Grade School Principal Who Thinks He’s On Broadway Shuts Late Parents Out Of Christmas Concert
A primary school in Britain decided to drop the hammer on parents who arrived late to their children’s Christmas concert by refusing to allow them inside. Let that be a lesson to all of us who think we can sneak in during the first five minutes of awkward shuffling and deer-in-the-headlights staring that typically act as the prelude to our children’s Christmas concerts. No mas, my friends.
More than 25 people were prevented from entering Welford Primary School to see their five- to ten-year-olds perform in the school’s Christmas concert. The school’s headteacher, Jamie Barry, says that it was only those parents who were ten minutes late or more who were barred, though some parents claim they were no more than five minutes late after getting caught in traffic on their way to the school from work. Said Barry to The Birmingham Mail:
”It wasn’t done to be vindictive…Ten minutes is a long time, and if people continue to come in after that time it is disruptive for the children and other parents.”
Apparently, these children were performing a rather complicated staging of Othello, and there were concerns that latecomers would cause the children to forget their lines and blocking assignments. What’s more likely, though, is that this was a group of kids singing “Jingle Bells” with no expressions on their faces except for that one kid who is a goofball and that other kid who kept picking his nose.
Kids want to see their parents at these concerts. They want to find their family’s faces in the crowd. The priority should have been making sure that that happened for the kids, as opposed to preventing even a hiccup in the muttering of “Hark, The Herald Angel Sings.” Kids aren’t going to care about people sneaking into the back of the room late, but they are going to care about not seeing their parents at a performance.
As for distracting the other parents, well, color me horrified. Those folks worked hard to hold their iPads in just the right position over their heads so they could both see their angel and reduce glare. Now you want to get past them so you can sit in that empty chair? Fuck off. These are memories they’re preserving. Memories that will be sent to friends and family, who will not watch them but will tell them how wonderful their son or daughter was. Memories that will live on their computers for the next few years, until they need more space and say, “Why the hell do we have Amy’s Christmas concert from 2014 on here?” and delete it. And you want to destroy those memories by quietly taking a seat? You should be ashamed.
This is insane. It’s a Christmas concert, people. For first through sixth graders. Nobody’s swallowing swords or anything else that makes their full attention necessary. These things are shit shows and we all know it and love them for it. So can we please chill out? Nope, says Barry, there will be no chilling. From ParentDish:
Although headteacher Barry confirmed that he had no intention of changing the school’s policy on lateness, he admitted that the school had not done enough to make parents aware of the unusually serious consequences of late arrival.
“In hindsight we could have made it clearer before the performance we will make it clearer for future performances.”
Good job. That’ll fix it.
(Photo: Creatista / Shutterstock)
