Posted on 07/14/2005 10:55:04 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
Letters to the Editor
Published July 14, 2005
Re: Teacher accused of bias, July 7 Times(Note:Read this link first):
If we wonder why our schools are losing qualified teachers, look no further than this article. As if low pay is not enough, teachers also are subjected to one-sided reporting of unsubstantiated allegations. Who would want to be a teacher if your name and reputation can be sullied so easily in the court of public opinion?
Deborah St. John has been teaching for 20 years. She is a well-respected and passionate teacher. She goes well beyond the call of duty to ensure her students receive the best education possible. To have the unsubstantiated and untrue allegations against her be portrayed as fact is devastating.
Ms. St. John has not made racist comments to students. She respects all races and cultures and tries to instill this respect in her students. Yes, she did ask all her students, not just her African-American students, to read a book by a "black author." It was during Black History Month and the assignment was given to broaden the students' exposure to literature from African-Americans. Encouraging a student to read Maya Angelou during Black History Month does not demonstrate racial bias.
What is missing from the article is the background surrounding the allegations against Ms. St. John. The allegations were made by two students who were friends and were failing Ms. St. John's class. She allegedly had caught the students cheating several times and, because of this, separated them. One of the students also wanted to read Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews for a book report. Ms. St. John did not feel the book was appropriate (the book includes an incestuous relationship between a brother and sister and is about a grandmother who locks her grandchildren in an attic) and would not allow the student to read it for the report.
Ms. St. John is a tough teacher, but only wants what is best for her students. She expects her students to perform to the best of their abilities. Some of the students resent the work they are required to do. They resort to attacks on the teacher, especially when they know that the school's policy is to allow transfers only in extreme situations.
In another incident, Ms. St. John asked the students to write letters to three colleges. This was a lesson she had adopted from her mentor when she was a beginning teacher. Her mentor was an African-American woman. Ms. St. John has taught this lesson for 20 years without any complaints. She asked the African-American students to write one of the letters to a "black college" and she asked the female students to write one of the letters to a women's college. Ms. St. John was showing the students all of their options and was in no way motivated by any racial bias.
One student was upset at Ms. St. John's using the term "black" rather than "African-American." Ms. St. John acknowledged that she may be out of date with her terminology and agreed to use "African-American" if the student preferred. Rather than showing racial bias, Ms. St. John's reaction demonstrates her racial sensitivity.
It is impossible in the limited space of this letter to thoroughly dispute all of the allegations referred to in the article, but the allegations are not true. Ms. St. John is well aware of the demeaning nature of racial and cultural bias. While teaching at Hernando High School, Ms. St. John spent many hours helping Kurdish teachers who were having difficulties with biased and disrespectful students. Having witnessed the effects of prejudice, she would never participate in such behavior herself.
Many outside the teaching arena are unaware of the process teachers must endure to rebut allegations such as the ones in the article. Ms. St. John would have been out of work without pay for months in order to contest the allegations. She could not afford such an endeavor. To end the matter and return to the job she loves, she entered into the last chance agreement.
Had she known that the Times would write about these allegations, maybe her decision would have been otherwise.
-- Jennifer S. Blohm, attorney for Deborah St. John, Tallahassee
Jennifer Blohm is also counsel for the Florida NEA.
I wonder if we will ever know the facts here, with both sides so trustworthy. I doubt it.
I believe the SPTimes could have put more balance into the July 7th reporting..(laziness in reporting another side of the story? Racial bias on the part of the reporter?..all kinds of questions come to mind) ...media balance = a "foreign object" to the MSM.
The Slimes is a crappy paper, no doubt. But Hernando County isn't a hotbed of PC, and I can't imagine things have changed a lot. If the school made her sign a last-chance agreement, they must have had enough allegations to cause her serious trouble.
A similar thing happened to one of my old high school teachers. The man was and is of impeccable character, yet 2 dumb girls accused him of sexual harrassment. He was arrested in the school and handcuffed in front of the students. I never heard the outcome, but I am sure he sued and won.
Musn't upset the little darlings by telling them to keep quiet! What utter rubbish! No wonder our kids and schools are in the disgusting state that they're in. Teachers aren't even allowed to keep order in their classes anymore. And people wondered why I homeschooled my son.
I totally agree with you.
You have to wonder why many people become teachers especially these days when the accusations of students can often spell trouble for a teacher.
"Many outside the teaching arena are unaware of the process teachers must endure to rebut allegations such as the ones in the article. Ms. St. John would have been out of work without pay for months in order to contest the allegations. She could not afford such an endeavor. To end the matter and return to the job she loves, she entered into the last chance agreement."...
I repeat!
Read: "Many outside the teaching arena are unaware of the process teachers must endure to rebut allegations such as the ones in the article. Ms. St. John would have been out of work without pay for months in order to contest the allegations. She could not afford such an endeavor. To end the matter and return to the job she loves, she entered into the last chance agreement." -the small print..
...the paper crucified her! Rumor, allegations is what that story is based on. She was trying to do what was best for the students, the parents and the school. She took the best way out for all but herself.
You have read where she is "soft" on the
confrontation mode
with students" as she is an adult and they are prone to reacting like children. Then
the Times stepped in and did a hatchet job on her. Those particular students (failing and friends) are probably real proud of themselves right now.
But hey in conclusion her signing that paper makes her guilty.
Aren't we supposed to say "people of color" now?
How long before someone shortens that and we go full circle?
"Many outside the teaching arena are unaware of the process teachers must endure to rebut allegations such as the ones in the article. Ms. St. John would have been out of work without pay for months in order to contest the allegations. She could not afford such an endeavor. To end the matter and return to the job she loves, she entered into the last chance agreement."...
Might as well say
"I am a lawyer. I work for the NEA and have for years. I would defend a child molester if they were a member of the NEA."
That's her lawyer spew, and we now know the best face both sides can put on their case. The reality is very likely somewhere in between, and probably less in her favor than the lawyer would like or she wouldn't have signed the agreement. If you want to pretend lawyers for unions are noble and righteous in their cause, great, but you should try looking up how many unions still protect their workers no matter how heinous the crime. I'm not saying she's a sinner or a saint. I'm saying that even if this is PC crap and these are punkasses, they're evidently credible enough in their charges of racism that she didn't want to fight it--even over the summer. And I doubt even a union lawyer would tell her not to fight it if her case was good and the kids were grade-A punkasses and there were no other comments that qualified as racist or stupid.
Sure, these comments probably are out of context, but it's also hard to see how someone who's been teaching for the last 20 years (1985-2005) doesn't know better than to play the PC game and avoid stupid statements like that. I'm not a PC defender--but I guarandamntee you that if she had made comments like the ones quoted, even in context, in the public schools in 90% of the country even 15 years ago, hell would have broken loose, and she should as an experienced teacher know better. If you don't recognize that, you probably are assuming that PC is something you can fight in the system. It is not. It's fully in charge now, and it's about the only thing the system will kick a teacher out for.
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