Although presently there is no court case pending. And I'm not sure whether it will get to that point -- but it should. In reading the article it says exactly what you described could happen -- is happening and is what this young man is now going through. He told the principal who promptly didn't believe him. Not until he produced the tape with irrefutable proof. And then he was ridiculed by other students for having complained. The teacher lied on a student in his presence to the principal, and the last time I checked lying is a firing offense. So, the school board's solution to the conflict is to remove the means of gathering evidence so it doesn't happen again. Hoping, I'm sure, that this will all just GO AWAY.
And I'm not sure that the argument of students complaining that their "voices had been broadcast on the Internet and on television news programs without their consent," will hold up either. Its not as though they have any expectation of privacy in a public place. And its not privileged communication between a student of teacher either. While I can understand the need to maintain the decorum and an atmosphere conducive for learning in schools, I also think that the issue of the separation of religious views from teaching them in a public school trumps those concerns. SCOTUS has held that students have no expectation of privacy in the school setting, which allows among other things, for their lockers to be searched without warrant. Schools have banned cellphones for similar (although dubious) "security reasons." But apparently the public school system there wants speech privacy from public scrutiny.
And another case I recall bears upon this one by contrast. Last spring, a federal judge ruled that teacher
http://progressive.org/mag_mc032406">Deb Mayer in Bloomington, IN had no constitutional right to free speech in the classroom. In 2003 she said that her contract was not renewed because she answered a student's question about whether she would participate in a demonstration for peace. Her students were reading an article in Time for Kids about peace protests. She responded to the student's question by saying she sometimes honks for peace and that it's important to seek out peaceful solutions both on the playground and in society.
Afterwards, the parents of one of the students got angry and insisted that she not speak about peace or the war in Iraq again in the classroom. Mayer’s principal so ordered her. It didn't matter that at the time she had a son serving in the Navy in Afghanistan either. Her lawsuit against the school district does not deny the Iraq War discussion took place. And it acknowledges that Mayer was instructed to refrain from discussing her opinions on the war. When the school district did not renew Mayer’s contract at the end of the semester, she sued for wrongful termination and for violation of her First Amendment rights.
Then on March 10th, Judge Sarah Evans Barker dismissed Mayer’s case, granting summary judgment to the defendants. The judge said the school district was within its rights to terminate Mayer because of various complaints it received from parents about her teaching performance. But beyond that, Judge Barker ruled that “teachers, including Ms. Mayer, do not have a right under the First Amendment to express their opinions with their students during the instructional period.”
Of course this was in Indiana and it was in 2003 when everyone seemed "bully" about going to war in Iraq. But she didn't complain about the war, only stating that peaceful resolution is a better alternative to killing. Of course we don't want to teach about "peace" to our children. The contract termination was defended by the principal in this case by saying her comments deviated from the teaching plan. So the question I have is, is teaching that dinosaurs coexisted with humans part of the NJ school's teaching plan? Is teaching that Christians will go to heaven and everyone else to goes hell a part of the NJ schools teaching plan?
This teacher in NJ should be
FIRED forthwith. I believe that teacher's should have sufficient freedom in the classroom so that they can reach their students in the best way possible. Having said that, I cannot for the life of me understand what a history teacher is doing teaching that everyone who's not a Christian is going to hell, let alone that dinosaurs existed along side of mankind. The school board has absolutely no guts or intelligence. And appears to be run by the staff lawyer now. So much for representing the best interest of the children.
After such an incident, if I were a parent there I'd buy my kid a tape recorder and tell him/her to tape everybody that teaches them. What else are they trying to cover-up? And the state government isn't off the hook here either. These school boards, however they're put in place (by election or appointment) are charged with carrying out their duties under the law. This guy broke that law and is apparently being allowed to continue to break it since his "corrective action" has not resulted in his dismissal. And he's still making false statements (now about global warming), in the classroom.
One thing I did infer from the father's comments, unless he or his wife is a lawyer, it sure as hell sounds like he's been talking to one. He said,
"Adoption of this rule at this time sends all the wrong messages,” said Paul LaClair, Matthew’s father. “We were in negotiations and this is extremely ill-advised and disrespectful, if not bad faith.” That sounds like lawyer talk to me. I hope they are preparing to sue the Bejeebus out of the school system and the teacher personally for direct harm!!!