Teacher Suspended After Making Remarks About Students On Blog

My personal faves:

Rat-like.
Lazy asshole.
Frightfully dim.
Dresses like a street walker.
Weirdest kid I’ve ever met.
I called out sick a couple of days just to avoid your son.
There’s no other way to say this: I hate your kid.

Funny and true, I’m sure, but you really should keep that shit buried deep in your brain space, lady.

Naturally, people have good days and bad days, and I sympathize with her need to vent. BUT you’d think she’d be smart enough to do it privately. Teachers like this that aren’t passionate and compassionate are the ones who make children dread school, and unfortunately sometimes leave the biggest impression. I agree with morbid, she doesn’t need to be teaching so her stupidity has done everyone a favor.

1. Announcing that she was blogging from work regarding work: Stupid.
2. Most parents (and students) don’t want to face facts.
3. Public displays of anger are rarely perceived as anything, but selfish.
4. Spellchecks are readily available on most blogs.
5. Her “more realistic” comments probably echoed the thoughts and feelings of many teachers in the United States.
6. I am very fortunate that my parents gave my teachers permission to be completely honest with me (didn’t hurt that my parents had gone to school themselves with my teachers).
7. I wish some of my teachers had been more honest with me.
8. I don’t particularly like how this person voiced her feelings to the public, but I would consider her for a tutor or teacher if I had children.
9. I cannot wait for her best seller and television show. They’ll be great entertainment!

She, when posting, should have posted anonymously.

“Why would you waste your time blogging about how we are belligerent fucks (you spelled belligerent wrong dumbass)? ”

Bwahahahahaha! Perhaps she will go work for some inner city public school as well – if she becomes a real hardass with her class maybe they will make a movie about her!

I was almost with her until I read all of what she had to say. There’s a distinct difference between being “refreshingly honest” and “fucking cruel.” She sounds like a self-absorbed bitch who didn’t make much of an effort to reach out or get to know her students. Maybe she started out passionate and compassionate, and just got burned out, but to me, she sounds like a bitter, hateful person who is probably going to be dreadfully disappointed when her unborn child doesn’t live up to her expectations of what a child should be.

In addition, it’s possible that some of those kids have personality disorders, such as the shy kid. He might have a social anxiety disorder, high-functioning autism, or some other problem that has impaired his ability to socially interact. No shy person that I’ve ever encountered was shy because they wanted to be–there was always an underlying condition that caused the shyness.

There’s a reason why mental health counselors, paper diaries with locks, and private entry settings on electronic journals are so popular: things like the vitriol she publicly posted for the world to see (while she was on the clock, no less!) are best left to places where they can be kept private and confidential. Her “venting” on work time didn’t help anyone–especially not herself!

she didn’t name ANY names. she didn’t say what period it was. she didn’t say it TO THEM and as far as i know this isn’t the school’s blog…

her only mistake was blogging on company time – but really who the fuck doesn’t use the internet at work – i know a lot of us here do.

if this is the worst thing she’s done as a teacher – she’s doing pretty damn fucking well for herself.

and lastly – there’s this thing called the constitution, and this beautiful thing called freedom of speech – no matters who’s feeling your hurt, or what views you express – she has every right to express those views – and she did so in a manner that i felt was appropriate.

there is nothing “stupid” with airing your grievances online as long as you’re not threatening anyone or harassing anyone – which looks to me she did neither.

i’m with the teacher, and i hope my assumptions are correct and she comes out of this unscathed, ends up back in that classroom to teach those same shitheads with her head held high and a big middle finger.

I wonder if the National Labor Relations Board take up her case like the recent one of Dawnmarie Souza. She complained about her job on facebook and was fired for it. They sued on her behalf and she won a settlement and is setting the tone for what you can and can’t say about an employer and your job on a social network. Should be interesting to see where this one falls.

While she does have the right to free speech she screwed up by essentially slandering at least one person on her blog…which is a big exception to the first ammendment. She also blogged on company (taxpayer funded) time which was stupid. If she worked for a private school she might have come out of this less scathed but I’m guessing she will go down hard for what amounts to poor judgement. And just because you have the right to do something it doesn’t mean you SHOULD do it.
Teenagers definately are assholes though!

If she truly believes that statement she had a responsibility to tell the school counselor. If she had time to vent about it on her blog then she had time to try and be someone who makes a difference in that kids life before he hurts himself or others. If she didn’t do that then I assume she’s just being a mean bitch.

I keep an diary (old-fashioned, paper, for my eyes only), and while I have been known to vent about my job, I really do hope that if I ever find myself writing about my colleagues or customers the way she writes about her pupils I will have the decency towards myself and them to be looking for another job somewhere else……..

it’s obvious she’s unhappy, but i don’t think we’re going to find many high school teachers that are happy about their job. that being said, not liking your job doesn’t really have anything to do with your ability to do it. i’m sure she’s a capable teacher regardless of her feelings. also there is no mention of prior complaints that she has treated any of them like crap (i’m sure they’re going to come flooding in that she has).

as for why kids hate school, i remember my teachers vividly – and frankly, i’d of rather had them blog it on to a website rather than watch/experience them single kids out, bully, harass, and over all hash it out each day. i’d also like to add that although 80% of my teachers were assholes, i did learn the material and pass the classes.

my main concern is her right. no one should be punished because of what they think or feel.

i would think a school would know this, and they probably got her for blogging on company time. i don’t think they can suspend her for having a bad attitude towards her job. especially if it’s not interfering with the way she works. they would have to determine that.

it’s obvious she’s unhappy, but i don’t think we’re going to find many high school teachers that are happy about their job. that being said, not liking your job doesn’t really have anything to do with your ability to do it. i’m sure she’s a capable teacher regardless of her feelings. also there is no mention of prior complaints that she has treated any of them like crap (i’m sure they’re going to come flooding in that she has).

as for why kids hate school, i remember my teachers vividly – and frankly, i’d of rather had them blog it on to a website rather than watch/experience them single kids out, bully, harass, and over all hash it out each day. i’d also like to add that although 80% of my teachers were assholes, i did learn the material and pass the classes.

my main concern is her right. no one should be punished because of what they think or feel.

i would think a school would know this, and they probably got her for blogging on company time. i don’t think they can suspend her for having a bad attitude towards her job. especially if it’s not interfering with the way she works. they would have to determine that.

it’s obvious she’s unhappy, but i don’t think we’re going to find many high school teachers that are happy about their job. that being said, not liking your job doesn’t really have anything to do with your ability to do it. i’m sure she’s a capable teacher regardless of her feelings. also there is no mention of prior complaints that she has treated any of them like crap (i’m sure they’re going to come flooding in that she has).

as for why kids hate school, i remember my teachers vividly – and frankly, i’d of rather had them blog it on to a website rather than watch/experience them single kids out, bully, harass, and over all hash it out each day. i’d also like to add that although 80% of my teachers were assholes, i did learn the material and pass the classes.

my main concern is her right. no one should be punished because of what they think or feel.

i would think a school would know this, and they probably got her for blogging on company time. i don’t think they can suspend her for having a bad attitude towards her job. especially if it’s not interfering with the way she works. they would have to determine that.

yep. moral is definitely in question.

i’m not following the slander though – could she get it for slandering the “group”?

She has a way to go to be a Mary Kay lLe tourno. Don’t get me wrong, she IS that ugly,but maybe that’s her problem. She needs to get laid.

Or you should just blog anonymously. Especially if you plan on being bitchy (i.e. honest).

I don’t think she did anything legally wrong other then blog on school time. But I do think she used poor judgment to go public with it, and her comments were mean-spirited. When a person reaches that stage with their job, they should consider a change of career. Certainly, some high school kids are jerks – some of the comments are true enough for some of my own graduating class – but not all, and not the majority would have merited this.

Also, I have friends that teach. both high school and grade, and they NEVER speak this way about their classes not matter how frustrated they get. Not even drunk have I heard them speak this way. But what I do hear is them pour out their hearts with compassion and worry over the problems so many of them face at home and in society. The classroom hassle doesn’t get to them – its the plight that some of these kids face that get to them.

Sorry about the double post – its my first post and i didn’t know how it worked.

The First Amendment is not an issue, here. The First Amendment really only ensures that you cannot be arrested or barred by the government for making comments. In this case, while a public school district is an arm of the government, its relationship to the teacher in question is as an employer. And an employer could definitely fire your ass for comments made publically that are out of line with their policies, in many cases. If she named names, especially (which I didn’t see here but haven’t bothered to investigate any other postings), that could put her in legal peril in and of itself.

Ultimately, it depends on the laws of that state and her teaching contract. But, if she doesn’t find her way out of a job one way or the other, it will be yet another strike against teachers unions (that will likely fight for her ability to retain employment) and against the educational system as a whole.

It should not be difficult to fire teachers who are doing a bad job. Making comments like this publically interferes with her ability to perform her job, thus, she should be let go, in my opinion.

I would love to see teachers be more honest in their assessments of our children. Perhaps, “lazy asshole” is a bit overboard, but I swear the regular “run of the mill” comments can be found on my report cards from 25 yrs ago. I wish a teacher would have said something more insightful to my parents when I was growing up than “not performing to potential” wtf?

At the same time, I did get one teacher, 3rd grade, she told me and wrote on a report card I was something I didn’t even know the definition of. I was too young then to research or bother to, but it stuck with me, and finally years later, I did look it up. It was certainly not something most 10 yr old kids might be described as, but now, 31yrs old, I think i know where she was coming from.

OBSTINATE. How many 3rd graders hear that? And thank-you Miss Blackburn, I am still working on it.

Thank you. People throw around the term “free speech” without having a clear idea what it actually means.

it may not be the issue here because they more than likely didn’t tackle her on those grounds.

but what if they did?

lets just say for the hell of it we know that they did suspend her for her blog

i think it would then become an issue of her rights, because of these important points – everyone was anon, part of her blog was finished in her home, it’s not a school blog, and most importantly these are her opinions and she’s expressing them.

i’m not seeing how this could possibly violate any policy.. i know you say it’s based on laws of the state and her teaching contract – but what could possibly in a teachers contract keep her from doing those things – since she followed the above.

I agree that she shouldn’t be punished for how she feels. God knows I love my niece (14) and nephew (16), but they sure can piss me off. The main thing that jumped out at me was her attitude towards the students that ask questions. If she isn’t willing to answer questions to help these students, then her attitude IS affecting her job. These kids have a right to have their questions answered if they don’t understand the material.

while this teachers blog may not have been the reason she was suspended – it certainly is the reason everyone here is angry with her, and wants to see her punished.

in my initial comment – where i mention the freedom of speech – i didn’t mention or question the many loop holes that could be involved, as there was no NEED to.

it was in response to anyone who wanted to see her punished simply because of the blog.

which would bring up her right to the freedom, and point out what she did was harmless in comparison to what she could do.

which is where the freedom is perfectly fit to be “thrown around”.

anyone else is more than welcome to bring up policies, law, contracts of how she could technically be in trouble, and argue that the first amendment might not hold up in court, but it just might.

I think this teacher is awesome. She was only letting off some steam. Anyone who spends the day around a bunch teenagers will eventually feel that way.What is the big deal??? It’s not like she really put the comments on the report cards. Parents don’t want to see that their kids are assholes.They have no idea how their children behave out of their sight. Most parents would be appalled.

yep there’s no doubt abuot it, she’s quite unhappy. i read your comment below, where you pointed out – no one would make her happy, and pretty much excluded everyone. i had to lol. i appreciated that being pointed out. i really never thought of it like that.

JOY! she’s blogging again! she went into grave detail about how the kids found out – that her blog was printed – etc etc. although the discussion seems to have died down on here, we can all watch from afar – no matter what side we stand on.

http://natalieshandbasket.blogspot.com/2011/02/bloggate-day-1-scandal-begins.html

As I stated in the article, she may be 100 percent correct in everything she blogged about. Hell, I even found it (as well as her new entry) very entertaining…I’d even have her write for us if she were that demented to do so. But she is still dumb for making that a public blog (or rather certain blog entries) especially in this day and age when employers fire teachers for simply holding a beer on their Facebook page.

btw, and this really has nothing to do with her being suspended or teaching again, have you seen the comments left on all the different articles on this? Man, her students hated her. So far, from what I have read, not one student has stood up for her — not even anonymously.

Freedom of speech means you cannot be imprisoned for what you say (generally), it doesn’t mean you are free from the consequences of your words. If you tell your best friend she’s fat, she’s not going to be your friend anymore, no matter how many times you read her the Constitution.

The students may be a bit better, actually… they’re teenagers who have been specifically provoked.

And, actually, with the talk of defamation rolling around… odds are, neither student nor teacher would have a claim. To qualify for defamation, it must be proved that the communication in question was purposeful misinformation (or that the communicator had reason to believe it was misinformation) that was presented as fact, and, generally, the victim must prove damages (typically financial). If this teacher was losing her job because a student started a false rumor about her having sexual relationship with another student, that student could be sued for defamation – they maliciously stated false facts. But, for the reasons listed above, opinions generally don’t qualify (as they are opinions as opposed to facts).

Lastly, if she DID care, she would have found a constructive way to communicate her concerns to the parents of her students. But she didn’t. I think ANY teacher who has become that contemptuous and no longer motivated to do something about it should find another profession. Some teachers have shorter shelf-lives than others, and it’s clear this woman’s students have picked up on her contempt (if they haven’t before, they DEFINITELY have now). She’s burnt out, and while that’s totally understandable (you won’t see MY ass teaching at the high school level)… it also means that it’s time for her to move the fuck on.

Our educational system is shit compared to many other countries. We’ve got a drop-out rate of roughly 30% nationally, we’ve got substandard test scores across the damn board… and, frankly, it’s because we fight for teachers like this. That’s OUR mistake, and we need to quit making it. We’re pumping out enough education majors that we can afford to retain only the best of the best. This lady’s not one of ‘em.

My favorite comment was written by Jeff Shoolbraid

As a H.S. teacher I COMPLETELY understand what this lady is saying. Every.Single.Word. However, you have to keep those feelings off of the internet. I don’t even discuss them with my husband because the truth is no one aside from other educators can fully grasp the difficulties that we deal with daily. On our lunch breaks my colleagues and I just vent to get it out of the way and it helps. Maybe if this teacher had done that she may not have been in this mess right now.

We all walk in the door wanting to be Michelle Phiffer or James Edward Olmos, though on some days I find I may be closer to Joe Clarke but we soon find out that is almost impossible to be. Many of the children just don’t care at all.

What I have done is decided to not be upset at the ones that I couldn’t reach but be happy about the few that I do. I go to work everyday to teach THEM. They don’t know that’s what I’m doing but it is. I work my tail off for the few and I have found myself to be a happy educator now then before.

Unfortunately the Federal government doesn’t see it that way.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110208/ap_on_re_us/us_facebook_firing

Her biggest offense was doing it on school time. That’s it.

you missed my point with everything above – although she might not be able to use the 1st amendment technically for her legal woes.. that is what gives us the spin off in other areas, it’s most definitely the foundation.

for example. china. china doesn’t have free speech. therefore it doesn’t have laws for their people – to protect their speech, in any way shape or form.

while athena made an amazing point about the flight attendant not being able to smoke and it being legal – i reeeeally don’t think a job as a h.s teacher (specifically) has anything about not being able to blog on her own time (she DID post the blog on her own time – and finish most of it). key word is think.

anyway – i appreciate all the input, from yourself and others i’m sure it’s not always motivated by pure hearts wanting to make the world a better place rofl but most of us do learn a lot here and it’s one of the reasons we keep coming back.

I think there’s a distinction to be made between that case and this one. In that case, she criticized her boss. Theoretically, that does not impair her ability to perform her duties. In this case, the students are, essentially, customers. If I wrote a public blog talking shit about my company’s customers and the customers were made aware (and it impacted my company’s ability to do business with those customers), I wonder if the court wouldn’t find differently.

That said, I agree with you. As far as I know, her only technical offense was doing this on school time. Like I said before, whether or not other grounds for discipline exist depends on that state’s laws and her teaching contract (or district policy).

Wow! That is all I have to say about this story.

Wow! That is all I have to say about this story.

Wow! That is all I have to say about this story.

Wow! That is all I have to say about this story.

Wow! That is all I have to say about this story.

Wow! That is all I have to say about this story.

First thing is this woman should be kept away from the internet since she doesn’t seem to grasp the concept of annonimity in the internet. She could’ve gotten away with everything she just said if she had ommited a bunch of the stuff.

I understand every feeling she’s got because it’s quite frustating to be a teacher on some instances & you should take refuge in being able to reach only the 1% of the class that actually wants to learn. Whenever you’re feeling particularly down think of that one student that actually sat down, participated, never disrupted the class & got every good grade he/she worked for & deserved.

Things I DO NOT agree with are:

Has no business being in Honors. – But if he/she IS in Honors, it’s because they got there so shut up.

Shy isn’t cute in 11th grade; it’s annoying. Must learn to advocate for himself instead of having Mommy do it. – The kid should be helped by the student to find their voice by making them CHOOSE things BEFORE getting home to let mommy do it… or maybe they’re lazy & WANT MOMMY TO DO IT for them.

Two words come to mind: brown AND nose. – It is irrelevant. It’s sad if that’s all you can remember of the student.

There is such a thing as too loud in oral presentations. We shouldn’t need earplugs. – TALK TO THE KID ABOUT THIS.

Nowhere near as good as her sibling. Are you sure they’re related? – As a teacher you know it’s not good to compare students, as a mom you know not to compare siblings. It’s common sense.

Asked too many questions and took too long to ask them. The bell means it’s time to leave! – Teach the kid to SUMMARISE.

Has no business being in Academic. – But if they are it’s cause they got there. Some people can be dumb on everything of the world EXCEPT for academics.

Just as bad as his sibling. Don’t you know how to raise kids? – This is something that while true in a lot of cases YOU ACTUALLY CAN NOT SAY ANYTHING NOT EVEN IN THE INTERNET.

Dresses like a street walker. – Irrelevant since they could be a good student. Find a way to talk to the student about SELF-RESPECT & what her appaearance says without them opening their mouth. FIND A PERSON LIKE COPS to talk about RAPE & RAPE VICTIMS can touch this girl.

Whiny, simpering grade-grubber with an unrealistically high perception of own ability level. – usually these types of kids are like this because of their parent/guardian so saying it will fall on deaf ears.

Weirdest kid I’ve ever met. – So? They could be a good student & be weird.

I didn’t realize one person could have this many problems. – Did you help them solve at least one of them? Irrelevant as long as they can do the work in class.

Your daughter is royalty. (The Queen of Drama) – So? As long as they do the work, who cares!?

The others I didn’t mention is because I agree with.

To that Jeff Shoolbraid, it is NOT HER JOB to give a student an A to the best of her abilities. It is the student’s responsability to study enough to EARN an A.

One more thing is that all the people that responded to her seem to be the ones that pay attention in class or aren’t in class. All those students she bad-mouthed, none of them would’ve read the blog that is until now, simply because they don’t care.

Mary K. Letorneau

this teacher has a lawyer! she’s still blogging! and – the lawyer made a statement which is found here at the bottom of this blog in the link provided – he basically says it may be a constitutional matter and says nothing more than it’s her 1st amendment right, IF she’s fired – she’s interviewed on good morning america. and received a 97% approval rating on msnbc. go team munroe!

http://msalatv.blogspot.com/2011/02/natalie-munroe-blog-lands-teacher-in.html

If she speaks this way about her high school student, I’d hate to see what she has to about elementary aged students, who can be just as, if not, worse than teenagers.