Posted on 06/10/2002 6:59:50 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
Anti-war teacher draws plenty of attention
Monday, June 10, 2002
By RAY PARKER, brparker@naplesnews.com
Conservative TV personality Bill O'Reilly sparred with teacher Ian Harvey on "The O'Reilly Factor," with the host calling the self-proclaimed radical a nut at one point.
"If you're going to say that all war is terror," O'Reilly said during the May 28 show, "I'm going to take you out of the classroom because you're a nut."
O'Reilly's in-your-face style of interviewing didn't seem to upset Harvey, who smiled and almost laughed at the remark.
Whatever his reaction, the show demonstrated the appeal of Harvey's story.
Besides his interview with O'Reilly, Harvey was profiled on the front page of The St. Petersburg Times and documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has dubbed him a "profile in courage."
The story of the teacher and anti-war organizer provides a platform to explore a fundamental issue: When does a teacher's freedom of speech collide with classroom teaching standards?
Arlyne Goodwin has stood beside Harvey while protesting U.S. military attacks in Afghanistan. She didn't like the O'Reilly show.
"It was an attack on him rather than asking about his opinions," said the longtime peace activist. "I'd never appear on his program."
Still, Harvey could garner even more attention after state officials finish their investigation into his teaching practices.
A state Department of Education investigator arrived in Collier County in early May and conducted interviews. The investigator will recommend to Charlie Crist, state education commissioner, whether Harvey's teaching license should be revoked.
Allun Hamblett, Collier School District's human resources director, expects a decision around late August, but added there's no exact timeline on such matters.
"We just helped facilitate meetings," Hamblett said.
District officials disciplined Harvey for violating Florida's code of ethics for teachers, suspending him for three days without pay and reassigning him from Lely High School to an Immokalee adult education program.
Harvey's salary remained the same: $44,808.
State exposure
On May 20, a St. Petersburg Times story featured Harvey on the front page with the headline: "Education or Activism?"
A smaller headline read: "No one seemed to notice teacher Ian Michael Harvey's political views until he was challenged at an anti-war protest."
Reporter Thomas Tobin interviewed Richard Somerby, a Korean War era veteran, who organized the counter-protests to Harvey's demonstrations.
"(Somerby) is critical of the school district for not taking more decisive action," Tobin wrote. 'If the (school district) report is correct, Harvey should be fired,' Somerby said. 'If it's wrong, they've done this man a terrible disservice.' "
Tobin also interviewed Harvey, who said his troubles started after the first anti-war protest on Dec. 9.
" 'Lo and behold, a week later I was under formal investigation,' " Tobin quotes Harvey.
Harvey was unavailable for comment Friday, and has refused interview requests from the Daily News for the past five months.
Peace activist Tom McLoughlin also sees a correlation between Harvey's anti-war stance and his being investigated.
"He went so many years with good (teacher) evaluations and it wasn't until his protest against the war that they went after him," McLoughlin said. "The timing is suspicious."
Harvey has taught in the district since 1990.
On the other hand, World War II veteran Gil Erlichman said the timing makes sense to him. He asked the School Board to investigate Harvey's teaching practices after the first protest, not because of Harvey, but because the veteran was surprised to see Harvey's students.
"Bad teaching is bad teaching," Erlichman said. "It finally caught up with him."
Populist appeal
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore is probably best known for his 1989 film "Roger & Me," which explored General Motors laying off workers in Flint, Mich., and Moore's attempts to interview GM Chairman Roger Smith.
More recently, Moore has written a best seller called "Stupid White Men."
On Moore's Web site, www.michaelmoore.com, he has a section called Profiles in Courage, in which Harvey is featured along with three other people: Janis Heaphy, publisher of The Sacramento Bee; Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisc.; and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif.
"A Florida high school teacher, Mr. Harvey once had the guts over objections from a principal named Jeremiah Primus to show students the film 'Schindler's List,' " the Web site reads. "But that's not what got him into the news recently. What got Ian Harvey into the news recently was an anti-war rally he organized."
The Web site says Florida school officials responded to the rally in a number of ways including:
"accused him of presenting 'biased' or 'personal' views while teaching (because, if you present a view different from theirs, your factual presentation suddenly represents a 'personal agenda');
"interrogated him for five hours not on his documentation about war-related issues but on, among other things, his 'history' of protests; and
"started inspecting his 'background and the people he's affiliated with.' "
It then states: "Meanwhile, people from the community posted a bunch of nasty letters to the editors of the Naples Daily News."
Anti-war protester Eddie Filer agreed.
"There have been a lot of bad letters in the paper about him," said Filer, who has attended three anti-war demonstrations. "You don't have to make fun of someone just because you don't agree with them."
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What kind of audience would just sit there and listen to "duh....peace....duh............."?
Of course he won't ask for that opinion. He needs his ratings.
Stupid liberals.
District officials disciplined Harvey for violating Florida's code of ethics for teachers, suspending him for three days without pay and reassigning him from Lely High School to an Immokalee adult education program.Harvey's salary remained the same: $44,808.
Oh gee, why not give him a really big tree hug while they're at it?
Harvey is featured along with three other people: Janis Heaphy, publisher of The Sacramento Bee; Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisc.; and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif.
Larry, Curley, and Moe?
accused him of presenting 'biased' or 'personal' views while teaching
Gee, D'ya think?
"started inspecting his 'background and the people he's affiliated with.' "
All they wanted to know was how his friend Osoma was doing.
"Hail Satan" seems to bind them together pretty well.
That's ridiculous. Rather, instead of muffling THIS guy, let's take the gag off all those teachers who would LOVE to give their opinions in the classroom such as: Christianity's noble history in the formation of this nation, chastity before marriage and fidelity during, the wonderful works of the founders of this nation, the noble efforts of the American military during time of war, the miracle of the American experiment, etc.
It isn't that guys like this speak their minds, spouting stupid idiotic drivel of the kind that Michael Moore (whose only REAL interest in this is that Pres. Bush somehow be made the bad guy) holds sacred, but that the TRUTH about this nation is squelched if any teacher DARES to have a "right wing" opinion about anything.
*sly grin*
Vladimir Lenin was wrong. We won't sell communists the rope to hang us. We will buy the rope ourselves, give it to them and pay them to hang us.
You need special glasses. They can be purchase at Michael Moores site for the low low price of $1,049.99.
note: "I have 6 pairs a would know what I'd do without them." A Baldwin (international superstar)
Normally I'm all for people speaking their minds, not in this case though. He's not even a damn citizen and he's using my tax dollars (to be more exact, he's using the money I pay in Collier property taxes) to spew commie agitprop to mush minded teens who have no choice but to listen.
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