ClockGate: Irving School District Letter Offers No Apologies, Blames Student for Clock

Kevin Aherne

Ding Dong! 

No, that's not an alarm clock going off. In fact, it's not representative of any sound -- but rather, it's an adjective describing the administration for the Irving Independent School District, parent to MacArthur High School in Texas, which made headlines this week for suspending and contacting police after a Muslim student, Ahmed Mohammed, brought to school a science project which was mistaken for a bomb. It was a clock. 

Read the School District's Ridiculous Response Below

The 14-year old Freshman had built the clock from scratch as an engineering project, and brought it to class so that he could impress his teacher. The engineering teacher was impressed, but another teacher in the school sounded the alarm, reporting the student's behavior to the school administration. At this point, no major harm was enacted.  The English teacher was using an abundance of caution, and reported what she interpreted to be a potentially dangerous situation. 

However, when the school administration intervened, things got out of hand. Even after it was clear that the  student had no ill-intent, and that his device was not some half-cocked bomb, but rather a CLOCK, the police were contacted. The student was arrested for presenting a "hoax bomb," but was later released. The school, however, imposed a 3-day suspension for the teenager for violating the student "code of conduct."

Following the media backlash and community outrage, the school district sent out a letter to parents in the district. Most expected this to be a letter that apologized for overreacting and explain how this is a teachable moment in discrimination and racial profiling. That's not what happened. Instead, the school doubled down, blaming the student for his actions and commending the response by its faculty. 

The Letter:

281348805-parentletter-suspiciouslookingitematmacarthur.pdf
File Size:	204 kb
File Type:	pdf

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