OK, that’s pretty funny. They actually banned it….for a few hours 🤣
Do we really care?
We shouldn’t – it’s stupid.
I mean, maybe the teachers over at Great Valley Middle School care because if banned there are no more videos of them anywhere right now…until those little “darlings” move elsewhere?
And gosh maybe that guy of gun raffle tickets who spray painted over political signs with the nasty over in West Goshen and is/was on GOP state committee and his wife who used to make those ridiculous May/Decembet he’s not my daddy videos would be upset?
Maybe this is where my age is showing (except I know those older than me who made ridiculous TikTok videos), but I didn’t really use TikTok. Once in a while, I went over and looked at it, but I never got the craze. I just didn’t.
When it comes to TikTok I never got the hype. And “influencers”? I’m sure they can video themselves elsewhere with food hanging out of their mouths, getting free meals and “merch”, and putting berets on their heads like pancakes, right? And heck everyone hawking Laura Geller makeup will just stay on Instagram, right? And I don’t think I need to learn how to vomit pumpkins on my front porch on TikTok, either.
So for me this is kind of a fascinating sociological study. All sorts of caterwauling and I think it’s a stunt. A political stunt. And then Jeff Yass will just make MORE money.
And we need to remember who said that it should be banned circa 2020, right?
Y’all are falling for it hook, line, and sinker. Now when they come back, if people just boycotted them for a few days, that would send a message, but like Pavlov’s dog they’ll be right there, drooling.
Byeeee TikTok….for today….yawn.
I did like the New York Times editorial from a teenager however…
So hmmm…my opinion (which I am allowed) is this man is officially now the TikTok fall guy. Fall guy much Great Valley School District ? The TikTok principal of Great Valley Middle School took his orders like a good soldier, yes? So why is superintendent staying? I would be curious as to which parents were emailed because parents I know who always look at their email did not get an email they saw this on a social media page.
I feel sorry for this man. Perhaps it’s time for Superintendent Daniel Goffredo to actually go? He’s the top, effective leadership is supposed to start at the top but is it?
Allow me to quote some parents:
I did not receive an email either. Nor did the other mother of my children. And this is why I feel the way I do about these situations. I have to find everything out not from the source. And most of the time my kids know more than I do.
And
BS- there is no email to ‘parents’. I just checked all my folders. I have plenty other emails from them regarding the MS including one earlier today at 11:35 as a follow up to Friday’s incident. But nothing on the 19th, or 18th, or any other day with that information. What a great way to find out because someone else posts on FB….not!
I searched my primary inbox, spam, promotions, social and updates. All my folders, and there is nothing. Just the emails about Friday’s incident, and nothing from the district on the prior days post School Board meeting when they approved his retirement as a no-name employee number xxx (found in the agenda under personnel item 1e I think)… I suspected it that night. Now I know.
And
I didn’t see one. I agree. Fall guy.
And
I DID NOT receive the email that was supposedly sent to families on 9/19. Upon finding out the news tonight on Facebook(of course) in another group where other parents were sharing similar screenshots and saying this is also their first time learning about it, I went digging in my email thinking I missed something. Nope. I checked my primary folder, spam, promotions, social and updates folders. These are all my 5 folders. Nada. Zilch. No such email. None of the MS families who commented in other groups have received the email mentioned in dr Goffredo’s blurb. I had my suspicions during the latest SB meeting when one of the agenda items under Personnel was ‘Retirement Agreement Employee #827867, effective June 30, 2025’. The other staff members were all named in the agenda. Lack of communication, poor communication, conflicting information/communication, too vague and so on- these are just some of the continuous complains from the community when it comes to GVSD. You’d think they would double check that an email was indeed shared with families before posting that claim in an official statement. I won’t say I’m surprised- I’m most certainly not. Dr Souders wasn’t perfect- who is? But to see him go this way is sad.
Update about MS Leadership The Great Valley School District emailed teachers and families to provide an update about leadership at Great Valley Middle School. The email is below in its entirety. September 19, 2024 Dear GVSD Community, This email is sent to update you about leadership at Great Valley Middle School. Dr. Edward Souders will remain on leave for the remainder of the school year and will retire in June 2025. Consistent with our practice, we cannot provide any additional information as we are committed to honoring our employees’ right to privacy. Dr. Sharon Cohen will remain in the interim principal role at Great Valley Middle School and will be supported by Mr. Thomas Mulvey. We will conduct a principal search in an expeditious manner with the goal of naming a permanent principal as soon as possible. You can expect an additional announcement regarding the search in the near future. We are grateful to Dr. Souders for his many years of service to the Great Valley School District and wish him well in his retirement. Sincerely, Daniel Goffredo, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools
And Great Valley School District has person whose job it is to communicate. This is yet another failure to communicate in this school district, sadly. Maybe she should retire too?
Well Great Valley this sure is awkward isn’t it? Should the question actually be should Goffredo stay or should he go now?
The below and this post is me exhibiting my First Amendment rights. The media articles and television reports on the Great Valley Middle School horror show of TikTok is freedom of the press under….wait for it…First Amendment rights.
I have found the Great Valley School District’s responses shall we say, scripted? They have been overly scripted on everything coming out of their mouths since COVID.
While I supported the district trying to be responsible to all during COVID and felt for them having to deal with anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers in all of these school districts, I firmly believe that the school district could and should do more here. Frankly, I think Great Valley School District Superintendent Daniel Goffredo needs to put his scripted responses down and find where he misplaced his balls. And yes, this is an opinion and I can have it….wait for it…as part of my Amendment Rights.
Here are some comments about this off of Reddit as well as my prior post:
It seems like so much time has passed since I wrote my initial post. And what a whirlwind has occurred locally.
I understand how these teachers feel. I had an adult in another state do something similar to me years ago. This person was a relative of someone who was in my life years ago. This had nothing to do with me being a blogger, this had to do with me being happy in my life. It was totally twisted.
Every day they did something.
And it was ridiculous. Social media platforms talk a good game about stopping these behaviors but hey they can’t even stop a bunch of Great Valley middle schoolers on TikTok can they?
Eventually the abuse stopped. But things I won’t forget are the people who thought it was okay. One of those people is a sitting elected official in Chester County. She enjoyed the harassment of me because she didn’t like my blogging. If she runs for office again I will remind her that she liked what this person did and show people.
I don’t wish what happened to me, and what still occasionally happens to me, to happen to anyone, let alone teachers.
And again, middle schoolers are doing this, so where are their parents?
I hope it comes with a side of accountability. This is an error like that Reddit screenshot person said deals with the people who use the screens as babysitters for the kids. The screens are still babysitting the kids, only the kids no more than the parents, and in some cases the schools. So I’m sure you know you kids get school issued iPads, and what not, and how many of the kids know how to do the factory settings reset or whatever so they can bypass restrictions that the school has in place?
Now Great Valley thus far in the midst of their scripted responses, haven’t really done anything . They actually could expel those kids, especially since after their suspension vacation earlier in 2024, they are creating again in the summer.
I was reading something that I found interesting :
Lozano Smith/ Attorneys at Law
Supreme Court Sets Aside Student’s Cheer Team Suspension, but Confirms Schools’ Authority to Regulate Off-Campus Expression
July 20th, 2021
In its first student free speech case since 2007, Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of a student whose off-campus and off-color social media (Snapchat) posts resulted in her suspension from the school’s junior varsity cheerleading team. The Supreme Court confirmed, however, that schools may still regulate student expression occurring off-campus on a case-by-case basis under the Tinker standard, albeit to a lesser degree than when regulating on-campus student expression.
Background
In the preeminent 1969 student speech opinion, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the Supreme Court articulated a standard wherein “conduct by a student that materially disrupts classwork or involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others” does not enjoy the “constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech.” The facts in Tinker involved speech that took place on campus. For decades, schools and lower courts have grappled with the applicable standard for measuring the regulation of a student’s off-campus expression by school officials, with nearly all courts determining Tinkerpermits schools to impose consequences on students for off-campus expression, assuming an adequate showing of substantial disruption to the educational environment or infringement on the rights of other students resulting from the student’s expression.
This case, this BL judicial opinion does indicate that schools YES indeed CAN regulate what students are saying in very specific circumstances.
Importantly, the court noted various examples of off-campus student speech that may satisfy the Tinker standard and thus be subject to regulation as well as disciplinary and extracurricular consequences. Such examples include sexually harassing expression, bullying, or threats of violence targeting a student, staff member, or school site.
And at 11 AM on WCHE Friday this will be a topic of conversation.
I think these kids should be removed from the district, and I hope the teachers sue the district and the parents , and finally ? Consider a strike .
How to show support for the GVSD teachers:
come to the school board meeting this Monday 7/15 at 7:30pm
speak when it’s time for public comment, even if it’s just to stay you stand with all teachers and staff. Because they are all experiencing trauma and stress of some degree.
if you cannot attend, send an email and cc the superintendent and all school board members, their contact info is on the website. https://www.gvsd.org/
Apparently according to the New York Times if you have bookshelves with books in them, you have “Bookshelf Weath” – it’s some TikTok interior design craze, apparently. I don’t really TikTok and books? We love books here. They aren’t in our lives merely for interior design cuteness.
When it comes to aesthetic trends, social media loves a catchy name.
Cottagecore. Dark academia. Eclectic grandpa.
Now there’s a new entry to the canon: bookshelf wealth.
On TikTok and other digital platforms, there has lately been much ado about people who own a great number of books and — this is critical — have managed to stage them in a pleasing manner.
If you’ve ever seen a Nancy Meyers movie, the look might ring a bell. Warm and welcoming. Polished, but not stuffy. A bronze lamp here. A vintage vase there (with fresh-cut flowers, of course). Perhaps there is a cozy seating area near the floor-to-ceiling display, with an overstuffed couch topped with tasteful throw pillows.
Kailee Blalock, an interior designer in San Diego, posted a video to TikTok last month that sought to define bookshelf wealth and school viewers in achieving the aesthetic in their own homes.
We have “bookshelf wealth” because we come from families of readers, and we are readers. Our books are here not because they look cute, but because they mean something. I don’t know how you can have a house without bookshelves or books, truthfully. I guess there are that many people that don’t read books anymore they just have them for decoration?
And I have had people come into our home and look at the bookshelves and ask if we’ve read the books, which to me is the weirdest question ever, because why would you have a book if you weren’t going to read it?
And please ignore the tiny pixies on the shelves. They are going away today. 🤣
Now a pro tip: those rolling racks that you use for underneath dorm room beds that aren’t up on risers for storage are great locations for extra books. In my case it’s where my extra gardening and cookbooks go.
But I digress….
I’m telling you this “trend” totally cracks me up because it was like that book trend a few years ago that also showed up somewhere on social media of people carving /cutting books, and like making sculptures out of the pages which to me was like so sacrilegious because again, I love books.
And I love fairs like the Saint David’s Church Fair every October because you can get some amazing books in the second hand book tent! And that fair probably has the best used book selection you will see at any flea market setting.
They used to have books at Harriton Fair in Bryn Mawr, but the current Executive Director in her eternal wisdom of behaving like an idiot, got rid of them at the fair starting in 2023 I think. Ironically, because I volunteered for that fair for so many years, I know for a fact that was one of the biggest moneymakers.
Also, most libraries will have used book sales at some point in the year. Two of my favorites, historically have been when the Tredyffrin library and Ludington library in Bryn Mawr put out the used books for sale sign.
For buying used books in general, it’s always fun to go into a used bookstore, there used to be one years ago at Bryn Mawr College called The Owl that was fabulous. And here in Chester County we have Baldwin’s Book Barn, and if you’ve never been, it’s an adventure and it’s awesome. You can also find a great selection of vintage and used books at garage sales and secondhand shops even Goodwill. And online through ThriftBooks and Abe’s Books etc.
Yes, can you tell I love books? But I have them because I read them or I read them or they mean something. They’re not just decorations on a shelf.
So let’s review: a man who worked for West Goshen killed himself recently. First we find out that the widow is suing the township and then there were political signs defaced – only Democrat candidates with the word “Murderer.” And the West Goshen Republican Committee then issued an edict from on high (or down low?) and if you recall I wondered about how coincidental it all was?
Then guy resigns as committeeman and I remark I was surprised the guy had time due to his busy TikTok account and You Tube with his wifey – and PS they say she was mail order/correspondence bride NOT ME.
So yeah all sorts of people have been talking about this TikTok phenomenon etc right? But oh no, knee jerk guy sends me a love note this morning like my name is really Al Gore and I created the Internet and all it’s problems:
So I am a disgusting, bigoted pig? You have a low opinion of women who are not subservient to you I suppose? Biggest problem with your assertion as to my character is I never said one thing about your wife’s nationality or referenced it in a derogatory manner. Nor would I. I actually don’t think that. I just hope she’s always treated well.
But since you opened the door to this conversation, YOU and SHE have created a public figure status vis-à-vis the two TikTok accounts and the You Tube account and whatever other platforms she is using. What blows my mind other than that video where you/she discuss how you met…is the 40 + year age gap. All I kept thinking of was that Sex & The City episode where Samantha dates an old man…
But YOU put it out there and there are SO many videos and apparently there are plenty of TikTok users who have said quite a lot aboot your 40+ year age difference. Allow me to summarize: it’s not just May/December it’s May/December in different centuries , isn’t it? And since you made it public, it’s creepy A.F.
So that is not just my opinion and others all over social media like Just the Facts Please on Facebook have commented on your umm life you’ve made public on social media platforms, but he’s a man so you don’t call him a disgusting, bigoted pig, etc do you? Mysoginidc much, grandpa?
One of my male friends describes you as derf.
In case you are suffering a memory lapse, y’all said right on TikTok how you met ⬇️
So let’s also go to the West Goshen portion of your comments. Because you actually disclosed something that West Goshen had not disclosed and you claim in your comments that they made the gentleman that killed himself pay back his overtime?
So EXACTLY HOW DO YOU KNOW ?
And if you know where this squirrel time comp time overtime “rule” whatever is codified as in written down please do share because West Goshen taxpayers have been paying for this right? So your comment/rant on this blog indicates you have inside information? How do you have inside knowledge?
And also important is if you knew this man was mentally fragile and that he had been bullied etc. on the job in this municipality why are you only saying something now? If you really cared about the man, why didn’t you do something about it at the time?
Once again, so we’re all clear here, I never knew this guy who sent me the vile love note existed on this planet until he started scribbling on campaign signs the word “murderer.” And even then I didn’t know who he actually was until the police announced who he was and then I was inundated with messages from people in West Goshen.
And ALL of this crazy social media stuff is PUBLIC, so why isn’t he getting nasty with all of TikTok etc? I sure as shit didn’t discover any of this information, people his own community and the Internet have been talking about it for quite a while, apparently. Anyone who knows me knows that TikTok’s not really my jam, so I pay very little attention to it normally.
I am still wondering why exactly is any of this myfault? The answer of course is it is not, but I am a woman still younger than he is, but closer to his age range that thinks this is all a little odd.
And me, expressing that opinion with all this public stuff on the Internet they put there is not illegal. And I have not said one word about his wife’s nationality. So her nationality is perhaps his hang up? She’s a beautiful girl, but she should be out clubbing, going to college, shopping with her girlfriends, having age appropriate fun, not catering to a senior citizen in training.
Good Lord, West Goshen. What do you people put in the water over? Did something escape from the sewage treatment plant and infect the residents or what?
Just another day in the unending soap opera mostly political called As The Chester County turns.
Maybe good old West Goshen Paul, who sends me love notes should also watch Hallmark movies. It might improve his disposition. If not, he can continue to dance on TikTok.
