Comments on: Osbourn High School: Walk Of Rememberance

By: adil suhail

adil suhail — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:16:26 +0000

yo that is sadd i haave lost my oldere bro

By: forever young

forever young — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:09:19 +0000

I cannot explain in words how painful this year has been for us students at OHS. Parents and community might think it’s bad.. but being around the situation.. loosing your best friend.. is unexplainable. Both Christian and Jackson were amazing guys. I’ll never forget either of them.. I love them both so so so much. I wish I still had them both in my life..

By: SJHSrip

SJHSrip — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 03:26:56 +0000

im a student at SJHS. i remember when christian green passed, the monday after it happened, one of the girls came into my frist block class crying so hard. i didnt know christian, but i’ve heard about him and the type of person he was.
also, i have many friends at osbourn, and i know that this has been a tough year for everyone. i think that some of the comments made on here were rude and uncalled for. you shouldnt be arguing about this stuff - you should be enjoying their memories for what it’s worth: love what you have of them. cherish their smiles, not fight over their deaths and all that. from personal experience, remembering someone’s smile is much more comforting - not happier, but comforting - than remembering their death. you shouldnt forget the bad, but you should learn from it and grow from it.
rest in peace, guys. you will never be forgotten.

By: iloveyoujack

iloveyoujack — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:49:04 +0000

RESPOND TO DEIJA:
Get the story right before you make a public post about what happened here. Jackson did not kill himself for being made fun of and being picked on by his brother. He was actually a popular guy and everyone loved to be around him.

By: frustrated.

frustrated. — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 02:52:40 +0000

imo, i wouldnt say why they made that final decision without knowing the true story. you arent them. you dont know why they truly did it. plus, the reason that the way that the students die arent in the obituaries, are out of respect for the parents. they dont want the details of their childs death put out there like that.

By: deija

deija — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 03:31:19 +0000

my sister qoes to ousbourn & the accidental death & a suicide were 2 of her best friends. accidental= was christian green, accidentally shot himself huntinq. & one suicide= jackson [?), hunq himself because he was beinq picked on for beinq qay [&) his brother was the only person he had [&) his brother said why dont you qo kill yourself cuz they started fiqhtinq [&) he went [&) hunq himself. =( today was jacksons viewinq . :[

By: OHSALUMNI

OHSALUMNI — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:03:38 +0000

I remember when the girl at Osbourn Park ran in front of the train. I was a student at Osbourn on Tudor Lane at that time and that happened at the Osbourn (Park) On Euclid Avenue. When I was there at Osbourn, the biggest mischief was somebody from Osbourn Park coming over and putting something metallic across a suspended electrical line in back of the school.
I left Osbourn many years ago. Look, Osbourn needs some sort of a summit of some sort. Parents and educators have to come together with the kids. They have to sit down with the school board and they need to forge a way forward. These deaths and how to deal with this epidemic needs to be dealt with first and foremost before any other types of learning can go on there. Kids are not going to learn anything if their minds are pre-occupied with who is going to die next. That’s what they are thinking about, that’s what the hushed gossip is in the halls, that’s what the content of it is. The culture is that nobody is going to say anything about anything, snitches get stitches, yaddah yaddah. These kids shouldn’t be thinking about death, they should be excited about a positive life they can lead and what the future can hold for them. I was, even though it didn’t quite work out as I thought it would, I’m still here. Osbourn has a lot of seasoned veteran teachers there. A few are still there now that were there way back when I was there. I respect them. I did take issue with the psychologists though and the free flow of information between them and the Special Ed Dept.
Osbourn needs to look at it’s policies. It needs to look at it’s ability to recognize the troubled kids and get them sifted out quietly, quickly and discretely. Does the child need to go to a psychiatrist or a psychologist? Note” only one of them could prescribe a medicine. Home life versus grades, yes mine stunk, more could have been done and wasn’t but I was not alone. What would Fanny and Eugenia Osbourn have done if they were confronted with this? Osbourn High school is in need of some serious help. Kids shouldn’t be thinking about being dead. I hope that somebody is paying attention and gets Principal Conti the help he needs over there to get this dealt with. I feel for him. I know he is just beside himself totally bewildered by all this. I feel for all the people and all the families involved.
Let’s stop slinging the mud here. We don’t have the time for it. These kids lives are at stake and the stakes could never be higher. Everyone’s support is what is needed here not any arguing. Manassas has to get this epidemic beat. Period.
Mentorship programs, extra-curricular activities involvement as opposed to seclusion. Communication (I’m not talking about the digital kind) is what we need for these kids. Assemblies to talk about these issues, to show them not to be afraid. Once they can beat all that they will start to do better.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone of them.

By: A Concerned Citizen

A Concerned Citizen — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:00:50 +0000

It has been brought to my attention that yet another suicide has occurred at Osbourn. I have not been able to locate the story itself as of yet, i believe it is very recent. I am saddened that Osbourn High is being continually tramatized by this.

These students need guidence and support. Something is going terribly wrong for these children. We need to, as a communtiy - find a way to detect and resolve their emotional issues. Something is going wrong and these kids needs aren’t being met. Lets come together to find the problem and create a resolution to prevent this from happenening.

My heart goes out to the most recent family who is a victim of this. My thoughts and prayers are with them all.

By: smdfkf

smdfkf — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 02:00:34 +0000

Another student died

By: geodon

geodon — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:36:19 +0000

To Head Dr: I also grew up in the area in the 1980’s and ateacher is correct. A teenage girl (I think she was 14) did in fact run in front of a train in front of her classmates. It was later discovered through her diary that her father had been sexually abusing her. Just because you can’t find it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. While ateacher’s comments may not have been appropriate for this post, please don’t presume to know what/how other people are or should be thinking or feeling. Different people react differently to situations. That doesn’t make one right and one wrong. It makes us human.

By: it was a hard time

it was a hard time — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:59:51 +0000

it was a very hard time for everyone when our fellow students passed away. Sometimes adults don’t know or misunderstand how hard it is to be a teenager. I feel for those people who knew the ones who passed away as I am apart of this school to and even if I didn’t know the students I was also in shock and was very upset. All of you who are grieving my condolences go to you from the bottom of my heart. This all made me realize that life is to precious to waste even a minute of it on hate. That’s why we should all love one another and face hate with love. Hate is easy , Love takes courage. We should all forget what separates us and focus on what brings us together. I only know that we are all one race and that is HUMANS.

By: GrievingStudent(RIP.D&C)

GrievingStudent(RIP.D&C) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:10:21 +0000

As a student of osbourn who knew two of the people who died, one of the suicide victims and the accidental death victim, I don’t believe this upset has so much to do with your statement being wrong, as where you said it. This is an emotional issue that did not need to have politics brought into it. I have heard the story of the student running at the train from other teachers in the past. You are entitled to your opinion, but this was not the place to bring it. I attended the walk. I talked to teachers about the walk, some who attended and some who chose not to. None of them ever brought up the issue of not getting time to go vote. They all either took care of it before or after work or during their lunch and none of them had an issue with it. Let us grieve and leave politics out of it. and for posting what you did on an already emotional issue and making it more emotional I will stand with those saying you need help.

By: Head Dr

Head Dr — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:36:25 +0000

ateacher
I have researched and found no such story of a student in the 1980’s running in front of a train and killing herself. If you indeed did create this story, I have to say that those who have said you need some help are right.
All your posts make you sound like an angry, politically motivated, selfish person. You have not only an “us against them” attitude but have a “the world against me” attitude. Just in evaluating how you write and the words you choose, you very likely are a paranoid schizophrenic and should seek some medical assistance. Check out the Prince William County Health System at pwhs.org. And for the sake of the children, you should immediately remove yourself from the classroom.

By: ateacher

ateacher — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:26:42 +0000

Of couse they want understanding, and after the suicide, overdose, and three traffic deaths of people I either knew, or was aquainted with during HS I understand what the students are feeling, and I wholly agree that such rituals as a remembrance walk can be beneficial to students. I never once said “get over it”. My experience was what it was in an era when suicides or accidents were not spoken of. My point was that times have changed, and no longer are students to come to school and act as though a death never occurred. Perhaps my “is this fair” statement was out of line and inappropriate and I’ll cpo to that, but I was upset that before the walk of remembrance was organized, teachers were told that if they were late due to voting, then their lateness would be forgiven. Then on the eve of elections, the staff was told that ONLY teachers that went to the walk would have their time forgiven, and all those who were late due to voting issues would have to make up their time. In hindsight there were no voting issues in this area, and most lines were smooth and efficient but no one knew this would be the case. I was not the only teacher to react to the news with “what?” and wonder why two EQUALLY IMPORTANT events(for two separate reasons) had to be divided by MCPS into no penalty vs no penalty.

By: Love The USA

Love The USA — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:46:51 +0000

If after what you witnessed ateacher and you ignore a student and you ignore a student in distress, or make a callous comment like get over it, you are contributing to the pain these kids are feeling. They want understanding and someone they can trust to be there for them.

You might be the one, since you don’t seem to have any compassion to send the next student over the edge. I hope that this is not the case.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 21:17:00 +0000

“As of the latest staff meeting…If one chooses to engage in the walk of remembrance then all hours spent outside school are forgiven. However, if you are late to work or detained on your lunch hour b/c you are in line to vote then one must make up the hours. This is fair?”

ateacher, this was your quote… you didn’t say it was a bad thing, but, wow, was it not appropriate…

By: ateacher

ateacher — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 12:35:55 +0000

It is also beneficial for students that in today’s society schools are more open to hosting such events as the remembrance walk. Not so long ago, student deaths were not spoken of in school except perhaps among the students. Now counselors are more accessible, and students have become more educated about suicide prevention. That is a good thing. I don’t ever remember posting that the remembrance walk was a bad thing, or that the students should not be remembered or mourned.

By: ateacher

ateacher — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 04:06:13 +0000

knew what to do. Even those who believed her. You see anon, years later we now understand. Now we have the psych insight, we see what we missed, and we deal with that and then we move on. And no matter what we learned or how we have grown, we still have not forgotten her name.

By: ateacher

ateacher — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 02:50:42 +0000

I still remember her name 22 years later. She was not an athelete, or a cheerleader, nor did she have big hair. She was a person who fell between the cracks. She announced her suicide during her first class. No one believed her. All day she told her friends that she was going to kill herself and they either didn’t believe her, or they didn’t know what to do. The day she chose to die, she gave away her personal possesions, paid for her friends’ lunches and said over and over that she was planning to kill herself. Many of her friends blew her off as dramatic, some even laughed at her….but NOT ONE

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 06:25:55 +0000

ateacher,

Please seek some help tomorrow!!! You of all people should know how this is affecting the students. 20+ years later and you still have serious issues! You need to take a leave of absence and deal with it now before you loose your job (if it’s not too late already). Not smart to be posting these kinds of comments for all to see, including angry parents, principals, school board members ect.

These deaths have affected the entire community. I have a student in Osbourn who knew these kids and a student at Metz who knows their siblings. My wife is struggling after taking my children to funeral services for these children. Any funeral service takes it’s toll on you. But taking your children to services for their peers is especially difficult. It’s been very hard on them. I don’t need you making it harder on them in school because you can deal with it personally!

You have no business being around these kids now. Maybe you are not “some unthinking person, some terrible person…” but you will be remembered that way the rest of these students lives. You should be ashamed of yourself if you made it any harder for any of these students. GET SOME HELP!