schools

After reading My Clay Sun's story about the hazing incident with the Fleming Island High School wrestling team, I felt strangely as if I was being hazed myself.  Instead of being a freshman grappler being held down while an upperclassman's naked posterior was presented for close-order inspection, it was more like the usual Clay County taxpayer hazing.

I'm being held down by government and expected to accept another half-assed investigation being shoved in my face.

Granted, a little horseplay in the locker room certainly isn't exactly the worst incident deserving of local government investigation.  But its conclusion just reminds me of other "investigations."

"I'm going to quit and go work at the Dollar Store."

Apparently, that's a catch-phrase Clay County teachers have been using when expressing their frustration and, I've learned from a few of them lately, it's being heard in teachers lounges more and more often. Why? What would frustrate someone so much that they'd scream: "I'm going to quit and go work at the Dollar Store?"

Because common sense has been overwhelmed by government's underwhelming attempt to justify its own performance. Yep, common sense has been removed from the educational system as surely as if it were a framed printing of The Ten Commandments.

Here's a cool feel good story that Angie Whiddon, one of my favorite people, told me.Whiddon, principal at W.E. Cherry Elementary School, and her staff are known for their huge heartedness, generosity and compassion. They raise funds selling dill pickles and use pickle money for good deeds. They provide furniture, clothing, food for their students in need. They bought a car for a long-time grandmother volunteer whose old bomb of a car smoked in to the school parking lot everyday. .A few years ago, the staff took lunch to Lake Butler Elementary following a bad car accident that killed some students.

I highly recommend everyone pick up a copy of Folio Weekly. I snatched one up when I saw on the cover there was a story about Clay County.

The story, I discovered, showed a process within the Clay County school system that disturbs me - for several reasons.

Briefly summarized, a teacher at Fleming Island High School is alleged to have begun a sexual affair with an FIHS 18-year-old student.  An internal school administration investigation concluded that the teacher had violated state ethics for educators. The teacher was suspended by a School Board that didn't know why, before resigning and moving on to teach at a Jacksonville High School.

Fleming Island's Brian Deis and Matt Cooksey took first and second place at Middleburg's Bronco Bob Invitational cross country meet Saturday, but Orange Park's Trent Blair took third and led a group of high Raider finishers to help his school to a team title boys title.

Ridgeview's Heather Lundin and Kaitlin Yaracs swept first and second in the girls race as the Lady Panthers took the team title.

(See photo gallery on Spotted)

Fleming Island surged out to a 17-3 first-game lead in the District 3-5A tournament championship Thursday night, but it was Bartram Trail's fifth-game surge that gave the Bears the title and a first-round state playoff game next week.

The Golden Eagles will get the district runner-up playoff spot and will have to win on the road next week if they want to move up the state ladder.

Thursday night's championship match looked like it might be over quick as the Lady Eagles won the first game handily, 25-10. And Fleming Island was strong throughout the second game, too, but the Bears rallied late for a 26-24 win to even the match.

Orange Park needed four games to defeat Fletcher in both of their regular-season volleyball match-ups, and up two games to none but trailing 18-12 in the third, it looked like the Lady Raiders were in for at least another four-set challenge Friday night in their District 1-6A semifinal game.

But Orange Park proceeded to shut down the Lady Senators and outscore them 13-2 the rest of the way, including a match-ending spike by senior Allison Riner, to win the contest, 25-11, 26-24, 25-20, and qualify for the state playoffs.

The victory also put OP in Friday's 6 p.m. championship final against the winner of Wednesday night's late match, Mandarin vs. top-seeded Gainesville Buchholz (20-5). The Lady Raiders lost twice this season to Buchholz, but Coach Amy Walker wasn't conceding the title to the Lady Bobcats.