Posted on 03/04/2006 6:27:38 AM PST by randita
Article Launched: 3/04/2006 01:00 AM
Teacher backs away from lawsuit threat
The district made clear that teacher Jay Bennish may speak to the media, his lawyer said Friday.
By Karen Rouse Denver Post Staff Writer DenverPost.com
An Overland High School teacher whose recorded statements about President Bush and U. S. foreign policy sparked a national debate about classroom speech on Friday backed away from plans to sue the Cherry Creek School District.
The attorney for social studies teacher Jay Bennish said his client held off on the lawsuit after district officials made clear that Bennish was free to talk to the media.
"Today he was told he could talk to the media," said David Lane, the attorney for Bennish, who has been on paid administrative leave since Wednesday.
However, Lane said, for the time being Bennish will not comment on the case.
Lane said Bennish was initially told by an administrator that "if you talk to the media, we will view this as insubordination."
But district spokeswoman Tustin Amole said she told Bennish "he had a First Amendment right to speak to whoever he wants to." She said she was present when another administrator told him the same thing.
Bennish, 28, has not responded to phone calls. Lane said Bennish didn't want to proceed with a lawsuit before the district is finished with its investigation.
"I have to see what they're going to do," said Lane, the Denver attorney who has also represented controversial University of Colorado at Boulder professor Ward Churchill.
The district is interviewing students, teachers and others as part of an investigation into whether Bennish's classroom lectures have violated school policies, Amole said.
On Wednesday, a 16-year-old student, Sean Allen, went public with a recording he made of Bennish's lecture on Feb. 1, the day after Bush's State of the Union address.
During the 20-minute segment, Bennish emphatically criticizes Bush, saying there were "eerie similarities" between Bush's comments and "things that Adolf Hitler used to say." Before it concludes, Bennish tells his students, "I'm not in any way implying that you should agree with me."
Amole said others have come forward with concerns about Bennish, but she declined to discuss the nature of their concerns.
Amole also said about 16 students met with Superintendent Monte Moses on Friday afternoon to express support for Bennish.
Overland High principal Jana Frieler on Thursday also sent a letter home to parents notifying them that Bennish was on leave pending the outcome of the investigation, and that, as a result, students participated in a peaceful protest that day.
Allen, the student who recorded the class, has not returned to school since appearing on several local and national radio programs with the recording on Wednesday.
Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at 303-820-1684 or krouse@denverpost.com.
Looking like Allen wasn't the only student concerned about Bennish's antics.
I'm gonna sue, I'm gonna sue.........????
I have to testify why I try to brainwash kids?
Nevermind
EXPOSED!!!!!!!
Mr. Bennish doesn't mind blathering to "the media" where he won't get any questions. If he files suit he would probably get some hard questions during depositions.
This will happen every single time you take your study guides from Bartcop.com
The most outrageous statement that "the Towers were a legitimate military target cause one had a CIA office in it" is being ignored by the MSM.
Surprised? NO!
This Bennish kid is making himself the poster boy for Stupidity.
Back in the 70s whan I was in middle school (in Westchester,New York no less) I had a social studies teacher who refused to answer personal political questions. He always said, he did not want his opinions to sway ours.
Wait a second. This guy is a Geography teacher, not a Social Studies teacher. Part of the subtext to this entire story is that the teacher was venturing off the study plan by interjecting poitical opinion into a geography class. Not that he'd be in the clear if it was plain, old Social Studies course.
er, make that "Bennish".
Parents and students need to start treating schools like they were retail outlets. If the product isn't satisfactory, go somewhere else. In this case, this guy wasn't teaching what he was supposed to teach. Even if he were ranting about the evil left wingers he would be out of line. He needs to teach the subject and the curriculum he was hired with tax payer money to teach!
What a prize for a classroom.
Cool!
For once, I wasn't the second in line to post the same thought!
Public schools are a menace. It's no wonder so many people are home-schooling their kids.
This has nothing to do with free speech. It has everything to do with substituting one's political beliefs for teaching a subject to the children of taxpayers.
He has broken his contract by not using the time alloted in class to teach the course he is paid to teach. Outside of class he can do whatever he wants.
In other words, feel free to "keep digging".
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