Cherry Creek social studies teacher Jay Bennish talks with the media, Friday March. 10, 2006, at a news conference where he was reinstated to his job at Overland High School. (Post / RJ Sangosti)
Posted on 03/10/2006 7:42:57 PM PST by randita
Article Launched: 3/10/2006 01:43 PM
Controversial teacher keeps job
By DenverPost.com
A Cherry Creek social studies teacher will not lose his job, after a student went public with a tape recording of controversial comments the teacher had made in class.
Superintendent Monte C. Moses said Jay Bennish will be reinstated to his job at Overland High School, and will be teaching on Monday.
At a news conference this afternoon, Moses said Bennish doesn't deserve to be praised, nor does he deserve to be fired. "Jay Bennish has promise as a teacher, but his practice and deportment need growth and refinement," said Moses.
Bennish gave a brief speech after the district's announcement, saying he was looking forward to going back to the classroom.
“I'm very excited to continue encouraging students to think critically, to encourage democratic values in our society, to promote social justice just as I have always attempted to do,” he said. “I will continue trying to prove myself as a teacher, be the most effective teacher I can be.”
David Lane, Bennish's attorney, said Bennish was not suspended and would not lose any pay, though neither he nor the superintendent would discuss whether Bennish was reprimanded. The superintendent did acknowledge that some discipline had occurred, but he would not be specific.
Lane said Bennish planned to be more sensitive to student and parent concerns.
“I think Jay has learned from this experience that when you're dealing with high school students, perhaps you need to be a little bit more sensitive to those kinds of concerns as well,” he said.
“I applaud the Cherry Creek School District for understanding the First Amendment implications involved in this whole issue, for understanding the concept of academic freedom and for being sensitive to those issues of constitutional magnitude,” Lane said.
Lane had threated to sue the school district if Bennish was fired.
Bennish was placed on paid administrative leave last week while officials probed allegations that he was biased after sophomore Sean Allen went public with a recording he made of a Feb. 1 geography lecture.
Bennish had cited "eerie similarities" between Bush's State of the Union address and "things that Adolf Hitler used to say."
Today in Washington, President Bush was asked about the Bennish controversy.
"I think people should be allowed to criticize me all they want. And they do," Bush said.
Governor Bill Owens released a statement this afternoon about the board's decision.
“My first thought is to thank Sean Allen for standing up and voicing his concern over a teacher who was using his classroom as a political soapbox. Second, I hope that Mr. Bennish will learn something from this and actually work to balance and improve his classroom presentation,” said Owens, in the statement.
Denver Post reporters Jennifer Brown, Allison Sherry and Annette Espinoza contributed to this report.
Cherry Creek social studies teacher Jay Bennish talks with the media, Friday March. 10, 2006, at a news conference where he was reinstated to his job at Overland High School. (Post / RJ Sangosti)
"Jack the Ripper has promise as a surgeon, but his practice and deportment need growth and refinement," said Moses.
A person interested in "critical thinking' would attempt to quantify those eerie similarities. Unless by "critical thinking" he really means "critically speaking."
Did anybody really think he would be fired?
He would only be fired if he
a) discussed Intelligent Design
b) was caught with a bible in his desk drawer; or
c) said the name "Jesus" in some context other than swearing.
If we're lucky, rastaman Bennish, will tie one on this weekend in celebration and show up on Monday morning stoned, as he has in the past. Then they can s***can him.
Get yer kids outa' that skool.
With all due respect Mr. President, teachers should teach factual statements such as: 2 x 2 = 4; a noun is a person , place, or thing; sentence structure; the Element Chart; how the nervous system works; documented historical events; how to draw up plans and build a wooden jewelry box; how to fix a car; what are ohms, amperes, and volts and what do they mean to each other; computer technology; physics; ect...
What they don't need is to be indoctrinated with radical, anti-American, socialistic, opinionated hate speech.
Fox News reported that he got fired this afternoon....hmmm
From hippie to pedophile with one haircut.
Why did he cut his hair?
We have to realize that ALL of these publik skool morons ("teachers" and office pogues alike) are members of the same monopolistic union, the "National Education Association" which has nothing at all to do with education and everything to do with maintaining a stanglehold on government funding for skools w/o accountability and keeping left-wing losers like Bennish in their jobs filling young skulls full of mush with their left-wing bull$hit. (Anyone care to diagram the previous sentence?)
Hair provides a chemical record of any illicit substance that one might have ingested while the hair was growing. Just a guess.
...Maybe I’ll even sprinkle in a little geography after I’ve achieved utopia.
NOW he's a "social studies" teacher......sheesh....
Are you suggesting that both the MSM and the Democrat Party be prohibited from entering high school grounds?
Superb thinking. Absolutely superb.
Also, it would be interesting if a student recorded a teacher ranting about how the Bible condems homosexuality in class.
Just a thought.
Or put a Christmas tree up in his classroom. I would have bet a years pay he wouldn't get fired. He'll do the same crap again ..
I teach in NJ . I had a substitute kicked out after he was doing the same crap when he was filling in when people were absent. He did it to my class once and I told him off the next day when I came back . It took a bit of doing but I made a HUGE stink about it and they never brough him back after that ..I got plenty of dirty looks afterwards too.
If he does that they will put him on the board of education .
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