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    0206 Angela Whitus

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February 8, 2010

Sacrificial Saints fan

By Samantha Swindler / Managing Editor

Teacher Angela Whitus committed two sins against her sixth graders — she assigned them too much homework, and she was rooting for the Saints.

The combination made her the students’ choice to be duct taped to the gymnasium wall at Corbin Intermediate School Friday morning.

Last week, Corbin fifth and sixth graders held a Penny Wars competition to see which homeroom class could raise the most pennies for a local charity sending aid to Haiti — the winners would also get to pick a teacher to tape to a wall.

By Friday, the school as a whole had raised $1,650 and Mr. Jimmy Hendrickson’s class had emerged as the winner, raising $356.97.

“The class that won got to pick, and they picked me because I give them, they say, too much homework,” Whitus said. “It’s not necessarily true.”

She also noted with a smile, “He (Hendrickson) is their basketball coach, so they wouldn’t pick him.”

Students in Mr. Hendrickson’s class covered Whitus with strips of duct tape while she stood on a chair, arms spread wide. In her left hand, she held a yellow sign that read “Help Me Please!!!” on one side and “Go Saints” on the other.

At the moment of truth, when the chair was removed, the tape held her to the wall a minute or more before she dropped to the ground.

Whitus teaches sixth grade language arts at Corbin Intermediate. She confessed, after being released from the wall, that she probably does give a lot of homework. But, while holding her “Go Saints” sign in hand, she also admitted she isn’t really rooting for New Orleans in this Sunday’s Super Bowl.

“I could care less,” she said. “I just wanted to start trouble. It was my form of revenge.”

Principal Bill Jones said CIS students hold two major fundraisers each year, for St. Jude’s Hospital and the American Heart Association. They also collect items for food baskets during Thanksgiving and Christmas, and hold additional events when tragedies, such as the Haitian earthquake, occur.

“We’re trying to teach them good citizenship, and to have compassion for people who are in need,” Jones said. “Those are some important things, in addition to reading, writing and math, that I think we’re teaching here.”

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