School's sacking of Christian science teacher divides town in Bible belt

[naaman fletcher]

Freshwater said he had done the same science experiment to hundreds of students before Zachary Dennis, using a Tesla coil, which gives off an electric spark.

The teacher said it was painless and harmless – although a doctor would later testify that Dennis had second-degree burns – and that he had made an X, not a cross, on the boy's skin.

That might have been the end of the matter after the school ordered Freshwater to stop using the coil on children.

But Zachary Dennis's parents asked him what else was going on in science class. Out poured accounts of lessons on evolution mingled with creationist theories about "intelligent design", a euphemism for the hand of God, of questions about religious beliefs and of classroom walls pasted with the Ten Commandments.

Other children told of also having crosses burned on their arms.


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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/10/brand-cross-christian-science-teacher

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There are plenty of Christian schools for you to teach at, asshole.

[RKP5637]

1. Should serve time for child abuse!!!!!! n/t

[havocmom]

2. +1

[bluestateguy]

3. Kind of makes some of you teachers union apologists think, doesn't it?

Schools need to have the ability to sack bad teachers without endless hearings and red tape.

[w4rma]

4. Nope. (nt)

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. No

Abusing children is grounds for immediate dismissal and no union would defend a teacher accused of criminal charges, especially child abuse.

FAIL

[Gabi Hayes]

7. sounds like a typical anti-union, kneejerk republican boiler plate talking point, doesn't it?

dick much?

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. It's disgusting and ignorant

Reminds me of a story. About 20 years ago there was a fire in a 5th grade classroom in my district. The teacher was accused of setting it. She was a union member and had representation until felony arson charges were filed. By that time the district had fired her and the union dropped her into the lap of a criminal defense attorney - at her expense.

To this day, that teacher still insists she did not set that fire, even though she was found guilty and spent time in a psych hospital following her prison term. Her family has continued to insist she was innocent and her co-workers are divided.

Anyway, point is - once you are charged with a felony the union says bye bye.

[Yurovsky]

24. Most folks don't understand though...

and think the AFL-CIO would've defended Charlie Manson if he only had a union card...

That's what we get from over 4 decades of union-busting, starting with Tricky Dick in '69. The average America now thinks "union BAD!", when the overwhelming majority of workers actually represented by a union know otherwise. The radical right has largely succeeded in destroying much of America's labor movement. I still hope that the Obama administration and the current economic recession (depression?) help Americans wake up and realize that collective bargaining is their best chance at a fair shake from the kleptocracy that IS American capitalism.

[QC]

36. That's what he always sounds like. That's been true for years. n/t

[Enthusiast]

38. Yes it does.

It has become so prevalent since the days of Saint Ronnie. Many Democrats, even, in their ignorance, are anti-labor.

[pleah]

6. +1

[Gabi Hayes]

8. minus....

[pleah]

10. Why are you against getting rid of bad teachers? I don't get it. n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. LOL where did you get that?

A swipe was made at teacher union apologists. Nothing posted can be interpreted as defending bad teachers.

Yet another FAIL.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Home school?

:shrug:

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. LOL

[pleah]

15. " Schools need to have the ability to sack bad teachers without endless hearings and red tape. "

Did you even read the rest of bluestateguy's post? That is what I was commenting on.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. "endless hearings and red tape"

Common code words for procedure and due process.

[Gabi Hayes]

19. wonder what Ollie North and Scooter Libby would have to say about that goldarned

red tapy stuff

and those endless hearings/appeals/commutations, etc.

get rid of all those lawyers...unless, of course, it's you that needs one

[Enthusiast]

41. Ed Zackery.

These are code words for management that wish to bypass due process. People that advocate streamlining the process for expediencies sake don't understand the value in the procedure.

[proud2BlibKansan]

31. This post?

"Kind of makes some of you teachers union apologists think, doesn't it?"

THAT was what I was commenting on. This has NOTHING to do with teachers unions. An idiot talibornagain with a teaching degree HURT a kid and lost his job. The story doesn't say one thing about unions or if this talibornagain even belonged to a union.

[Gabi Hayes]

17. you don't get much, obviously

there's this thing called due process.

I guess you're for just offing all those terra-ists at gitmo, including the ones who were kidnapped for bounty, right?

once accused, always guilty, no questions asked right?

rule of law be damned, right?

[pleah]

21. There's no need to be an ass. Do you attack everyone with a different opinion?

Even with the "due process" it shouldn't be that hard to get rid of crappy teachers.

[Gabi Hayes]

25. ''Why are you against getting rid of bad teachers?''

OK, if the above isn't a provactively posed, assholish comment, then it's very ignorant

take your pick

and I'm not attacking you, dear, just the assholish/ignorant manner in which you choose to express yourself

thin-skinned, are we? do you take everything this personally?

cry me a river

[pleah]

26. Maybe it's because I have had to deal with more than one unqualified person in the teaching field.

That tends to taint my view slightly. Having one teacher that my son had saying words like axed and lookeded. This was a woman that was supposed to be teaching reading skills to my son. That is just one example.

[Gabi Hayes]

28. so, then, you're for paying teachers a whole lot more money, in order to ensure

that underqualified practictioners like the one you cite, are eventually replaced by those with more enhance skills?

good for you!

BTW, sorry for being cranky

[pleah]

30. Yes.

to add: They only make, on average in MS, about 35,000 a year. Coaches on the other hand make around 100,000.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. Another fail

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. Not really.

I mean, it sort of makes me think that the anti-union people are just these sort of loony creationist ultra-RW cross-burning child beating types mentioned in the story, but I don't think that's exactly what you were going for there, Tex.

[Canuckistanian]

32. Not at all

This one's obvious. Children were actually physically harmed.

[JoeyT]

37. Nope.

It wasn't red tape from the union that prevented his sacking, it was a sympathetic administration.
He wasn't fired because they didn't want to fire him.

[Enthusiast]

39. Yeah, we never "think". nt

[Orsino]

40. No. n/t

[BolivarianHero]

20. Since he trusts in his Hebrew Sky Fairy so much...

Why not deal with him and let his pathetic "god" deal with it.

[pleah]

22. For those attacking me: I AM NOT ANTI UNION! I am anti-

crappy workers being protected and not replaced with more qualified people.

[Gabi Hayes]

27. back pedaling, a bit, perhaps?

you do realize your first post in this read was in support of the, uh, ass (you used that word first, too), who very strongly admonished the supposed 'teachers' union apologists' who he seemed to say would spring to the defense of this apparent child abuser

I said "apparent," because nobody knows the reality of this case, and things very often turn out to be not what they seem. doesn't look like there's much wiggle room here, but tell that to Scooter Libby's red tape/technicality employing legal team

you might consider thinking a bit before posting

[pleah]

29. No

and, I should have been more clear with my first post. Now, will you please stop with the insults and belittling? Thanks.

[Gabi Hayes]

33. so...you're, uh...backpedaling,

as in admitting your post wasn't clear.

it was very clear to me that you were supporting the scabrous, invidious reference to teachers' union apologists. otherwise, why would you respond in the way you did?

it's there. I read it. what did you mean by your response, if not to support its relevance?

I'm not trying to belittle you. why do you feel that way. I'm just trying to understand your though process, which seems to be getting less and less clear the more you post

[Peregrine]

23. To follow the hearings

go to Pandas Thumb. Check the archive and check in occasionally for updates.

[GoneOffShore]

34. Religion should be a hobby - like making ships out of matchsticks.

[Quantess]

35. I clicked on link, hoping it might have happened in the UK.

Silly me, of course not. Ohio.