For many students around the nation, school assemblies are a time to break from the monotony of classroom instruction. You can relax a bit, hang out with friends, celebrate, and in the best-case scenarios, watch your teachers cut up a little bit as well. It’s supposed to be a good time for all.
But one school in Washington state took things a bit too far in a game that involved teachers behaving inappropriately with students. When parents learned of the game, they were not pleased.
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Teachers and students participated in a game some described as 'weird.'
The game involved students and staff running up to opposite sides of a plexiglass stand, according to Mirror UK. Students at Desert Hills Middle School licked marshmallow cream off one side while teachers did the same on the other side. At the same time. Essentially, students and teachers were facing each other with their tongues separated only by a thin sheet of clear acrylic.
'HOW HOW HOW did this happen?' one mother asked.
In this day and age, everything is recorded. Students captured the game on video, along with a head teacher who was laughing at the display. In the background, you can hear students shouting, “that’s so gross” and “disgusting.”
One Desert Hills mother got wind of the game when her child came home still troubled by it. “My child came home from school on the last day before spring break and said that they had a really weird assembly that day,” Sandi Salisbury said in the video.
"He shared briefly — but I had no idea and could never even imagine how incredibly inappropriate this really was. HOW HOW HOW did this happen?"
Parents wondered how no one in the room saw the issue.
The school in Kennewick, Washington, said the game was a part of a fundraiser. But Salisbury said she doesn’t understand how the game was approved in the first place. “When I first saw the video, I was mortified,” she said.
“The pure lack of judgment was horrifying by the display of behavior from the trusted adults in the room. What got me even more upset was when I saw the principal laughing then pulling his phone out to videotape or take pictures of the event.”
A security guard took things to another level.
Salisbury said he seemed more invested in having “fun” rather than protecting the children. Megan Sa’s daughter filmed the incident. She emailed the school and demanded an explanation. Sa was particularly disturbed by the security guard in the video who seemed to be licking the marshmallow spread in a suggestive way.
"He looked like he was licking the marshmallow off of the plexiglass in a sensual way. How did the adults in the room allow this to happen?’” Sa asked.
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Both the principal and the superintendent apologized.
What makes matters even worse is that the students who agreed to participate in the game did so without knowing what it was. “If this is such a harmless and not an ill-intended game, then why the hell did you not share with the students what the game was going to be and the ground rules?” Sa inquired.
Afterward, Superintendent Dr. Traci Pierce sent a letter to the school’s families acknowledging that the game was inappropriate. Principal Casey Gant also apologized. "As building principal, I take ownership for the events that occur in my school, and I recognize the impact that this situation has had on our school community," he wrote.
"I am committed to the safety of our students and staff and will ensure that all future activities meet the highest professional standards and adhere to district policy," he added. "Again, I apologize that this incident occurred and for the negativity brought to the Desert Hills community."
