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School’s trophy trashing stirs emotions


The retrieval of 46 trophies from a trash bin outside Bridgeport Middle School has stirred emotions among parents and students in the community.

“It’s sad for those kids,” parent Alicia James said. “It’s heartbreaking. It’s like telling those students their accomplishments don’t mean anything.”

According to James, pictures were taken of trophies in the trash bin Wednesday night after receiving a tip from a friend who works for the district. Thursday night, parents and students dived in and obtained 46 pieces of hardware.

“They were all from 2002 or newer,” she said. “Forty-five of them were math/science, and one was a basketball trophy. Some were broken, but the pieces were right there next to them. It was obvious they weren’t broke before they were thrown in the trash.”

However, school officials contend it was all a misunderstanding.

After opting to relocate trophies displayed in cases at the front of the school to the auditorium, where they would be more exposed to the community and to make room to showcase student work in the cases at the front of the school, custodial staff was instructed to toss any that were damaged.

“The ones I observed had been damaged, others were trophies that would not typically be displayed – ones for fourth place at a basketball tournament in 1999 or ones that were dated and you couldn’t read the inscription,” middle school Principal Travis Whisenant said. “It was an oversight on my behalf because I did not account for each trophy.

“There are some that look to be in good condition that were inadvertently tossed. And for that I apologize. As principal, I take 100 percent responsibility. It was an error on my behalf. I’m responsible for not accounting for every trophy.

“We appreciate and are respectful of student accomplishments – both past and present,” he continued. “We take great pride in what our students do.”

Superintendent Eddie Bland assured that tokens representative of high achievement were deliberately kept.

“Attention was paid to not throwing away championship trophies though,” he said. “We didn’t throw any of those away. If you go through and look at what we’ve kept, you’ll see all the championship trophies there. Those will stay displayed forever. But there’s just not an infinite amount of storage space for the trophies you get if you keep winning.”

Bland said the school considered other options to make space.

“Some people sell them,” Bland said. “Some people send notice out allowing people to come pick what they want every six to eight years. But almost nobody comes and gets them.”

Whisenant added that if a community member retrieved a trophy they want displayed, school officials would take it back and proudly display it, just as they would welcome speaking with parents.

“I have not had the opportunity to speak with parents because no parent has contacted me about this,” he said. “I welcome any opportunity to talk to parents.”

Bland added: “We have a lot of respect and take a lot of pride in the accomplishments of our students. I can promise you that every one of us care about kids, and we are busting our tail to provide them the best. If we discarded trophies of value, it was purely accidental. If it offended anybody, I am absolutely sorry. If we erred, there was no malicious intent.

“Please come talk to us and we’ll try to reach a resolution. But you can’t reach a resolution if there is no communication,” the superintendent said.

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