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Powerlifters headline was unfair
Published Friday, April 11, 2008
When I read the headline “NHS athletes arrested,” and “Natchez High powerlifters charged with grand larceny,” my immediate thought was that the newly named State Champion Powerlifting team had been arrested for a crime that occurred in their weekend trip to state competition. The thought was disheartening as I had watched over the past few years as the team worked itself to the top, and I know Coach Joe Johnson to be a Christian man who tries to impart his values on his students. Thinking “how sad,” I read further only to discover the crime had been committed neither at the state competition nor at Natchez High School and furthermore that some of the six students are not members of the Natchez High School student body or the powerlifting team.
Having taught some of those accused of the crime, I am saddened by the waste such a crime generates. I feel deeply sorry for their parents, especially those parents who have been diligent supporters in the activities and education of their child — yes some of those accused have such parents.
I would be remiss if I did not take issue with the headline. This crime was in no way connected to Natchez High School or the powerlifting Team. Why were they even mentioned? Why was their coach called? Why was the superintendent called? Would you have written a headline that said “Members of St. Luke’s Christian Church” charged with grand larceny when members of that church were charged with embezzling money from the bank where they worked? Would you have contacted their minister to ask about the crime? Of course, you would not. Then why did you associate Natchez High School and the powerlifting team with the crime of these six students?
In recent months, the Natchez-Adams School District has received much negative attention. Problems exist, no doubt. Some could be fixed by personnel, but others are a product of today’s society and not the result of the inadequacy of this school district. Doctors lose patients occasionally. Preachers did not save every soul that crosses the threshold of their churches. School districts have not reached and never will successfully reach every child.
Unlike the other schools in the area, the Natchez-Adams School District does not get to hand pick its students. Its doors are open to all regardless of their socioeconomic background, their ethnic background, their religious background, their criminal record, their mental and physical disabilities. This district does not have the right to deny service to a student and furthermore must comply with explicit state and federal guidelines in order to put a child of school. In spite of this, the Natchez-Adams School District has graduated students that work as doctors, lawyers, accountants, nurses, teachers, musicians, elected officials, pilots, college professors, chemists, engineers. Yes, the Natchez-Adams School District graduates individuals that grow old as self-supporting, hardworking, community- minded, successful individuals.
All of the thousand-plus students at Natchez High should not be judged by the action of six. However, headlines such as “NHS athletes arrested” allude to a connection between the crime and the school, and there is not a connection. Your paper should make a concerted effort to print something positive at least weekly about the students at NHS. They win contests, they achieve recognition by outside groups, they win scholarships, they show good citizenship, they do community service. Make no mistake; problems do exist. Those problems, however, stem from a small percentage of those 1,000-plus students.
Maybe in the near future, you could write an article about the success of the powerlifting team, including Danny Thompson’s 705 pound state squat record and Johnny Griffin’s 680-pound dead lift record and the academic success of student athletes like Callon Green and Jarrett Ealey.
Give the devil his due. If the accused are proven guilty, punish them to the full extent of the law. Do not, however, suggest that their decision to commit a criminal act was in any way influenced by their involvement or their association with Natchez High School, the powerlifting team or Coach Joe Johnson.
Irma Caldwell
teacher (39 years)
Comments
Posted by jessie (anonymous) on April 11, 2008 at 8:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Great editorial Irma. It was a very unfair headline.
Posted by Denise (anonymous) on April 11, 2008 at 10:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
You go girl! Tell it like it is! The moral decline of many of the young people in our society crosses into all school districts across the nation. If you ask me, the Democrat should do a front page story on Coach Joe Johnson and his positive impact on countless numbers of young men and women at Natchez High School and in the Natchez Community. You were so right when you said that the decision made by these students to commit a crime was in no way influenced by Natchez High School, the WONDERFUL Power Lifting team or Coach Johnson. The public should not judge all NHS students based on the actions of a few--and you're right, some of these kids have outstanding families who love and support them in every way. My prayers are with them.
Posted by Lilsister (anonymous) on April 11, 2008 at 4:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Mrs. Cardwell,
The children at NHS are blessed to have you as a teacher. There are two sides to every story and people need to stop generalizing. This was a bad choice made by a few individuals, and the Democrat should have known better. I feel the administration, faculty, staff. and student body all need an apology from The Natchez Democrat.The media should know that publishing all this negative information cannot do anything but hurt our community.
NHS has some fine students, teachers, and others who are doing great jobs, but seldom do I see the reporters publishing this information.
Mrs. Cardwell, please continue believing in your students and the students at NHS. I thank you, the parents thank you, and our community thanks you.
Posted by JECS (anonymous) on April 11, 2008 at 9:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Mrs. Cardwell, Wonderful letter. My kids graduated from Natchez High--all three of them, and they are living productive lives.I've read some terrible stuff on this page. Things are said about human beings that should not be said. Cold hearted racist from the 60's and beyound make comments that are not necessary, and for any situation. They hide behind a username, but I thank you for your courage to come with your info. God Bless you, and the kids are Blessed to have you as a teacher.
Posted by the_dude (anonymous) on April 11, 2008 at 9:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
thank you
Posted by NtzMom55 (anonymous) on April 12, 2008 at 2:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Very truthful post, Mrs. Caldwell. I quickly posted similar feelings when I first read the story when it first came out. I, too, saw no connection with the crime being associated with NHS, Coach Joe Johnson nor Dr. Anthony Morris.
Posted by texasranger (anonymous) on April 13, 2008 at 2:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
They will be back in trouble before too long. A leopard rarely changes his spots. Most people never actually change that much, they just quit doing some things for a little while.They are what they are thieves.Because their wrists will get slapped. People don,t get put on auto-pilot and just suddenly become someone else.
Posted by unclered (anonymous) on April 13, 2008 at 7:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Did any of you go to the NASD Expo in the Mall Saturday? There were students there in an orchestra playing the most beautiful classical music on violins and other instruments with bows! They even played that song that begins Masterpiece Theatre on PBS. They were amazing! How come that is never in the paper?
Posted by Teach4Peace (anonymous) on April 13, 2008 at 10:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I am all for praising students when they do good and produce, and the reason I declined to post a comment to the original article, because it seemed a bit sensationalized. Give credit when it is due, offer admonishment when it is also due. These boys have brought home the powerlifting championship, and will do well to steer clear of trouble! Congrats guys!
Posted by Hardcorps (anonymous) on April 14, 2008 at 1:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Well like DUH lil sister and JECS. If you give such good praise you could at least get the lady's name right.
That was a good letter Ms. Caldwell. I applaud you and all like you. Too many of the teachers out there couldn't pass an 8th grade exam though.
I am qualified to teach some things but the first time a thug got in my face I would be gone and George West would be hosing their punk self off on a block of concrete. So no use applying for a teaching job.
Until we get qualified teachers who will enforce discipline;until we get males(I hesitate to call them men) who will get a job and take care of the children they make; and until we get rid of the female breeders out there that just want a welfare check and could care less about the little thug-to-be cheerin they are raising, Natchez schools won't improve.
All schools along the Mississippi River are like this. Why??? They're not like this so much in East Mississippi. The high unemployment rate, unwed mother rate, literacy rate, welfare rate, etc...is the same along the River. Is it the water?
Posted by Teach4Peace (anonymous) on April 14, 2008 at 4:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hardcorps, I wish I could say the teachers are the ones to set the tone for discipline, but SADLY, they no longer are, this is the problem and the children KNOW THIS. Interference with the teacher and her class, has long been a problem now, when the power was taken from the teachers so was the respect. The teacher who got beat up in class, that the students got on the camera phone, was accused of setting the student off! Can you believe that!? The student came to her desk, got in her face, and they, the school administration, found a way to blame her, saying she should not have told the student, she would defend herself, if she had to. Now what kind of garbage is that?!
Posted by Yeahuhuh (anonymous) on April 15, 2008 at 10:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
That is a wonderful expression of vision, Mrs. Caldwell.
My hat of off to our public school teachers.
One of my children graduated from NHS and has excelled beyond my dreams in a PhD project at a major university. And she is not the only one who has done so well with NHS as a springboard.
Among all the challenges that living in Natchez entails, the flight of half our population from the public schools is the biggest impediment to our recruiting new businesses and a rapidly changing economic outlook here.
The teachers and staff of the public schools are not to blame for this social problem, they are the ones that stay and labor to make Natchez the best it can be.
Posted by sammohon (anonymous) on April 15, 2008 at 11:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Why has no one made a single comment or even recognized that the state PTA meeting will be here soon? Go look at today's Top of the Morning! If you are concerned, participate!
Posted by trulyblessed (anonymous) on April 21, 2008 at 3:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
There was no need for negative comments to be posted. Thank you Mrs. Caldwell for speaking on behalf of the students of NASD.
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