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This story is exactly why I think teachers should give a wide berth to social networking sites. Spend a little time with the PTA, and you'll understand why teachers who maintain Facebook accounts are playing with fire. Parents get a little nuts where their children are concerned, and they don't care about work/life boundaries.
Great, our school wants us on things like facebook. They think it helps when we use the same technology as the students.
What bothers me about this particular scenario is the "picture of her with a beer."
I fail to see what the big deal is. If anything, it could be a good thing to see that people can drink responsibly; that alcohol doesn't automatically turn you into the devil just for drinking it.
I had a long conversation about this with my wife the other day. Her parents do not drink. Ever. Her younger stepbrothers (teenagers) are under the impression that it is not possible to enjoy a glass of wine or an ice cold beer. Apparently, the lessons taught to them by their parents is that anyone who touches this stuff is a "loser" and has no chance of amounting to anything in their lives.
They came to visit us a few months back. I decided to have a glass of wine, somewhat to the "horror" of my in-laws. But, it was a good lesson in my opinion. I'm a pretty successful person. Having a bit of wine or beer does not change that.
Nor do I think that it changes anything with this teacher that got fired. Instilling a fear of something in kids without any understanding that "in moderation" is safe can ultimately lead to abuse once those kids are no longer under the scrutiny of the overprotective parents.
Of course, if this teacher was shown drunk in a Girls Gone Wild video... maybe I could see the issue.
She should move to CT. When I was in high school, the superintendent of our schools was pulled over, and when he got out of the car, he was dressed as a woman (and no, it wasn't Halloween). Of course, he wasn't fired (one of the many reasons I love CT.); I think that everyone felt that his embarrassment was punishment enough.
This sort of attitude--that teachers are held to a higher standard and are, apparently, disposable--is becoming more and more prevalent every day. Part of the reason is the fact that when a teacher loses his or her job, someone else is right there, ready to take it. Admin and parents wouldn't be so judgemental if there weren't someone who could so readily take the teacher's place. I think that if teachers can stick together a bit more--or were all part of a union--this kind of thing wouldn't be happening so much.
I think it's terrible, and I hope she wins her suit. Teachers are adults, should have the same full rights that everyone else has, and there's nothing wrong with an adult (teacher or not) having a beer, assuming it's not on school property or during work hours.
My view exactly. As long as the teacher is not doing anything illegal it should have no impact on their job. I can understand a picture of a student having a beer getting that student in trouble, but that is because student's are underage. I hope she wins that lawsuit, teachers have a right to have a personal life just like anybody else.
This issue seems to be a perfect illustration of how U.S. culture is diverging along "red state" vs. "blue state" lines.
Someone posted that a cross dressing principal did NOT lose his job when his habit was made public in Connecticut; while someone else from Wyoming seemed to agree with the dismissal of this teacher in Georgia. I suspect that the majority of blue state school districts have little or no problem with beer drinking in a facebook photo during vacation.
Here in urban Los Angeles this would be a laughing matter and not even worth the blink of an eye for consideration.
I teach high school and have facebook and MySpace accounts. I am careful NOT to post pictures of any students, but I post vacation pictures. I am aware of potential scandals, and allow friends who are 18 and over (only a few exceptions). I have learned a lot of curious bits of information from former students through these social networks - enough to arm myself against any petty administrative attacks. Usually that's what alleged "moral infractions" boil down to - petty, vindictive, retaliatory reactions to something that jeopardized the peace and prosperity of incompetent and short sighted administrators. Ten years in LA Unified - I know what I'm talking about.
Facebook is watched closely now. Our union president just sent this out today. A custodian in a NJ elementary school was fired over comments on Facebook. We (teachers) have been warned many times already this year about being very careful if we decide to have a Facebook page.
Custodian At Emmons Elementary Fired Over Comments Made On Facebook - cbs3.com (http://cbs3.com/topstories/NJ.Custodian.Emmons.2.1321365.html - broken link)
Quote:
Nov 19, 2009 11:44 pm US/Eastern N.J. Custodian Loses Job Over Facebook Comment
PEMBERTON, N.J. (CBS 3) ―
An employee of the Burlington County school system was officially terminated Thursday for a critical comment about his employer that he made on the social media site Facebook.
"I was blowing off steam, just venting, everyone makes comments on Facebook," said Roy Torrez Jr.
Torrez Jr., 28, had been a custodian at Emmons Elementary in Pemberton for two and half years.
But when he criticized the district's handling of apparent swine flu cases at his school on his personal Facebook page of 400 friends, he was let go. His termination was made official during a school board meeting Thursday evening.
The post in question read:
'Having H1N1 and coming to work anyways, really smart people. And the administration isn't going to tell parents about it'
"There were two bad words in it, but I was a little upset," Torrez said.
Torrez says his supervisor gave him a "keep quiet" warning in October, and then last week he was fired.
Torrez told CBS 3 that he can't afford an attorney and his NJEA union lawyer told him that because he had no contractual tenure, the school can terminate him for whatever reason they see fit.
The school district declined CBS 3's request for an interview saying it was a "personnel matter," but a source familiar with the case tells CBS 3 that because Torrez made Facebook comments using his phone while he was on the clock, when he was supposed to be working, it is being considered "theft of service".
A humbled Torrez attended the board meeting Thursday when he was officially fired.
The problem really shows up when people tag you in their photos. You may not put up any pics at all, just to be safe, yet friends and family will put them up. It's hard to keep up with it all. It's the new frontier and to pretend it's the same as drinking a beer in the classroom or something is lame. The internet is changing everything and people better learn to deal with a different world and not overreact to every little thing because it won't be long until something controversial pops up on them. ON EVERYONE.
She should not have been fired, whoever saw the pic should have kept their mouth shut.
Teacher or NO teacher...what a person does after working hrs is their own business as long the activity is LEGAL.
I had a job where the owners said we were not allowed to consume any alcohol beverage within eight hrs of our work schedule.
We would start working at 4 AM which meant NO after dinner or evening party drinks.
A few men did complain and wanted the owner to pay for the eight hrs before the actual work time.
That took care of the NO drinking part real quick.
There are 24 hrs in a day of which a normal work schedule would be 8 hrs of that day.
The other 16 hrs are a persons private time to do with as they choose hoping it's legal.
Steve
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Location, location, location.....
