about their job and just informed us of a situation. if you let me know whats going on i help you unfortunately we cannot read minds.

and well if god decides to send me to hell for that then he does. he has rules to get into heaven too so he understands where im coming from :macho

[Foxyangel0425]

If you look at it this way its unfair because the girl didn't plan to get sick at the time she did. With them not letting her be val. what does that tell other students? Thats not ok for you to seek treatments when you need to because your afraid of missing school? The girl made a HUGE step in her life by admitting she had a eatting disorder and needed to seek help! A lot of girls/boys don't do that and they go through life wasting away & than eventually dying. With the school allowing her to be Val i think it will show students present and future that its ok to seek treatment and you won't be punished for doing it!!

[Jackie]

Originally posted by Foxyangel0425
If you look at it this way its unfair because the girl didn't plan to get sick at the time she did. With them not letting her be val. what does that tell other students? Thats not ok for you to seek treatments when you need to because your afraid of missing school? The girl made a HUGE step in her life by admitting she had a eatting disorder and needed to seek help! A lot of girls/boys don't do that and they go through life wasting away & than eventually dying. With the school allowing her to be Val i think it will show students present and future that its ok to seek treatment and you won't be punished for doing it!!

AMEN

[BadAss03]

If she would have been black or a minority they would have given it to her.

[Toadz400]

Originally posted by BadAss03
If she would have been black or a minority they would have given it to her.

Sadly, that's true...Not to be racist or anything, but that is 100% true. "Minorities" (actually the majorities now) will always be able to play the Racist Card.

And I'm with FoxyAngel, she did make a big decision to get help for a problem that no one wants to admit to and the school discouraged that.

[DeerNuts]

Originally posted by Toadz400


And I'm with FoxyAngel, she did make a big decision to get help for a problem that no one wants to admit to and the school discouraged that.

What's having anorexia got anything to do with this? So the school enforced its rules--- by doing that they discouraged her admitting her problem?:confused: Im not seeing how that's so. you are talking about 2 unrelated things.

Also, I dont think that anorexia is a naturally-occuring problem (someone who knows for sure correct me if I'm wrong). I think she brought it on herself anyway, or at least started it and then it got worse, right?

[Samson]

Originally posted by Foxyangel0425
If you look at it this way its unfair because the girl didn't plan to get sick


It was a conscious choice. It's not like getting the flu or something. She chose poorly and will suffer the consequences.

Life's hard. Our actions have ramifications. Why is that so foreign to people? :rolleyes: