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Subscribe to RSSParents are divided over a Massachusetts middle school's decision to hold its annual honors ceremony during the day, when all students can attend. Susan Tran of NBC station WHDH of Boston reports.
The principal of a Massachusetts school was under siege Wednesday for a report that he had canceled the school's annual honors ceremony because it was unfair to pupils who weren't getting any awards.
David Fabrizio, principal of Ipswich Middle School in Ipswich, told NBC News that — contrary to a local news report that quickly spread nationally — he had, in fact, expanded the ceremony.
High-achieving pupils will still get their awards at a special ceremony, just like always, he said. All he did, he said, was move Honors Night to Honors Day, so all of the pupils could take part.
It turns out that only children receiving awards could attend Honors Night, where they got to hear messages from inspirational speakers. By opening the ceremony up to all pupils, "the kids who need the inspirational speakers" can be there, Fabrizio said.
Fabrizio said the school had been inundated with complaints from parents and even people outside the region who'd read the inaccurate report, which was picked up by websites across the country and at least one national TV network. He said he been the target of particularly harsh personal criticism.
In a statement he sent later to NBC News, Fabrizio wrote:
Ipswich Middle School is dedicated to high achievement in every facet of our students' lives.
We did not cancel honors recognition as erroneously reported on FOX News in Boston. We changed our Honors Night from an exclusive ceremony at night to an all inclusive ceremony during the day with the entire school present. During this ceremony we will honor those who have excelled academically, athletically, in the Arts and in the Related Arts.
Any reports to the contrary are incorrect.
Leave a Comment:
This is why you check your facts before you comment on things. Some people that use these comments sections should take this as a lesson.
Or perhaps it was true till the comlaints came in and he changed his mind. If you don't believe the original reporting could be true, you don't knnow anything about MA.
I don't know what to believe because I don't know all the facts. However, given this article, I'm inclined to believe that perhaps the local paper that wrote the original story may have had it wrong.
This is an NBC article, I have issues believing anything about it. I'm sure they sent in their best investigators to get to the truth as they always do, lol.
I don't disagree with you on this, I'm just saying I doubt NBC cares what the truth is, and this happening in MA, I don't doubt the original story at all.
Hey HONESTDEBATE - I question FOX NEWS and their motives.
Holly, I question both, but I know for fact NBC will doctor tapes, and I know for a certain how MA school system is, so...
www.myfoxboston.com/story/21724149/2013/03/19/principal-cancels-honors-night-in-ipswich
So didn't have time to look up before, but obviously NBC has straight up lied about the FOX article.
You'll also note that the Fox article has been updated since it was originally posted, so we don't know what it originally said.
Uhm. This Principal is changing the facts. Honors students were honored in a night of festivities with inspirational speakers. The communication from the Principal to the parents was that that night could be "devastating" to those who had not made the Honors list.
The special night was terminated in favor of honoring "all" students. Will there be "made up" honors for all those who didn't do anything that would normally have rewarded them with recognition? How does canceling a night attended only by those who had earned the right "devastate" students who had not but handing out "honors" to some and not all students in a general assembly not do the same thing?
Liberalism run amok. And the stretching the truth to cover it up. Becoming a familiar pattern.
This is a link to the original nbcnews.com article posted 21 hours ago. It stated he cancelled the ceremony and sent two email to the parents. What to believe?
#.UUuzqVcfj0c
I haven't seen where parents will be invited. The ceremony (which is not described as far as I can find) was apparently intended to celebrate achievement of their children. Also, it sounds like the awardees made presentations at the ceremony. Will all the awardees be permitted to present at the assembly, or will there be a limitation placed on this, which would not have been had the other ceremony taken place? If any changes, this is unfair to the awardees.
Goes off to another point: Does the school have such things as a sports banquet like we used to have? Athletes were feted and given awards. If this school has such an event, given the principal's explanation, that too would have to be cancelled & incorporated into an assembly. Non-athletic kids & those who are disabled would feel badly if they were not included.
It isn't erroneous. Fox got it right.
The principal did the liberal thing by once again, lumping ALL students together so that it'll make others 'feel' better.
Read the whole article.
It is erroneous because they reported that he had cancelled it, not restructured it. This happens frequently when media outlets jump on profitable stories before doing any investigation.
The fact is, the ORIGINAL honors night IS cancelled.
They are lumping it into the end of the year ceremonies.
Honors night IS cancelled in terms of what has been a long standing, well deserved recognition of those that meet and go above the requirements.
FOX may have gotten it right originally, but as it is now playing out, they were wrong. But I do get what you are saying that it is just another 'trophy generation' approach at inclusion.
FOX News turned this into a negative by implying that what the school did reduced the value and honor of the honor roll program. But if by allowing those who had not achieved the level of those honored to hear and see the rewards of applying themselves makes one more kid achieve the honor roll whatr is worng with that. Letting all the kids hear the speakers doesn't reduce the fact that some achieved the honor roll.
What we see here is the typical right leaning knee jerk reaction of FOX NEws to someone trying to encourage people to achieve and grow. FOX News believes and supports elitism.
These kids get so little recognition as it is......maybe a certificate (atta boy) or if they are lucky, a medallion!
Meanwhile, BILLIONS of our tax dollars are hurled at those masses that mainly just take up space in a class room.
Holly, I get your sentiment, but let's be serious. If schools really cared about achievement they would have real standards and not just graduate any kid that can breath, and certainly not fight against any testing that will show the aptitude of the students.
You are looking at it as an idealist, and in this situation that is good, but this is really just a farce. Hell it's probably more to give the faculty the night off, they now don't have to be in class and will not have to show up at night.
I may be more cynical than you, but with everything you see schools systems and teacher's unions being against, I have a hard time believing they are doing this for the children.
Honest, I hope you and others watch this.
5-6-12 John Stossel - Stupid In America
SeeHearSpeakNoLies·
Honestdebate....I hope you and others take the time to watch THIS:
John Stossel's Stupid in America.
http://youtu.be/icHcYNGXvjU
Lest we forget-
Nowhere does it state that all students are getting an award. The students that earned the Honors awards will be awarded them. The day ceremony is being held so those students who aren't so exemplary will be able to listen to (hopefully) passionate and inspiring speakers in the hopes they might want to excel also.
http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/21724149/2013/03/19/principal-cancels-honors-night-in-ipswich
And faerie, the FOX article also doesn't state that the awards won't be handed out, it says 'honors night canceled'
NBC lied here, and the point FOX was getting at is that parents will not be able to attend, which is sad for them. Basically, 'screw the parents that taught their kids to achieve.'
But the blatant lie from NBC are disgraceful.
But the problem still remains that the point of "honors night," setting aside some time to provide recognition to JUST THE HONOR STUDENTS no longer happens. Oh, sure, they'll be called up on stage and given their honor certificate in front of the whole school, and some kids won't get called up. So in that sense, they are receiving a somewhat exclusive honor, but it's become just a piece of paper, not an event which they, and only they, have received an invitation to. It lessens the honor.
Further, it's worth considering how such a collapsed assembly might have the result of DECREASING student performance. It's no secret that in many poor communities, there is a culture of non-achievement. Good grades are considered giving in to authority, and make you target, and many high achieving students in those communities will deliberately keep from their peers their academic success in order to avoid ridicule and even bullying. Dragging those students on to a stage in front of their miscreant peers to receive accolades from the school is exactly what they don't want, and will incentivize some kids to intentionally underperform to avoid such a scenario.
The school can organize an event that offers motivational speakers to all children without taking away the honors night from the children who have worked hard and excelled.
This liberal ideology that everything must be fair is just wrong.
Let me get this straight...being given an award in front of all of your peers, most of whom are not receiving such an award, is giving LESS recognition to those getting the award than if the few got together and were handed awards only in front of those who are also getting awards? That's some classic logic.
By the way, I see no where in either article anything about parents not being able to attend. If you're going to say moving it to daytime creates that situation, well, stuff happens. I don't believe Fox blew this out of proportion the way they did. Again - he didn't "cancel" the ceremony - he moved it to a different time to be conducted in front of the school. Other than additional observers and the time, what is so different? Anything to find justification for their assault on those they despise (in this case those liberal Massachusetts public schools)...
Well, I can understand from both of your points how the Honors night being changed/cancelled could be considered longer special, and I didn't stop and think that some parents might not be able to attend the day ceremony also.
But I am still hopeful that maybe some kid might be inspired by this new experiment, but looking back at my HS days most of the kids who aren't getting an award would be bored. We went to a pretty small HS and if I remember right all the awards were handed out at graduation anyway. I think.
Usually when I read articles on the net, I try and find out all the angles because so many of the articles seem to be stolen from another news source in the first place. It doesn't matter if it's Fox,CNN,MSNBC or whoever.
That's the way I see it. It is all a farce and just a way of condoning the 'participation generation' mentality. And it's MA, common sense is out the window.
bear in mind, this is for a middle school, not a high school, so we're not talking "Honors" as in graduating summa cum laude or any other capstone honors for the completion of 4 years of highschool.
We're talking about an annual event to recognize the achievement of that year's 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. The ones I remember from those years were punch-and-cake or pizza parties with the honor students and their parents, followed by a motivational speaker my brother and I normally cracked jokes about to pass the time. But as a geeky kid, as boring as the speaker was, it still felt nice to be the one getting acknowledged.
And color me skeptical that a "motivational speaker" will reach any of these kids, honors or not. The speaker is usually something you suffer through because you think the grown-ups are paying attention.
Thanks for the nice back and forth without the usual snarky comments I'll see. How refreshing!
Same. I have no problem have a sincere discussion with someone that is being honest. Have a good night.
I'll bet a dime to a doughnut that the principal 'tacked on' the Honors award to the usual end of the year ceremony WHEN this story went viral.
My advice? Two words:
Charter schools.
Fox had it correct. The honors night set aside for the kids who excelled academically was canceled in favor of yet another attempt to marginalize everyone to the middle. Instead of celebrating the achievements of kids who are either gifted or who put forth the hardwork necessary for these honors, this principal has chosen to minize their accomplishments in an effort to spare the feelings of kids who failed to meet the higher standards. It's our society in a nutshell; minimize success to protect the feelings of the unsuccessful.
". . . as erroneously reported on FOX News"
Why is this news to anyone?
FOX was right, NBC lied. Would you like to rethink your post?
No, I can read and think for myself. I seriously can't understand how anyone can watch FOX without LOL.
Maybe you would like to read the post below by Katie McElwain and then rethink your post. Your personal disdain for Fox News does not change the facts.
Actually Fox had it correct. I am a parent of a middle schooler in Ipswich. Nice try at the pr angle after the fact but they are lying to you all. Mr. Fabrizio sent out a letter CANCELLING honors night. No mention of restructuring, no assembly where they will be honored in front of everyone, NOTHING. He had no plan to. His response to me was pretty much tough luck, this is the decision, your daughter won't be disappointed. Does it make sense that if they are worried about kids feelings they would then hold the honors celebration in FRONT of the kids who don't get honors? They threw this plan together when they realized how pissed everyone was.. He CANCELLED it. He got a TON of backlash and 24 hours later he threw together a meeting with staff and they came up with this idea to replace honors night and sent a new letter out trying to calm everyone down with this replacement plan. This infuriates me that this author would buy the lies our school is feeding him. The 8th graders organized a petition and got a lot of signatures from fellow students, both honors and non honors students alike, and he told the kids today in response to their petition that "sometimes you just have to get used to hearing the word no". This was a special night. It WAS cancelled. Trying to spin it any other way is false, and I am disgusted that NBC would try to do this to these kids..
Thank you for clarifying this for us Katie Reilly McElwain.
This is what you can expect from our public school system, sadly.
Wow, I am so sorry that your principal did this to your children. What a jerk, and I normally shy away from any kind of name calling. So know that we know the whole story how do the kids feel? Do they even feel like going through with the ceremony at all? Is it possible for any of you to go before the school board and get him removed? Is it even worth it?
Does anyone know if NBC talked to anyone else before airing the story that Fox was wrong? It is very sympathetic towards Mr. Fabrizio explaining what this 'public backlash' was costing him. Did they have any of the documented letters to the parents in front of them? I wonder how much actual investigation went into this from NBC, when I imagine it was a rather 'fluff' piece for them to cover. I realize this went viral, but it is still hard to imagine more than a cursory approach was taken. I could be way off base, but having spoken with several parents affected by this decision, they are adamant about the chain of information and how it was given from the school.
I am writing to the superintendent as we speak. I don't expect to get far. The kids are upset. When he refused their petition today he told them it was benefical to all of the kids to eliminate honors night. One of the kids point blank asked him how. They aren't stupid. They know that something was taken away from them. Whether they want to pretend they "restructured" or not.
I would contact Fox News with this Katie if I were you.
If you still have that cancellation notice, that would give NBC a black eye as it should!
This is definitely newsworthy!
he emailed it, so yes I do have it....I think I will. I don't usually get like this, but covering things like this up infuriates me!
Good for the kids for confronting him, they should be upset. I would get any and all parents to help you and contact as many news sources as I could. Wrong is wrong. I hate being fooled like I was by the article above and I feel even worse for the kids. This guy is betraying any trust they have in him. Not that I ever trusted my principal when I was in school and when my kids where in theirs.
He is sending bad messages all around and how he expects to keep any sense of control from this point on in that school is beyond ridiculous in my eyes. Although I was always kind of a rebel at heart.
Katie, I'll leave you to it. Keep us updated when you get a chance.
Katie....I took the liberty of looking up this info for you.
Help Center - Fox News
Help Topics/Web/Editorial Inquiries
Does FoxNews.com have a news hotline?
Fox News Digital
posted this on March 22, 2011 15:11
There are a few other ways to contact us with your news scoop! If you have a news tip there are a couple ways to contact us:
If you have pictures or video of news happening where you are, you can also send it to us via uReport (we might feature it!).
You are awesome lest we forget! I am a bit of an introvert so these things sort of terrify me. But, mama bear and all that....:)
Don't be afraid. I admire the courage you took to come on here and let the truth be known.
We need more folks like you that have first hand knowledge such as this and COME FORWARD with it.
If I can help you further, please feel free to contact me.
Just a quick note. I went on the author of this article, Mr. Johnson's FB page, and someone's been posting the principal's letters to the parents. I don't think they're helping his case any.
Go Mama Bear!
Katie -
Nice job, you and the other parents, on putting the truth directly on the "journalist's" Facebook page. I'm willing to bet all your posts will be deleted before he owns up to having lied though. It's great to have people, in the loop, standing up to the lies from the media
I appreciate both of your support.
That truth I put on the journalist's pages? I got called out for it....:( It's inappropriate to state that he is lying on a public forum, etc etc Despite the fact that I posted facts....Explanations follow in my comment at 17.3
once again, mediocrity is the name of the game.. don't worry about honoring those that rise above and excel, were going to make it so "everyone" wins and there are no losers. This principal should be tarred and feathered and ran out of town on a rail. (along with everyone else like him)
didn't cancel it. just cheapened it massively.
We can't have people explaining to the losers that they are undeserving
can we? That could cause hurt feelings! I always think of John Wayne saying
life is hard and even harder if your stupid.
Back when I was a kid, we always had a big school assembly for the jocks who got their athletic honors, everyone had to attend. But the honors kids had an evening assembly, only honors kids went. I thought, why did I, a person with no interest in sports, have to see the stupid jocks get their honors, but the academic honors were not celebrated in front of everyone? So no matter what the reason for the change, I think it is for the better.
I live in Ipswich, and I am livid. This guy is backtracking and covering his hindquarters like mad. The "restructuring" didn't seem to occur until AFTER the announcement of the cancelled Honors Night. The stated reason for canceling it was clearly stated that it could be "devastating" those who were not receiving awards. Every news outlet spins a story to their liking. But out and out twisting of facts should not be accepted.
Inthe'swich: Please scroll up and follow the conversation I've had with one of your neighbors.
Start with #7.
Thanks Lest, Katie and I are good friends!
This is exactly what he did, it stated this in the first article. He canceled the Honors night and instead would give the awards at a daytime program that the entire school would attend.
Katie and Inthe'swich - thank you for setting the facts straight! David1944566 - perhaps you should read the first email to get THE FACTS:
March 11, 2013
Dear
Parents and Guardians,
I am writing to explain our
decision to end the Middle School Honors Night.
Our focus at IMS is on student learning.
Each student progresses at a different rate. Concentrating on grades,
as strange as it sounds, can impinge upon the
learning process. It is our job, at the
middle level, to monitor not only academic growth but also social emotional
growth. The Honors Night, which can be a
great sense of pride for the recipients’ families, can also be devastating to a
child who has worked extremely hard in a difficult class but who, despite
growth, has not been able to maintain a high grade point average. Finally, as many of you already know,
academic success can be influenced by the amount of support a student receives
at home, both emotional and academic. Some of our students do not have this strong
support system. As a result they are not
able to maintain honors-level grades.
The decision to change a
long standing tradition was not made haphazardly. This topic was discussed with both our lead
teachers and our school council before a decision was made.
Thank you for your
understanding.
Sincerely,
David P. Fabrizio
Principal
24 Hours later...
3/12/13
Good Afternoon,
I have received numerous emails about our decision to eliminate Honors Night. So far the tally is running at about 50-50. I do feel as if I have to clarify my message. Somehow my message that we are cancelling Honors NIGHT turned into my destruction of the American Educational System. I have no intention of bringing down American education. And if you know anything about me I am a true believer in competition. We simply felt that having one exclusionary night to recognize those on the Honor Roll is not an educationally sound decision. We believe in high achievement and the honoring of such achievement, but just in a different forum that takes into account all of our students' differences and needs.
Instead of a night set aside for just some of our students to be recognized in front of family and friends, we plan on adding the academic recognition piece to a previously planned annual assembly where our students are recognized in front of the entire student body.
We are going to work with Mr. Dalton to bring in high achieving high school students to speak to all of our students. Not just those students on the honor roll, but each and every student in our building. It is the students who are struggling who need to hear the inspiring speeches of the high school students and see that they too can succeed. This does not happen if we have a night where they are not invited to attend.
The recognition will be rolled into our traditional end of the year assemblies. At this time, with the unsettled weather we are experiencing, I cannot give you a solid date. As soon as we are out of snow danger I will send you a date.
Keep the cards and letter coming.
David P. Fabrizio
Principal
Ipswich Middle School
Well I called this school yesterday afternoon to "voice" my opinion, and the local news had it right. This principal was going to cancel the function for the honor students and just mix it in with the rest of the school's end of year ceremony. We will NOT be silenced, OUR children are OUR future and they deserve to BE HONORED for their achievements, not "dumbed" down just so someone with less ambition can feel better about themselves. What are our children supposed to work hard for? What is their reward? Ugh...this Principals ideologies make me sick. The lady I spoke with on the phone told me that this principal had been reading up on new ways to work with children, blah blah blah....I am so glad I am moving out of the northeast, it is embarrassing really.
Bethany if you are an Ipswich resident here is some info that a fellow resident posted on Ipswich Watchdogs about who to contact. Would you consider sending a letter to one or all of these people? Even if you are moving out of the northeast!
"If you are concerned over Honors at the Middle School being cancelled, you should make your voice heard. Here is all the info you should need to email an a few to call:
To submit a letter to the chronicle, just email it to:
Ipswich@wickedlocal.com
... Make sure to also CC the super, middle school principal and everyone at the school committee when you do…
Middle School Principal David Fabrizio:
dfabrizio@ipswichschools.org
978 356-3535 ext. 160
School Superintendent Richard Korb:
rksuper@aol.com
978-356-2935
School Committee members:
hugh@oflynn.org
jsbauman@comcast.net
seangresh@ipswichschools.org
bhopping@verizon.net
Jeffrey.loeb@comcast.net
carlnylen@hotmail.com
rachel.roesler@gmail.com
As a mailing list:
dfabrizio@ipswichschools.org;
rksuper@aol.com;
hugh@oflynn.org;
jsbauman@comcast.net;
seangresh@ipswichschools.org;
bhopping@verizon.net;
Jeffrey.loeb@comcast.net;
carlnylen@hotmail.com;
rachel.roesler@gmail.com
Thank you very much for that information, I live in PA though, lol...boy was the lady who answered the phone surprised when I told her that ( :
Apparently she did not think that I had ANY business calling the school, I told her otherwise. Free country...free speech, they can keep their liberal agenda to themselves!!
Bethany, I apologize. I thought you might be local, which is why I had responded to you with the information that had been posted on an Ipswich FB page by another user who was concerned with the lack of civil response we were receiving from the principal. For the record, I am new at this sort of thing. Trying to get heard and all. I would never think that posting public info would be unacceptable. It wouldn't cross my mind. It wasn't malicious, we were all just desperate to be heard. Since sharing this public information with you I have since been called my a school committee member to state their disappointment in me for sharing this info (that is, or was, on the school website) and making it so easy for people to contact them. I have been told they receive hate mail because of my post to you (but no mention of the initial poster on FB). Even though it was obvious that my intent was simply to have someone listen to us and I thought you were a resident. I have learned that I am discussed between committee members as the source for this info (and consequently their "baragement" of hate mail), despite the fact that I cut it and pasted it from someone ELSE's FB post (hardly private.) which had already been circulated to HUNDREDS of people. I was also told it was inappropriate to state that the things Mr. Fabrizio was saying were false (provably so). They are. Why should i be quiet about it while he releases statements to the press. This person also stated that the school committee had nothing to with the decision, etc etc even though we had been told otherwise by the principal in emails. In addition,on an Ipswich website people have posted about me "Some parent posted this, etc etc" "oh gosh how could she" (slightly paraphrased! haha). I get it, I do. Who wants to deal with the fall out of an unpopular decision. But to label me as the source (or a "bully") for this is ridiculously unfair. Why am I the scapegoat? For a committee member to call me at home? When there are SO many parents posting the same exact things on many websites. Sorry for the long follow up, but I can't seem to delete my initial comment, so I felt I should at least have a chance to post this near it. I can't imagine it will matter any. This sort of thing should never have been handle by anyone this way.
Mr. David Fabrizio,
I wanted to write you this morning to address my concern in
regards to the article I just read on FOX NEWS. I cannot express
in words my disbelief in your actions as a principal. Not only have your
actions helped contribute to the dismantlement of the foundation on which
America was built upon, you selfishly discredited the kids who worked their
tail off for this honor. By doing so you turned your back on the most deserving
students and provided shelter for those who failed. This is an epic lack of
leadership on your part and this will prove to be destructive for all parties
involved. You failed the honor students by taking away their hard earned
recognition of achievements and completely prevented the non-honor students the
crucial learning experience “failure”has to offer. You stole from these
children two very valuable life lessons and it is people like you who are a
disgrace to America. Americans do not stand for failure, but without it we would
not be the country we are today. Each child, teenager, and adult should
experience failure occasionally because without it success means nothing. Your
actions are some of the students first stepping stones leading into the world
that competent individuals recognize as reality; these kids will not forget how
you failed them. I am thankful that I live in a place that actions such as
yours would not be tolerated and things would be corrected immediately. I
regret that your honor students were so abruptly discredited and I hope this
issue is resolved. You cannot punish the most deserving students for the
failure of their peers. This may have prevented short term devastation but your
actions have definitely contributed to long term devastation some of these will
undoubtedly face throughout life. I understand that resources and support at
home are lacking in some/most households these days, but do you honestly think
this epidemic is going to change when people like you are telling them it is OK
to fail? People need a reason to work their tail off and be successful, if
everything is free and failure is not possible, then what is the definition of
success? Without failure, everyone is a success, and Mr. Fabrizio we all know
that is not how this world operates.
Sincerely
--
Thanks for your time
Ryan Skelton
David P. Fabrizio
9:49 AM (51 minutes ago)
to me
Ryan,
thank you for your inspiring words. I am glad to see that you are so familiar
with failure. Read the true story in either the Salem Evening News or NBC.com
Ryan Skelton <rskelton86@gmail.com>
10:12 AM (28 minutes ago)
to kamcmahon, eyoung,
ahopping, rksuper, fseltenr, jcuff, mgallant,
jjartman, jhiggins, bspiridigliozzi, nchampagne,
kcecilio, drdalt, mnylen, foxnewstips, kandreas,
David
Mr. Fabrizio,
I would enjoy meeting somebody who has not experienced
failure at some point in their life. I am familiar with failure and for that I
am thankful because unlike what you are supporting, I have learned how to deal
with any obstacle I am presented. Anyway, this is not about me and excellent
way to deflect. Do you mean this story? I have already
done so and trust me, you can re-word it however you like, but the concepts
behind your actions are still the same. Very professional response and I
appreciate it, I expected nothing less. Have a good one!
Ryan Skelton
Liar, liar; pants on fire. That's a mighty pretty fake response you made up there, but it's a forgery. That principal never responded to you; you likely never sent him a message. You're just a troll stirring up trouble and whipping up the froth on the idiots who believe you.
That was Mr. Fabrizio's response to my email. It was expected because I was a little harsh, but sometimes reality can be harsh. Failure can sometimes be harsh, but it is an very important part of life. Enjoy, he responded to me a few minutes after I sent my first email. Very interesting story.
WOW! All the friends I know who have written to him, and myself and my husband, have received arrogant snarky responses!!! And your letter was NO more harsh than anyone else! Are you a resident of Ipswich? If so would you consider sending a letter to everyone. Or did he already do that?
Insane!!
I believe he was calling you a failure when he's made the biggest career mistake of his life! How funny! Everything you wrote is true though. Every great leader and successful person failed at least once and was the better for it. How arrogant can this guy get?
That letter wasn't even harsh either. It was concise and thoughtful.
I call bull@!$%# on you all. He never responded to any of you. You're lying like FoxNews.
He's actually very good about responding to every piece of email I've sent him. I'm not surprised he responded to Ryan. And the response posted sounds very much like the tone and content of his responses to me.
Faux news not fact checking. What a surprise.
Fox news was correct, NBC was the incorrect source...might want to do some "fact checking" there yourself Betty-301392....
Bethany, I checked the News Feeds. It was a FoxNoise story. NBC picked it up from there. Your fact-checking needs fact-checking.
This
guy is in damage control mode right now. His cockiness and incompetence is
going to cost him in the long run.
Feel
free to address your opinion to the entire district. His response to my email
got forwarded to the entire district:
kamcmahon@ipswichschools.org;
eyoung@ipswichschools.org; ahopping@ipswichschools.org; rksuper@aol.com;
fseltenr@ipswichschools.org; jcuff@ipswichschools.org,
mgallant@ipswichschools.org; jjartman@ipswichschools.org;
jhiggins@ipswichschools.org; bspiridigliozzi@ipswichschools.org;
nchampagne@ipswichschools.org; kcecilio@ipswichschools.org;
bcahill@ipswichschools.org; drdalt@ipswichschools.org; mnylen@ipswichschools.org
David
Fabrizio: dfabrizio@ipswichschools.org
March 11, 2013
Dear Parents and Guardians,I am writing to explain our decision to end the Middle School Honors Night. Our focus at IMS is on student learning. Each student progresses at a different rate. Concentrating on grades, as strange as it sounds, can impinge upon the learning process. It is our job, at the middle level, to monitor not only academic growth but also social emotional growth. The Honors Night, which can be a great sense of pride for the recipients’ families, can also be devastating to a child who has worked extremely hard in a difficult class but who, despite growth, has not been able to maintain a high grade point average. Finally, as many of you already know, academic success can be influenced by the amount of support a student receives at home, both emotional and academic. Some of our students do not have this strong support system. As a result they are not able to maintain honors-level grades. The decision to change a long standing tradition was not made haphazardly. This topic was discussed with both our lead teachers and our school council before a decision was made. Thank you for your understanding.
Sincerely,David P. Fabrizio Principal
This is the same canned response you gave to Fox25 Boston and it is so full of holes you can drive a Humvee through it. People like yourself have no bussiness calling yourself educators. Here is a newsflash for you. Life isn't fair and and times it can really suck. To be sucessful in life learn early that you get what you get and you deal with it!! And prior to all your Moonbat liberal ideals invading the americam ideal you are rewarded for hard work which is no longer the case because somebody's feeling might get hurt.
You are a troll pulling people's chains. Grow up. You don't represent that school at all.
Hee, hee McBob... that is the exact text of the email received by every middle school parent in Ipswich.
"This topic was discussed with both our lead teachers and our school council..." I think they should do away with lead teachers... I'm sure the non-lead teachers are devastated that they didn't achieve this billet. Or perhaps not, given the <sarcasm>brain tank</sarcasm> it appears to be. Any school council member that choose not to reward excellence should be removed.
I have read the original story. I read the response story. I read the parent letters. I read the Principal's comments. I read the Principals Blog. Sorry, but if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck... it's a duck. The unesteemed Mr. Fabrizio, out of some misplaced sensitivity to not only under-achievers, but at grade level achievers, was ironically completely insensitive to those students that excelled in their efforts. Well done Mr. Fabrizio... (perhaps you should take down that CYA statement on the middle school web page.)
What's even worse is that Male X Johnson (did I get that right?) is presenting a narrative that is wrong. Clearly, "Project Reporter" refers to their need for some performance improvement plan since they fail at the most rudimentary aspect of reporting: fact gathering.
"NBC News reporters bring you compelling stories from across the nation." - compelling, but false.
I contacted the superintendent and the principal yesterday. The superintendent responded with a well thought out response. The principal though was very rude.
Here is his response: I did read the nbcnews.com article and it clearly stated twice that the principal canceled the Honors Night Ceremony. Notice he starts out in a very condescending manner, my name is Cliff not Cliffy.
Cliffy,
Please get your facts correct. We honor all our students in one
assembly. Read nbc.com for the truth before you send me misinformed
emails.
> Good Morning,
>
> Your school district was infamously highlighted on Fox and Friends
> this morning. The principal of the middle school is diminishing the
> accomplishments of the students that work hard to academically excel
> by canceling the Honors Night Ceremony.
>
> A question that begs asking, would the same thing happen to the
> ceremony for those that achieve excellence in sports?
>
> I encourage you to honor these students with the Honors Night Ceremony.
>
> Respectfully,
>
>
David P. Fabrizio
Principal
Ipswich Middle School
Phone: 978-356-3535
Fax: 978-412-8169
"If it is worth doing, it is worth doing well"
Of course it was FoxNews. They're all about lies and manipulation. When a network has to tell you that they're "Fair and Balanced", rather than letting you discover whether it is on not on your own, you know that it's circumspect. Decades ago, FoxNews sued the FTC to win the right to lie in their news broadcasts. They won the lawsuit, even though it cost them hundreds of millions of dollars. Do you really think a nascent TV network would bother with such a lawsuit if they never intended to take advantage of it?
FoxNews lies. That has been proven multiple times, and getting retractions from them is harder than pulling teeth on Rottweiler. If it's from FoxNews, it's pretty much 85% sure to be a lie, or spun partial truth. They aren't a news organization; they're registered as a news-based entertainment network. It is beyond me why their dimwitted fans overlook these obvious signs of the unreliability of FoxNews. Being the most popular network is not analogous to being the best news network, or even an honest news network.