St. Louis Woman Goes Back to Fourth Grade, But Not Like Billy Madison
If you're a dude in your 20s, you may be fond of the Adam Sandler film "Billy Madison." For anyone too mature for pee and armpit jokes (and whatever else happens in "Billy Madison" — I swear when I was 11 I thought it was hilarious) or just generally averse to Sandler, this is basically what happens: Sandler plays a manchild forced to repeat elementary school by his mega-rich father. Hilarity ensues. Chris Farley drives off of a cliff (or something). Sandler gets to screw Bridgette Wilson. This happens.
Over the last month, St. Louis resident Veronica Williams, pictured above, has been forced into a hellish, "Billy Madison"-esque existence. Except she doesn't get to see Bradley Whitford shot in the ass at the end. Williams' fourth grader attends Barack Obama Elementary (Barack Obama Elementary!), and administrators there allege he has been disrupting class. The school's solution, apparently, has been to require that either Williams or her partner sit in class with her son. Every single day. Believe it or not, Williams has not been able to swing that!
Veronica Williams says she went to school with her son for awhile, but can't afford to do so anymore for fear of losing her job.
She says when she stopped going to class her son was kicked out of school and he hasn't been back in over a week.
Veronica Williams says she can't believe an administrator at Barack Obama Elementary said her 10-year-old son cannot return to school unless she or another adult sits in class with him every day.
"It's frustrating. It's stressful. It's ridiculous. I done it for two weeks", said Williams.
According to Williams, when she sent her son to school by himself, he was suspended. She says she was told that her son could not come to school unless he was accompanied by an adult. This is, of course, completely and utterly ludicrous. But such are the solutions in overcrowded and understaffed American public schools.