Dumb True Story of the Week

Thanks once again to the This is True newsletter for bringing this to my attention.  Story written by Randy Cassingham. It illustrates the insanity of zero tolerance on some issues and the overbearing nature of the “nanny” approach to, well, to just about everything except being a nanny.

Kaitlin Nootbaar was named valedictorian in her class at Prague (Oklahoma) High School, and was asked to give a speech at graduation. In her speech she said that when asked what she was going to do after graduation, she would reply, “How the hell do I know? I’ve changed my mind so many times.” The audience laughed, and applauded politely when she sat down. But school officials were furious at her using the word — her script had said “heck”. “Your diploma is right here,” Principal David Smith told her, “but you’re not getting it.” Not until she wrote an apology for “cursing” in her speech. Nootbaar has refused. “She earned that diploma,” says her father, David Nootbaar.  “She completed all the state curriculum.” He says withholding the diploma is illegal. Kaitlin, meanwhile, has started classes at Southwest Oklahoma State University — on a full scholarship — leaving Prague High an international laughingstock.