Mt. Blue’s James Black wore a “POLICE ICE” vest, cap, face gaiter, and zip ties at a private party; immigrant advocates say the costume retraumatizes students and erodes trust.
In this exact moment in time, ICE is akin to Nazi/Gestapo. They've made it clear they are targeting black and brown people, and their allies, without regard for actual law and order. Consider this Principal wore an SS uniform to the private Halloween party. It would be as unacceptable as wearing the ICE uniform, given today's political environment.
Let the Principal speak, explain himself, if he has the courage to, but this is definitely a "what the f*ck were you thinking" moment.
Also, to become a school Principal requires at least a master's degree, certification, licenses, years of experience as an educator, etc., So, again, what could he have been thinking, except that he has no qualms with how ICE is treating our neighbors and fellow Americans.
His position of public trust and responsibility to children precludes his choice to do something so despicable. Trust, if it was there to begin with is gone. His judgement is obviously poor. This required a lot of planning, it wasn't a "heat of the not-hilarious moment". Wonder what other poor judgement he's exercised. He needs to go.
As a former teacher in South Florida and also North Florida, I don’t find it funny or appropriate at all, and I’m a white person that rarely lists my ethnicity and less no choice. I believe that’s the biggest problem. We are all people,. Period.
There should be a community backlash! ICE is not a joke. They are masked men stealing people off the streets and out of their cars even! This principal is lacking in judgement and maturity.
This stupidly idiotic man lacks everything needed to be a middle school principal.
He deliberately chose to play dress up Gestapo thinking it would be ok at a private party. He chose to spend money for his ICE cosplay costume thinking it was a clever costume.
An aside…see how easy it is to dress up as Gestapo and kidnap people off the street?
I feel for every child and family in his school district who wonders whether he cares about them. I feel for every child and family who wonder now about their own principal.
Given that people dress up as monsters for Halloween and often try to scare people, an ICE costume kind of fits. They are the scariest image in America right now.
For a principal to dress as ICE is crazy to me. F***** up.
A piece of the strength of the MAGA movement is the willingness of progressives & Democrats to use social media mobs to threaten or even destroy careers of ordinary people. (That they did so over Kirk comments is hypocrisy) I do think social media mobs often go too far and that sometimes this is a valid criticism. And generally it’s terrible politics at a time when we need to crack the MAGA and peel off its loose adherents.
I think it would work a lot better to let the parents of the district vent in person to the principal, give the principal an opportunity to take responsibility, and let them discuss a way forward. Which may even be his resignation if the damage is irreparable. It’s also conceivable that parents leave this meeting(s) more assured that their principal is for them. Or maybe at that point parents need to go to the school board for assistance.
I don’t think the pressure of 100,000s of outsiders on social media platforms is useful.
I disagree. He put thought and money into his costume. He believed the costume would be accepted and perhaps appreciated by those at the private party. This man has no place in K-12 education and certainly not as an administrator. If I were a teacher or a parent at his school, I would demand he be fired without opportunity to resign.
I do think it’s wrong for a principal to do. If parents in the district demand he be fired, I wouldn’t oppose that. It’s their district.
I am opposed to a social media pile-on that undoubtedly includes and may be led by people and organizations outside of the district. I think that’s unfair.
It’s their families of the district who the principal serves not us.
And (not saying this is the most likely reason), he might have chosen the costume to tweak conservative friends and family. One of the best arguments about why ICE shouldn’t wear masks and hide names is otherwise anyone can look like ICE and do whatever they want. Not a bad way to demonstrate how easy it would be and to start a political conversation in a non-political way.
You are so correct about outside folks trying to influence local decisions—that has frequently happened over the past years. Social Media may amplify local events. My belief is that, generally, in recent months local officials manage to make decisions which their constituents want.
My concern is that Farmington, Maine has 8K residents ( I don’t know if the middle school serves more than one town, but its address is Farmington). The Reddit post got almost a half million views and hundreds of comments within a day. It’s easy to see the weight of pressure from outside distorting the board’s view of what the community of school families want.
HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE A PUBLIC SERVANT - HE HAS NO BUSINESSS WHATSOEVER IN A POSITION OF LEADERSHIP OR EDUCATION. ANOTHER MAGA ABOMINATION! JUST DESPICABLE
In this exact moment in time, ICE is akin to Nazi/Gestapo. They've made it clear they are targeting black and brown people, and their allies, without regard for actual law and order. Consider this Principal wore an SS uniform to the private Halloween party. It would be as unacceptable as wearing the ICE uniform, given today's political environment.
Let the Principal speak, explain himself, if he has the courage to, but this is definitely a "what the f*ck were you thinking" moment.
Also, to become a school Principal requires at least a master's degree, certification, licenses, years of experience as an educator, etc., So, again, what could he have been thinking, except that he has no qualms with how ICE is treating our neighbors and fellow Americans.
I hope he speaks at the Nov. 18 school board meeting. So far we've only heard from the school and a tone-deaf video response from his relatives.
His position of public trust and responsibility to children precludes his choice to do something so despicable. Trust, if it was there to begin with is gone. His judgement is obviously poor. This required a lot of planning, it wasn't a "heat of the not-hilarious moment". Wonder what other poor judgement he's exercised. He needs to go.
Good comment.
Perfect metaphor.
As a former teacher in South Florida and also North Florida, I don’t find it funny or appropriate at all, and I’m a white person that rarely lists my ethnicity and less no choice. I believe that’s the biggest problem. We are all people,. Period.
Thanks, Leslie !
There should be a community backlash! ICE is not a joke. They are masked men stealing people off the streets and out of their cars even! This principal is lacking in judgement and maturity.
We agree.
This stupidly idiotic man lacks everything needed to be a middle school principal.
He deliberately chose to play dress up Gestapo thinking it would be ok at a private party. He chose to spend money for his ICE cosplay costume thinking it was a clever costume.
An aside…see how easy it is to dress up as Gestapo and kidnap people off the street?
How freaking out of touch do you have to be to do something so stupid? It's blatantly cruel, traumatizing, and horrible!!!
You make the most important point. His insensitivity and lack of basic empathy render him unfit to serve as a school principal.
Fire this piece of shit now. And check his hard drive.
Tone deafness is not a good look for principals. This guy lacks common sense or he really wanted to make people feel threatened. Either way, buh bye.
Beyond inappropriate asshat🤬🤬🤬
I have conflicting thoughts about this.
I feel for every child and family in his school district who wonders whether he cares about them. I feel for every child and family who wonder now about their own principal.
Given that people dress up as monsters for Halloween and often try to scare people, an ICE costume kind of fits. They are the scariest image in America right now.
For a principal to dress as ICE is crazy to me. F***** up.
A piece of the strength of the MAGA movement is the willingness of progressives & Democrats to use social media mobs to threaten or even destroy careers of ordinary people. (That they did so over Kirk comments is hypocrisy) I do think social media mobs often go too far and that sometimes this is a valid criticism. And generally it’s terrible politics at a time when we need to crack the MAGA and peel off its loose adherents.
I think it would work a lot better to let the parents of the district vent in person to the principal, give the principal an opportunity to take responsibility, and let them discuss a way forward. Which may even be his resignation if the damage is irreparable. It’s also conceivable that parents leave this meeting(s) more assured that their principal is for them. Or maybe at that point parents need to go to the school board for assistance.
I don’t think the pressure of 100,000s of outsiders on social media platforms is useful.
I disagree. He put thought and money into his costume. He believed the costume would be accepted and perhaps appreciated by those at the private party. This man has no place in K-12 education and certainly not as an administrator. If I were a teacher or a parent at his school, I would demand he be fired without opportunity to resign.
Totally get your opinion about it.
I do think it’s wrong for a principal to do. If parents in the district demand he be fired, I wouldn’t oppose that. It’s their district.
I am opposed to a social media pile-on that undoubtedly includes and may be led by people and organizations outside of the district. I think that’s unfair.
It’s their families of the district who the principal serves not us.
And (not saying this is the most likely reason), he might have chosen the costume to tweak conservative friends and family. One of the best arguments about why ICE shouldn’t wear masks and hide names is otherwise anyone can look like ICE and do whatever they want. Not a bad way to demonstrate how easy it would be and to start a political conversation in a non-political way.
You are so correct about outside folks trying to influence local decisions—that has frequently happened over the past years. Social Media may amplify local events. My belief is that, generally, in recent months local officials manage to make decisions which their constituents want.
Hopefully you are correct.
My concern is that Farmington, Maine has 8K residents ( I don’t know if the middle school serves more than one town, but its address is Farmington). The Reddit post got almost a half million views and hundreds of comments within a day. It’s easy to see the weight of pressure from outside distorting the board’s view of what the community of school families want.
He should be gone! Not funny!
HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE A PUBLIC SERVANT - HE HAS NO BUSINESSS WHATSOEVER IN A POSITION OF LEADERSHIP OR EDUCATION. ANOTHER MAGA ABOMINATION! JUST DESPICABLE
Absolutely horrible. At the very least he is a tone deaf idiot!
I don’t find that funny at all
The poorest decision I have seen to date! SMH
Any backlash you get IS DESERVED. What a jackass. Are you a brainwashed ICE thug after school?
Nazi supporters should not be allowed within 500 feet of children much less hold a position of authority