Saturday, June 28, 2008

Woo-Woos and Psychics in Special Ed. Yay.

Courtesy of the This Is True newsletter, we find a story of special education. VERY special. But before you get too smug about the state of education today (harumph, harumph, somebody ought to do something) take a moment to Google your local sheriff or police department with the word "psychic." It just might break your heart. It did mine, and yes, that's my local sheriff.

Colleen Leduc, 38, of Barrie, Ont., Canada, had already picked up her 11-year-old autistic daughter, Victoria, from Terry Fox Elementary School, when the girl's teacher called. "The teacher said you have to come back to school right away -- it's urgent," Leduc said.
She raced back to the school, where the teacher and principal were waiting. The teacher told Leduc that a special education aide had consulted a psychic, who said that a girl whose name started with "V" is being sexually abused. On that "evidence", the principal said, the school had already filed a sexual abuse report with the Children's Aid Society. Once the local CAS office realized the case was based on a
psychic reading, they closed it. The Child Welfare League of Canada acknowledges that there is a "zero tolerance" policy in place regarding child abuse, but says "there is still room for common sense under zero tolerance." Leduc said the school has not apologized for the outrageously false report. (National Post)
Wow. Seriously, lady, you thought they might apologize? They thought it was a good idea to call in the authorities based on the oldest cold-reading trick in the book. People who do that sort of thing don't apologize. Hell, they probably still think you're abusing the kid--it's just that people have "closed their minds to the truth" and you got away with it.

Can't wait to hear what charges will be pressed against both the charlatan and the school administrators for their false report of child abuse.

Yessir, any day now. Can't wait.


1 comment:

Hall Monitor said...

For all the wild headlines from public schools, check out http://detentionslip.org. Voted #1 for crazy education news.