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From: Gary J. Rentschler
Date: 19 Oct 2009
Time: 09:08:07 -0500
Remote Name: 165.190.57.240
Michelle: You are right to be concerned by the secretary's words and the school district's inability to recognize their obligation as role models in respecting differences and diversity. While I believe the secretary "didn't think before speaking" (rather than having spoken with malice), the district's support of her comment is not excusable. You are right that everyone makes mistakes.. particularly verbal ones. The word "stutter" comes up infrequently in social interactions... like the term "stutter step" during a televised football game yesterday. Some people are more sensitive to the word, and often with legitimate reason. But in the end, we who are "thin-skinned" about it need also to develop some coping skills to deal with it. I think the actual word is less important than the intent of how its used. The error in this instance is less with the secretary's intent than with the school's failure to recognize and acknowledge the insensitivity of the comment. The situation is apparently escalating and becoming "bigger than life" and time has come to scale the incident down. I would be outraged at the district's acceptance of insensitivity! I recognize that it is unlikely that the secretary's comment was intentional, but the error needs to be acknowledged in a respectful way.