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Schools

A true portrayal, a distasteful idea

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published May 14, 2006

The Williams Middle School seventh-grader stared down his peers from across the bay area and made his point crystal clear: The regime known as Israel has no place in the middle of the Arab world.

Better for the strip of land to be used as a refugee camp or as a penal colony, the boy proffered.

He sounded an awful lot like hard-line Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who, since his 2005 election, has called Israel a "disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map."

And, depending on who you ask, this was a good or bad thing.

"The kid did an awesome job," says Williams humanities teacher Bryan Valladares.

"Our kids work really hard on playing their character," says Valladares, who took 49 students from the international studies magnet school to April's annual Model United Nations competition. "The children did an excellent job of representing Iran and saying things Iran would say."

Some students, parents and teachers from Terrace Community Charter School in Temple Terrace take issue with the aggressive anti-Israel stance and, perhaps even more offensive to them, the Williams team's honorable mention award for Best Delegation.

"I am disturbed that they could give a reward to that kind of country," says Terrace seventh-grader Jordan Taylor, who represented Belize at the event. "I don't think it was in the spirit of the Model UN."

His mom, Eileen, called the episode "distasteful" and "controversial."

"This should have been a positive experience," she says.

His teacher, Robin Wiseman, complained to local organizer Tom Cook after the event ended April 20.

The program is great, she says, but the focus should be on finding peaceful resolutions to the world's problems. Groups that promote aggression should not receive honors. The anti-Israel resolution failed by a wide margin, by the way.

"I felt really bad that some of my students were talking about finding a real extreme country for next year, so they could be recognized," says Wiseman, who was making her school's first appearance at the Model UN.

What to do when politically offensive speech arises in a seemingly appropriate place?

Organizer Cook stands his ground.

"We give awards based on how well those students represent their country," he says. "They must leave their own opinions, however strongly they feel them, at the door."

Witness last year's event, where several Pierce Middle School students whose families fled Cuba found themselves sometimes uncomfortably representing Fidel Castro's regime.

Maybe the Williams Iran delegation was upsetting to some people, Cook says, but "the positions of the government of Iran have become increasingly offensive and ridiculous," as well. The real UN has not expelled Iran, and neither will the Model UN ban students for taking extreme but accurate positions.

Valladares argues that it's all about learning to deal with others. His school chooses countries that don't sit on the fence so they can fully engage in the debate. In addition to Iran, the school also had a team representing the Holy See.

Wiseman isn't so sure. Maybe she's naive, she admits, but she thinks the lesson should be about promoting peace.

"As the real UN continues to evolve ... so, too, does the Model UN need to evolve," she says.

After hearing the debates and the explanations, Jordan says he thinks he has taken away what he needs to know.

"I really wouldn't do it like Iran did it," he says. "To win an award, don't pick the most controversial country and say anti-Semitic things to get an award."

Odds and ends

- Two items of local interest will come before the School Board on Tuesday. The board is slated to approve a replacement principal at Carrollwood Elementary, where superintendent MaryEllen Elia removed Jan King about two weeks ago. King and assistant principal Jamie Whitlow remain on paid administrative leave. The board also is supposed to give a name to Elementary I, the newest school in northwest Hillsborough scheduled to open in portables in August.

- For the second straight year, Westchase Elementary School fourth-graders have won the county Battle of the Books competition. It's an annual event where kids have to correctly and quickly answer questions about the content of several books they have read. Carrollwood Elementary fourth-graders took second place.

- In its first year of operation, Turner Elementary School in the Live Oak subdivision has been named "America's Healthiest School" by iParenting Media, a company that focuses on, you guessed it, parent issues.

- As a first-year principal, Benito Middle School principal Bobby Smith has won Principal of the Year, Middle Schools, from the Hillsborough County Council PTA-PTSA. He also was one of 21 principals nationally to win a MetLife Foundation Ambassadors in Education Award.

Have ideas for future columns? Contact Jeffrey S. Solochek at solochek@sptimes.com or (813) 269-5304 .

[Last modified May 14, 2006, 10:50:49]