"East Bay Newspapers says school officials at a high school in Rhode Island have rejected a student's personalized senior picture because he is dressed as a knight and carrying a broadsword.
Patrick Agin of Portsmouth High School participates with his family in the Society for Creative Anachronism, a group that re-enacts medieval European traditions. "To reflect his passion about re-enactment and his participation with the SCA, Patrick chose to sit for his senior picture in costume, specifically, chain mail and a sword," said his mother.
But principal Robert Littlefield said Agin must crop the sword from the picture, get a new one or go without having his picture in the yearbook altogether. The reason? The picture violates the school's zero-tolerance policy on weapons. Littlefield says students shouldn't show up in the yearbook bearing any sort of arms, even 800-year-old old ones.
Racism, Texas-style
Managers of the airport in Austin, Texas have backed away from a policy that would have required employees there to be able to speak English fluently or face losing their jobs after critics claimed such a requirement would be racist, according the Austin American Statesman.
The city's director of aviation, Jim Smith, said in a memo that the ability to read, write and speak English is essential to safety, security and customer service at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The city offered free, on-the-job English language training program to employees who need to improve their language skills and said those who couldn't speak English after 48 weeks of training would be let go. But the requirement came under fire from unions and Austin city councilman Mike Martinez, who said it "could be viewed as potentially racist." The language courses will now be voluntary."
No comments:
Post a Comment