(Via jewell willett/Flickr)
Two eighth-grade teachers at Roseland Public School in Windsor, Ontario, are under fire for an elaborate prank that convinced their class they were going to Disney World for an end-of-year trip.
The students were shown a power point presentation that included a palm-lined resort and images and video of Disney World attractions in Orlando, Florida. The final slide was the kicker – instead of heading to the most magical place on Earth, the students learned their school-end trip would be to a local bowling alley.
The teachers also filmed the kids’ reaction to the presentation, and showed the video to other students.
The parents of the students cruelly duped into believing they were going to meet Mickey deluged the school with complaints, and one local mom made the incident public on Facebook.
fake Disney trip? only Roseland would :')
— Vesna Zuber (@vzubes) February 21, 2013
The prank evolved from one of the teacher's suspicions that students were rifling through his desk. In response he planted a brochure advertising the Florida graduation trip, and urged other staff to allow the rumours to circulate wildly.
Despite outrage from the students’ parents and other member of the community, both teachers remain in their jobs, and Greater Essex County School Board members refused to say if they faced disciplinary action.
The board’s director of education Warren Kennedy did make a comment to the CBC, acknowledging that the prank was inappropriate.
Would I call it bullying? I'm not sure I would call it bullying, although it was obviously poor judgment.
