` `While the reasons that teacher’s need unions are plentiful(and I am not just talking about how despicable New Berlin treats its teachers), here are some prime examples.
H/T Jonathon Turley for documenting so many of these cases!
1. A Georgia teacher lost her job for a Facebook picture of her having a drink in Europe.
A Georgia teacher, Ashley Payne, has lost her lawsuit seeking damages after she said she was forced out due to a Facebook picture taken of her drinking in Europe. A teacher or parent had filed an anonymous complaint against Payne for photos showing her holding drinks in Europe — not normally a shocking image.
2. A teacher near Philadelphia was suspended for blogging.
On the blog, Munroe complained that her students were “rude, lazy, disengaged whiners” and admitted that she dreamed of giving parents an honest appraisal of their children. Some of the alternative “canned comments” were pretty funny and were clearly not meant for the students to read. They included “rat-like,” “dresses like a streetwalker,” “frightfully dim,” and “whiny, simpering grade-grubber with an unrealistically high perception of own ability level.”
Superintendent N. Robert Laws said last week that the blogged complaints were “very egregious” and “certainly could result in termination.” I certainly agree that this matter raised very egregious conduct, but of the school not the teacher. Teachers have free speech and have a right to vent about their profession.
Instead, Munroe was escorted from the school and suspended on the day the blog was revealed to school officials.
3. In Connecticut, a 2nd grade teacher was fired for wearing a bikini on television.
Marie Jarry, the former second-grade teacher who resigned after making an appearance in a bikini on the “Howard Stern Show,” is suing Southington, Connecticut school officials as well as her union. She has good reason to complain about being fired for an appearance in a swimsuit on a television program on her own time. The increasing enforcement of after-hours codes of conduct by employers should be viewed as a cause of alarm for a society that prides itself on freedom of association and speech.
4. A Beaver Dam teacher was put on leave for having a picture of herself pointing a gun at the camera.
There is another case of a teacher being punished for legal activities outside of the school setting. The latest case comes from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin where teacher Betsy Ramsdale has been put on leave after someone found a picture of her holding a gun on her Facebook site.
Beaver schools superintendent Donald Childs explains that a school employee found Ramsdale’s picture pointing a rifle at a camera and reported it
That we have teachers throughout the country being “reported” for activities that they do in their free time is beyond disturbing. That they are actually getting “punished” for it just adds to this disturbing trend. We see that all it takes is one looney parent, mixed with a weak administration and it can be hell on a teacher who does not have a strong union to back them up.
By the way which of the above firings/suspensions save the state money?
PS: Let’s not forget the most egregious example, that Steven wrote about recently:
Republicans in Michigan are pushing legislation that would have serious consequences for union workers such as teachers. The GOP led House of Representatives in the state have introduced a bill that would imprison union members for sending political emails using publicly owned email services.
The consequences for violating the law include a $10,000 fine for an organization, and a $1,000 fine and one-year imprisonment for an individual.
Hmmm imprisoned for holding differing beliefs than the people in power, where have I heard of that before?
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