Terminated after 20 yrs of teaching??
A friend of mine was a US history teacher and last year she got fired and its been hard for her to get back on her feet because of it. The school is very conservative and in light of the recent election, she was sharing her own political views with the class and many parents started to complain to the administration. She had been working at the same school for 21 years so they reviewed her materials and found that they were biased politically so she got fired for failing to adhere to the required course material. Is this even fair?? They didnt even give her a chance to revise her course plan.
I have been there (although not for political views) Tell your friend that when you lose a job is an opportunity to regroup and reset your priorities She can still teach and be truthful to herself. There are more progressive schools all over the place. If her city is limited in this regard, it's time to go. Setbacks are signs that we need to do something we KNOW and are neglecting or we didn't know and it has been placed in front of us. Technology is grand! She can tutor, she can be a consultant, she can start a blog and help others going thru the same. She can learn new skills and even change her career all together. Failure is a mindset. The best ideas can come in the worst of times. Tell her to get informed. To put herself out there and to never ever see what has happened as the end.
Amelia schools have strict rules about what a teacher can put in their courses. A good thing for your friend to have done was review the manual given at time of employment to be sure what she's teaching is in accordance with the schools . It may have been a mistake but a costly one.
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I agree with some of the other comments about your friend's situation. Teachers are held to high standards and discussing personal political views has been an issue that teachers could never discuss openly. She should probably not use the word "political" or "politics" in her reasons for being terminated but rather differences in philosophy. Thanks
Amelia,I did some checking and digging on this issue. My youngest sister is a public school system teacher of 4th grade, and my youngest brother is a university adjunct professor. Both have confirmed that they can't do political or religious beliefs, ideas, or opinions to students. I know as a military officer that while in uniform in all branches of services we can't have an open outward opinion of sexual preference, political parties points of view or racial slurs of any kind openly. So in this case it's pretty safe to say that your friend has violated policy and regulations for that school. But now if she has in fact passed her teaching certificate and received her teaching license she can apply for work and get hired. I do hope that I have been able to help you out here. There is no recourse here because of school policy.
Hi Amelia, It's unfortunate what happened to your fiend but the freedom of speech rules outlined in the 1st amendment has some boundaries. In the classroom, teachers are direct representatives of the institution and therefore expected to act in accordance with the policies and procedures set by such institution. There’s a right way and a wrong way to voice one's opinion but the classroom setting is not the proper forum.
Unfortunately schools have a core curriculum to follow. Being she was following her own ways of thinking is not procedure. Political views which each of us have should remain their. Course materials should be followed as the school sees fit. Most education is based on the core curriculum for students. Procedure and laws have to be followed.