Iowa Principal Takes Pizza from Middle Schoolers, Parents Enraged

A central Iowa middle school principal is dealing with some very upset parents following a decision he made on Thursday.

According to KCCI, a principal at Brody Middle School in Des Moines intercepted the delivery of pizzas to one of the school's classrooms on Thursday. The pizzas were the teacher's reward to the kids for their hard work over the past few months.

In a Facebook post, parent Neil Erickson talked about the situation involving his son's classroom:

He was all excited they get their pizza today, and he wasn't going to eat breakfast because they get pizza. He was ready to go to school and have a pizza party. It was reward for them doing well.

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. He took the pizzas from the kids and let them sit in the office for the teacher to pick up after school.

Now my son and his classmates lost the party they worked hard to earn and the pizza I'm sure is wasted now…and the teacher was left in tears. I just cant believe it!

Erickson's Facebook post has now been shared more than 3,300 times.

According to KCCI, the unnamed principal then released this statement:

I know that many of you are upset about reports of a classroom pizza party, and the pizzas being taken away. I fully understand.

As principal, one of my top priorities is fairness and equal opportunity for our students at Brody Middle 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, and have agreed that fairness is a criteria we want to follow in how we treat all Brody students.

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.

I get it. The principal clearly didn't know pizzas were being brought in for one classroom and was concerned that jealousy would be felt from others in the school. I feel like his heart was in the right place but his timing was terrible. Communication between the teacher and principal would likely have avoided what turned out to be an embarrassing situation for the teacher and principal, and an upsetting one for the kids and their parents.