As word has spread through the community about an incident earlier this month in which Columbia High School students placed a live lobster in a bathroom toilet and posted about it on social media, the school district confirmed the incident in a press release today (see below).
Despite the attempts of CHS science teacher Amy Biasucci to save the lobster by setting up a saltwater tank, the lobster died. Biasucci is however preserving the lobster in a freezer in hopes of using it for dissection in a biology class in January.
District Communications Director Paul Brubaker said he could not comment on any disciplinary measures that would be taken regarding the students involved.
“We had a gilled, saltwater organism that, while it was in a toilet bowl, was in water that can cause its cells to misshapen,” said Biasucci, “That is mean, not funny.” Biasucci is hoping to make the incident a teachable moment: “Kids make mistakes,” she said. “It’s our job to make sure everybody learns from their mistakes.”
Read the full release below.
CHS Science teacher Amy Biasucci (photo courtesy of SOMSD).
The following release is from the South Orange-Maplewood School District:
Columbia High School Science Teacher Turns Lobster Prank Into Teachable Moment
Amy Biasucci teaches meanness against any living thing is no laughing matter
MAPLEWOOD, N.J. – Word spreading about a live lobster left in a Columbia High School (CHS) toilet as a prank last week caused many people to giggle and crack jokes. But one CHS science teacher has been working to make sure that everyone understands that it is no laughing matter.
“We had a gilled, saltwater organism that, while it was in a toilet bowl, was in water that can cause its cells to misshapen,” said Amy Biasucci, who teaches Advanced Placement (AP) Biology and Environmental Science. “That is mean, not funny.”
Biasucci sprang to action as soon as CHS Principal Frank Sanchez and the high school’s custodians brought the lobster to her room. She attempted to save the life of the lobster, which was about the size of those commonly sold at supermarkets, by putting it into a tank of water that she had salted to a concentration more hospitable for the crustacean. Despite her efforts, the lobster died as the custodians and her students looked on.
Biasucci refuses to let the lobster die in vain.
“It’s at home in my freezer,” she said.
Rather than discarding it, Biasucci intends to use the lobster in January for a midterm dissection for her students to review the cellular processes of osmoregulation and how organisms maintain homeostasis, or the balance of water and salt in their bodies.
Acting Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kevin F. Gilbert and Principal Sanchez both commended Biasucci for her response to the situation.
“I want to thank Ms. Biasucci for the valuable lessons she has taught us – lessons about respecting life and everyone in our community of schools,” said Gilbert. “It is my hope that anyone who thinks about engaging in an act like this will remember these lessons and decide to do something to make our community better.”
“Ms. Biasucci has reminded us that there is no such thing as a victimless prank, even when the victim isn’t a person,” said Sanchez. “I greatly appreciate Ms. Biasucci’s resourcefulness in using this incident as a teachable moment for her students as well as the Columbia High School community.”
When asked what is the lesson that everyone needs to learn from this episode, Biasucci took a moment to think and her thoughts landed on an environmental lesson. “If we have more respect for living beings in general, we might actually save ourselves,” she said.
And when she considered whoever put the lobster in the toilet, she continued to focus on the teachable moment.
“Kids make mistakes,” she said. “It’s our job to make sure everybody learns from their mistakes.”
Biasucci has been teaching at CHS since 2009. She has a daughter who is a senior and a son who is a sophomore at the high school.
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