Kermit, TX is out there between Odessa and Pecos, north of the Interstate up near the corner of New Mexico. It has a sprawling population of about 5700 people. Founded in 1910 and the county seat of Winkler County, the town is named after Kermit Roosevelt who visited a nearby ranch to hunt antelope shortly before the town was to be named. Kermit was the second son of President Theodore Roosevelt (who assumed the office in 1901 after McKinley was assassinated and served two terms until March 1909). In 1916 the county began a period of severe drought which would last for several years. Most of the homesteaders and ranchers were forced to leave. By 1924 only Ern Baird's family remained in the town, and only one student attended school in the county. Only three houses in the entire country, and the courthouse, were still in use by 1926. In July of that year oil was discovered near Kermit and within a year the population was more than 1000.
Fast forward to last week, when 9 year old Aiden Steward was attending Kermit Elementary School. The previous weekend he and his family had seen the latest installment in the Lord of the Rings movie franchise, "The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies." Already a Lord of the Rings fan, his parents had gotten him a copy of the One Ring to rule them all, the "Precious" that Bilbo Baggins had taken from Gollum, the ring that was forged in Middle Earth’s Mount Doom. The movie inspired his imagination, so much so that he took his "Precious" to school with him one day last week.
In a playful act of make-believe, told a classmate he could make him disappear with the One Ring. He told the friend he could put a ring on his friend's head and make him invisible, just like Bilbo Baggins. Setting aside the fact that you need to put the ring on your finger and not on your head in order to disappear, telling his friend he could make him disappear was enough to get him suspended from school.
Principal Roxanne Greer told Aiden's father that threats to another child's safety, real or imagined, magical or not, would not be tolerated. It's almost as if she believes the ring would do it.
"I assure you my son lacks the magical powers necessary to threaten his friend’s existence," the boy's father later wrote in an email to the Odessa American. "If he did, I'm sure he'd bring him right back."
The Stewart family moved to Kermit just 6 months ago and this is already the third time Aiden has been suspended from the school. The first time was when he errantly referred to an African-American friend and classmate as "black" instead of African-American. Aiden was suspended despite protests from the African-American parents who are from Brazil and do not consider themselves to be African-American at all. They feel black is appropriate.
The other time he was suspended was when they were studying the solar system and Aiden brought to school an encyclopedia reference book called The Big Book of Knowledge. I do love a good irony. He was suspended because the educational reference book, for kids in grades 3-8, that be brought to school, contains information about pregnancy. <gasp>
Fast forward to last week, when 9 year old Aiden Steward was attending Kermit Elementary School. The previous weekend he and his family had seen the latest installment in the Lord of the Rings movie franchise, "The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies." Already a Lord of the Rings fan, his parents had gotten him a copy of the One Ring to rule them all, the "Precious" that Bilbo Baggins had taken from Gollum, the ring that was forged in Middle Earth’s Mount Doom. The movie inspired his imagination, so much so that he took his "Precious" to school with him one day last week.
In a playful act of make-believe, told a classmate he could make him disappear with the One Ring. He told the friend he could put a ring on his friend's head and make him invisible, just like Bilbo Baggins. Setting aside the fact that you need to put the ring on your finger and not on your head in order to disappear, telling his friend he could make him disappear was enough to get him suspended from school.
Principal Roxanne Greer told Aiden's father that threats to another child's safety, real or imagined, magical or not, would not be tolerated. It's almost as if she believes the ring would do it.
"I assure you my son lacks the magical powers necessary to threaten his friend’s existence," the boy's father later wrote in an email to the Odessa American. "If he did, I'm sure he'd bring him right back."
The Stewart family moved to Kermit just 6 months ago and this is already the third time Aiden has been suspended from the school. The first time was when he errantly referred to an African-American friend and classmate as "black" instead of African-American. Aiden was suspended despite protests from the African-American parents who are from Brazil and do not consider themselves to be African-American at all. They feel black is appropriate.
The other time he was suspended was when they were studying the solar system and Aiden brought to school an encyclopedia reference book called The Big Book of Knowledge. I do love a good irony. He was suspended because the educational reference book, for kids in grades 3-8, that be brought to school, contains information about pregnancy. <gasp>
