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Is this proper for a high school food's class (in public school)


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New update in post #184

 

I homeschooled my kids until high school. Actually my middle daughter is dual enrolled as a senior this year. Anyway, maybe since we've been homeschooling for so long we've been a bit "sheltered" from some of things that go on in school. My oldest went to a small private high school and we didn't have to deal a lot of the garbage that my son is dealing with at the public school.

 

Anyway, my son is a freshman and has always been interested in cooking so he signed up for a food's class. I double checked the class description again tonight and all it talks about is food preparation and nutrition. It says nothing about other health topics. This isn't a home ec class. They have a separate child development class. All semester long the teacher seems to have her own agenda. Today they had a guest speaker and they were told that it was going to be a chef. It turned out to be a nurse who spoke all period to the class about pregnancy and STD's. She told a story about girl who was pregnant and didn't tell her parents and she ended up having the baby early at home alone and the baby died. I realize that kids need to learn this stuff but they all already had the required health class and it was taught then. Then the nurse opened a bag and brought out a human placenta with the umbilical cord attached. Now this might have been an interesting thing for a child development class or even a health class but not a food's class. When she went to put it away she dropped it and blood splattered on one of the girls. I would be livid if I was her parent. Maybe I'm naive but could HIV or AIDS be spread that way ? Of course I realize that the girl would have had to have an open cut, etc. I'm hoping that they would have tested the person before using the placenta. This is a foods classroom where they cook and prepare food. If the blood splattered all over the girl you would think it would be on the table and floor. It just grosses me out that they would do that. Do you think I'm overreacting? There is nothing that I can do but I am so disappointed that my son signed up for this class to learn how to cook and they have spent less than half the class time actually cooking. Last week they spent 3 days collecting information in the library to put on a poster and two other days putting together the poster with crayons and gluing on pictures, etc. At one point he had considered taking more advanced cooking classes there but there is no way he will now with this teacher. We have had other issues with her but this one really bothered me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I promise this isn't a joke. I wish it was. I added more information below. We have dealt with this teacher before when my daughter had her for a different class 6 years ago. Apparently the teacher did the same thing last semester. I'm going to talk to the teacher tomorrow to see what she says about it and then go from there.

 

NO UPDATE:

 

I'm sorry guys but we are leaving for Disney tomorrow and my husband is out of town today. He wants to go to the school and talk to someone in person instead of handling this through email. It's driving me crazy that I can't confront the teacher or principal now but dh wants to be involved when we go to the school.

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My local school district posts learning standards and program of studies for all subjects. Don't just look at the course description, see if you can find more detailed info. Then print it out, take it to a meeting with the principal and ask where X, Y, and Z activities that have occured in class fit in the standards. Additionally, go through the standards with your ds and ask him which ones he think have been covered and ask the principal when the class is going to cover the things it is supposed to cover.

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The only way I think any of that could be appropriate for a food/nutrition class is if they did a brief segment on prenatal nutrition, in which they discussed the differences between a well-nourished placenta and a poorly-nourished one, with an emphasis on starting one's baby off correctly in life. But even then, I think it's in very poor form to have brought a placenta, especially without consulting parents first.

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I thought I'd click on this thread and end up telling you to relax and let go a bit. However, after reading your description, I'd be very upset too. Aside from it being completely inappropriate, HOW are the kids going to legitimately earn a class credit if they never cover a year's worth of the course material. I'd DEFINITELY write a letter to the administration outside of the school and cc the principal and the teacher.

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This is so bizarre, it doesn't even sound believable (not that I don't, it is just so strange). I want to know WHERE she even got a placenta and cord to bring in. Also, are you sure she was a nurse? In all my career, I cannot imagine any nurse in their right mind would do that. If she holds a professional license, she needs to be turned in to the state board of whatever licensing she holds, as well as the public health department.

 

I would not be on the computer, I'd be on the phone to administration!!!

 

Keep us posted!

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Something's fishy. We don't go around with bleeding body parts in the USA. I don't understand this talk about calling the school to complain, because I'd be calling the police.

 

Bloody splattering placenta in the home ec kitchen? I'm sorry, but I have to say I find the OP impossible to believe.

 

 

This was kind of my feeling as well. :unsure:

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Something's fishy. We don't go around with bleeding body parts in the USA. I don't understand this talk about calling the school to complain, because I'd be calling the police.

 

Bloody splattering placenta in the home ec kitchen? I'm sorry, but I have to say I find the OP impossible to believe.

 

 

This was kind of my feeling as well. :unsure:

 

 

Same here. I find it hard to believe the teacher wouldn't have freaked out when the guest speaker pulled a bloody clump of human flesh from a bag and proceeded to splatter someone.

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Is it even legal to carry around human....parts? I would think that is a huge health hazard.

 

If I couldn't get someone to insist she stick to a food and nutrition scope and sequence I would insist my son be excused from the remaining classes for the year.

 

Sorry it's been such a disappointment to him.

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Is it even legal to carry around human....parts? I would think that is a huge health hazard.

 

If I couldn't get someone to insist she stick to a food and nutrition scope and sequence I would insist my son be excused from the remaining classes for the year.

 

Sorry it's been such a disappointment to him.

 

 

I'd imagine you can cart around your own placenta in a safe and sanitary manner- after all, people have to get them home from the hospital to broil them or plant them under a tree or whatever- but I don't know if it's legal to haul around someone else's placenta. And I'd guess there'd also be regulations related to the black market organ trade.

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This is where it'd be super cool to have a placenta, a kilt, and a cupcake all in the same picture. Hmmm ...

 

No kilt-wearing placentas, but perhaps this was on the menu that day in the op's son's food class:

 

placenta_helper.jpg

 

I personally prefer the cheeseburger macaroni, but to each her own.

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No, not okay! My sister is a FCS teacher, and she has a foods class. They cook, plan menus, and learn about food the entire semester. I would be going above the teacher's head to let the administration know what is going on and why you are frustrated.

I agree. I was a FACS (home ec) teacher. In my foods classes I taught about Food and Nutrition.

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Unfortunately this is completely legit. I'm not 100% sure of the title of the guest speaker but my son thought it was a nurse. He did say it was someone from the local hospital. Regardless, I think it is way out of line. My daughter had this teacher 6 years ago when she went to public school for one year. She taught a different class then. I think it was something like family development. At the time I didn't really think some of the things she did were appropriate. She showed videos of her home birth which showed everything. I think birth is a beautiful thing and of course kids need to know about these things but at the time I didn't really think it was appropriate for the teacher to show a video of her OWN homebirth. When I realized my son had her as a teacher I was a bit concerned but since it was foods class I thought it would be a safe bet.

 

She is wacko in other areas too and seems to be on a power trip all the time. The first week of class she had the students write a paper on some material they were discussing. It was an in class assignment and they were supposed to use notebook paper. My son got a C on the paper. The teacher said he had a great essay and covered all the material that he needed to. She marked off because some of his writing went slightly over the red line that goes down the right side of the paper. Once she gave a recipe for the class to follow that involved using tomatoe sauce. The original recipe had them starting from scratch, boiling tomatoes, etc. Fortunately my son noticed right away when they were given a can of tomatoe chunks that they weren't completely following it from scratch. They approached the teacher and she said "oh that's right, I forgot to tell you to start at step 7". The rest of the class followed her directions and boiled the canned tomatoes and of course the recipe was a disaster They probably should have known that something was wrong but this is a Foods I class. She didn't bother to tell the rest of the class. That's just a few examples of the things she has done. I could go on and on.

 

I plan to ask the teacher more details about what they did in class today and go from there. I definitely believe my son but I want to hear the teacher's take on this. BTW, my son was talking to some of his friends at lunch and it turns out that she did the same thing first semester (without dropping it of course). I can't believe that the school allowed her to do this. I'm always getting blood tests and they are so careful about using glove and handling things so carefully I just can't imagine why the school would allow this. I will talk to the teacher tomorrow and then go from there. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't overreacting since I tend to do that. Thanks for all of your input.

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Something's fishy. We don't go around with bleeding body parts in the USA. I don't understand this talk about calling the school to complain, because I'd be calling the police.

 

Bloody splattering placenta in the home ec kitchen? I'm sorry, but I have to say I find the OP impossible to believe.

 

 

This was kind of my feeling as well. :unsure:

 

 

 

Same here. I find it hard to believe the teacher wouldn't have freaked out when the guest speaker pulled a bloody clump of human flesh from a bag and proceeded to splatter someone.

And it had to have been a fresh placenta, right? Wouldn't an older one have dried up or started rotting? So bizarre.

 

ALL of this.^

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KFP, I wonder if I should get a plushie gallbladder...yanno, replace the one they took?

 

Probably right now, at this very moment, some deranged teacher is making plans to yank your gallbladder out of a bucket in front of her high school foods class.

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