public teacher ordered to go over Pres. photo

[Aerdria]

Has anyone heard more about this? According to the New York Post, a New Jersey public-school teacher says she was ordered to take down a picture of the president, then terminated when she wouldn't.

The White House-issued photo of the Bushes was pinned to a bulletin board that held portraits of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and a copy of the Constitution...

The controversy erupted Thursday night when a handful of parents objected to the photo during a back-to-school parent-teacher conference. Pillai-Diaz said three parents demanded the photo be removed — or complemented with a picture of Sen. John Kerry.

Pillai-Diaz said she notified the assistant principal, Mark Daniels, of the brouhaha during a break in the conference and that Daniels defended her right to post the photo.

But yesterday, Pillai-Diaz said Daniels changed his tune and demanded she remove it before her first class.

"He told me that if I care about my employment at the school, I would take down the picture," she said.

When she refused, the matter was taken up by the principal, Jim Warfel, who Pillai-Diaz said accused her of "causing disruption and hatred" with her "inflammatory politics" and told her to "get out" of the building.

The whole article is here: http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/29545.htm

[Pyrosama]

I saw the teacher interviewed on one of the news channels. She even said then that her bulletin board was a historical board with other presidents and such. I'm sorry, but John Kerry is NOT a president nor has he ever been one. She should have told that principal that if John Kerry is elected President of the US, she would gladly display his picture as well. I can't believe they fired her over it though...can't they be sued for that????

[Llywellyn]

Okay one of the token Democrats here...

And this is totally horse pucky! Bush is the President no matter if I like him or not. He is a part of our Presidential History now and forever.

I swear the fringes of both parties are getting really looney these days.

[Graeblyn]

Okay, I don't think she should be fired over this, and as far as I know from the local papers and news broadcasts, she hasn't been fired as yet.

However, having said all that, there is a lot more to this story then is being picked up on the national news media, or at least the coverage I have seen.

First of all, American History, civics, etc., isn't part of her curriculum. She is an English teacher, and her classes were all Literary classes. The parents who complained in South Brunswick were aware the teacher was active in the GOP. In fact, she was a delegate to the national convention, as I recall. Given that there was no legitimate reason to have an American history board in her class, since that has nothing to do with the lessons she taught, and given that it's one of those vanity "fan club" style photos of the President and First Lady, it was reasonable for parents to ask for the photo to be removed, and for people not to believe her justification of having it on display as a "history" board.

Finally, even IF she were a social studies teacher, and not an English teacher, if the parents wanted her to tack up a picture of Kerry alongside Bush, she should have been sensitive to the standards of the community she teaches in, and just tacked the damn photo of Kerry up, just to humor the parents.

Not a single child would have suffered educationally from the "afront" of seeing a photo of Kerry on the bulletin board. Thus, her refusal to modify the board, and bend even the slightest bit, seems politicized, to me.

That said, I think the parents who complained are being oversensitive. I am sure the students in her class are quite capable of interpreting the photo of Bush in whatever way they choose without their parents getting all bent out of shape over it.

[Malacasta]

The situation is not as clear cut as the above article makes out. I first read about this yesterday, and followed it up in the Announcements from the South Brunswick Board of Education, October 3, 2004 http://www.sbschools.org/boe/announcements.php

"Ms. Pillai-Diaz is a new Language Arts teacher in the South Brunswick Schools. Recently, the school administration began receiving complaints from students and parents that Ms. Pillai-Diaz was using her position, classroom and teaching time to engage in partisan politics. Students reported that she had made statements which denigrated one party over the other. The conversations included Ms. Pillai-Diaz telling some students who offered opinions contrary to her statements, that she was “glad they were not old enough to vote.” Other comments to students, including such statements as, “you should be ashamed to be a Democrat” have been verified through student interviews."

The statement concludes as follows:
"The South Brunswick School community is enormously respectful of the Office of the President of the United States, President Bush and the democratic process for choosing our President. Anyone trying to suggest the contrary has the worst of intentions. Under other circumstances, the display of a picture of the President would have been viewed as completely appropriate and uncontroversial. It is important to note that pictures of President Bush are openly displayed in all of the South Brunswick Schools. The teacher’s own actions here, however, took it out of the realm of education and made the presentation appear partisan to many of our students and parents. Under these circumstances, our actions in directing the removal of the display were singularly appropriate."

Having read this statement prior to watching O'Reilly's interview of the the woman on his show, I was surprised to note that he didn't even reference the official position, but let her speak without questioning her story.

[Pyrosama]

Originally posted by Malacasta

Having read this statement prior to watching O'Reilly's interview of the the woman on his show, I was surprised to note that he didn't even reference the official position, but let her speak without questioning her story.

On his show, I think he DID mention that he offered the school officials an opportunity to make their statements and they declined. I don't think that it is his place to reference anything that is not confirmed by the school. If they decline to speak for themselves, then you can't blame O'Reilly for not reporting their side. I've always found O'Reilly's segments to be fair and unbias, and his interview in this case was no different.

[Aristotle]

Bottom Line:

George Bush *IS* the current President of the United States.

If any teacher of any course wants to put a picture of him up on the wall it is totally appropriate.

In fact, almost every school I ever attended or visited (for a competition in either sports or academics) had a picture of both the current US president and the governor of the state in their lobby.

[Aerdria]

More on the teacher from the New York Post, dated Oct. 5:

In light of McCartney's statement to the press, Pillai-Diaz said the compromise on the photo of the president and first lady is hardly a victory.

"How can I go back to work and have a normal environment when they distributed this false press release about me?" the 33-year-old mother-of-one asked.

"They're trying to take attention away from the real issue — that they tried to make me take down the picture."

School officials declined requests for interviews yesterday.

And the whole article is here: http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/31361.htm

I also found a clip of a local ABC interview/report here:
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/WAB...olteacher.html

I really wish somebody could verify if she was "preaching GOP" at these kids or if that's just trumped up justifications. If the former, shame on her. If the latter, I hope they all get replaced.