One of life's great joys as a kid in school was when school was coming to a winter or summer break and a teacher would throw the class a pizza party as reward for good behavior, or grades. However, one middle school class in Iowa saw their pizza party taken away by a party-pooping principal.
According to a Facebook post by Neil Erickson, whose son attends Brody Middle School in Des Moines, his son's class had earned a pizza party that was paid for by the teacher.
"He has been excited for this for days…telling me about it and how they earned it. Well today was the day. The pizzas were delivered to the class…the teacher paid and signed the receipt. Principal walks into the classroom and says “I never approve pizza parties” or something to that affect," Erickson wrote.
"He took the pizzas from the kids and let them sit in the office for the teacher to pick up after school."
The post triggered hundreds of angry comments from other parents outraged at the principal's attitude.
"I would be so mad. Those kids deserved that pizza party," one commenter wrote.
"Why should the whole school get pizza? That class earned it. It defeats the purpose of the pizza party. Sounds very socialist to me. Nobody gets pizza or everyone gets pizza?" another person wrote.
"Trying to decide if the principal is more like Scrooge or the Grinch," a third person wrote. "Certainly does not have the heart for dealing with middle school children."
The school principal has since apologized, writing in a statement that he removed the pizzas from the classroom in an attempt to be fair to all students at the school.
“That applies to everything from the chances they have to learn in the classroom to rewards and recognitions by our teachers and staff. We have discussed this from time to time as a school,” he wrote. “… However, I do want to apologize for being overly strict in applying that standard today when it came to one of our classrooms. Most of all, I want to apologize for disappointing any of our students and punishing them.
“I understand that many people have been talking about having pizzas delivered to Brody tomorrow. If that’s the case, we’ll gladly welcome any donations, and arrange for a nice sendoff for our 700 students on the last day before winter break.”