Thursday, February 22, 2007

Hundreds support Reed's Spring teacher

The Reed's Spring teacher who was removed from classroom duties following an incident in which he used profanity in the classroom received strong support during a school board meeting Wednesday night, according to an article in today's Springfield News-Leader:

Collins was suspended at the end of January after he used profanity with two students to try to get them to stop picking on others in his class. He has received formal charging papers outlining a number of alleged misdeeds and has requested a public hearing on the matter.


To give the teacher's supporters an idea of what to expect at the public hearing, both from personal experience and from years of covering similar situations in area schools- these are things that will likely happen:

-The board will sit in stony silence at the hearing as one speaker after another speaks in favor of the teacher. Some board members will act as if they are doing the public a big favor just to have the meeting and that they really have better use for their time.

-The board president most likely will say he or she and the other board members cannot comment on anything because it is a personnel situation and all personnel situations must be handled in closed session. (That, by the way, is not true. Missouri's Open Meetings Law does not mandate a closed session for personnel matters; it simply says a board may go into closed session to discuss the hiring, firing, promoting, or discipline of personnel.)
-Everyone will go home unsatisfied with the experience.
- Except for the opportunity to let off a little steam and show dissatisfaction with the board's decision, nothing will be accomplished.

I have seen a few occasions on which board decisions were reversed, but usually these hearings are an exercise in futility with board members simply going through the motions because they are required to do so by law.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

If this Reeds Spring school board fires this teacher, perhaps the parents should keep their kids home for a week. Loss of state aid will get this school's attention. All public boards are usually gutless wonders in front of the people that elected them. They will sit there like a bunch of mummies and let the wrong thing happen time after time. They will hide behind closed door and make a decision and then come out and say they have "no comment".
Vote them out next time friends.
Drust

Anonymous said...

I am ok with it if they will suspend EVERY student, including those of wealthy people, if they use the "f" word in school or on school premises during a school event or contest. Have you heard a teenager speak lately? And let's not say he is different because he is a role model. The major role model for any freshman is a junior or senior. This is sad.

Anonymous said...

As I have said before and I will say it again, saying the F word anyplace, anytime, anywhere is perfectly acceptable. When the Vice President of the United States told a Senator in the Senate Hall to go F himself, and when asked about it, he said he said it and felt better for saying it. So therefore, as far as I'm concerned anyone can use the F word at will. No one raised hell with the Vice President, no one called a special board meeting, no one probably took the time to write his office. Remember this Vice President represents the Far Right, the Christian Coalition, the Moral Majority, and on and on and on. So leave this teacher alone, in fact, give him a raise in pay.
Drust

Anonymous said...

Fire him--he has no excuse for using fowl language...he should be the example

Anonymous said...

Oooopps...let's make that foul language...event though he shouldn't use fowl language either...and that's nothing to crow about!

Anonymous said...

Are you insisting the Vice President be fired. He should have been a long time ago, for using the F word and lying, etc. However, whats fair for one is fair for another. Leave the teacher be, or speak up against the Vice President and insisted that he be thrown out of office.
By the way, want to use your name instead of anonymous? I only sign as anonymous on the blog because I can't get signed in properly...ever.
David Rust

Anonymous said...

With more than 25 years as a classroom teacher and never once uttering a swear or vulgar word in a classroom or to an individual student, I think I deserve to have a say. And, I assure you, I dealt with all kinds of students in all kinds of situations in the classroom, in hallways, at assemblies, etc. I taught high school all those years with many students bigger, tougher, and stronger than me and I've faced down a few made parents. I was "challenged" many times, but I never used bad language and I don't think a teacher should do so..there are other ways.

Sorry you don't like me signing in as anonymous, but you'll just have to ignore my posting if you don't like it.

Anonymous said...

Did any of you challenge the Vice President for using the F word? or did you just sit quietly. If the teacher deserves to be fired, so does Cheney. Lets play fair, what is good for one is good for another. Have you ever been around a coaching staff? Probably not, a good deal of them have a well rounded vocabulary of four letter words. The only reason they get fired is for losing games.

DavidRust

Anonymous said...

None of you will address the issue that Cheney used the F word in the Senate chambers and said he was proud of it. You apparently have no problem with his use of the F word, however, this teacher used it once in his career that you know if and you go bezerk. Here is a good teacher, pushed to the edge by two students, said something he probably shouldn't have and you want a public lynching. You are in the minority from the looks of that crowd inthe school gymnasium. Send this post to the school board, the legislature, where ever you want to send it. But that doesn't make it right to hang a teacher over one measley word. Let these parents keep their children out of school for one week, this board will see how much state aid it loses and they might change their attitude. Like lots of folks, you are still in the 11th Century. There is a real world out there, and it does contain some things and some words you don't like. Turn the other cheek or stick your finger in your ear.
Drust