Outrage: Teacher Fired for Picture of Bush

[Reephdweller]

Parents expressing outrage after a teacher is kicked out of her public school for hanging a picture of President Bush next to pictures of other presidents in her classroom.


I can't believe the unmittigated gall of this woman, she actually put a picture of George W Bush on a wall with other presidents. I mean c'mon, it's not like HE's the president or anything. It's clearly political. What's next, they're gonna assign the secret service to this guy? He's gonna have access to the button? Harrumph!!

Full story... (http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/WABC_100304_middleschoolteacher.html)



[why do these things always happen in Jersey?]

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[Tall_James]

I hate people.

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[JPMNICK]

This is such bullshit. How come in the NY, NJ area it is so cool to be anti-bush? if you do not like him, do not vote for him. but do not look down upon everyone else who likes him.

and regardless of that, he is still a standing US President who, whether they like it or not, be a part of US history. how they choose to look at and interprit that history is their problem.

Being a republican nowadays is like being black in 1955 in alabama.


Edit: BTW, how ignorant can you be that they parents want her to put up a pic. of john kerry on the wall of presidents (unless i am reading it wrong). who else should we put up there, Bob Dole? how about Dewey, he almost won.


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This message was edited by JPMNICK on 10-4-04 @ 12:19 PM

[Crippler]

There has to be more to this story. There just HAS TO BE. A picture of the president in a collage with other pictures of presidents CANNOT be the reason for letting a teacher go. This world cannot be this insane.

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[TheMojoPin]

I don't buy it.

Pretty much every American school I've been to has had a picture of the current president and VP on the wall. There's something else going on here. You can't get fired for just having a picture of the current president, especially if it's the president in the TIMELINE OF AMERICAN FUCKING PRESIDENTS.

No way.

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1979 << I love my drug buddy... >> "You can tell some lies about the good times we've had, but I've kissed your mother twice...and now I'm working on your dad..."

This message was edited by TheMojoPin on 10-4-04 @ 12:25 PM

[JPMNICK]

and i agree:

I hate people as well

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Thanks to Monsterone for my first sig.

[TheMojoPin]

Being a republican nowadays is like being black in 1955 in alabama.

Boy, yeah! Those guys can TOTALLY relate to "Strange Fruit" and stuff.

That was the worst analogy in the history of analogies.

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1979 << I love my drug buddy... >> "You can tell some lies about the good times we've had, but I've kissed your mother twice...and now I'm working on your dad..."

[A.J.]

Veteran English teacher Shiba Pillai-Diaz says she was shocked when three parents confronted her. The three, insisting the teacher either add John Kerry's photo to the montage of presidents or remove the Bush photo.

These things always happen in threes.

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[JPMNICK]

Not to mention she is in a union. there is no way she will stayed fired. the union will back her on this.

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[JPMNICK]

Being a republican nowadays is like being black in 1955 in alabama.

Boy, yeah! Those guys can TOTALLY relate to "Strange Fruit" and stuff.

That was the worst analogy in the history of analogies.



point taken you sly devil

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[Reephdweller]

I don't buy it.



I just watched the video news story as well, it sounds like it's what happened.

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[BoondockSaint]

I'm still not sure what happened but she sounds like a bitch. (http://www.thnt.com/thnt/story/0,21282,1068611,00.html)

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[A.J.]

"Students said, 'You like George Bush? He's killed people,' " Pillai-Diaz said."

"Senators and Presidents don't have men killed."

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[TheMojoPin]

I don't buy it.



I just watched the video news story as well, it sounds like it's what happened.

No way.

The school has ZERO standing to do this. I hope to GOD our schools aren't run by people this stupid.

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1979 << I love my drug buddy... >> "You can tell some lies about the good times we've had, but I've kissed your mother twice...and now I'm working on your dad..."

[Mike Teacher]

I hope to GOD our schools aren't run by people this stupid.


Thank you for making me actually laugh out loud; I needed it today. These people are the kind of people I worked with such that I left the front lines of the classroom.

Teachers and the Law 101

Does the First Amendment Apply to Public Schools.

Yes. Thats the short answer. Keep in mind the law in states can be quite different however, even publicly criticizing school policy is *usually* protected.

From Pickering [Illinois]: "absent proof of false statements knowingly or recklessly made by [the teacher], a teacher's exercisse of his right to speak on issues of public importance may not furnish the basis for his dismissal from public employment.

Can some speech be restricted? Yes, but thats a lotta typing.

The above is general; trying to move to specifics;

The first amendment protects teachers rights to participate in political activity as citizens in the community. Teachers may put poltical stickers on their cars, and can probably* [more lotta typing] wear political buttons on their clothing in class. However they must be careful not to try to persuade students to adopt their personal views.

=

Thats what the books say. I translate it as; this teacher had all the right in the world to put up a pic of the current prez. The stuff above draws from cases where it was usually something quite controversial, or actions Much more overt then hanging a picture. While some of the parents here are finding controversy in this, I dont see it.

=

Edit-O-Rama: As to the Board and Union meeting where they both agreed the teacher didnt have a chance? I'm assuming she's untenured. It says sixth year as a teacher but first in that school. If she had tenure, the Union might be interested. With untenured teachers, when the legal shit hits the fan, the teacher is usually dropped like a hot rock, neither side wishing expensive litigation, public attention [too late there!], so yes: teachers will go into meeting where usually opposing sides, the Union, and the Board, will tell you: Walk quietly and if youre lucky, it ends there.

=

This one aint gonna be quiet, Methinks!

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This message was edited by Mike Teacher on 10-4-04 @ 1:28 PM

[TheMojoPin]

But what was she technically fired over? I'm completely lost.

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1979 << I love my drug buddy... >> "You can tell some lies about the good times we've had, but I've kissed your mother twice...and now I'm working on your dad..."

[Freakshow]

Damn, I thought this was going to be about porn.

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[Tenbatsuzen]

Speaking from a family where three people closely related to me are teachers, you can imagine a world of shit coming from parents.

You guys have no idea how much power pissed off and bitchy parents hold in today's public school system.

Remember, it's not the principal that did this - the parents made an "outrage".



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[silera]

Outrage is so 90's.

I say we all decide to take umbrage from this point forward.




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[Tall_James]

I say we all decide to take umbrage from this point forward.

"Umbrage" is so 1932. I say we bring "Conniption" back into the lexicon.

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[Mike Teacher]

Tenbatz, yep.

Mojo, doubtful she was fired. If it's like most schools, the Bd. of Ed if who hires who and who fires you. The Principal hands the list over, and it's usually a rubber stamp.

I did my student teaching in Sayreville. This school was so close I think we played them in sports.

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[FUNKMAN]

Teacher Fired for Picture of Bush


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[Freakshow]

"Umbrage" is so 1932. I say we bring "Conniption" back into the lexicon.


I'm just appalled, and I will continue to be. Until somebody finds a better word.

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[silera]

Let's be miffed instead.



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<font size="3" color="red">AND WHAT?</font></center><font color="FBF2F7">

[TheMojoPin]

So if I were a parent, and I went to my kid's school and saw his teacher had a picture of that sonuvabitch Woodrow Wilson on the wall, and NOT a picture of his political opponent from when he ran for election, I could complain and get that teacher in trouble?

That's really fucking stupid.

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1979 << I love my drug buddy... >> "You can tell some lies about the good times we've had, but I've kissed your mother twice...and now I'm working on your dad..."

[silera]

I'd be totally vexed.


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<font size="3" color="red">AND WHAT?</font></center><font color="FBF2F7">

[FUNKMAN]

it's getting pretty

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[Mike Teacher]

Ron uses 'taken aback' and I bust his balls in IM's about it. The last time I heard that phrase was about 20 years ago when Gilbert Gottfried just Ripped into a caller who used the phrase. Gilbert said, 'The only place on Earth the phrase 'taken aback' is used is in Playboy Centerfold Humor.'

'A Young Lad was taken aback when he spied upon...'

Wow those days when Howard and Gilbert would be on and he would just rip on Everything, doing his Belzer-imitation: 'mmyeah. great. mmyeah. great. mmyeah. really great...'

=

Oh and about the Bd. Of Ed firing you. That legal thing Due Process takes effect, well its always in effect, but before anything happens, hearings, info, all the stuff a lawyer would know.

::coughmikeyboywherethefuckareyoucough::

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This message was edited by Mike Teacher on 10-4-04 @ 4:18 PM

[golfcourseguy]

I'm piqued as hell and I'm not gonna take it.

" editing posts since day one"

[Fuzz_Whatley]

Announcements from the South Brunswick Board of Education
October 3, 2004
District Statement Regarding Bulletin Board at Crossroads Middle School

In an incident that has recently been reported to several media sources, a claim has been made by South Brunswick Middle School teacher Shiba Pillai-Diaz, that she was fired for not removing a picture of President George W. Bush from a classroom bulletin board. The claim is false. While I am normally reluctant to discuss personnel matters in public, Ms. Pillai-Diaz' distortions of the facts, along with her aggressive efforts to get herself national media attention, leaves the district no choice but to set the record straight.

The facts are as follows:

Ms. Pillai-Diaz is a new Language Arts teacher in the South Brunswick Schools. Recently, the school administration began receiving complaints from students and parents that Ms. Pillai-Diaz was using her position, classroom and teaching time to engage in partisan politics. Students reported that she had made statements which denigrated one party over the other. The conversations included Ms. Pillai-Diaz telling some students who offered opinions contrary to her statements, that she was "glad they were not old enough to vote." Other comments to students, including such statements as, "you should be ashamed to be a Democrat" have been verified through student interviews.

A classroom bulletin board, normally intended for curriculum-related matters, was set up as what she herself described as a "personal bulletin board." On the bulletin board she placed a picture of the President, the President's dog, the Oval Office and several other Presidential artifacts. In addition, she placed a stuffed elephant on a classroom cabinet, which generated student reaction and discussion about partisan politics.

Following receipt of complaints from parents, the Assistant Principal met with Ms. Pillai-Diaz and cautioned her not to engage in partisan political discussions in her Language Arts classes. He did not initially ask her to remove the picture of the President. As the issue grew in intensity, the teacher herself chose to remove the stuffed elephant because of student comments. In the ensuing days, parents expressed increasing concern about the teacher's classroom behavior, the misuse of classroom instructional time and the personal bulletin board. The level of concern resulted in a classroom confrontation between some parents and Ms. Pillai-Diaz at the Back-to-School night program. It was at this point that the school administration decided to intervene again.

On Friday morning, October 1, Ms. Pillai-Diaz was directed by the Assistant Principal to remove bulletin board materials because they were being viewed as contributing to an ongoing disruption of the teaching-learning environment. She refused. She then met with the Principal who repeated the directive. At this point, Ms. Pillai-Diaz abruptly left the building, abandoning her post of duty and her classroom responsibilities.

At no time was she told to leave, asked to leave or given authorization to leave. School was still in session. At no time was she told she was suspended or fired. With professional responsibilities of a classroom teacher waiting, Ms. Pillai-Diaz chose, of her own volition, to walk out of the school, contact various media sources and claim she had been fired.

I had occasion to meet with Ms. Pillai-Diaz, along with a union representative and a police escort that she had requested, for approximately two hours when she returned to the building later that same afternoon. After listening to her story, I asked if any member of the administration had used the phrase "you're fired" or anything that remotely sounded like it. She admitted that no one had used any such language. When I further pursued why she reported to media sources that she had been fired, she said that she "thought" that she had been. I explained that principals cannot fire employees, that only Boards of Education can do so. With her union representative present, she said that she n

[FUNKMAN]

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[Recyclerz]

I am filled with chagrin about this whole benighted episode.

In re: Fuzz Whatley's post - Doncha hate it when the facts get in the way of a good witch burning?



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[Freakshow]

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Nice Puli

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[TheMojoPin]

Wow, shocker. "Tough Crowd" is "covering" this with nothing but speculation.

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1979 << I love my drug buddy... >> "You can tell some lies about the good times we've had, but I've kissed your mother twice...and now I'm working on your dad..."

[HBox]

"Tough Crowd" is "covering" this with nothing but speculation.

Isn't that what they do with everything?

http://www.myimgs.com/random/hbox/sig

[TheMojoPin]

Earlier you could just chalk it up to being a new show and probably not having money for a decent staff to fact check this stuff. Yeah, I know, they're comedians, which is why I like the show, but this wasn't even close. They went with the teacher's story 100% and that was it.

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1979 << I love my drug buddy... >> "You can tell some lies about the good times we've had, but I've kissed your mother twice...and now I'm working on your dad..."