Teacher Placed On Administrative Leave For Playing HIM Music During Class

February 20, 2008

FoxCarolina.com reports that parents of some students at Excelsior Middle School said a teacher there has been playing songs about suicide and death — including HIM's "Join Me In Death" — to their children during class.

The school district said sixth-grade science teacher Karen Hipp has been placed on administrative leave while they investigate the parents' claims.

"These are sixth-graders listening to songs about committing suicide or killing others,' said one of the parents who did not want to be identified. "I found it very inappropriate."

This parent said he first heard the music after his children brought home a CD which they say has a sampling of the songs Hipp plays in class on it. His children also told him that Hipp has downloaded several of the songs for the students to take home and listen to.

One of the songs, called "Join Me In Death", is by a rock band called HIM. It has lyrics like, "We are so young. Our lives have just begun. Baby, join me in death."

Another parent said although she was upset to hear the music, she said she is relieved that the superintendent took swift action.

"When they're exposed to something like this, (the children) have mixed feelings about what's wrong and what's right," said another parent.

School officials said they are investigating the accusations against Hipp, but they said it is too early to talk about the case.

Watch a Fox Carolina video report at FoxCarolina.com.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).