The woman is, if anything, far dumber than the kids she was compaining about. Mind you, I'm a former high school teacher. We ALL of us vented about idiot kids to each other, or to spouses, etc. But there's a vast difference between (a) two teachers discretely sharing their woes in private; and (b) broadcasting your gripes to the entire universe. How stupid can a person possibly be? Ranting about specific kids in an open blog is tantamount to purchasing ad time on television to broadcast your compaints over live TV.
My parents were both teachers. I got to hear lots of stories from them and their teacher friends about kids, parents, and other teachers. They vented, sympathised, and exchanged ideas for how to deal with situations. Overall, it was constructive (and sometimes hilarious). But the faces they presented to students, parents, and colleagues was professional. They always tried to guide, instruct, and build character rather than diminish their pupils.
They never, ever would have taken their opinions and posted them, even anonoymously, where parents and children could read them and wonder if these terrible remarks were about *them*. I would think other teachers would be bothered by this woman's actions, too. It has to be hard enough to keep students' respect and attention without having them believe that you must secretly despise them.
Now she's taking the position that she has opened a much-needed dialog on the problems in education. That's like saying the "who's your baby daddy" participants on the Springer show are opening a serious dialog on sexual morals in America.
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Her poor decision making aside, are there any predictions on how her court case will turn out? If the school district has no policy on a teacher's use of the internet, can they suspend her?
Is this one of those situations where the school board plays catch-up and re-writes its policies for the coming school year?
Ew, bleck gah ewww. I'll take a crab juice.With Mountain Dew?No tact. Only Kalkalash.Springer has tact? I thought he used stripper poles.So, are you implying that The Jerry Springer Show doesn't count as serious dialog?!Well, whatever dialog is, if it is anything like tact... then no.
I truly miss seeing that episode. Cant' believe it's been almost ten years. One of my best friends from outside of NY will be visiting me for the annversary, and she wishes to be present for any and all activities that occur during that time.
Her poor decision making aside, are there any predictions on how her court case will turn out? If the school district has no policy on a teacher's use of the internet, can they suspend her?
Is this one of those situations where the school board plays catch-up and re-writes its policies for the coming school year?
I am unsure. That aspect of this will be interesting to watch unfold, methinks.
I don't think you should look at the teacher's blog posts in isolation. She's perfectly (or at least should be) in her right to write whatever she wants online. What is important is her overall educational enablement of her charges.
Consider the millions of food blogs online where self-proclaimed food critics review restaurants (very often with "abysmal", "mediocre", "horrible", etc ratings). That is not at all different from what this teacher did.
Her poor decision making aside, are there any predictions on how her court case will turn out? If the school district has no policy on a teacher's use of the internet, can they suspend her?
Is this one of those situations where the school board plays catch-up and re-writes its policies for the coming school year?
There are two decisions here: the school board's decision to terminate or reinstate, and the lawsuit the teacher may file.
The teacher's public postings were not anonymous. They used her name and image. The posts were critical of her students, who could also be identified via her class roster. The nature of her posts call into question the professionalism of the teaching staff. Even without specific policies, I'd think the board has reason to say she has damaged the reputation of the school and of her own students, which seems like reasonable grounds for termination.
As far as a first amendment lawsuit goes, that's beyond my ken. Private industry certainly can and does terminate employees for damaging speech. Public institutions may have a different legal footing. I'm clueless.
Her poor decision making aside, are there any predictions on how her court case will turn out? If the school district has no policy on a teacher's use of the internet, can they suspend her?
Is this one of those situations where the school board plays catch-up and re-writes its policies for the coming school year?
There are two decisions here: the school board's decision to terminate or reinstate, and the lawsuit the teacher may file.
The teacher's public postings were not anonymous. They used her name and image. The posts were critical of her students, who could also be identified via her class roster. The nature of her posts call into question the professionalism of the teaching staff. Even without specific policies, I'd think the board has reason to say she has damaged the reputation of the school and of her own students, which seems like reasonable grounds for termination.
As far as a first amendment lawsuit goes, that's beyond my ken. Private industry certainly can and does terminate employees for damaging speech. Public institutions may have a different legal footing. I'm clueless.
Thank you very much for your insights on this, Treppa, they were very insightful given your background and familiarity with the teaching world.
Thank you very much for your insights on this, Treppa, they were very insightful given your background and familiarity with the teaching world.Her poor decision making aside, are there any predictions on how her court case will turn out? If the school district has no policy on a teacher's use of the internet, can they suspend her?
Is this one of those situations where the school board plays catch-up and re-writes its policies for the coming school year?
There are two decisions here: the school board's decision to terminate or reinstate, and the lawsuit the teacher may file.
The teacher's public postings were not anonymous. They used her name and image. The posts were critical of her students, who could also be identified via her class roster. The nature of her posts call into question the professionalism of the teaching staff. Even without specific policies, I'd think the board has reason to say she has damaged the reputation of the school and of her own students, which seems like reasonable grounds for termination.
As far as a first amendment lawsuit goes, that's beyond my ken. Private industry certainly can and does terminate employees for damaging speech. Public institutions may have a different legal footing. I'm clueless.
Unfortunately, my knowledge is both anecdotal and ancient. My parents took "in loco parentis" very seriously. I'd be interested in current education professionals weighing in, because I know the schools have changed drastically in the last thirty to forty years.
Cases like this are not new, and given a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board in one case over Facebook, could get even more complicated in the near future.
Teacher sues for being fired for vacation picutres
National Labor Board rules Facebook posts are Protected Speech
Cases like this are not new, and given a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board in one case over Facebook, could get even more complicated in the near future.
The exact story I was going to link to, but you found it first. It was excplained to me clearly when I started teaching that part of being a public servant is constantly maintaining a semblance of professionalism in public, even when off-duty. The internet is public.
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I have some copies of old teacher contracts from "back in the day."
It's fun to look at them and show 'em to students sometimes.
"Teacher must chop firewood and build fire everyday before school begins.
"Teacher must not be seen in public with men except her father or brothers.
"Teacher may not enter any barber shop or other unseemly location.
"Teacher may not play dominoes or cards or engage in any unseemly activities."
Yeah, right! Sign here, please.
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I'm a teacher in public schools in Australia. What the original girl did was really amazingly naiive. We all vent, its natural and if done right can be good to help relieve tension and stress. Constantly focusing on negatives is a spiral downwards to depression though, and something to be careful about when you hang around teachers long enough.
The girl being fired for having a few beers on her facebook account is ridiculous. She wasn't seen in a drunken stupor, merely showing that as an adult she could explore some of the cultural customs of the places she visited, in a fairly mature fashion mind you.
There is a very big push at the moment here in Australia that seems to have made teachers into almost a celebrety category. We're always under the public eye, everything we do is scrutinized and any step out of line is met with derision and ridicule, yet the system we work for is immune to such scrutiny, as are the people we teach and the parents of those students.
It can be very easy to take individuals and their actions and use them to judge a group as a whole. Given how politicised education is in many countries, its actually advantageous to the government to have this public perception on the dodginess of teachers, certainly its useful when pay negotiations are being held :).
The hypocrasy of having teachers like these sacked for their public opinions yet the general acceptance of sites like "rate my teacher" active and publically accessable does not escape me. As a consequence of such hypocrasy, people only ever see one side of the story. When the other side comes out, people get bent out of shape and teachers get sacked.
While I am professional enough to keep any disgruntled feelings I have at times to myself or the colleagues I work with in an effort to resolve the issues, I think this increasing pressure on teachers to "Always be the teacher" is going to cause more of us to quit and less people to sign up.
The job is difficult, you have to put on your game face every day and invest massive amounts of energy and emotion into your students. There has to be a time when the game face can come off. I guess now that the world has become so digital, working out exactly where that boudary lies is going to be interesting to watch.
Cheers