Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Back in February, Professor Turley wrote a blog post titled Teacher Suspended for Writing Critical Comments on Her Personal Blog. Many people who commented on the post sided with Natalie Munroe, the teacher who had been suspended. I did not. I thought the school administration did the right thing after I read some of the critical comments Munroe made about her students and comments she said she’d like to be able to note on her students’ report cards.
Munroe’s blog comments about her students include the following:
• “I hear the trash company is hiring.”
• “I called out sick a couple of days just to avoid your son.”
• “Rude, beligerent [sic], argumentative f**k.”
• “Just as bad as his sibling. Don’t you know how to raise kids?”
• “Asked too many questions and took too long to ask them. The bell means it’s time to leave!”
• A complete and utter jerk in all ways. Although academically ok, your child has no other redeeming qualities.
• Lazy asshole.
• Two words come to mind: brown AND nose.
• Weirdest kid I’ve ever met.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer: In one sketch posted on the blog, an image of a bus tagged “Short Bus” appears under the slogan, “I don’t care if you lick windows, take the special bus or occasionally pee on yourself, you hang in there Sunshine, you’re … special.”
People who felt Munroe had done nothing wrong may be happy to find out that she has been reinstated to her old job. According to her attorney Steven L. Rover, she will be allowed to return to her Central Bucks East High School classroom this fall. She would teach the same classes at the same school. Rovner said, “I personally believe that her talents as a teacher would best be utilized in a different school within the district, however, this is not an option. She is taking a few days to digest this development in what has become an important national first amendment, employment, and education case.”
Having worked as a public school educator for more than thirty years, I can’t imagine that many students would want to have Munroe for a teacher. I would doubt that many parents would want their children in any of her classes. I know that I wouldn’t want my child to have her for a teacher.
I guess we’ll have to wait to see whether Ms. Munroe decides to return to her teaching position at Central Bucks east High School when classes resume in a few weeks.
I welcome comments on this story. I’d like to know what people think.
FYI
From the ACLU: Free Speech Rights of Public School Teachers
Where are we going & why are we in this handbasket (Natalie Munroe’s new blog)
SOURCES
Teacher Suspended for Blog Posts About Students (NBC Philadelphia)
CB East Teacher Removed After Blogging About Students (Doylestown Patch)
Natalie Munroe Suspended: Worst Insults the Teacher Made About Her Students (AOL News)
Central Bucks East teacher returning after blog dispute (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Natalie Munroe, Pennsylvania Teacher, Reinstated After Disparaging Students On Blog (Huffington Post)
Bucks teacher: Students are ‘rude, disengaged, lazy whiners’ (Philadelphia Inquirer)