Posted on 10/02/2004 10:43:17 PM PDT by 11th_VA
SOUTH BRUNSWICK: A middle school teacher walked out on her job after being asked to remove a picture of the president from her classroom, she said.
Though she says he has not resigned, the teacher's situation at Crossroads Middle School South is not yet resolved.
Shiba Pillai-Diaz's walkout involved the local police, left school officials mum and appalled the local Republican Party.
Pillai-Diaz, 33, a volunteer with the Bush campaign and an English teacher, has had a publicity picture of the First Couple hanging in her classroom since the start of the school year, she said.
The photo became an issue last week.
Parents e-mailed an assistant principal accusing Pillai-Diaz of suppressing free speech because the teacher refused to talk to pupils about why the color photo hung in the room.
"Students said, 'You like George Bush? He's killed people,' " Pillai-Diaz said. "As a rule I don't talk about my politics in the classroom."
According to Pillai-Diaz, Assistant Principal Mark Daniels said he had no problem with the photo, which hung next to posters of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. But Daniels told the teacher she should address questions that arose because of the photo.
"He wasn't giving me the power to direct conversation in my classroom," said Pillai-Diaz, who regarded the picture just as an image of the current president.
Thursday, at back-to-school night, the controversy exploded after a parent asked why the picture was up, Pillai-Diaz said.
"The way she asked was a political assault," the teacher said.
Then the parents started their own debate about the picture, and one mother stormed out of the classroom, Pillai-Diaz said.
Friday morning, the teacher, who is in her sixth year of teaching and her first in South Brunswick, was called into the assistant principal's office. Daniels told her to remove the picture, Pillai-Diaz said.
"He said, 'If you care about your job, you'll take the picture down,' " she said.
Pillai-Diaz told the assistant principal to take the picture down himself. Then she sought Principal Jim Warfel, who gave her an upbraiding.
"He said, 'You've caused more disruption, hatred and anger than anyone I've ever known,' " she said.
The teacher said the principal told her to "get out," so she left and headed to the South Brunswick Police Department.
An officer accompanied Pillai-Diaz back to the school because she said she feared for her safety when she went to collect her belongings, police said.
Once Pillai-Diaz felt safe at the school the officer left, police said.
In the school, Pillai-Diaz had a two-hour meeting with Superintendent Gary McCartney and a representative from the teachers' union. Both parties told the teacher she would lose any fight she would try to start about the picture, Pillai-Diaz said.
"They weren't interested in the substance of the issue," she said.
The superintendent said no one has resigned, been fired or suspended. McCartney would not discuss the incident, calling it a personnel matter.
When reached Friday night, Sylvia Lee, president of the teachers' union, said no teacher had been fired and she didn't know about the incident. Lee did not return multiple telephone messages left for her yesterday.
Board of Education President Robert Long declined to comment on the incident, calling it a personnel matter.
He did say he could not find any district policy addressing the presence of pictures of presidents in classrooms. He said it would be too early to tell whether the incident merited a policy change.
"We don't want to develop a policy for something that is not needed," Long said. "Whatever the facts may be, it is something we will certainly take a look at if needed."
Democrats dominate South Brunswick's government, holding the Mayor's Office and three of the four council seats.
Of the 40,000 people living in the township, about 5,000 are registered Republicans. Registered Democrats outnumber them by a 3-to-2 margin, said local Republican officials.
"It's horrible that a teacher was asked to take down a picture of the president of the United States," said Dawn Smith, chair of the local Republican Committee. "It's unconscionable."
Smith said she would expect the same procedures to apply whether it was President Bush or former President Clinton.
"When did we stop honoring our country's leaders?" Smith asked.
Pillai Diaz said the only way school officials may have known she was a Republican is because she could not attend a meeting with teachers on the day she volunteered at the Republican National Convention in New York.
"I never once said 'I am a Republican' or 'I support the president,' " Pillai-Diaz said.
Pillai-Diaz turned in the keys to her classroom on Friday. She packed up the picture and her classroom decorations, taking them with her when she left. She is unsure about her future employment, but said she is supposed to speak with district officials about it tomorrow.
"My ultimate goal is to teach," she said.
I spend $800 bucks a month for private school tuition to keep them away from people like that.
I was working for the State but in a County office. My boss was the Property Valuation Administrator for our County. When you work in that office it is suppposed to be non-partisan and you work at the behest of the administrator. If he doesn't like the color of your hair he can fire you if he so chooses.
He is the President of the United States . just like George Washington .. Abe Lincoln .. and John Kennedy were
Betcha these idiots on the School Board will ban all pictures of US Presidents
AMEN to that! Between the NEA and AARP I don't know which is worse.
personal list.
Hate to imagine my kids in a class with the kids of these militant red SOB "parents"
You hit the nail on the head with that one. It is the parents fault for teaching (or lack of teaching) that causes these PC harrassment problems.
SOCIALISM, that is what is taking hold in this country and there needs to be something done about it and quick
Bloggers need to find a teacher who had a picture of Bill Clinton up during the 90s in this school district.
Of course they will, all of them except Wilson, FDR, JFK (the REAL JFK), LBJ, Carter, and Clinton were slave owners and racists.
A school that allows a parent to dictate that a picture of the sitting President of the United States cannot be posted in the school....I would bet that same school would not allow a parent to dictate 'my child will not be taught in school about sex in any way shape or form, or that the same school would allow the posting of pictures of how to use condoms correctly.
I have a confession to make. I had a photo of Bush Senior hanging in my office when I was in the military. I never got around to taking it down or replacing it after Clinton was elected (I was awfully busy, you know.) The amazing thing was that no-one ever said anything to me about it, and I didn't notice the oversight until I was packing up my things when I PCS'd...
Oh, yeah, right. Tell that to the girl in GA who was accused of smoking when there was no evidence of it and got a five day suspension.
Yes, the authority of teachers has been removed and undermined.
GOOD FOR YOU!
I read this this AM with my coffee. Academic Freedom apparently applies ONLY when "liberal" rights are being defended.
If this teacher had hung up a poster of Che Guevara, or Fidel, or Malcolm X,she would have been on the Fast track for promotions...
**My daughter's public high school has a poster of Communist revolutionary Che Guevara conspicuously posted in the English classroom. Any pictures of Washington, Lincoln, Bush or any other president in sight? No, of course not. My kids don't want me to complain for fear that they will be singled-out for "re-education" or receive bad grades. This is in an ultra-liberal San Fran Bay Area county. I so fear for our country!**
Have you read Lynne Cheney's book Telling the Truth this was written during the 1990s but is still very true as to what is going on in education. Though I come from England I can see the same thing in my country and the book explains a lot of little subtle things that I did not pick up on when I was at school in the late 70s and early 80s.
BTTT!!!!!!!
I'd walk out too, who needs parents like the ones teaching those kids
We teachers seem to get blamed for everything these days, but PARENTS have a much greater influence than anything. In fact, it is the objections of parents that results in certain things being removed; they can even be of different religiions (e.g. a Jewish parent had some songs removed from a choir performance here, a Mormon is protesting school prayer in Utah, some Protestants protested a school graduation prayer in Washington, etc.).
Also, we all have our freeagency to do as we choose. I appreciate the teacher for standing up for her beliefs, though I believe that most political discussion should be between parents and children, not in the classroom, unless presented as both sides, in an unbiased fashion.
This is not even a freedom of speech issue. This is about America and what is right and this school has shown that they do not subscribe to what is right and this is what is being taught in our schools.
Not really. Remember, this was in response to PARENTS. The parents there are not teaching what is right. PARENTS are the most influential teachers of their kids.
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