here is a petition to get rid of an apparent policy where they make kids SIT AND STARE AT A WALL for NINETY MINUTES as punishment, in, of all places, MY SCHOOL DISTRICT in rochester NY where I am from (I’ll not say “grew up”… cause… well, that would imply that I did so.)

https://www.change.org/p/west-irondequoit-board-of-education-overturn-jeff-crane-s-abusive-sit-and-stare-policy?recruiter=10947751&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_term=des-lg-share_petition-reason_msg&fb_ref=Default

Hey. I’m from here. I went to numerous schools here. As a creative artist, I’m ADHD and proud of it. I learned a lot about music in Irondequoit schools from grade 4 all the way through high school graduation (after which I continued to study music (and to perform and teach it) to this day.
School was hard enough, what with other kids berating me for talking fast and being different.
I persisted, even got a lot of A
s in high school. (and I WASN’T on adhd-meds at that time.)
If I had been treated like this, FOR BEING DIFFERENT, for being higher energy (which, to put it politely, is no crime,) if I had been “Labeled” MORE THAN I ALREADY WAS….
to this day I suffer from believing that I am unlovable and invalid, and “how I was treated by mom and dad AND kids (and teachers) at school has
EVERYTHING to do with that…
if I had been made to sit and stare for NINETY MINUTES… BECAUSE OF HOW MY BRAIN WORKS, the SPEED of it.., my DIFFERENCES in LEARNING and THINKING than “AVERAGE PEOPLE” (that, normal people,)
Imagine how much MORE guilty and shameful I’d feel, JUST BECAUSE I AM MYSELF and not someone else!
I DESERVE TO BE HAPPY whether I think and learn and act the same as everyone else or not.
there are plenty of ways of “helping” children of ALL varieties GET THROUGH school.
treating them like they are broken and bad and criminals isn’t one of them.
stop this now.