Teacher's job on the line for slapping student

Pat Frost says she was defending herself from a student who refused to give her his name after a confrontation in which she asked him to pull up his saggy pants.

No surprise to me here.  Most of the time accusations like this are made against teachers by students who chronically break the rules.  I suppose they feel like they have to "push back."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/pat-frost-north-carolina-_n_1734933.html

Falsely accused NZ teacher now working at a fish factory

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/education/news/article.cfm?c_id=35&objectid=10819864

Pat Doube is now working at a fish factory thanks to false allegations from the child of Lisa Karl.  The parent claimed that Mrs Doube taped the child's mouth shut with tape for talking too much. She was later exonerated by the authorities but has been unable to find a job in teaching.

The crime: noticing the emperor has no clothes

Natalie Munroe's name was bounced around a year ago after she made some critical remarks about some of her students.  The public got hold of her blog and she was placed on leave.  She eventually returned to the classroom but was not rehired by the local board as of the last few weeks.  Sadly, there is an entire site devoted to students with an axe to grind against their teachers, but this woman is pilloried for stating what most of us already know:  we got some major problems in our youth.  We have issues that would make James Dean seem respectful.  I guess being a teacher means one should have low standards for behavior.  Otherwise, you end up like Natalie Munroe when you call attention to the obvious.

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/pennsylvania-teacher-natalie-munroe-bashed-students-loathsome-blog-fired-article-1.1103086

Teacher on the spot for knocking on sleeping teen's head

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/05/18/teacher-accused-of-slapping-student-upside-the-head-gets-support/

Mommy held a protest to curb everyone's favorite catch word: Bullying

Chaz says you get flagged for simply being accused

Why do this? You put the entire careers of educators in the hands of a few vindictive kids or opportunistic administrators.  So much for the bill of rights which supposedly covers you at work as well as outside of it.

http://chaz11.blogspot.com/2012/05/doe-attaches-discipline-flag-on-files.html

This just cinches up the power that the fat cats have over the peonage.  They will claim "you can never be too careful."  Fine, then why aren't you and everyone in the house wearing a helmet to sleep every night, just in case the house caves in? You wouldn't want to risk anything would you?

English teacher cleared after being framed and harassed

Neil Carr was cleared of pedophile charges after several students and parents set up a facebook page to harass him.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9232384/Teacher-falsely-accused-of-paedophilia-in-Ku-Klux-Klan-like-internet-campaign.html

District declares sovereignty over teacher's aide's facebook

I can't help but believe that if education, as it presently exists, was valued by the general population, that excessive worrying about a school's ability to command authority, would be minimized. That is, many in the general population, will use peccadilloes by staff as an excuse to "push back," because they see teachers and schools as junior wardens and prisons.  The fact that school is compulsory, and that, they are in fact, obligated to attend in some form, tends to support that perspective.  So what we get in the end is plenty of lip service to pie in the sky ideals about morals and proper conduct, while the real agenda is about getting the best grades while expending the least effort, and encountering the smallest number of encumbrances (such as being disciplined). It's not that I don't think that teachers should be considered role models.  I certainly do.  But it seems like that has increasingly become our main role.  When I hear the term "bad teacher" now, I presume it has next to nothing to do with someone's ability to teach and everything to do with their character's repute.

A teacher's aide was fired for not giving an administrator access to her facebook account.  "Hey... they probably pay you twice the minimum wage.  Don't think you have the right to a private life."

I remember being told not to have any contact with a parent that the district had decided was "persona non grata." Too bad I couldn't tell them the same.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/teachers-aide-fired-for-refusing-to-hand-over-facebook-password/11246

What? A teacher with student boarder who's NOT a pedophile?

It is a sorry state of affairs when a relationship between student and teacher that goes beyond the usual is tainted by doubt and suspicion.  We have become so used to the idea of seeing human relationships in terms of same aged peer to peer, that the idea that, say, a middle aged female teacher might become fond of a teen aged boy, seems suspect.  That is a shame.  This is where I have a problem with school culture at its roots.  Teachers are expected to keep a social distance in order to do their jobs and that is understandable within the contemporary context.  Why?  Because having 30 students at a time who are mandated to be in school as we know it, means that signs of familiarity could hinder getting them to do what they might not care to partake in. That's one reason your typical usmc sargeant is not Mr. Rogers. SCHOOL IS NOT A NATURAL ENVIRONMENT. I could explain why but I presume most thinking people see this as somewhat obvious. But I digress.  This particular teacher was kind enough to let a student stay in her home, but ended up resigning and having her name put on the sex offender registry once the authorities found out.  The story states that she was able to get it removed.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-teacher-dcfs-appeal-20120327,0,512821.story

Teacher reads a passage from "Ender's Game" now on leave

A parent called the book "pornographic."

http://io9.com/5893478/teachers-job-in-jeopardy-for-reading-to-kids-from-enders-game

Police were called....nation on red alert.

Peeing in bucket could cost district $25 K

Actually, it might be more.  Art teacher Gonja Wolf told a student she could pee in a bucket if she had to go that bad.  I suspect she was tired of the "endless stream" of requests, and used some sarcasm, not expecting it to be taken seriously.  Now the student's parents want a $25 K settlement with the district. 

People who haven't taught don't necessarily understand how disruptive and detrimental little things like bathroom breaks can be.  Remember the teacher that took away points when kids said "bless you?"  He had many adults riled up over the small courtesy of saying "bless you."  But in a classroom context it becomes a game which I witnessed myself.  You might get 5 sneezes and "bless you's" in a minute's time.  The same goes for bathroom breaks.  They become an excuse to get out of class, and disrupt whatever momentum the teacher has.  I often had 8 requests for the bathroom in a period.  I probably had about that many academic questions in a year.  I must have been a "bad" teacher like Ms. Wolf.  Note the anger in the commentary on huffington post.  There's a real wave of bitterness in the population towards teachers, in general.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/14/gonja-wolf-teacher-student-urinate-in-bucket-california_n_1343737.html

The best dentists have large arms

If I walked in on a dentist who had, say, 8 child patients at the same time, and watched him/her struggle to clean their teeth and drill cavities while attempting to keep the mouths of half of them open with various tactics, I would wonder how pragmatic it was for them to do their job.  If 2 of the patients couldn't stay seated, perhaps they might use a brawny fore arm to keep one of them seated so they could operate.  If one of them started to cry, perhaps the specialist might give them a sucker and a timeout somewhere else until they returned to a state of semi-composure.  If we added 5 more patients, the dentist might still be able to operate but now they might have 2 extras whose attention wanders off and forget to keep their mouths open. So the dentist might feel like the best thing to do is have a short group chat with all involved explaining how important dental hygiene was and trying to motivate them to comply.  Maybe they'd get a ring or lollipop or whatever afterward for being good ( I recall this in my own experience).  But as the numbers grew or as time went on, we could see that the dentist was doing less and less of what their original  mission was (dentistry) and more organizing, cajoling, motivating, physically restraining, etc.  If this specialist now had 20 patients at once, it might actually be more important, that they were strong enough to hold children in their seats, than their expertise in dentistry.  But we (the public) would now call this person a "dentist."  And we'd say "Hey...that's what a dentist is expected to do.  How can you maintain dental health if you can't get access to the patients mouths?"


Which brings me to the current state of public education in our country.  Teachers generally accept all the additional and supercilious things they are expected to do in order to JUST DO THEIR JOB OF... TEACHING.  Maintaining order and controlling a class are, and have been, par for the course for awhile now.  Increasingly, parents and the administration have shifted more of the responsibility onto the teacher.  If Johnny acts up, ...."hmmmm....what is the teacher doing wrong?"  The old paradigm said "Johnny's at fault here."  Then this slowly shifted to other factors, ie home life, medical treatments.  Still, the teacher could send that kid to the office where admin dealt with them.  But as cultural entropy has increased, admin increasingly holds the teacher's responsible for handling discipline. Yes.  There are things a teacher can do, but what happened to personal responsibility?  Why is all this dumped on the teacher? And, of course, this presumed academic magician, has to do all this while making sure the child has a big smile on their face the whole time.  That is, consequences,  and punishment are last resorts; and anything smacking of corporal punishment is anathema.  While this is laudable as an abstraction, the reality is the circus we see today where there is little order, and being able to maintain this "order" has supplanted being able to teach well.  So...now you know why the best dentists have big fore arms.


 I feel for kids that can't stay seated.  I was always a bit squirmy after 15 minutes in a seat myself, and still am.  If  a student in class can't stay seated, how many options does a teacher have?  I had a wiggle worm kid who I had do art.  Some days it worked, other days were mayhem.  This child's behavior held the entire class captive. He would throw pennies across the room, mess with girls' hair, get out of his seat at any moment.  I recall asking him to do pushups and then was scolded by the principal as it is deemed "corporal punishment," in the absurd environment we call a public school.

Given this scenario, I can understand a teacher resorting to taping a kid to their seat.  That student has already done plenty to call negative attention to themselves and the teacher has probably tried any number of things to keep them from continually distracting the class.  What frustrates me is hearing the mother bemoan this while not considering that the rest of the students (not just her child) are losing out an an education when this student's behavior distracts the class.  All over America, this educational travesty continues because no one wants to hurt anyone's feelings.  Great....we have close to half our students who can't read and write at grade level and who will graduate with few prospects for the future, but at least their feelings were never hurt by a teacher.  Kids that can't, and probably should not, be in that particular school or classroom, hold everyone else hostage.

These days, it seems that one of the marks of a great teacher is someone who can find something to occupy this youngster so the rest of the class can accomplish something.  More power to them.  I hold the white flag on this; and, frankly, resent having spent so much time and energy dealing with this phenomenon. At this juncture, I, admittedly, detest all the peripheral things that teachers are expected to do....just to be able to do their job.  Organizing, streamlining daily protocol and tasks, pushing the self esteem agenda, promoting inquiry, and motivating students, creating lesson plans where the priority is simply to keep order.  Blasphemy to say this....I know.  It's not that I did not try and do these things, but somewhere in the mess, the idea of actually teaching became smaller or was even lost.

Do I think taping a student achieves its purpose?  No.  I suspect the kids get a laugh out of it and the squirmy kid gets a bit of attention and temporarily settles down before things probably get worse. But the parent that calls for blood over something like this is missing the forest for the trees. 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/09/teacher-on-leave-after-allegedly-taping-visually-impaired-year-old-to-chair/

Chicken Nuggets? Teacher complies with authorities and then gets suspended

Well, at least the parents back the teacher on this.

http://www.nccivitas.org/2012/parents-upset-chicken-nuggets-teacher-in-hoke-county-suspended-over-the-incident/

Leardini successfully sues

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/02/24/3042312/jury-awards-former-teacher-11.html#disqus_thread

After being coerced into resigning, Jeff Leardini has won his suit against the Charlotte-Mecklenberg School District. It is a shame his teaching career is over, but there is some vindication for those teachers who have watched school administration bully and favor; who have bitten their tongue when they could see accusing students were retaliating for a low grade or discipline; teachers who have been thrown under the bus on frivolous or false charges, simply because admin is scared of lawsuits.  Congrats Jeff.

Water torture

A third grade teacher, who has used a spray bottle as last resort when students were unruly, is being disciplined.  The mother filed assault charges.

http://myfox8.com/2012/02/21/teacher-accused-of-spraying-kids-with-water-as-discipline/

Fish and febreze

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/weird/Teacher-Sprays-Febreze-on-Fishy-Smelling-Student--139009739.html

A teacher's attempt to remedy the teasing a fishy smelling student was getting got her into hot water with the mother.

Celebrated teacher's career over after telling disruptive Mexican student to go back to his homeland?

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/17/10436878-teacher-wants-job-back-after-telling-student-go-back-to-mexico

The student wanted a form written in Spanish and continued to mouth "I'm from Mexico," despite being told that he could go to the office later and get one in espanol.  The teacher eventually told him to go back where he came from.  Despite apologies, she was suspended.

My take is that when what it takes to keep a job in a profession has more to do with what you shouldn't do rather than what you should do, that the profession is in trouble.  As a teacher, I felt like we were judged by our worst performances rather than our best.  If you wonder why the teachers still around schools have glazed over eyes and speak in a jaded manner, it is because they have had to distance their emotions from the dysfunction they see around them.  Otherwise, their nervous system can't take it.

I know I made my share of mistakes in what I said.  It is one thing to look back on someone's speech and point an accusing finger.  It is another to thrust someone into a classroom with 30 or so kids and watch them get pulled in 5 directions at once and have to make quick decisions on various matters while still being bombarded with requests for help/questions, etc.  Ask any quarterback what their job would be like without having to confront a pass rush.  Sitting back and throwing a pass without worrying about this is much easier, and so it is with teachers who have to make a myriad of decisions quickly to keep the class moving.  I take exception to all the Monday morning quarterbacks who would deprive this woman of a job over a comment like this.  She has chosen to work in a human services field where she in on the front line of service delivery to what can be considered a disenfranchised group but she has been judged as "unacceptable" based on a thoughtless, 5 seconds rather than the years of hard work she put into being a good teacher.

We'll see if she keeps her job or not.

Mother not satisfied with reprimand for teacher accused of "hitting" her son.

Shawna Martin Lloyd

February 9

WISD needs to do some serious hiring of some new teachers.. On Monday my son Michael Lloyd was hit in tha back by one of his teachers and then on Tuesday the daughter of the teacher that hit him is also a teacher at his school called my son a lier so i went back to the school on Wensday and informed them what happened so finally i had to go back today and both teachers are not on campus and are under investigation and i also pressed charges on the teacher that hit him and i have contacted news 25.... Our children should be able to go to school and not worry about being hit by any adult there....

Share

 http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1792605351

http://www.kxxv.com/story/16964744/waco-isd-teacher-under-investigation

This teacher is already reprimanded and probably unemployable in another district.  She also has to take some requisite coursework.  The mother, Mrs. Lloyd is not satisfied and has gone to the police.

I think she should be more worried about a lack of academic proficiency or self control in her child.
 http://www.myspace.com/507782317


I wonder how many times this kid had interrupted the teacher before she started to crack.  Maybe better to find another line of work instead of one where your most sought after skills are not 1. ability to tolerate the lowest common denominator 2. ability to teach ...in that order.

Profanity laws for teachers

I see nothing wrong with this.  For years, I sort of used primetime television as a guide for boundaries but I don't think most teachers could do that in this day and age. TV is too risque these days.
"Parents do not want to come down (to their school) if Johnny's using the F-bomb," she said.
"Maybe the schools' educators and the boards and the districts will get the point that if their teachers are held to a higher standard that they ought to hold those kids to a higher standard."
Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, agreed to go along with other Republicans on the committee in approving the bill. But he said he has some major concerns that teachers might find themselves being disciplined because a kid "has an axe to grind" and files a false report on what a teacher has said.
"Who decides that it really happened?" he asked.
"All of a sudden, we have a teacher hung out to dry, once, twice, three times, and they're gone because a rogue student or students say, ‘Teacher, look what I'm going to do to you today, I'm going to go complain to my principal,'" Smith continued. "What recourse does the teacher have to defend themselves?"



http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/education/article_f40cf750-5826-11e1-bcaa-0019bb2963f4.html#user-comment-area


I used to have a '74 VW camper that a particular student called the "shag wagon."  It didn't have shag carpeting but my assumption was that the term "shag" referred to the car's vintage (as in the period where shag carpeting was in vogue).  Without really thinking about it, I once asked a student if he would recover something from the "shag wagon."  A few months later when he was no longer controllable his mother filed a complaint against me including my use of "shag wagon."  My explanation to the principal was not believed.

There are so many euphemisms for sex and sexual anatomy that it often felt like walking a minefield.  How many people say "screwed up" in polite conversation?  What is the source of the that phrase?  Can a teacher say "sit your butt down?"  The last year I taught a girl asked me what people would think if she wore shorts to our civil war reenactment.  I said something to the effect that they might have considered a woman who dressed like that in the 1860's to be a bit of a "floozy." 

"What's a floozy?" she replied.

Before I could answer someone blurts out "whore."

A few weeks later, the girl was given a poor grade on an essay and her mother filed a complaint that I had called her a "floozy."  The principal said I should have used the term "immodest woman."  Fine.   But had I done that, it probably would have meant explaining "immodest" and we'd have entered the same realm. Meanwhile, a colleague of mine had told a student something he did was "f*cked up."  She was popular and I heard when it got back to his parents, they laughed about it. The joke was now that she had said "duck cup."  My take is that popular teachers will be immune from discipline over this while unpopular teachers will have the slightest breach turned into a major offense.

Roanoke shop teacher in court for contact with student

Victor Terry had to have stringent rules in his shop class to prevent injuries.  He allegedly asked students to enter without making noise.  When one did not comply he put his arm out to keep him from entering.  Ms. Daniel, the student's mother did not approve.  Maybe she would have preferred a few less fingers on one his hands.

 http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/304892

Caldwell's statement said the facts suggested Terry "physically put his hand on the student's chest/arm area to stop his entry into the classroom" after the student was making a disruptive noise. He noted that the student later acknowledged "he had been making a noise" but then complied with Terry's directive and was allowed to enter.
Caldwell wrote, "I would note that there is some disagreement between the parties as to the exact nature of the touching but there is no allegation that this was in the nature of a strike or blow nor is there any representation of an attempt to injure or actual injury."
He said other video footage of the classroom and the student immediately following the incident "suggests that this was a nonevent in its entirety."

http://www2.wsls.com/news/2012/feb/07/botetourt-county-school-teacher-convicted-assault--ar-1671854/#fbcomments

Acquitted Chico teacher sues for back pay

http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_19917822

Michael Sullivan allegedly ran his finger from a student's earlobe to her shoulder, and more.  Now he is suing the school district for back pay after being acquitted of these charges.

According to some of the people who posted comments on an article regarding this trial, it was because he attempted to grab a cell phone from a student during class.

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/gerber-ca/T2L4UHVQ7FC961KCJ