Posted on 08/23/2003 3:25:10 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
A Pasadena teacher, who instructed her students last spring to write highly charged letters to state legislators about proposed education budget cuts, has been assigned to a desk job and will resign at the end of the semester, school officials said Friday.
Vicki Williams, 50, a fifth-grade teacher at Mae Smyth Elementary, faced termination after district officials learned earlier this year about the letters, but the district and Williams' lawyers reached a settlement Wednesday that will allow her to stay until the winter break.
The Pasadena Independent School District board is expected to vote on whether to accept the agreement Tuesday during a regular board meeting.
District officials said that Williams coached the students on what to write and that the district was particularly concerned about references made by some students to the 1979 suicide of state Rep. Kent Grusendorf's teenage son.
Grusendorf, R-Arlington, is chairman of the House public education committee, and an advocate of school vouchers and streamlining state education spending. He could not be reached for comment.
Kevin Lungwitz, Texas State Teachers Association general counsel, and Williams' lawyer, said he doesn't know how she introduced the topic of the suicide of Grusendorf's son with the children.
"But she did tell them he had suffered this type of tragedy," Lungwitz said. "I can assure you it was not done maliciously but in an attempt to explain his political motivation and the letters from the kids bear that out."
He said only a few of the letters refer to the suicide.
Prior to this incident, Williams had an unblemished career with the district and received the highest job reviews that a teacher can attain in the district, Lungwitz said.
Williams, a member of the teachers association and president of the Pasadena Educators Association, took the letters to Austin in March. Many of the students pleaded for legislators to spare field trips, textbooks and teacher salaries from the budget ax.
A district spokesman said Williams took the roughly 40 letters to the office of state Rep. Joe Moreno, D-Houston, which passed them on to Grusendorf.
The letters eventually landed in the hands of district officials who accused Williams of flouting the school system's standard of professional conduct.
"Students wrote letters to Rep. Grusendorf containing inappropriate personal attacks, some of which specifically referenced his personal tragedy," said Pasadena Superintendent Rick Schneider in a prepared statement released Friday.
It is unclear whether Williams even read the letters before she took them to Austin.
"I think one of her biggest mistakes was not fully proofing the letters and she admits that," Lungwitz said. "She has been forthright about that from day one."
Lungwitz said the settlement between the district and Williams was a compromise that didn't sit well with either party. "I leave with the feeling that there are some viable First Amendment issues," he said. "I can tell you Ms. Williams regrets what she said and expressed those regrets many weeks ago to Mr. Grusendorf."
Schneider said the district has a responsibility to protect young children from being used to advance a teacher's personal views.
"In this case, the teacher used poor judgement and clearly crossed the line," he said. "It is an unfortunate incident for her, the school district, and, most importantly, for Rep. Grusendorf and the children involved."
Williams' supporters say the district proposed firing her in response to political speech. The district denies politics played any part in the decision to fire her.
But Lungwitz contended the district is "taking a certain amount of political cover by doing what they are doing."
Children are their targets and taxpayers foot the bill. Imagine the spin they're fed day in and day out.
There was a story earlier this week about a teacher that was a prostitute during the summer. This woman is a whore for the unions year round.
They just keep calling more town elections, and every time they are shot down they try again the next year, until by sheer fatigue, they get their way.
They're a marching army and we're footing the bill. How about that, feeding the machine that is draining us dry and corrupting our children.
And hardly anyone questions statements from the NEA as being politically motivated, where with any other union their position would be seen as self-serving. The NEA doesn't work for children they work for their educrat membership and the DNC.
IOW, the preferred tactics of the entire 'rat constituency: pub school interests (administrators as well as NEA types), pan-homosexuals, gun banners, etc.
The left has many plays in their book, but this one is particularly effective in getting first downs. If you want to hear them really howl, try to pass some sort of moratorium on school bond issues.
"If you don't, I'll kill myself just like your son did, you meanie!"
Oh, I'm pretty sure she coached the kids and read the letters. Do you suppose there was even one letter that said "my parents said they could take me to Disneyland or even send me to private school, if only they weren't paying such high taxes"? or "My teacher said your son killed himself, but why does she think our school budget had something to do with it?" For some reason, I don't think so.
But I do wish they'd print the text of just ONE of the offending letters. I'd just like to see one.
Me too.
Me too.
Me too.
Me too.
Irony= Teacher assigned to a desk job.
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