Florida teacher suspended for Facebook entry opposing NY gay-marriage law

cnredd · #1 (**permalink**) 08-21-2011, 02:36 AM

Free speech...Unless, of course, you disagree with the bureaucracy...

Quote:

Do teachers in public-school systems have a “special ethics” code that prevents them from publicly speaking on policy issues? Lake County Schools in Florida suspended Jerry Buell, a high-school teacher with a reportedly impeccable record for 22 years, for posting his opposition to New York’s new gay-marriage law, and will start termination proceedings against him. The case will test First Amendment rights and encroaching political correctness:

Quote:

Jerry Buell, a veteran American history teacher at Mount Dora High School, was removed from his teaching duties as school officials in Lake County investigate allegations that what he posted was biased towards homosexuals.

“We took the allegations seriously,” said Chris Patton, a communication officer with Lake County Schools. “All teachers are bound by a code of special ethics (and) this is a code ethics violation investigation.”

Patton said the school system received a complaint on Tuesday about something Buell had written last July when New York legalized same sex unions. On Wednesday, he was temporarily suspended from the classroom and reassigned.

So what did Buell write?

Quote:

The first was posted on July 25 at 5:43 p.m. as he was eating dinner and watching the evening news.

“I’m watching the news, eating dinner when the story about New York okaying same-sex unions came on and I almost threw up,” he wrote. “And now they showed two guys kissing after their announcement. If they want to call it a union, go ahead. But don’t insult a man and woman’s marriage by throwing it in the same cesspool of whatever. God will not be mocked. When did this sin become acceptable?”

Three minutes later, Buell posted another comment:

“By the way, if one doesn’t like the most recently posted opinion based on biblical principles and God’s laws, then go ahead and unfriend me. I’ll miss you like I miss my kidney stone from 1994. And I will never accept it because God will never accept it. Romans chapter one.”

The school district suspended Buell, who had been the school’s Teacher of the Year in 2010-11, because they are concerned that gay students might be “frightened or intimidated” in his class. That’s a pretty thin rationale for punishing someone over what appears to be more or less mainstream opposition to the gay-marriage law. Even saying the above in a classroom would be a thin rationale for disciplinary action, unless school districts will be taking action against all teachers who talk politics in the classroom, and a Facebook posting is not a classroom speech.

If school districts are worried about hate speech outside the classroom, wouldn’t we be demanding that these Wisconsin teachers get fired?

Quote:

Wonder how many of these were talking about the Wisconsin PEU reform in their classrooms? A few of them brought their students out to protest, as I recall. Should they be suspended and fired, too? Isn’t this “intimidating and frightening” to conservative-minded students in Wisconsin?

Teachers are American citizens with same rights as every other American citizen. They get to have opinions and express them publicly. The school can and should control classroom conduct, and should butt out of other speech entirely. And here’s a lesson about free speech and the Constitution that Lake County Schools apparently hasn’t grasped: there is no freedom from offense built into the First Amendment. We don’t curtail speech on the off chance it might hurt someone’s feelings. If we did, we wouldn’t have any free political speech at all. And I would make the same argument in support of a teacher suspended from a public school for offering Facebook support for New York’s gay-marriage bill.

saltwn · #2 (**permalink**) 08-21-2011, 03:42 AM

I do not believe a teacher should give their political or religious views inside the classroom. However outside it they should be allowed to join in protests and speak freely. But on Facebook or other social media where they express such views they shouldn't identify themselves as teachers at a specific school and grade.

cnredd · #3 (**permalink**) 08-21-2011, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saltwn

I do not believe a teacher should give their political or religious views inside the classroom. However outside it they should be allowed to join in protests and speak freely. But on Facebook or other social media where they express such views they shouldn't identify themselves as teachers at a specific school and grade.

Because your view is "Freedom of speech; but only for the anonymous"?...

saltwn · #4 (**permalink**) 08-21-2011, 03:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnredd

Because your view is "Freedom of speech; but only for the anonymous"?...

Nurses are taught not to represent themselves as "nurses" in public conversation mostly concerning advertising and product promotion. Teachers should be bound by the same self regulating ethics. An ethics violation is dealt with within the profession.
It is unethical for a teacher to tell the class if he is a Republican or Democrat or Libertarian etc. And the reason for that is teachers are authority figures and can hold sway over a child's decisions which should be the privilege of that child's parents.
I have no problem with this guy giving his opinion as long as he doesn't promote that handle or online persona as 'that red headed 3rd grade teacher from Wrinkler Elementary.'

MrLiberty · #5 (**permalink**) 08-21-2011, 04:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saltwn

Nurses are taught not to represent themselves as "nurses" in public conversation mostly concerning advertising and product promotion. Teachers should be bound by the same self regulating ethics. An ethics violation is dealt with within the profession.
It is unethical for a teacher to tell the class if he is a Republican or Democrat or Libertarian etc. And the reason for that is teachers are authority figures and can hold sway over a child's decisions which should be the privilege of that child's parents.
I have no problem with this guy giving his opinion as long as he doesn't promote that handle or online persona as 'that red headed 3rd grade teacher from Wrinkler Elementary.'

Lenin and Marx would just love you..........

saltwn · #6 (**permalink**) 08-21-2011, 04:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrLiberty

Lenin and Marx would just love you..........

This is something I learned by having ethical morally responsible teachers. If they smoked cigarettes they tried to avoid letting their students know it because they didn't want to influence our habits. And that was before the health consequences were known that it was anything but a nasty habit.
I never knew the political preference of any of my teachers. We even tried our best to get our 5th grade teacher to tell us if she was voting for (...I think it was...) Johnson or Nixon She said it would be wrong of her to do that and that we should read and study the candidates through the newspaper articles and ask our parents opinions.
I think that was pretty damned commendable. I wish they had teachers like that today.

And I did not say this teacher doesn't have a right to his views. But he has a moral obligation not to try to use his students as a spring board to promote politics. Maybe he didn't publicize that he was their teacher, in which case I think the school board is in the wrong and should chastise the person who divulged that information. Everyone has a certain right to privacy including this teacher.

Oftencold · #7 (**permalink**) 08-21-2011, 05:03 AM

I find it interesting that when I was in High School in Florida, had a teacher expressed support for gay marriage publicly, I believe they'd likely have been fired at once on ethical grounds, and would certainly have been seen as a threat to the students by the parents.

My, how times change.

dabateman · #8 (**permalink**) 08-21-2011, 10:38 AM

I think there is a modicum of ethical consideration in this issue. It all depends upon what we see as the role of educators.

If we are to believe that educators are simply there to provide factual information and nothing more, allowing the parents to socialize the children into whatever philosophy they see fit, then this flies in the face of that. In that world, teachers are mono-dimensional and work like an interactive text. They subvert their own philosophy to prevent influencing the children. This extends to public conversations because they are in a position of persuasive power over the children.

If however we are to believe that educators should be teaching from the heart and include their beliefs, then what this guy did wasn't an issue at all.

It all comes down to what your philosophy on education is.

alan · #9 (**permalink**) 08-21-2011, 10:50 AM

I'm curious,
If a teacher can be fired for expressing opposition of homosexual marriage outside of the classroom, can they also be fired for expressing support of homosexual marriage outside of the classroom?
Is this a two way street?

MrLiberty · #10 (**permalink**) 08-21-2011, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alan

I'm curious,
If a teacher can be fired for expressing opposition of homosexual marriage outside of the classroom, can they also be fired for expressing support of homosexual marriage outside of the classroom?
Is this a two way street?

No, one is politically acceptable the other is not. Take your guess as to which one is acceptable.......

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