Teacher Pens FB Post About Florida School Shooting
It's gone mega-viral for all the right reasons
By Chris Enloe
TheBlaze.com
Kelly Guthrie Raley was named “Teacher of the Year” at her Florida school, Eustis Middle School, for the 2017-2018 school year last month, according to Fox News. But now she’s being recognized for her cultural commentary following the tragic Florida school shooting.
In a Facebook post that’s gone mega-viral, Ms. Raley analyzes American culture at-large and how it contributed to Wednesday’s shootings and other previous mass shootings.
What did she say?
Raley did not hold anything back. She wrote:
Until we, as a country, are willing to get serious and talk about mental health issues, lack of available care for the mental health issues, lack of discipline in the home, horrendous lack of parental support when the schools are trying to control horrible behavior at school (oh no! Not MY KID. What did YOU do to cause my kid to react that way?), lack of moral values, and yes, I’ll say it-violent video games that take away all sensitivity to ANY compassion for others’ lives, as well as reality TV that makes it commonplace for people to constantly scream up in each others’ faces and not value any other person but themselves, we will have a gun problem in school. Our kids don’t understand the permanency of death anymore!!!
The middle school teacher then told parents they need to “STEP UP,” explaining that much of the cultural problem begins at home.
“My parents NEVER supported any bad behavior from me. I was terrified of doing something bad at school, as I would have not had a life until I corrected the problem and straightened my a** out. My parents invaded my life,” Raley wrote.
“They knew where I was ALL the time. They made me have a curfew. They made me wake them up when I got home. They made me respect their rules. They had full control of their house, and at any time could and would go through every inch of my bedroom, backpack, pockets, anything!” she explained.
“Parents: it’s time to STEP UP! Be the parent that actually gives a crap! Be the annoying mom that pries and knows what your kid is doing. STOP being their friend,” Raley charged.
Raley wanted to emphasize that her post had nothing to do with the conversation about guns or gun control. She wrote:
This post wasn’t about gun control. This was me, loving the crap out of people and wanting the best for them. This was about my school babies and knowing that God created each one for greatness, and just wanting them to reach their futures. It’s about 20 years ago this year I started my teaching career. Violence was not this bad 20 years ago. Lack of compassion wasn’t this bad 20 years ago. And God knows 20 years ago that I wasn’t afraid daily to call a parent because I KNEW that 9 out of 10 would cuss me out, tell me to go to Hell, call the news on me, call the school board on me, or post all over FaceBook about me because I called to let them know what their child chose to do at school…because they are a NORMAL kid!!!!!
The post, published Thursday morning, has received more than 700,000 reactions and nearly 600,000 shares.