Teacher left in tears after principal confiscates pizzas she brought for hard-working students because 'it wasn't fair to other classes'
Parents of students of a class at Brody Middle School in Des Moines are frustrated since the principal of the school, Thomas Hoffman, canceled a pizza party that one of the teachers had arranged for her students as a reward for hard work.
This was announced to the students months before and was an event that kids were looking forward to. However, once the pizzas were delivered and paid for, and just before the students could dig in, the principal came around and confiscated them.
One of the parents shared this on Facebook and the post has since gone viral. Neil Erickson wrote, "My son attends Brody Middle School here in Des Moines. His class earned a pizza party that I believe the teacher paid for. He has been excited for this for days…telling me about it and how they earned it."
He added, "Well today was the day. The pizzas were delivered to the class… the teacher paid and signed the receipt. Principal walks into the classroom and says 'I never approve pizza parties' or something to that effect. He took the pizzas from the kids and let them sit in the office for the teacher to pick up after school. Now my son and his classmates lost the party they worked hard to earn and the pizza I'm sure is wasted now…and the teacher was left in tears. I just cant believe it!"
Many responded to the post criticizing the principal but a few also defended him, citing how it would have been simpler to have gotten permission for the pizza party in the first place. Principal Hoffman also released a statement on the incident, according to a report in Daily Mail.
He said, "As principal, one of my top priorities is fairness and equal opportunity for our students at Brody Middle School. That applies to everything from the chances they have to learn in the classroom to rewards and recognitions by our teachers and staff. We have discussed this from time to time as a school, and have agreed that fairness is a criteria we want to follow in how we treat all Brody students."
He also added, "However, I do want to apologize for being overly strict in applying that standard today when it came to one of our classrooms. Most of all, I want to apologize for disappointing any of our students, and punishing them."