B & E At the Pioneer Village

[Silent-Hunter]

Nobody will care if it's just individuals banned. Maybe someone will take notice if a whole group is punished.

Plus it was the school that allowed these lazy incompetents to go on this trip to "supervise" the children. If the school allows it's teachers to behave this way and disregard their duties, they deserve punishment as well. Fine, maybe they didn't know, but they should have. And like I said in my first point, nobody will care about a couple of individual bans.

But if they ban a teacher, that also bans all that teacher's students, so that is a group ban.

Has anyone talked to the principal? He might not even know this happened.

[XCashier]

Has anyone talked to the principal? He might not even know this happened.

Definitely notify the principal. He's ultimately the one in charge, and needs to know that his students were deliberately breaking and entering, damaging pricy antiques and messing with sharp things that could hurt them. He needs to lay down the law and notify the parents.

More proof that too many people don't teach their kids to have respect for other people and other people's property.

I agree it's sad that people just don't respect others' property anymore, or even each other. Naturally, they'd be appalled if someone damaged or stole something belonging to them, but they just can't understand why it's wrong if they do the same thing to someone else.

I would love to visit this place. Living History exhibits are wonderful.

[fireheart]

Definitely notify the principal. He's ultimately the one in charge, and needs to know that his students were deliberately breaking and entering, damaging pricy antiques and messing with sharp things that could hurt them. He needs to lay down the law and notify the parents.

Unless they're the sort who view that "if it happens off school property, it's not my domain."

I have a feeling the above statement is going to apply pretty soon to one school near us. A student at a school I was working at the other week was subjected to abuse by kids from another school. If it happens again, we're getting names, but I doubt anything will happen.

[EricKei]

Just a quick note, here, guys -- While I don't think anyone here is opposed to the notion that some bannination at the venue is definitely in order, please remember that "If it's about how things ARE, it goes here on CS -- If it's about how things should be, it goes on Fratching."

Please keep the topic of discussion related to the students/teachers in question and just how much they suck.

Also, we do not condone violence against people or their property 'round these parts, including as a form of retaliation (we've had to remove a post to that effect).

[nutraxfornerves]

I've lurked here for at least a couple of years, but I registered specifically to comment on this thread.

I volunteer at a museum. We get lots and lots of school groups. Some are great; some not so. Running around and noise are the usual problems. I've never seen something as egregious as breaking into something. I have see a student snap a piece off an exhibit and put it into his pocket. Another time, a volunteer heard two boys bragging about the stuff they'd stolen from the gift shop at another museum that morning. When the volunteer told the teacher, he shrugged and said "boys will be boys." We notified the other museum.Then there was the group that was thrown out of the state capitol. The legislature was not in session, so they were allowed on the main floor. Even after being told to stop, the kids were looking through desks and playing with laptops.

Student groups usually come with both a teacher & some chaperones (we give free admission to one chaperone per X students). Chaperones are supposed to, well, chaperone. If there is a problem, we go to them or the teacher. We don't usually directly discipline students unless it's an immediate safety issue, like "stop playing on the escalator!" or something serious like "do not pick up the exhibit!"

We learned the hard way that many schools didn't bother to explain to the chaperones what they are supposed to be doing. So the chaperones figured "hey! free day at the museum." They disappear into the gift shop or sit outside smoking & playing with phones. Or, they forget that they were chaperoning all the students (or their assigned group) and pay attention only to their own kid. Not my child; not my problem. But if we say something to the kid, we are picking on him or being mean.

On the other hand, I have had teachers thank me for telling kids to knock it off--because the teacher didn't want to have to be the disciplinarian.

One memorable group I had was a bunch of 10-year old boys. The class was split in two and the teacher was with the other half. I had three chaperones, not one of whom spoke a single word of English. The boys knew immediately that they could get away with almost anything.

Part of my program includes a hands-on activity. I have to repeatedly tell parents that, no, they cannot do it for Johnny just because he thinks it's "too hard," or more commonly, because it's a lot of fun and the parent elbows Johnny out of the way.

We finally had to do what most museums do--send a packet out of what we expect from kids & chaperones, and get the school to sign off that they made sure everyone understood.

If a class is particularly awful, a museum honcho calls the school principal or headmaster or whoever runs the place. Depending on the situation, it may be FYI, there was a problem, or you aren't coming back until you guarantee that this will never happen again. I've never heard of a school-wide banning.

Museums and other such venues gossip. If the state capitol interpreters throw out your school, you can bet every other museum in the area will hear about it within a week. The next time you try to book your school there's a good chance you will have a lot of restrictions put on you, even though, of course, "it's not fair to single us out like that."

[kaherbert]

I don't think banning the school is the right thing. Arresting the vandals and thieves and pressing all possible charges against them and charging them/their families for all damage. Then the vandals, thieves, their parents/guardians, and all adult chaperons should be banned for life with no trespass orders against them so they can be arrested if they ever set foot on our property again.

I grew up around people like this (they didn't grow up). Having to pay $$ for the damage makes no impression. They would say it doesn't matter if I damage things, wreck my car, blow up a classroom because my parents will just pay people off. I won't get into trouble.

[Emmeileia]

I can't say if the principal has been called, since that is my supervisor's job, but it is the common procedure for incidents like this. Though we've only had to do it once before. Usually we are calling pricipals to tell them how well their students behaved. That is part of the reason I am so shocked, most kids are in general quite well behaved here. Supervisor is staying mum on the subject at present. I know she has spoken with the CEO about the matter though. CEO is awesome, he takes no crap from anyone at the same time as somehow remebering all 100+ employees names.

I doubt they will be charged, as they are 'just kids'. I also suspect management might worry about what PR we would get charging visiting school kids, despite how they were acting.

[LillFilly]

I agree; the schools should be charged for any damages and banned; I'm sure they signed some sort of paperwork to that effect.

Reminds me of how I saw a little boy behaving in a 'Bodies Exhibition (bodies and parts preserved in wax on display with SPECIFIC instructions not to touch!) In the area of the...ahm...reproductive organs display, then boy with nary a caretaker in site was swatting the...um...testicles of one of the bodies. I was about to lay into him when a little girl tagged him and they went running off. Some kind of respect, huh?

[Racket_Man]

Back in my grade school days (40+ odd years ago) a group of the church alter boys (me included) went to the local major amusement park ( a 6 Flags) as a "Thank You for your service". we had about 6 or 7 adults (my Mom did this one year) for about say 20 kids.

several of us grouped up and were allowed to "roam on our own" throughout the day. we had to check in at 3 or 4 hour intervals including lunch and dinner.

About half way through the day the park announced over the entire park intercom system for one of the adults to report to the park office. It seems that 2 or 3 little shits in a group decided to shoplift a LOT of stuff from various gift shops and eventually got caught. The park almost kicked ALL of us out but relented and made the offenders stay at the office (maybe even getting picked up up by their parents or the cops I do not remember) and the rest of us got to have fun the rest of the day.

[HawaiianShirts]

Some kids these days have no respect for anyone or anything. It makes me feel old to say it, but it seems true.

We just got back from a mini family vacation. We stopped at the Cape Meares lighthouse on the Oregon coast. I talked with one of the guides there while Mrs. Shirts and Little Shirts went on the tour. It seems that, a few years back, some guys recently out of high school sneaked onto the grounds at night, found a good spot on the bluff above the lighthouse, and used rifles to shoot into the lighthouse. They shattered a very old lens and plenty of other glass and thoroughly disabled the light itself.

There was such local fury over it that an out-of-state judge had to be called in for the trial. The guys were forced to pay $100,000, which was about 20% of the actual cost of the damage, and they served some jail time. The lighthouse got lots of public support, though, and repairs have been made.

Still! Why shoot a lighthouse? Why leap onto an old bed or smash down a door or whatever else to historical sites and artifacts like that? I just don't understand the motivation.

[Sapphire Silk]

It's the ultimate Entitlement Whore mentality. It's like that situation in Utah where a couple of Boy Scout leaders, one supposedly disabled, who destroyed one of the goblins there just for a few laughs.

Some people do things just because they can. And our society allows it.

[Ophbalance]

You know what? I hated teens even when I was a teen. I grew up in central PA, and as a benefit to this, we had several amusement parks within driving distance that we could visit as a class field trip. We did Hershey Park and Kennywood (and possibly Knoebels, but I practically lived at that one). It was the trip to Kennywood, however, that sunk any and all future field trips for the ENTIRE school based on the antics of my class. Keep in mind there were only 120 of us in the grade level!

Of the things that were pointed out during that trip:

• Spitting out of the suspended gondola cars
• Property damage
• Theft
• Fights with other schools and students
• more theft
• more property damage
• Did I mention theft??

We're fast approaching our 20th graduation reunion. And we still have yet to have ever HAD a class reunion. Oh, wait, I take that back. For the 15th anniversary someone decided a week before thanksgiving to rent a firehall (which is pretty much a PA only type thing) and had a get together for everyone. Rah rah! And the only way to find out was on Facebook, and that one weeks notice.

[XCashier]

We stopped at the Cape Meares lighthouse on the Oregon coast. I talked with one of the guides there while Mrs. Shirts and Little Shirts went on the tour. It seems that, a few years back, some guys recently out of high school sneaked onto the grounds at night, found a good spot on the bluff above the lighthouse, and used rifles to shoot into the lighthouse. ...The guys were forced to pay $100,000, which was about 20% of the actual cost of the damage, and they served some jail time.

I'm pretty sure I've visited that lighthouse, but I never heard the story. Just looked it up on Wikipedia. Those guys got it easy; they should've been made to serve longer sentences. What if someone had been in the lighthouse when they were shooting, and either got shot or injured by shrapnel?!

That mindset just baffles me. "Do what you want and to hell with the consequences." It's the mindset of a narcissistic, self-centered, entitlement-minded society, and it's disgusting.

[AccountingDrone]

For the 15th anniversary someone decided a week before thanksgiving to rent a firehall (which is pretty much a PA only type thing) and had a get together for everyone. Rah rah! And the only way to find out was on Facebook, and that one weeks notice.

And western NY, and eastern CT, and Tidewater Va.... Rob isn't home or I could ask about Central Valley CA ... my microscopic little eastern CT village has both the firehall and town hall venues to rent. I would personally go for the town hall venue option, it as better parking and a nicer kitchen.

[Ophbalance]

And western NY, and eastern CT, and Tidewater Va.... Rob isn't home or I could ask about Central Valley CA ... my microscopic little eastern CT village has both the firehall and town hall venues to rent. I would personally go for the town hall venue option, it as better parking and a nicer kitchen.

That's good to know! Because down here in the area of NC I'm at, they look at you like you've grown a second head when you mention renting out a firehall for a birthday or graduation or what have you. It's just not something they've ever thought to do?

We were lucky, my local area had a Grange contingent complete with their own building. It was several stories with a stage, meeting hall, downstairs cafe, and kitchen larger than my house. We rented that bugger several times during the summer for the annual family reunion on my mother's side. They didn't move too far out of the valley they settled in once they immigrated to the US from various points in the EU.