Posted on 12/02/2004 3:56:16 PM PST by reportgirl73
GRAND ISLAND, N.Y. (AP) - An elementary school bus driver was fired after sharing a statistic she had read about embryonic stem cell research with students, then encouraging them to tell their parents about it.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Best of luck to you and your wife. Be sure to get the nastiest lawyer you you can afford.
I had a high school teacher 20 years ago that was an early version of today's extreme left. I thought he had a right to an opinion then, even though I thought his ideas were ridiculous.
People seem to think that elementary age students are raised in sound proof, window less cells. They aren't, they're exposed to all sorts of information from school, television, radio, written media and their friends. The stem cell research subject is mild compared to some of the questions I've had to discuss with my children over the last 16 years.
Freedom of speech means freedom for people we disagree with, but that doesn't mean we give up our own freedom for theirs. That's something both the left and the right should keep in mind.;
Absolutley!
The worst part is that Grand Island used to be a great place to live, now the liberals are coming in and having their way..
Frikin rino's run the island now just like the state..
BTTT
We have a case according to a well known Buffalo Attorney..
no names..
Here is the article she wrote to the papers and the schools.
Casualties of the Culture War
by Julianne Thompson
A few weeks ago, I read an interview with Mel Gibson, wherein he explained that in 23 years of embryonic stem cell research, we haven't found a single cure for any disease - ever. Not one life has been saved. But in using adult stem cells, we've found over 300,000 cures. I was stunned, and as a schoolbus driver, I shared it with my students. I did not express an opinion, I shared a scientific fact, and I encouraged the students to share it with their parents. They did, and after some apparently uninformed discussion, a couple of parents brought their twisted rendition to the Grand Island School District, and demanded my dismissal. It would seem they needed to strengthen their case, so they then fabricated a lie about lack of control, and students standing while the bus is in motion, which simply doesn't happen on my schoolbus. Without warning, and after two and a half years of spotless service, the school district submitted to their infantile demands, and promptly fired me.
Boy, did I learn my lesson. I learned that free speech is definitely not free, that education stops at the schoolbus door, and that either political correctness, or the irrational rantings of a tiny, vocal minority supersedes reason, facts and truth. The strongest language that was used to justify my dismissal was "inappropriate". I then asked, reasonably enough, "What was inappropriate about it?", but have yet to receive a response.
If millions of people in California voted on it by referendum, why is it off-limits to speak about it with students? And if such facts were provided the students by their health or science teacher, would anyone care? I have learned since then, that the use of embryonic stem cells causes only cancers, cysts and tumors.
In the midst of all the misplaced outrage, is the story of the sad and disturbing success of a fraudulent social "conscience" that devalues life in favor of demonstrably failed science, wasting billions of dollars in the process, and one that pretends to champion tolerance, but punishes reasonable discourse. Memo to the Schools: Submitting to terrorist demands rewards ignorance, and utilizes a most ineffective conflict resolution technique.
Whether it's the sheer joy gained from pilfering one's meager sustenance, or just a post-election tantrum, those parents, and the educators and administrators who should know better, are the real victims in this culture war. To be continually and easily bamboozled by liberalism's ideological nonsense is not a level of discernment (or lack thereof) that should be admired, aspired to or encouraged.
Our children, sadly, may be the biggest casualties of all. How can we expect them to grow into rational, objective adults, if we ourselves refuse to tolerate logic, or dissent from our own narrow view? How can we expect honesty, when we use lies to sweeten our case against those we oppose? The school district, in enabling the minority, has sent a message that those who stamp their feet the loudest win, and has paved the way for an irresponsible, amoral, ill-bred and disobedient generation. Sounds like anarchy.
As one of the responsible citizens of Grand Island, with a hefty tax burden and a stake in the future, I encourage you to stamp your feet. Loudly.
or how about support for gay marriage. These people are unbelievable. School districts are secular communists.
Absolutley!
I hate to say it but...maybe that is why she is a BUS DRIVER.
Perhaps you'd like to offer one....?
~Mrs. Mayor~
I absolutley know they do! We have 4 children 3 in school and one we home school.
The crap they come home with is sickening at times.
This brings up a very ironic point. Since the school is not Congress, it can not be a violation of the first amendment (i.e. "Congress shall pass no law...") for the school to impose restrictions on speech. But wait! Left wing judicial activists have already established that schools must be bound by the limits of the first amendment concerning "passing laws respecting an establishment of religion" to extend to the policies of public schools.
Even not knowing all the facts, it seems obvious the school's objection to a single instance of a seemingly reasonable statement suggests a controversial agenda of liberal indoctrination.
It seems to me the school is in trouble if she sues.
Thank you!
not alot of response from the ACLJ..
"Your wife was stating the positive truth about stem cell research "
No, she was stating something spouted off by Mel Gibson, hardly a bastion of biological knowledge.
That said, she did NOT deserve to be fired.
~Mrs. Mayor~
Re-education for the Mrs, eh?
My thoughts are with you as you make your way through this.
I'm not sure we read the same article. The woman drives a bus. How could she be a placard waving zealot while driving a bus? She wasn't fired for doing her job poorly, she was fired for failure to maintain political correctness. Based on the story I hope she hires someone from the ACLJ, sues the school board, becomes fabulously wealthy and ends up bankrupting the local school system. Then she should receive a medal for her efforts.
What I shared was not an opinion, but a scientific fact that was neither political or religious in nature. Do you consider it Conservative/right-wing stuff?
To answer your question, no I would not have a problem with it, because there are few issues my children (9,12,15,17) and I don't discuss. I would have a problem if the driver, unlike me, encouraged them not to tell their parents.
Understanding both sides (or at least being aware of them) seems key to raising rational, objective, healthy and wise children, don't you think?
~Mrs. Mayor~
Sounds to me that the school children were asking questions and wanted facts, and the driver was giving them facts while trying to keep her opinion out of it. Reasonable conversations are not necessarily indoctrination.
If even one kid of the average FR'r came home and announced that their school bus driver was telling them how wonderful abortion is, then you would all be screaming bloody murder
That would be expressing an opinion. For instance had the bus driver been telling the kids they would burn in hell if they had an abortion, that would be a problem to. But if the bus driver was asked about how safe abortions were, and the bus driver came back with a reasonable fact based answer then what's the beef?
I realize that not being an evangelical (or any other type of) Christian, I am very much in the minority here
What's the point in saying this? Do you think those of us who are evalgelical christians are not capable of seeing things objectivly, so you need to set yourself apart as being more reliable?
That's what bus drivers are paid to do, no more and no less.
Do you always do the absolute minimum of what your job title requires? Do you really think people are nothing more then their job title? As a parent I would prefer a bus driver who took an real interest in the children, and if they had factual, educational answers which they discussed with children in a reasonable manner, I would be delighted.
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