Posted on 02/27/2015 8:56:56 PM PST by lowbridge
Debora Vailes re-posted on her personal Facebook page a photograph of a little girl crying because of the shortcomings of Common Core. Later that day, her school principal, Dr. Dana Nolan, after discovering the post, gave Deborah Vailes her first written reprimand and ordered her to refrain from expressing any opinion about public education on social media and to remove her anti-Common Core post from the social media site – ASAP. (The school district refers to written reprimands as a “documented conferences.”) Dr. Nolan further informed Deborah that she could not to discuss her opinion in public – on any social media or any public forum.
Two days later, Dr. Nolan held a mandatory faculty meeting of the Pineville Junior high school. She informed the faculty at the meeting that Deborah Vailes was reprimanded due to posting a negative opinion about Common Core on Facebook. Dr. Nolan warned the faculty not to share their personal opinions or speak-out in any way. After hearing about the Principal’s gag order, Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, issued an executive order that teachers were to be afforded the same constitutional guarantees afforded to all citizens. However, his executive order did not deter the Defendant, Dr. Nolan, from continuing her vendetta against Deborah Vailes.
Before Vailes posted her Facebook criticism of Common Core, she had a stellar personnel record; she had never received a reprimand. Since her public criticism, she has received three additional written reprimands. School administrators are now constantly visiting her class, when before her criticism of Common Core, such visits were rare. Dr. Nolan has stripped Debbie Vailes of her responsibilities, and placed her in a job category which, according to Vailes’ colleagues, will be eliminated at the end of the school year resulting in her termination.
(Excerpt) Read more at joemiller.us ...
Not a chance. The gov't will likely become the biggest source.
The public school system is NOT part of the federal government. It is a municipal entity supported in part by the State government. It may receive funds from the Dept. of Education and as such may subject itself to the burdensome rules and oversight that come with accepting such funding but, public schools are not federal.
All powers not granted to the federal government are reserved to the States and the people.
This teacher is not advocating nor opposing a candidate for election nor an administrator of the school but is opining on how teaching is best effected. The principal should welcome her viewpoint and reach out for further input on how the community and the schools can best achieved their mission. To single out and shut down genuine expression of thought weakens their stated objective; learning.
Emerging dictatorship. Call it what it is.
“Suppose, for example, a Ford engineer constantly posted Facebook comments about how terrible Ford products were.”
If the Ford products were dangerous, would that make a difference?
“Suppose, for example, a Ford engineer constantly posted Facebook comments about how terrible Ford products were. I think Ford would have some right to tell that engineer to shut up if he wanted to continue to work for Ford.”
However, in this instance, the teacher was addressing the Common Core model, not the school for which she works, it seems. To make this comparison to Ford is a false equivalence. Your Ford engineer model would be more apt if you posited posting about how terrible are automobiles, which would likely not be actionable by Ford; no more so than this instance should be actionable by the school administration.
On the reading, it appears this teacher is being treated quite unfairly.
It isn’t similar at all. Ford is a private company, and can go out of business via management making stupid decisions and actions. The school district is a public entity and cannot, and has to be much more constrained on free speech and other issues than a private company.
The Principal is a GOVT employee. An agent of the GOVT, if you will.
That employee/agent is using his GOVT position to deny rights.
Rights of the teacher to speak, and rights of the public to know. The GOVT may not silence you.
Ford on the other hand is NOT GOVT, and is not much different than my home. Start speaking things I do not like in my home, I can and will silence you.
See the difference?
Well, he did say "Urban" school.
There is indeed a First Amendment issue here.
Correct, but Ford is a private company that does not involve elected officials, tax payer financing, etc. She was not being critical of her employer, but of a federal/state imposed taxpayer funded ideology.
if a Ford engineer constantly posted Facebook comments about how terrible Ford products —
How about if the engineer comments about how the Govt regs are affecting Ford’s car production?
unless you have a Facebook account, ... They want to know they can check on your daily activities.
HOw hard is it to have two accounts.
One for the party line, and one for real?
Like truckers with multiple log books.
keep our computers clean of all of that spyware and hacker crap. —
Already full of NSA spying crap.
True enough, I did say that. To complete the picture, I'll mention that I have a high honors degree in chemistry, earned while working full-time in a mill. But the degree was from a public university's night school. Feel free to pick that apart.
Taking God out of the schools was founded on an argument that the schools represent the government.
Try this—public schools claim to represent the federal government because they are associated with the federal government.
Use of the phrase “part of” was very loose.
You're right, because public school districts really are government entities, just like cities and townships are. They hold elections, and they have the power to tax. The confusion on this thread occurs when folks claim that schools are part of the federal government.
That is simply not true. No official in Washington DC has the power to appoint any school official. That is all done locally.
But DC has the power to seduce school districts. The feds offer money, with many strings attached. Take the money, as most districts do, and the district becomes a puppet of DC.
As a side note, I'm old enough to remember prayers in public schools. My elementary school teachers lead us in prayer every day before lunch. It was nondenominational, and the right thing to do. A big part of America died when that was outlawed.
I’ve been long aware of the distinction between what the federal government is and what public schools are, but didn’t mean to confuse you. I should have used something like “affiliated with” instead of “part of.” In places like a court of law, it’s necessary to be picky about language. But on a forum like this such pickiness could be mistaken for concrete thinking.
The government’s “power” to engage in moral corruption is well known, although this doesn’t speak to whether such behavior is justified.
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