Aye laddie! Now yer talkin'!
Posted on 05/09/2007 7:50:46 AM PDT by agent_delta
MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - A 27-year-old Millersville University graduate filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the college for denying her an education degree and teaching certificate after a controversial Internet photograph surfaced last year shortly before graduation.
The picture shows Stacy Snyder of Strasburg wearing a pirate hat while drinking from a plastic "Mr. Goodbar" cup. The photograph taken during a 2005 Halloween party was posted on Snyder's MySpace Web page with the caption "Drunken Pirate."
"The day before graduation, the college confronted me about the picture," Snyder said Thursday. "I was told I wouldn't be receiving my education degree or teaching certificate because the photo was 'unprofessional.' "
Snyder said she apologized for the photograph, but Jane S. Bray, dean of the School of Education, and Provost Vilas A. Prabhu refused to issue the bachelor of science degree in education and teaching certificate Snyder earned.
Instead, the college issued Snyder a bachelor of arts degree in English.
Millersville University spokesperson Janet Kacskos referred questions to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education spokesman Kenn Marshall, who declined comment.
Snyder, a single mother of boys ages 9 and 7, works as a nanny for a family in Lititz.
"I dreamed about being a teacher for a long time," Snyder said. "When I was growing up, I spent more time with my teachers than my own parents, and it inspired me to someday make a positive impact on children."
Attorney Mark W. Voigt of Plymouth Meeting filed the lawsuit after failing to negotiate a hearing with Prabhu and Bray.
"Stacy deserves to be a teacher," Voigt said Thursday. "The bottom line is we want the college to bestow the degree and teaching certificate that Stacy earned during four years of hard work and sacrifice."
The lawsuit also seeks $75,000 in compensatory damages.
The university, Bray, Prabhu and professor/student-teacher supervisor J. Barry Girvin are named in the suit.
Voight writes in the lawsuit that Snyder, a dean's list student, performed her student-teaching requirements in 2006 at Conestoga Valley High School.
Teachers Deann Buffington and Nicole Reinking advised Snyder.
On May 8, Buffington called Snyder at home about an "issue" about her "professionalism" as a teacher, according to the lawsuit.
Reinking viewed the "Drunken Pirate" picture of Snyder on myspace.com and showed it to Buffington.
Buffington gave it to Girvin, who told Snyder "she may lose her teaching certificate due to the incident," according to the lawsuit.
Girvin also issued a final student/teacher evaluation of Snyder and granted "superior" or "competent" ratings in all areas except "professionalism." He gave Snyder and "unsatisfactory" rating, according to the lawsuit.
"There were errors in judgment that relate to Pennsylvania's Code of Professional Practice and Conduct for Educators," Girvin wrote in the evaluation.
On May 11, Girvin, Buffington and Reinking showed the "Drunken Pirate" photograph to Snyder, according to the lawsuit.
Buffington told Snyder that posting the photograph on the Internet was "unprofessional" and Conestoga Valley students might find it offensive.
Buffington also accused Snyder of "incompetence" and "claimed she should have been removed from her student-teaching position months ago."
Conestoga Valley officials told the college their students wouldn't be allowed to perform student-teacher requirements there if Snyder was not punished, according to the lawsuit.
Bray met with Snyder May 12. She accused Snyder of "promoting underage drinking through her 'drunken pirate' photo. Bray then stripped Snyder of her education degree and teaching certification, according to the lawsuit.
Snyder graduated the next day with an English degree.
Its not about coursework. You obviously don’t know squat about the teaching process in PA if you think student teaching is about course work. Student Teaching is the last part of getting your teaching certs, its part of post grad work, and MANY MANY people wind up quitting or doing something else as a result of their experiences student teaching. Its where that course work hits the road so to speak.
I’m sorry, but your arguement is rhetoric, not fact, or remotely based in reality.
Its one thing if a teacher and a student teacher clash a bit, to have a schools administration get involved and tell a college, you let her graduate with a teaching cert and we will completely END our relationship with your college for all student teaching, that’s a HUGE threat, and not one that would be taken over a stupid photo. There is obviously far more to this than that photo, but again, that’s what will sell newspapers.
I mean, really.
sheesh.
No its not, its about the fact that this woman obviously had some serious issues, issues so serious that a school that works with the university to help them certify the future teachers told them point blank if you give her a teaching certificate, we will no long associate in any way with your university!
That’s not some minor thing, that’s HUGE. The photo is what sells papers, and what lets ignorant parrots like Hannity and the ilk go off on tyrades, its a nice hook, but it has nothing to do with this issue. Do you really believe an entire school is going to end a relationship with a university and its student teaching program over 1 stupid little photo???? Of course not..
But it makes a great hook, so we can ignore the rest of the facts, and just focus on this picture.
Aye laddie! Now yer talkin'!
Considering my kids will probably see me and the rest of our family drinking more than a few times in their lives...why not?
I do agree the pirate hat was out of line.
Just like Communists, Prohibitionists are still with us, just under a more fashionable name.
This is rediculous, this picture is better than any of my HS yearbook picks...and I wasn’t trashed.
I have absolutely no doubt in my mind she was warned and warned repeatedly... So she was directing her students to her website where she’s drinking and flipping off the camera.... is warned about it, and continues to do it.
Yep, I’d say the school was absolutely right to threaten to end completely the relationship with the college if this woman was allowed a teaching cert.
I knew the minute that this threat was made, that there was far more to the story than was being admitted. No school would threaten to end a student teaching relationship with a college over a trivial issue.
But its the photo hook that sells papers... so that’s what will and has been latched onto, and turns out photo being passed around isn’t even the right one... typical.
The people that denied her the degree should be fired for their sheer stupidity.
“and, really, who hires professional photographers for informal parties?
I mean, really.
sheesh.”
You don’t?
I’m not going to your parties until you hire professionals.
I mean photographers.
I mean ... oh ... nevermindd
Nice to see you, FM!
SEE POST 100
The photo being posted around is NOT the photo she had posted to her site, and was telling students to visit. In that photo she was drinking in a pirate hat flipping the camera the bird.
She was warned about it, left the picture up and continued to direct and encourage students to visit her site.
This woman got what she deserved, and no school would threaten to end a relationship with a university over a “silly” picture like the one being posted here... or for minor infractions. Of course the real facts aren’t important, just make sure you can sell papers and con the dupes out there.
The school threated to COMPLETELY END the student teaching program with this college over this girl and her actions, that’s a HUGE deal."
Alright, two responses for your two points:
1. 'Looking to let issues with this girl slide', eh? Well, considering that they graduated this grown woman with a degree and then turned around and said "that all of its educational decisions are based on a full range of academic performance issues", it shows that they contradict themselves, sir. That's what 'sliding' gets you. If they truly had good reason, it should have been for their established criteria alone without ever mentioning some silly picture allegedly taken at a Hallowe'en party.
2. So the school threatened to end their student teaching program over this woman? Whatever. How is that relevant? It's their program. They can do what they like with it. It's like saying "If I don't get this job, I will smash all the furniture in my house!". Yeah, so? How is that a HUGE deal? It's irrational.
All in all, Hamilton Jay, if she didn't measure up to their standards then they should have reflected that plainly based upon nothing more than her performance against the university's established criteria. Instead, they highlighted a picture of her wearing a pirate hat and drinking mineral water from a cup as a sign of unprofessional conduct.
I think that if you're honest about this you'll agree that the university made a series of critical mistakes that could end up costing them for good reason.
And I would imagine those individuals turned out to be fairly good (if not better) teachers.
Well that’s different, she was directed to take it down and refused. And she was directing students there.
At least she wasn’t wearing a ninja outfit.
Getting a certificate is one thing, getting a job is another. Teaching ain’t exactly brain surgery.
Can someone produce that alleged picture?
Hell, I was at that party!
Your ignorance on this topic is so abundant I don’t even know where to begin.. but lets try shall we:
1) The photo you are seeing posted here is NOT the photo in question. The photo that got her in trouble was one of her drinking and flipping off the Camera.
2) She was repeatedly warned to remove the photo and to stop directing students to her web site... she did not remove the photo and continued to direct students to her page after repeated warnings.
3) Universities NEED schools to work with them for their teaching certification programs. Without them they CANNOT offer the degrees. Teaching certification in PA is a POST GRADUATE PROGRAM, and it requires student teaching. Schools do not threaten to end relationships with universities over student teaching over “trivial” matters.. in fact for a school to make that sort of threat, the infraction has to be pretty damned serious (I know you don’t want to believe this, because you are an ignorant clod, who knows nothing about the teachers certification process in the state of PA, but hey, that’s ok because YOU have an opinion.)
4) The real facts of this case have been posted, SEE post 100. And continue to follow it in the Lancaster Post.. because you won’t see any of the follow up news make the AP wire, because while the Pirate hat “silly” photo hook will sell newspapers nationwide, it won’t sell squat as the truth which is now finally coming to light is reported... So those follow up stories won’t make the wire at all, and it will remain a local story, with most ignorant dupes like yourself, just shouting out a bunch of incorrect crap based on a lazy reporters original and incorrect story.
Your complete ignorance of the general concepts and issues involved here are shown by your pathetically inept argument that a school ending a relationship with a colleges student teaching program, or threatening to is “no big deal”. It is a huge deal, and only one completely ignorant of the process would say, “no its not”.
Have fun with your ignorance, it looks good on you.
I’m a CV alum, too. Garvin was there when I was there, but I never met him.
That’s almost always the case. There is something more to this story, but they probably mentioned the picture as one small part of a larger charge. Maybe they had evidence that she had a beer party at the school and invited underage classmates, or that underage classmates were at the party of the picture.
So, they include the picture as part of the total package they use to deny her the degree.
But they can’t tell anybody what that package is, because of privacy.
She needs public support because she’s not going to win in court, so she leaks the most absurd part of their claim, and says it’s the ONLY thing.
And we all get worked up about it.
I guess we’ll know the truth if the court case ever happens.
Dead, you can call BS all you want, the truth is, this gals actions were pretty much over the top, and you can go see post 100 for some more FACTS, and not political brain dead rheotoric.
And if you are going to debate, at least be relevant.. you believe because 1 principle in the entire state was busted for doing something illegal that the entire states processes are failed? I wouldn’t say that the entire Marine Corp is full of cowards because one guy hid under a pile of dead bodies on Omaha Beach in 44.
Quit the political rhetoric and actually get yourself educated.
PA has one of the toughest teaching certification processes in the country, and yes 1 bad performance evaluation during your student teaching can indeed prevent you from getting certified. This woman not only got a bad review, but the school in which she was teaching felt her actions were so bad, that they threatened to completely end their relationship with the university if the college certified her. That’s not an idle, or a minor even, that’s a very very serious action, in fact I cannot recall in my 20+ years of living in this state of another incident where a school took such a step. Because to take such a step requires the entire administrative chain to agree and stand as one, something that rarely occurs.
Go get informed, and stop knee jerking on half informed half truths.
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