Author Archives: Stan Jester

We write to you as the students who received the skit assignment in Herr Uwe Neuhaus’s German V class that has received so much attention. Our hope is to provide context on how our class operates and to clarify that we, as the students who actually received the assignment and interacted regularly with Herr Neuhaus, do not feel that Herr Neuhaus had any threatening, malicious, or predatory intent at all when giving us the skit assignment. We do not know what complaints you may have received, or from whom you may have received them.

We simply hope that our take on the situation, as those directly involved and affected, will convince you to immediately return Herr Neuhaus to Chamblee Charter High School, where he has worked for years and positively influenced the lives of so many students.

German V was not a first encounter with Herr Neuhaus for any of us. Most of us were students of his for the two years previous (German III+ and AP German), while the others had him as a teacher for AP German only. Regardless, we will all tell you that a hallmark of Herr Neuhaus’s classes is his creativity and dynamism in creating assignments to help his students master German. Typical activities were presentations, creative writing, and yes, skits. Only rarely was our daily class period filled with monotone grammar drills or multiple choice questions. Instead, Herr Neuhaus always sought to force us to think critically and creatively and to put our knowledge to use in the three dimensional way that true mastery of a language requires. As a result, demonstrations and skits performed for the class are something that we as a class are used to and comfortable with.

That being said, we can concur that the skits that Herr Neuhaus assigned to us on April 21st were more provocative than anything we’d received before, and consequently students expressed their discomfort with the given assignment. But while everyone seems to fixate on the content of some of the skits, we feel that the fact that Herr Neuhaus permitted us to cut or entirely rewrite scenes we were uncomfortable with acting out has been entirely omitted from the narrative. The skits were never for a grade–they were simply another challenge presented to us (in this case taken from the senior German VI class’s unit on humor) by Herr Neuhaus with the intention of improving our German while having fun. Yes, some of the skits were inappropriate.

But the fact that students felt they could tell Herr Neuhaus that they were not comfortable with his assignment, and that he then notified the entire class that it was our choice of how or if we wanted to do the skits, is much more reflective of the nature of our German class and our relationship to him than the content of the skits themselves.

We are the people who were affected by this assignment. We are the ones in the classroom everyday with Herr Neuhaus, and as a result our perspective on these skits is unique from the views of administrators, parents, or even other students of Herr Neuhaus. We are the only ones with a full understanding of the context of our class and of the assignment, and yet, we have not been given any say in how the situation was resolved or how our teacher, an engaging and exceptional educator, has been removed from his classroom. To say that we feel ignored would be an understatement. Being students, rather than parents or teachers or board members,should not diminish the stake we hold in our own education.Yet throughout this entire process, we have watched others who have no idea what our class is like intrude on the discussion with their opinions about how we felt about the situation. For the past two months, we have had no choice but to plead that the administration listen to us and realize that we understand the situation more fully than anyone else.

Hear us, listen to us, believe us.

We never wanted Herr Neuhaus removed from our school. We never felt unsafe in his classroom. Our hope is that, now that we have provided this clear statement that we want Herr Neuhaus returned to Chamblee immediately, you not only hear us, but listen and act accordingly.

Please do not write this letter off. Please believe what we have to say.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Yours,

The students of German V:
Alice Bai
Alyssa Wu
Sarah Mackey
Diana Haiden
Ellie Furr
Eric Shute
Erica Izaguirre
Hailey Maxwell
Hope Williams
Isabel Bradford
Jadé Foelske
Julia Weil
River Harper
Rohan Misra
Sarah Williams
Sonia Karsan
Theo Hardy
Teresa Maloney
Victoria Lin
Sara Lawrence
Savannah Lawrence
Marley Brock
Sifat Raihan
Giselle Washington
Chase Starks

Note:
We write you this letter as students from German V. We feel that it is important to share our unique perspective and thoughts on the situation as students, and this perspective is not shared fully by anyone. Our parents, however, stand beside us as a group one step removed from the classroom, and they have signed their names below in support of the reinstatement of Herr Neuhaus.

Parents of German V:

Dave Hardy
Jennifer Hardy
Maria Perez
Anastacio Izaguirre
Marco Foelske
Lina Karsan
Hetal Karsan
Sue Weil
Gary Weil
Melanie Furr
Mark Furr
David Maxwell
Terri Maxwell
Rahul Misra
Reena Misra
Pete Maloney
Catherine Maloney
Catherine Springer
Clark Cloyd
Eva Haiden
Karl Haiden
Anne Boyer-Shute
Randy Shute
Tracey Mackey
Bryant Mackey
Jennie Oldfield
Karyn McCrimmon
Chuck Harper
Lourelle Lawrence
Brian Lawrence
Angela Chen
Brian Lin
Jen Brock
Jonathan Brock
Hongying Zhong
Charles Bai
Daqing Wu
Xu Wang
Shefali Khatun
Md. Nazrul Islam
Keisha Starks
Veshi Starks
Blake Bradford