Posted on 09/15/2007 2:32:07 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
Odor of Cigarette Smoke Causes School Employee to Lose Job
The Denton Independent School District has removed an employee from her position because she smells like cigarette smoke.
Suzanne Lidster was thrilled when she was recently hired to assist a student with disabilities at L.A. Nelson Elementary.
"It's something that God sent me here to do with this child," Lidster told FOX 4.
"It's like OK, this fell in my lap."
But after less than two weeks on the job, Lidster said she received a voicemail informing her that she had lost her position.
The school's principal left a message on her cell phone Tuesday morning saying that a doctor said the odor of smoke on Lidster had aggravated the student's allergies. The principal also said that Lidster was not a good fit for the job.
"Like getting a voicemail from the school saying hey, don't come back to the school because you stink from smoke."
Lidster said she smokes eight cigarettes a day but never on campus.
"I don't stink," she said. But she admits that she may be used to the smell after smoking for 32 years.
Lidster tearfully told FOX 4 reporter Rebecca Aguilar that she would never do anything that might hurt a child.
"No, I would never harm a child, never knowingly harm a child smoking a cigarette, having the odors on my body, no I would never ever harm a child, "
A district spokeswoman told FOX 4 that she couldn't talk about the case but did say Lidster had not been fired.
The spokeswoman said because Lidster is an at-will employee, she could be terminated at any time for no reason.
(Excerpt) Read more at myfoxdfw.com ...
Maybe she just should have said that she had been in the girls restroom...
In PC America, teachers get fired for smelling like tobacco.
Yet in Indonesia, prostitutes get hired to roll tobacco into cigarettes.
Link to: “Indonesia: Prostitutes Offered (Tobacco) Factory Work During Ramadan (Islam = Religion Of Peace)”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1897077/posts
It’s a strange world....
Let me understand this. The kid is getting a free public education PLUS one-on-one attention and it’s still not enough? Let the kid’s parents pay for the assistant of their choice. I’m tired of paying for it, smelly or not.
I’m sympathetic to the parents of special needs kids, but not to the idea that the taxpayers owe them millions of dollars worth of extra care.
The degenerate eduKKKrat vermin running the school would probably be fine with some filthy ablutophobic hippy freak who smells of pot-smoke, B.O., and pachouli oil, but cigarette smoke is unacceptable. I hope she sues their asses off.
Other than being a scientifically unsupportable opinion, I see no problem with this charge...
I hate the smell of fat people, and...
... never mind...
In Denton? I don’t think so..
I had a neighbor across the street who had the worst odor I’ve ever known. It was mostly cigarette smoke, but I think it was also her teeth. The husband was also a heavy smoker, and their son was not popular partially because of the odor. I could smell her coming up the walk to my front door.
It wasn’t just me. It was the talk of the neighborhood. She tried to sell us a car once. Not on your life.
Their house was horrendous. Not really dirty, just incredibly smelly. When they moved, the entire inside had to be gutted, including the walls.
Barring all this, she was quite a nice lady. Just before she moved, she got a job in customer service and I couldn’t quite believe it. She stayed there years. I always wondered who hired her.
Depends on the nature of the disability. I know of one child that needed a nurse around her at school to clean out her trach tube at a moment’s notice. I also know of one at our local high school that requires an aide to get the child on and off the toilet as the student’s CP will not allow her to do it herself. The mind is fine, and in fact quite sharp, but the body is weak. Thus the aide
“I always wondered who hired her.”
R.J. Reynolds maybe?
: )
The political correct jihad against smoking is scary. And so is these zero tolerance laws. Zero tolerance is a classic symptom of over-centralization and bureaucracy in an organization or nation.
Our testosterone free leaders seem unable to stop it though.. they get lost in the process or deep down are political correctness jihadists themselves.
I demand my government provided 24/7 assistant too. I insist she is attractive, trained as a nurse, and nice all the time to me.
All I can do is laugh...hahahahahahaha!!!
Smoking is despicable.
The fact is, if a person smells of anything (including smoke) that adversely effects people around them there's nothing improper about warning them and letting them go if necessary.
No sympathy, would an adult be forced to work closey with or accept personal or intimate services from someone who’s smell was offensive?
Why should a kid have to, just because they’re a child? If the lady’s odor was noticeable enough to others that it becomes an issue, then I have no problem with termination.
She is an at-will employee. The employer can fire her if he didn’t like the color of her shoes.
Based on the posts I have read here about smoking, I believe
1. She has a constitutional right to smoke,
2. kids do better with allergies when the parents smoke and
3. most smokers on this site don’t know anyone who died from smoking or
4. any smokers that didn’t live to be at least 90.
The school is apparently overreacting.
I agree...leaving a voicemail was tasteless and tactless. But once again, we are given an article about a school with so little information, it’s hard to determine who is really at fault.
Well, it seems doctors should be interviewing new hires and not the Human Resources Department.
The only exception I could see (perhaps) is if this was a substitute position, and not a permanent one, or if they had tried for a period of time to contact her without success.
But once again, we are given an article about a school with so little information, it’s hard to determine who is really at fault.
Of course, she can say anything she wants, and the school can't really say anything. In fact, I'm surprised they went so far as to say publicly that she wasn't a good fit for the position.
That said, I don't know the truth of the matter - she could have been the most wonderful assistant on earth, and the school administrators could be awful, or vice versa. Just pointing out that in stories like this, you're only going to get one side of the story unless perhaps criminal charges have been filed.
That means the lawyers are being consulted.
ooooooooh that smell
the smell of liberals around you....
------Lynard Skynard circa 1977
A public school district?
A public school district?
However, the principal probably figured the "stinky smoker" reason would fly through unchallenged.
Yes, it's always funny to see political correctness cost someone thier job.
Jackass.
Of course that wasn't what this article was about was it...
So.....before all of the ANTI-antismoking people jump in, there may be other forces at work.
Its not like this was a teacher sitting at the front of a room, many kids have allergies to smoke and apparently the one she was watching did. So do we keep subjecting the kid to the oder?
Eight Cigarettes a day does cause one to smell, is it the worst smell in the world? not by any means but enough to set of a reaction..
And Im short but Im tall..
Smoke and alleged odor are two different things.
How so? The odor is just the smoke coming to rest on skin or getting trapped in clothing and hair and being released again after likely going through additional chemical reactions.
In your scenario, a smoker's shirt hanging in the closet for two weeks would presumably have smoke curling from it after a period of time.
Have you witnessed this?
I never have.
Yes, I've done it before.
I guess it just depends on what the circumstances are.
They really should have, at least, talked with her before firing her.
So are you, Ray.
There is no constitutional "right to smoke" and you know it.
There is also no constitutional "right to live in a smoke free environment".
Some kids do better with allergies with parents who smoke than kids with parents who don't. Sounds like genetics to me.
The only people that have died from smoke are those that were asphyxiated. Others that smoked tobacco, or some other form of vegetation, died from other causes. Those causes may have been brought on by smoking, or exacerbated by smoking, but it wasn't the smoking that killed them. (I know, you'll say I'm cutting hairs with this)
Some smokers live to 117, some die at 20.
Some nonsmokers live to 117, some die at 20.
Once again, sounds like genetics to me.
perhaps on both sides. there’s no certainty of that given
the lack of information and the conflicting information
in this article though.
Some of particles that precipitated out of the smoke would likely still be on the shirt and contaminate other articles in the closet.
And what would those likely “additional chemical reactions” be?
“I could smell her coming up the walk to my front door.”
With cabbage cooking...
Denton High has (maybe no longer) had a drive way between the vocational wing and the main building... all smoking students use to hang and smoke there. Use to see teachers not far away smoking near a temp. building near the alley too... I'm sure no accommodations are made for smokers now, but I don't know.
DHS Class of '84... Go Broncos... hats off to you.
You've reduced the argument to its essence.
Kudos.
Polonium-210 decay is one that is mentioned in literature..
What literature?
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