Teacher fired: "Florida got excited" (Part 2)

[proud2BlibKansan]

Part 1: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6996711

Sticky-note protest at Mission Valley Middle School

The situation at Mission Valley Middle School in Prairie Village is getting tense between the principal, Susie Ostmeyer, and students supporting fired science teacher Ryan Haraughty.

Students are placing sticky-notes with the letter “H” on walls and in classrooms around the school and plan to keep it up for the rest of the year, according to students.

It’s their way of continuing a protest without picketing outside the school. Ostmeyer has instructed the staff to remove them immediately.

Many students continue to wear homemade “H” badges on their clothes and carry their homemade signs of support into classrooms.

About 50 students who took part in two days of protests outside the building are being given unexcused absences. They will lose credit for any lost school work.

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Some students say they are being told they could not leave study hall and would not be given hall passes to go to the library or the bathroom.

more . . . http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/20522

[the blues]

1. K&R

[Bozita]

2. Does Kansas still have tenure laws?

If so, have they been weakened to the point where this all sounds OK?

If this firing holds up in court, and you can bet your ass it's gonna end up there, I don't ever want to hear any more fables about the all-powerful teacher unions.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Yes

"Teacher's certificate may be revoked for immorality, gross neglect of duty, annulling a written contract, or any other cause that would have justified refusal to grant the certificate."

http://www.enotes.com/everyday-law-encyclopedia/teachers-rights#state-local-laws-regarding-teachers-rights

[Bozita]

4. I'm guessing the local EA is not taking this firing lying down.

One of the major factors in the rise of teacher unions was the ease with which union lawyers got things reversed in the courts. It wasn't that the lawyers were all that sharp. They didn't need need to be. Administrations and school boards made it easy. Word spread and the unions multiplied.

Let me say that I'm in Michigan, and I can't recall any situations around here where this kind of firing was successful. Actually, I can't remember any teacher here being fired for anything this trivial. Both NEA and AFT locals here still work pretty well.

I'm guessing even further by saying that this science teacher is gonna get his job back. Back pay too.

[tonysam]

5. He should get his job back, but teachers are fired all the time and it is extremely difficult

for them to prevail in court. Tenure hearings are jokes by and large, as yours truly found out through bitter experience. School districts have unlimited taxpayer funds from which to draw upon and drag, and drag, and drag, and drag out lawsuits for as long as a decade in order for a teacher to settle for a pittance.

Teachers can "win" in court trials, and school districts will appeal the awards. Teachers can "win" in trials and judges will throw out monetary awards, and the teacher must appeal the decision.

Teachers very, very rarely win in this rigged legal system.

Anything regarding sex and students, though, isn't treated lightly by public school districts or licensing boards.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. That's not at all true where I teach

You'll get fired if you have sex with a kid or sell them drugs but never for something silly like what the teacher in the OP did.

[LWolf]

7. Hmmm

"Ostmeyer has instructed the staff to remove them immediately."

I wonder how many teachers have become suddenly near-sighted?

How many teachers will race around removing sticky notes and refusing restroom privileges over this?