OUT: Spitting on returning soldiers IN: Passive hostility

Interesting story from Neal Boortz. A sixth grade class in Greensboro, GA, had been writing letters this past school year to Marine Zach Richardson, a college roommate of their teacher Matthew Lund. When Richardson returned home, he wanted to thank the class in person. Lund filled out the proper paperwork for a class visitor, but Principal Ulrica Corbett performed something of a pocket veto of the visit:

Lund says he never got the form back from Corbett. He says he asked the Principal about the form, and was told that she was not going to look at it.

Corbett was clearly savvy enough to not have it in writing that she was going to deny this visit. What she did not count on was Lund going ahead with the Richardson visit anyway.

When Sgt. Richardson showed up at the Carson Middle School Lund took him to the school's media center to prepare to meet the students. At that point, according to Lund, Principal Corbett called him into the hall and told him that the Marine was not approved to be at the school. Lund told Corbett that the proper form had been submitted and had been ignored. Corbett's response was "that's your problem, not mine." Lund's version of the discussion with Corbett in the hallway suggests that Corbett harbored a great deal of hostility toward Sgt. Richardson and Matthew Lund. She told Lund that the students had not earned the visit from the Marine, and closed the discussion with Lund with the phrase "what part of what we just discussed do you not understand?" She then ordered Matthew Lund to escort Sgt. Richardson off the school campus.

In fairness, Boortz does keep the possibility open that the problem is with the teacher and not the principal, but it doesn't really seem to be the case. Either this principal has displayed a passive hostility towards the armed services, or there is some sort of petty disagreement between the teacher and principal which has spun out of control. Regardless, the principal's treatment of Sergeant Richardson was at best immature.

The moral of the story? Our troops may not be getting spat upon this time around, but not everyone is exactly treating them kindly, either. Even if there was another disagreement between Lund and Corbett which precipitated this, it doesn't excuse Corbett's behavior toward a veteran who had taken the time to exchange letters with students in her school.