Posted on 03/17/2018 7:37:20 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
California high school history teacher Julianne Benzel is on paid suspension after engaging her students in a discussion where she shared her perspective on the politics of organized protests in anticipation of the National School Walkout, which took place on the morning of March 14.
“We had a dialogue in class about it in Thursday and Friday. And today I received the call. So I am aghast,” Benzel told CBS Sacramento.
Benzel said that she questioned her students as to the appropriateness of schools sanctioning a protest against gun violence and whether the school administration was willing to allow protests for other causes, but she noted that she never discouraged her pupils from taking part in the walkout.
“If you’re going to allow students to walk up and get out of class without penalty then you have to allow any group of students that wants to protest,” Benzel said.
“And so I just kind of used the example which I know it’s really controversial, but I know it was the best example I thought of at the time,” Benzel told CBS Sacramento.
“[If] a group of students nationwide, or even locally, decided ‘I want to walk out of school for 17 minutes’ and go in the quad area and protest abortion, would that be allowed by our administration?”
According to Benzel, her students understood the purpose of her discussion, but on Wednesday, she received notification that she was being placed on leave. While students were walking out of class, Benzel was informed she was being placed on paid administrative leave.
“I didn’t get any backlash from my students. All my students totally understood that there could not be a double standard,” she said.
School officials didn’t elaborate on the specific nature of the issue, but released a statement reading in part:
A Rocklin High School teacher has been placed on paid administrative leave due to several complaints from parents and students involving the teacher’s communications regarding today’s student-led civic engagement activities.
Benzel said that she hopes the national student walkout will facilitate broader discussion not focused entirely on second amendment gun rights, but also on free speech.
Student Nick Wade, who didn’t walk out, told CBS13 that he believes the politics behind the protest played a large role – and that protests related to a more “conservative” cause would likely be denied by school officials.
“I feel like if we were to go to school and say something like I want to walk out maybe for abortion rights, then you know they probably wouldn’t let us because that’s more of a conservative push. But someone wants to say let’s walk out for gun control then the school’s going to go with it because it’s more of a popular view,” said Wade.
Benzel told the news station that she acquired legal counsel and plans to meet with the school administration on Thursday.
Aghast? Naive for sure.
And now if we can see pictures of the complaining parents.
She just hit the lawsuit. Lottery.
My granddaughter was in this teacher’s class when she was in high school and she allowed BOTH sides of an argument to have a voice.
Question , you have no right to Question ,reeducation camp for you
The Progressives do not abide anyone in their nexus of control who does not subscribe fully to their groupthink. To Progs, “engaging in dialogue” is supposed to mean “open wide and swallow.” They sure don’t want you thinking for yourself.
The leftist position is that NAZIS don't get a voice. We live in very dangerous times.
In many other states, maybe. But she works in California. I'm sure the teacher's union won't raise a finger to help her. From what I understand, they are more doctrinaire in their opinions than the Stasi could ever hope to have been.
The libs are moving into this town from the San Francisco area and are changing it from conservative to commie. Rep. Tom McClinktok is our US Representative. I’m wondering how long it will be before we have a commie representing us in Congress.
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I just knew it would come to this. Fascism now.
“My granddaughter was in this teacher’s class when she was in high school and she allowed BOTH sides of an argument to have a voice.”
An uniquely American form of Cultural Revolution is happening right under our noses. And no one is doing squat about it.
L
We called our kid’s school and told them they take their little political event and shove it. He stayed home, we had a fun day at the health club.
It was a staged far Left political event:
https://actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/enough-national-school-walkout
Note “we’re a nonprofit and only work with progressives” on their home page:
Many California schools made it a mandatory event. If you did not want to participate you had to go sit in a room with Ms. EvilTeach who would glower at you for WrongThink.
There should be a monster class action suit across the country for these SOBs trying to hijack our kids in their little Maoist demonstration.
PS
Ya gotta give the Commies credit for having a website like that. Turbocharged mob creation and deployment.
On the Women’s March home page note that they worked “closely” with Google and Amazon programmers (they say “engineers”, but those people are not engineers)(I am, so I get to say mean things like that) to accommodate traffic expected.
IOW, companies that get cash from the USGov spend that money helping Leftist organizers screw with the country.
Why? In a Republican administration, why?
She raises an excellent point. The administrations have set a dangerous precedent for future walk outs for any reason.
I was subbing yesterday to help with the school’s sub crisis (occurring in many districts)and a teacher’s aide was reading to a group of special ed students who also had books to follow along. She had to stop and replace the Lord’s Name in vain. As I was leaving the room, I thanked her and she told me that wasn’t the half of inappropriateness she has “revised”. . . .and these are recommended books for the curriculum paid with tax payer’s dollars. Probably in some districts she would have been fired.
We are so fortunate that one of the ticking time bombs somewhere did not take advantage of the mass of protesting students and do some mass killing.
When liberals say they want to “have a conversation”, they mean, “We talk, you listen.” I’ve gotten sick of that “have a conversation” gambit.
Send her to the camps!
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