Mommy, Why Is There A Coffin On The Grass At School?

It’s been difficult enough for kids of all ages to have to deal with all the effects of covid19 in the past 18 months.  Say nothing about protecting themselves from the very virus, but the many other sacrifices they had to make.

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They couldn’t play organized sports.   They couldn’t hang out in person with their friends.  They skipped traditional birthday parties and had friends and families do Drive-Bys instead.  Many of those drive-bys were to visit grandma and grandpa as they waved to each other behind a pane of glass.

Oh, let’s not forget about prom, graduations, or attending in-class school.  All canceled due to the 100-year pandemic.

Some even had to experience losing a friend or a loved one from this awful virus.  In many cases, not able to be by their sides in those last moments because it was too dangerous.

Now imagine the emotional toll it took when students and teachers went to school last week in Edison New Jersey, only to find an exhibition protest in the form of a coffin and picture of a dead person sprawled along with the front lawn of the Lincoln Elementary School’s property.

It doesn’t matter that it was in front of an elementary school.  The fact that it was done is appalling and inpatriate at best.

See, this is the result of a labor dispute between the school districts hiring a certain contractor to do some work for the schools.

As you can imagine the superintendent was furious and embarrassed.  When he asked for the members of the union involved to take down and remove the coffin, they said no.

Well, Superintendent Bernard Bragen said…

‘They said, ‘tough s---.’”

So Bragen did what any decent person would do, he piled the display on the ground and covered it with a tarp.  Unfortunately, the damage was done, students had already witnessed the despicable imagery.

The union's message scripted across the image of a dead person's feet with toe-tags read…

“Irresponsible contractors are killing our middle class wages.”

Bragen also said to NJ Advance Media...

"It’s inappropriate for children to have a casket, especially 5- and 6-year-olds who are returning to school after probably some of the most traumatic times we’ve had in the last 18 months."

Despite their actions, eventually, a union spokesperson agreed with those who were not pleased with that type of display on school grounds...

"Some have argued that its use was inappropriate for an elementary school setting. We agree and have begun a review of the process and will work to ensure we don’t make this mistake again.”

Better late than never.