The Chester County School District is no stranger to controversy. The district has been in the news twice this September for adults entering their schools and getting involved in physical altercations. The district's test scores are also abysmal and have been for quite some time.
So it was no surprise when The Lantern learned of a teacher allegedly punishing a child for correctly spelling the word pterodactyl. The student in question was only in the 1st grade when this transpired. The student corrected the teacher's misspelling of the word as pictured below, and the teacher allegedly suspended the child for 3 days.
(Teacher sends misspelled homework home. Photo byFacebook)
The student's mother, Stacy Westoreland, explained, "They told my son once he was "stupid" for knowing pterodactyl started with a p because he shouldn't know that since you can't hear the p. Then when he explained he learned it from dinosaur train, he was suspended for arguing with a teacher."
According to the online post, the teacher spent 20 minutes searching the dictionary in the "t" section for the word. The student's mother said, "When she couldn't find it in the T section of the dictionary she sounded it out for him...He was suspended 3 days for arguing with her that he was right it did start with a p. She suspended him and sent this home. I went up the next day to talk to her about it and she still wouldn't budge that she was wrong. Her whole stance was he's still wrong for knowing it when you can't hear the p. Hearing it or not if he's right he's right."
Allegedly, the teacher then went so far as to ask the mother to remove the post from her personal Facebook page. She said, "I had to laugh while I argued with her so I didn't get mad but just wow, when I posted it on my page she messaged me asking me to remove the post."
The teacher in question is now allegedly teaching 4th grade. The Lantern has reached out to the school district for comment, but we have not received a response as of the posting of this article.
Chester Park Elementary School For The Arts scored below average, a 37, according to the 2022-2023 school report cards released by the SC Department of Education. According to SC school Report Cards, a score of 37 indicates, that "School performance is in jeopardy of not meeting the criteria to ensure all students meet the Profile of the SC Graduate."
No word yet if the teacher in question knows how to spell opossum.
**UPDATE**
We finally received a response from the Chester County School District, which we will post below. We also decided to reach out to the mother for further comment on what the district said to us.
Upon receiving your inquiry yesterday, the school and district administration were made aware and began to look into the situation. Due to The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), no school district may publicly disclose any information regarding specific disciplinary actions taken against any student. However, CCSD can confirm that no student was ever suspended for spelling correctly. Furthermore, no teacher has the authority to suspend any student for any reason. That decision is always carried out by school or district administration pending the circumstances of the situation. In rebuttal to your story released on October 11, 2023, it is extremely disheartening that an organization that refers to themselves as a trusted source of news, which should strive for accuracy and integrity, would resort to such misleading reporting. The story was released with very little effort to confirm the accuracy of the allegation, and as a result, has led to several harassing phone calls and correspondences to both school and district staff members. Upon reading the aforementioned article, it was discovered that there are blatant inaccuracies, misleading statements presented as fact, and a clear lack of unbiased reporting beginning with the headline. Such actions not only undermine credibility, but also contributes to the overall erosion of public trust in journalism as a whole. The story presented a one-sided view of the issue at hand, demonstrating a reckless and blatant disregard to provide a fair and balanced representation of the facts. It is imperative that news outlets offer their readers a comprehensive understanding of complex topics. Ethical journalism serves the public and must uphold the highest standards of accuracy, transparency, and objectivity; just as the community must hold our school district to those same standards. Please reconsider how your organization releases information moving forward and prioritize journalistic integrity over sensationalism.
The response from the district was quite demeaning to our news outlet as we did reach out to the school for comment, we used direct quotes, and we linked to all of our sources for this story. So what really happened?
We reached out to the mother one more time for clarification, and she says this story did in fact happen. Her son was sent to the office and was suspended for arguing with the teacher in front of the class. Of course, this goes back to why? All due to the misspelled word "Pterodactyl".
We've also found the teacher in question. The mother was mistaken about her current role in the school.
Stacy has taken her children out of the Chester County School District for a different reason, and she now homeschools them.
At The Lantern, we want to bring you factual stories, which is why we reached out to the school for comment before posting. In keeping with the spirit of telling a balanced story, we always strive for input from all sides.
The Lantern exists to tell real stories from real people - they aren't nationwide material or headlines like national politics - they involve you and what you go through day in and day out in this society, this system.
The Lantern exists to shine a light on places that other agencies wouldn't.
And why is this moron still employed as a teacher?