I see this as a serious misjudgment on the part of the teacher ~ but does it rise to the level of a "firing offense"? ~ Sooz

Students’ duct-tape joke could get OH teacher fired
By Arturo Garcia
Tuesday, January 22, 2013 10:47 EST

A middle school teacher in Ohio could be fired for posting a picture of what she calls a shared joke with her students online.

WEWS-TV reported on Tuesday that Melissa Cairns has been placed on leave without pay for posting a picture last October of her students with duct tape over their mouths on Facebook with the caption, “Finally found a way to get them to be quiet!!!”

Cairns said the picture was the result of one student playfully putting tape over her mouth after Cairns offered her some to help fix a broken binder. Some of the girl’s classmates, Cairns said, were amused by the display and joined in. But a colleague reportedly saw the picture on Cairns’ Facebook page and alerted management.

“Do I feel that this one, stupid mistake should cost me the last 10 years of all the good I’ve done? Absolutely not,” said Cairns.

Despite taking the picture down at the request of her school’s principal, the Akron School Board voted to fire Cairns earlier this month.

“Students are protected under federal law and they have certain protections,” said board President Jason Haas. “Not knowing all the circumstances, it looked like that potentially violates those protections.”

Her attorney told the station she would file an appeal on Tuesday.

Watch WEWS’ report on Cairns’ fight for her job, aired Jan. 22, 2013, below. [Sooz comment: video accessible via the end link]

[h/t CNN]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/22/students-duct-tape-joke-could-get-oh-teacher-fired/

School boards might want to focus of delivering a good education to the students instead of all this PC bullshyte.

“Not knowing all the circumstances, it looked like that potentially violates those protections

You fire someone on that flimsy statement? Oh boy the lawyers are lining up now. Too bad all that money is going to them instead of to educate these talented kids with a sense of humor.

That's pretty much my take, too, queenie ~ FTR, student privacy/protection is a big deal legally ~ we don't use any student pictures in any of our materials without a current parental/guardian release ~ and we only use first names and grades in any public identifying info ~

Sooz

I don't know how I feel about this. I think it was a silly joke in class, but EVERYONE should know not to friend your students and definitely not to post anything remotely objectionable on your facebook page.

Teacher in-service days should definitely address this if they don't already!!!!!

I don't think she should be fired, but she should get WISER quickly!! There are queues waiting for each open teaching position.

i have heard other teachers make that joke. i think it is well understood to be a joke.

The joke is cute. I agree it would be great in a yearbook. The problem is posting on her facebook page.

The problem is firing her "not knowing all the circumstances" first off. If she were my employee, she would get a letter from me explaining that what she did violated some rule, directing her to familiarize herself with the rules, and telling her that future infractions could result in x y or z sanction. Case closed. And to any parent who subsequently complained, I would explain that personnel matters are private and assure them that appropriate measures were taken in accordance with policy and procedure. Geez.

Nonsense.
First you've got to throw out the baby with the bath water or how that saying goes, then you'll get the lawyers involved, the media, stick to your guns etc. until you've spent your budget.
This is Amurrka, for christ's sake!

Aww jab. Guess I was too busy studying supervision and management - i missed out on the economics class. Keep those dollars flowing through the court system!

Insane to fire a teacher before knowing over something like this without knowing "all" the facts. IMO

School boards aren't interested in "facts".
Only appearances count.