Student’s parents may sue over fainting incident
By Amanda Falcone, Record-Journal staff
WALLINGFORD — The parents of a Moran Middle School student are threatening to sue the Board of Education, claiming she fainted and hit her head after her teacher made her stand in a hot classroom in September.
Taylor Nardi, 11, was watching News Channel One in a Moran classroom on Sept. 14 at about 8:15 a.m. when she fainted, according to a letter from the family’s attorney on file with the town clerk. Nardi’s homeroom teacher, David Filipek, had moved his students to another classroom because the television in his room was not working properly. There were no seats available and Nardi and other students were made to stand in the back of the room, the letter states. Excessive heat and the fact that Nardi had to stand caused her to faint, and she struck her head “quite violently” on a cabinet, the letter states.
Filipek could not be reached for comment Monday. Nardi suffered a deep cut above her right eye. She was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where she received stitches. She now has a scar, the letter states…
From Jim Metrock: This makes me sick. It disgusts me.
No middle school should be showing Channel One. The company itself says it is a “teen-oriented” show. This young girl should have been reading or being taught something, instead she was required to march to another classroom to watch one of the most controversial TV shows in America.
Connecticut borders New York, Channel One’s home state. Channel One News is BANNED from all of New York’s public HIGH SCHOOLS and, most assuredly, from all public middle schools.
The Channel One contract was written by Channel One’s attorneys to maximize the financial benefit for the company and its advertisers. It was not written with the best interests of students, teachers, or taxpayers in mind.
Why did Channel One lawyers even put the “showing requirement” clause in the contract? Why demand schools sign on the dotted line a commitment to show the program ANY amount of days? After all, if Channel One News had value, ANY value, it would find an audience.
Channel One News never found an audience. It never earned an audience. It is watched because the contract demands schools show the program a minimum number of school days. If this clause was taken away, Channel One News would be out of business overnight.
The 6th grade teacher and his principal knew they had to show the students Channel One’s TV show at least 90% of all school days. In reality, that means EVERYDAY, since only showing it on an average of four days a week would be only eighty percent.
Making students stand to watch the show doesn’t mean they are only standing for 12 to 13 minutes – the length of the show itself. It took time to walk to the other classroom and then wait until the TV comes on automatically. I don’t know the amount of time it took, but what most may not appreciate is the fact that a classroom teacher can never turn on Channel One. Long ago, Channel One knew that teachers would probably not turn their TV sets on to watch commercials, so the TV sets are all rigged to come on automatically when a librarian or media specialist flips one switch.
This girl’s injury may not be a legal problem for Channel One, then again it may. It was definitely the reason the students were made to leave their normal classroom setting.
Until teachers like Mr. Filipek refuse to do the business of Channel One’s advertisers, this will happen again. Channel One’s advertisers needed Mr. Filipek to move “their” audience out of the classroom with the broken TV and that is what he did.
Mr. Filipek and Moran Middle School served the needs of Sony Pictures, Nintendo and the WB Network, but they forgot their duty to the students.
Sixth grade students don’t need Channel One News for an electronic babysitter.
