(PC Police?) Middle School Teacher In Trouble Over Presidential Photo?

[Desertdog]

Looks to me like a great case for a lawsuit and the firing of a principle.

Middle School Teacher In Trouble Over Presidential Photo?
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/WABC_100304_middleschoolteacher.html

By Ken Rosato
(Monmouth Junction-WABC, October 3, 2004) — You might say it is a symbol of the Great American Divide, a teacher putting up a picture of President Bush in the classroom. Some say it is partisanship while others say it is patriotism.

Rita Bianco, Parent: "Children should know their president and their first lady!"

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.

Still Images from the Story
Shiba Pillai-Diaz, Teacher: "It happened on a small bulletin board near the American flag and also with a poster of the Declaration of Independence."

This is Crossroads South Middle School in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey. On Thursday, there was a back-to-school night for parents of students. 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. When Pillai-Diaz refused, she says the school's vice-principal threatened her job which is an act that has parents here fuming.

Photo Trouble For "NJ" TeacherVideo: See the Story
Paula Sjolund, Parent: "She didn't do anything wrong, and I think that it should have stayed up there."

Pillai-Diaz ultimately removed the entire bulletin board and says School Principal Jim Warfel told her she disrupted the school with her "inflammatory politics". She says he then ordered her out of the building. While she says she is a Bush supporter in her personal life, Pillai-Diaz says she keeps politics out of the classroom.

Shiba Pillai-Diaz, Teacher: "There was no political intent, nor was there any political content in that photograph nor on the bulletin board."

School officials would not talk on camera but insist nobody here has been fired. To that, Ms. Pillai-Diaz asks what does it mean then when your boss asks you to hand over the keys and kicks you out of the building? She also says she is not sure if she'll be returning to school tomorrow.

 

[USMC_2674]

Utter nonsense!

This is SO outrageous!

She added a picture of Bush NEXT to OTHER President's pictures in the classroom...

What kind of idiot insists on a picture of "a presidential nominee" to be added?!?

Last I checked, Walter's or Ross's pictures aren't hanging in the presidential line are they? Who would add John's now? Even if he win's the election, he won't be added until he IS president.

Dumbasses!

 

[Jeff Timm]

Just proves that Commie propaganda is terribly effective.

Bush is not a "real" President. He stole the election from Al Gore,

THE COMMIES ALL SAY IT SO IT MUST BE SO!

Kerry must be President for LIFE to compensate for the EVIL REPUBLICAN PLOTS AND SECRET PLANS!

THE COMMIES ALL SAY IT SO IT MUST BE SO!

Geoff
Who can easily believe the Democrat Communists can find the people to staff their death camps. I mourn for our country.

 

[jsalcedo]

Typical.

My classroom would have pictures of Ron Paul, Chuck Heston and Joe Foss in place of Johnson, Carter and Clinton.

 

[Kamicosmos]

what the....?


I'll just hope I'm asleep and read this in a dream....

 

[Standing Wolf]

I'd say that's a school district whose board needs to be fired en masse in the next election.

 

[txgolfer45]

The principal is the one that should be fired. Give that teacher her job back and a raise!!!

Scott

 

[Valkman]

She was on O'Reilly's show tonight, but none of the school officials would come on. Unbelieveable that a teacher was told she can't have pic of the President and his wife on the wall. Unbelieveable.

 

[GSB]

Hmm. When I was growing up, our classrooms had an American flag and a picture of the President. You'd think that would be simply a matter of showing due respect to the country and its institutions. I guess "respect" isn't something they teach anymore.

 

[foghornl]

Hmmmm

Maybe that 'Skool Bored' should put up pix of their "Ideal Leaders"....

Karl Marx

Lenin

Josef Stalin

Nikita Khruschev

any I missed?

 

[kfranz]

I suspect her union rep will have something to say on that one....

 

[WT]

She's a NJ teacher. The NJEA union is run by fanatical Democrats. They won't come up to bat for her.

It appears she had the picture on the "current events" bulletin board. She now wants to post the picture over the blackboard. Even Sen. John Corzine (D) can't figure out what the problem is with her school board.

 

[SigLaw]

There two sides to every story, I got this from the SigForum:



Thank you for your comments. Below I am including and attaching a statement from the District that was released to the press Sunday, October 3, 2004 with the facts surrounding the incident. Hopefully these facts will help clarify the situation.

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-Diaz¹ 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 ³glad they were not old enough to vote.² Other comments to students, including such statements as, ³you should be ashamed to be a Democrat² 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 ³personal bulletin board.² 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 now understood. I asked that when she next spoke with the media, that she clarify her new understanding.

I fully support the actions of the Principal and Assistant Principal. It is never acceptable for a teacher to utilize the classroom to advocate for political purposes or advance personal beliefs. The courts have always admonished teachers for proselytizing in public school classrooms. This issue is not about a picture of the President, but rather a zealous misuse of seventh and eighth grade student instructional time.

The South Brunswick School community is enormously respectful of the Office of the President of the United States, President Bush and the democratic process for choosing our President. Anyone trying to suggest the contrary has the worst of intentions. Under other circumstances, the display of a picture of the President would have been viewed as completely appropriate and uncontroversial. It is important to note that pictures of President Bush are openly displayed in all of the South Brunswick Schools. The teacher¹s own actions here, however, took it out of the realm of education and made the presentation appear partisan to many of our students and parents. Under these circumstances, our actions in directing the removal of the display were singularly appropriate.



Gary P. McCartney Ed D.

Superintendent of Schools

South Brunswick School District


Also, there is a duplicate discussion in the Roundtable.

 

[kfranz]

Ah yes, two sides to every story....Now, where's the truth???

 

[FPrice]

kfranz...

"Ah yes, two sides to every story....Now, where's the truth???"

Obviously this is a (choose one):

a. Vast right-wing conspiracy
b. Vast left-wing conspiracy

engineered by the (choose one):

a. RNC
b. DNC

under the direction of (choose one):

a. Ed Gillespie
b. Terry McAuliffe

and financed by (choose one):

a. 527s backed by George Soros
b. 527s backed by the Swift Boat Vets for Truth

You can find the truth at (choose one)

a. CBS
b. FOX

Now see, there is the truth in simple terms.

 

[Thumper]

My classroom would have pictures of Ron Paul, Chuck Heston and Joe Foss in place of Johnson, Carter and Clinton.

Hear, hear!

 

[one-shot-one]

foghornl

YOU MISSED FIDO CASTRO!
oh yea there is always your side, my side and the truth, but unless the conversation between the teach and prin. was recorded probably no one will remember the exact words that were exchanged.......

 

[cloudkiller]

the thick plottens...

I can promise no school official in a liberal district ever uttered the words "you are fired". - We all know that teachers, however incompetent, can't be fired!

My old American Government teacher (late 1980s) in HS would riled the students by telling them he was a dedicated communist believer. Our city is very conservative with a huge military presence so this would definitely get the discussions going. The teacher would get the students to THINK about issues, and would argue with them and make them go study more about political theories. This wasn't an honors class, or even an advanced class. It was just 10th grade Am-Govt.

At the end of the year the teacher would publically announce that he had lied to them about believing in communism, and would explain why. I thought it was a great way to get kids emotionally invested in the class.

Eventually parents complained to the school, and they made him stop.

 

[Valkman]

On O'Reilly's show she said that after refusing to take the picture down, the principal told her that she and her picture had disrupted the whole school and to "pack her things and get out". Since they didn't see fit to come on the show, and from the stink they started over one picture, I believe her.

As for the union, she hadn't filled out the paperwork to join it.

 

[PMDW]

From a post made by SigLaw in a topic about this in the roundtable forum...

"There two sides to every story, I got this from the SigForum:



Thank you for your comments. Below I am including and attaching a statement from the District that was released to the press Sunday, October 3, 2004 with the facts surrounding the incident. Hopefully these facts will help clarify the situation.

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-Diaz¹ 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 ³glad they were not old enough to vote.² Other comments to students, including such statements as, ³you should be ashamed to be a Democrat² 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 ³personal bulletin board.² 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 now understood. I asked that when she next spoke with the media, that she clarify her new understanding.

I fully support the actions of the Principal and Assistant Principal. It is never acceptable for a teacher to utilize the classroom to advocate for political purposes or advance personal beliefs. The courts have always admonished teachers for proselytizing in public school classrooms. This issue is not about a picture of the President, but rather a zealous misuse of seventh and eighth grade student instructional time.

The South Brunswick School community is enormously respectful of the Office of the President of the United States, President Bush and the democratic process for choosing our President. Anyone trying to suggest the contrary has the worst of intentions. Under other circumstances, the display of a picture of the President would have been viewed as completely appropriate and uncontroversial. It is important to note that pictures of President Bush are openly displayed in all of the South Brunswick Schools. The teacher¹s own actions here, however, took it out of the realm of education and made the presentation appear partisan to many of our students and parents. Under these circumstances, our actions in directing the removal of the display were singularly appropriate.



Gary P. McCartney Ed D.

Superintendent of Schools

South Brunswick School District"