Teacher Gulag
In a country where we have freedom of speech, are innocent until proven guilty and have the right of self-determination everyone seems to have this right except school teachers.
This really came home to me a few years back when I was penalized for speaking out against an injustice at the school I worked at. I filed a grievance against the principal of the school that I worked at and she retaliated against me by putting me on an improvement and eventually forcing me from my job. I had no protection or support from my union and I have for the last 5 years been out of work. This principal black-balled me and made sure that I could never find work as a teacher wherever she knew I was applying for a position.
I am not the only person in my district that this has happened to. Just the other day a teacher at Como high school was put on administrative leave because of a statement he made on Facebook about conditions at Como high school. This teacher spoke his mind and the organization Black Lives Matter went to the school district and demanded that he be fired. First of all there are or should be rules and guidelines for why a teacher is terminated from their position and expressing one's opinion should and is not one of them .
Rashad Turner the spokesperson for Black Lives Matter said that his organization demanded the firing of a teacher for remarks he made on Facebook . just to reverse the situation a bit and ad a what if. What is Mr. Turner were fired from his job (if he had one) for his involvement in Black Lives Matter. Mr. Turner would probably turn the whole thing into a media event and demand justice for the loss of his job because apparently not only do Black Lives Matter but only black opinions matter. This teacher has as much of a right to his job and opinion ad Mr. Turner does.
I hope that the district does thee right thing and allows this teacher to retain his position but knowing SPPS as I do, I don't think that his will be the case. Superintendent Silva will probably apply district shadow rules and force the teacher out by threatening to fire him or jeopardize the status of his teaching license. Either scenario played out will probably lead to this teacher either resigning or moved to another district or school with a guarantee of employment. The shadow allow the district to do whatever it wants knowing that SPFT local 28 will do nothing to stop it .
Teachers through the district and the state whether majority or minority should stand up for this teacher and make sure that all the written rules apply and that teachers are afforded the same bill of rights that all citizens are afforded that included students and Mr. Rashad Turner .
I do not think that racism has a place in public schools but it will not end by penalizing teachers who make observation about the problems in their schools. The actions by SPPS and Black Lives matter will lead to a slippery slope that none of us want to go down because it leads to the worse censorship makes us all afraid to point out issues that need to be changed in our schools
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