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Kansas Teacher With Conservative Views Gets Job Back

jamesrage

jamesrage

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Its nice to see that sometimes a little media attention can do some good.


Kansas Teacher With Conservative Views Gets Job Back - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com
A high school teacher in Kansas who claimed his contract was not renewed due to his conservative political views has been reinstated.

Tim Latham, 44, who was told that his school-affiliated Web site was "too patriotic," will return this fall to the 2,000-student Lawrence High School in Lawrence, Kan., where he'll continue teaching American history and government for a second consecutive year. Since the contract renewal became official late last week, Latham, a teaching veteran of 20 years, said he's received countless well-wishes from students and teachers alike.

"My cell phone just went off again," Latham told FOXNews.com on Tuesday. "I have received well over 1,000 e-mails, comments on my Facebook page, personal letters and phone calls, not only from all over the country, but from all over the world. I even had a guy who wrote me from China, saying he could see this happening in China, but not here."

Latham, who was criticized by a student for not airing President Obama's inaugural address during class, filed a grievance with his school district earlier this month after he was told in April that his contract would not be renewed.

The married father of three had claimed school officials violated his contract by not conducting proper reviews — four 20-minute in-class evaluations throughout the year — and said school administrators were looking for a way to get rid of him due to his personal politics.

But Latham was informed last Thursday by District Superintendent Randy Weseman that there were "inconsistencies in the evaluation process" and that his contract would be renewed for 2009-10. Latham said he was not surprised.
 
Glad to hear that, even though I don't share his viewpoints. If one person loses a job because of political views, then we are all vulnerable.
 
Good for him. This just proves how powerful public outcry can be.
 
They shouldn't be firing conservative teachers in the first place, because they're in the minority. It's good to see conservatives give up 6-figure incomes so they can teach our youth.

If enough conservatives take up teaching, then maybe they'll quit bellyaching about how liberal the teaching profession is. After all, they only have themselves to blame for letting liberals take over the system.
 
CrusaderRabbit08 said:
They shouldn't be firing conservative teachers in the first place, because they're in the minority. It's good to see conservatives give up 6-figure incomes so they can teach our youth.

If enough conservatives take up teaching, then maybe they'll quit bellyaching about how liberal the teaching profession is. After all, they only have themselves to blame for letting liberals take over the system.
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They shouldn't be firing any teachers for their political views regardless of whether they are liberal or conservative.
 
Dr_Patrick said:
They shouldn't be firing any teachers for their political views regardless of whether they are liberal or conservative.
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True; but still, we should be encouraging conservatives to pass up those lucrative 6-figure jobs in the private sector for 5-figure jobs in teaching :mrgreen:
 
If enough conservatives take up teaching, then maybe they'll quit bellyaching about how liberal the teaching profession is.
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Maybe the Liberals should stop treating our education system like an indoctrination camp. Leave their politics at home, where they belong and teach the 4 R's. That's just me.
 
apdst said:
Maybe the Liberals should stop treating our education system like an indoctrination camp. Leave their politics at home, where they belong and teach the 4 R's. That's just me.
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And Conservatives aren't guilty of this as well? I've heard of some teachers trying to get their students to read Bill O'Reilly's Factor for Kids. What would you call that? Letting one's personal politics be known and trying to indoctrinate kids are two completely different things.
 
And Conservatives aren't guilty of this as well?
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Not nearly as much, no. I'm sure PBO is getting a much fairer representation from Conservative teachers than Bush got from Liberal teachers.


I've heard of some teachers trying to get their students to read Bill O'Reilly's Factor for Kids.
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What's wrong with that? It's not like it's Mein Kampf, or something. Perhaps a Liberal book for kids should be on the same reading list? Oh, wait, there aren't any.


Letting one's personal politics be known and trying to indoctrinate kids are two completely different things.
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Kids immitate their environment. Making your politics known to grade school kids is the same was indoctrinating them.
 
apdst said:
Not nearly as much, no. I'm sure PBO is getting a much fairer representation from Conservative teachers than Bush got from Liberal teachers.
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Any evidence to back up that claim?
 
Any evidence to back up that claim?
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Can I prove a negative? No, I can't. Any evidence to prove me wrong? Evidence in the form that there are Conservative teachers that are turning our schools into political re-education camps.
 
apdst said:
Not nearly as much, no. I'm sure PBO is getting a much fairer representation from Conservative teachers than Bush got from Liberal teachers.
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Which makes sense considering that Bush was in power at the time. I'm willing to bet more of these types of cases involving Conservative teachers will rise up because Obama, a Liberal, is in power.

What's wrong with that? It's not like it's Mein Kampf, or something. Perhaps a Liberal book for kids should be on the same reading list? Oh, wait, there aren't any.
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It has a political slant to it. I would certainly call that indoctrination. If O'Reilly weren't a political commentator and an actual journalist who offered facts it would be one thing, but he's not. It would be no different than making kids read a book by Al Franken or Rachel Maddow.

Kids immitate their environment. Making your politics known to grade school kids is the same was indoctrinating them.
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I don't think this guy was an elementary school teacher. I think that it's okay to teach the basic structure of politics at a grade school level.
 
apdst said:
Can I prove a negative? No, I can't. Any evidence to prove me wrong? Evidence in the form that there are Conservative teachers that are turning our schools into political re-education camps.
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That was not a negative. You claimed that President Obama is getting fairer treatment than President Bush got.
 
Which makes sense considering that Bush was in power at the time. I'm willing to bet more of these types of cases involving Conservative teachers will rise up because Obama, a Liberal, is in power.
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I disagree, but we'll see. We can use the number of teacher terminations as a barometer.

If O'Reilly weren't a political commentator and an actual journalist who offered facts it would be one thing, but he's not.
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Have you read the book?

I don't think this guy was an elementary school teacher. I think that it's okay to teach the basic structure of politics at a grade school level.
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The basic structure of government, yes, but not politics. There is no basic structure of politics. That's one of those ****ed up webs we weave...LOL!
 
Dr_Patrick said:
It would be no different than making kids read a book by Al Franken or Rachel Maddow.
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At least Al Franken is entertaining. Maddow would be something to use as a punishment.
 
My bad Redress, I wasn't reading carefully enough.

To answer your question: has PBO been tried for war crimes in a high school yet? How would you feel if HS students held a mock corruption trial of PBO's corrupt connections? Be honest.

N.J. High Schoolers Try Bush for 'War Crimes'
Friday, March 03, 2006

E-Mail Print Share:

TRENTON, N.J. ( — A mock war crimes trial of President George W. Bush at a Parsippany high school continued Friday, despite criticism from people across the nation who heard about the classroom exercise from a prominent Web site and talk-radio programs.

Parsippany-Troy Hills School District interim superintendent James Dwyer said the hearing in the 12th grade politics and government class would continue, but a verdict by a five-teacher "international court of justice" panel would not be rendered as originally planned.

Speaking after a two-hour meeting with school board president, the high school principal and a curriculum superintendent, Dwyer said Friday the project was in keeping with the district's curriculum and had received prior administrative approval.

The class is an advanced placement elective, he said, and the lesson explores current events and foreign policy in an interactive way.

"The focus is on the process itself, not on any outcome," Dwyer said.

Phone messages left at Parsippany High School for the course's instructor, Joseph Kyle, were not immediately returned Friday. Dwyer said Kyle has taught with the district for eight years.

Dwyer said he and the school's principal have received more than two dozen e-mails and phone calls about the course since the Web site "The Drudge Report" linked to a newspaper article about the class. Talk-radio programs also apparently have discussed the course, Dwyer said, and listeners contacting the district were 10-1 against allowing the mock hearing.

But students involved in the project, which began Monday after several weeks of research, said the decision to hold a trial over Bush's alleged "crimes against civilian populations" and "inhumane treatment of prisoners" was agreed upon by all 27 classmates.

Catherine Galdun, one of the student prosecutors, told the Daily Record of Parsippany for Friday's newspapers that she would have been upset had the trial been halted.

"I would say that we're doing this in a fair and balanced way," said Galdun, 18. "We're looking at both sides of it. If (critics) don't believe that's right to do in a classroom — to debate both sides of an issue — I don't agree with that."

Township Council Vice President James Vigilante, a U.S. Air Force reservist, said he could see both sides. "I'm a Bush fan. I don't necessarily, myself, agree with the lesson plan, but on the flip side, I wouldn't condemn the teacher," he told the newspaper.

Vigilante, a Republican, added, "For me, it's the right of free speech."

The mock-hearing is expected to conclude next week. Parsippany, a community of about 28,000, is 30 miles west of New York.

FOXNews.com - N.J. High Schoolers Try Bush for 'War Crimes' - U.S. & World
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apdst said:
My bad Redress, I wasn't reading carefully enough.

To answer your question: has PBO been tried for war crimes in a high school yet? How would you feel if HS students held a mock corruption trial of PBO's corrupt connections? Be honest.
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That is one example in one school, and does not indicate a problem beyond that one school.

While I think it was a poor thing to do, I like the concept in some ways. I think it would be better done with an event not current though.
 
That is one example in one school, and does not indicate a problem beyond that one school.
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The OP indicates that there's a problem beyond that one school. It proves that across the country it's OK to hold a mock war crimes trial for the sitting president in a HS, but a teacher dare not, "pick on Obama", or risk losing his career.
 
apdst said:
The OP indicates that there's a problem beyond that one school. It proves that across the country it's OK to hold a mock war crimes trial for the sitting president in a HS, but a teacher dare not, "pick on Obama", or risk losing his career.
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You are exaggerating. You can make your point much better by clearly showing numbers that indicate that Obama is getting more fair treatment in schools than Bush did.
 
You are exaggerating. You can make your point much better by clearly showing numbers that indicate that Obama is getting more fair treatment in schools than Bush did.
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I'm not exxagerating anything. It's as simple as this: Bush was put oin trial for non-existant war crimes and a teacher is fired because he was, "Picking on Obama". Can you imagine the reaction if PBO were tried in a mock trial for his connections to Bill Ayers?
 
apdst said:
Maybe the Liberals should stop treating our education system like an indoctrination camp. Leave their politics at home, where they belong and teach the 4 R's. That's just me.
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To be fair, if this conservative wasn't bringing his politics to the classroom, he would have televised the historical even that was occuring during his class time seeing as he was an American History and government teacher.

What more perfect tool exists for this classroom than experiencing these things first hand?

So the argument that liberals should leave their politics at home is equally valid in an argument against this particular teacher. There was no legitimate reason outside of his personal politics to deny the chance for these children to witness this event.

Just sayin', if you want to paint things with a broad brush, don't miss any spots.
 
Glad to see he got his job back.

Now, lets dig really, really deep to figure out why conservative teachers are being blacklisted like this in the 1st place.

Somebody else needs to have their ass fired for firing the guy based on political grounds.

If not, then this whole exercise of firing and re-hiring the guy is pointless. The root cause needs to be uprooted. And please dont say its a "process mistake". If it were a process mistake, then that is even worse b/c it allows to fire people based on political preference, in which case that opens even a larger can of horsecrap.
 
apdst said:
I disagree, but we'll see. We can use the number of teacher terminations as a barometer.
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You seem only interested in demonizing Liberals rather than looking at the quite similar problems that Conservatives have. Both sides are full of ****.

Have you read the book?
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No, I haven't, nor do I have an interest to. But I've seen his Fox News show and heard his radio show. I'm willing to bet that the book is no different.
 
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