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2016 Teacher of the Year

Rosie1 said:
Louisiana's 2016 Teacher of the year was arrested at a her local school board meeting. What outrageous thing did she do? Stand up and ask why the superintendent was getting a big raise when teachers in her district hadn't had a raise for 10 years. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/us/teacher-arrested-louisiana.html
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What an outrageous abuse of power. Teachers need to unite together to send a clear message that the board's actions are totally unacceptable.
 
Should she have been asked to leave? probably not.

At the same time though, if the board meeting has a rule that the board can eject anyone for any reason, there isn't much to complain about.
 
Yep, this made me think of my sister (also an English teacher) who has battled with her school board for many years, but hasn't been arrested. The school board in question is getting a lot of unwanted attention, tee hee. The story was just on CBS news. And the teacher was attempting to leave the meeting, as requested, when she was arrested.
 
Rosie1 said:
Louisiana's 2016 Teacher of the year was arrested at a her local school board meeting. What outrageous thing did she do? Stand up and ask why the superintendent was getting a big raise when teachers in her district hadn't had a raise for 10 years. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/us/teacher-arrested-louisiana.html
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She had her chance to speak and was interrupting the meeting the second time she spoke and wouldn’t stop, so they removed her.

More of the video here:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nb...rrested-bringing-school-board-meeting-n836231

And just to add, yes, I think the superintendent is an asshole and don’t agree with him getting the raise over the teachers.
 
Ms. Hargrave was arrested for allegedly "remaining after having been forbidden" and "resisting an officer," Ike Funderburk, Abbeville’s city attorney and prosecutor, said in an interview on Tuesday night. But he said that after reviewing the now-viral video, he decided not to pursue charges against the teacher. A lawyer for the school board also did not wish to proceed with charges, he added.
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Enough of this crap. Either the officer has made a valid arrest and you stand behind him, or he hasn't and he faces the consequences. This "we're just not going to press charges" crap doesn't fly.
 
It was not like he could tell he the truth, that he felt his raise was more important than a raise for others!
I suspect he may soon find himself unemployed, it was a really bad decision to arrest her.
 
longview said:
It was not like he could tell he the truth, that he felt his raise was more important than a raise for others!
I suspect he may soon find himself unemployed, it was a really bad decision to arrest her.
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If the voters get fed up with the good old boy network that appears to run the school district and make some changes to the board, the superintendent will be out looking for another job. The likelihood is that he'll find one in yet another district that doesn't value teachers.

Teachers need to have power to match the school board. Teacher's unions are the only entity that can provide that power.
 
Dittohead not! said:
What an outrageous abuse of power. Teachers need to unite together to send a clear message that the board's actions are totally unacceptable.
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What if a student stood up in the class and asked why teachers aren't graded on their performance the same way students are?

What if the student kept demanding an answer and would not shut up?
 
I just noticed that "dirt poor" may have posted somewhere else on the forum about this earlier. I did check, but missed it. I'll look at that, since I think he's conservative. At any rate, hopefully this story will get more coverage.
 
Dittohead not! said:
If the voters get fed up with the good old boy network that appears to run the school district and make some changes to the board, the superintendent will be out looking for another job. The likelihood is that he'll find one in yet another district that doesn't value teachers.

Teachers need to have power to match the school board. Teacher's unions are the only entity that can provide that power.
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The teachers are already in a Union, has it helped? I think the answer is in the body of parents.
I favor vouchers, as a way of providing competition, but there are other choices.
If the schools are not doing the job, the voters need to make changes.
 
SirGareth said:
What if a student stood up in the class and asked why teachers aren't graded on their performance the same way students are?

What if the student kept demanding an answer and would not shut up?
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What if kids were adults?
What if a classroom were a meeting in which the public has a right to speak out?
What if the teacher who dared to speak up in an open meeting hadn't started to lea.. oh, right. She did.

Lots of what ifs there.
 
SirGareth said:
What if a student stood up in the class and asked why teachers aren't graded on their performance the same way students are?

What if the student kept demanding an answer and would not shut up?
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Maybe it's just me, but I'd lean towards answering a simple question over having the kid arrested.
 
longview said:
The teachers are already in a Union, has it helped? I think the answer is in the body of parents.
I favor vouchers, as a way of providing competition, but there are other choices.
If the schools are not doing the job, the voters need to make changes.
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Clearly, the voters in that district need to make some changes.
And, if the teachers are really in a union, then the union needs to step up and do its job.
 
SirGareth said:
What if a student stood up in the class and asked why teachers aren't graded on their performance the same way students are?

What if the student kept demanding an answer and would not shut up?
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IT was a school board meeting where part of it was discussing this raise. What she did was the entire purpose of the meeting.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Clearly, the voters in that district need to make some changes.
And, if the teachers are really in a union, then the union needs to step up and do its job.
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I think union membership in the teachers union is a requirement in Louisiana, for public school teachers, but could be wrong.
 
longview said:
I think union membership in the teachers union is a requirement in Louisiana, for public school teachers, but could be wrong.
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I don't know a lot about Louisiana and it's teacher unions, but I did find this:

Successive electoral, legislative and local district collective bargaining contract losses, along with a more engaged citizenry that is beginning to demand more from schools, have fostered the teacher unions’ defeats. Old-fashioned “butt kickings” at the Capitol, unsuccessful recall attempts by the unions for the governor and pro-reform legislators, and anemic membership representation in school districts could lead many to conclude that teacher unions are weak in Louisiana.

Indeed, in a just released report issued by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute entitled How Strong Are U.S. Teacher Unions?, Louisiana ranked 42nd in the nation for teacher union strength, and was rated as a Tier 5 state, which are the states with the weakest teacher unions.
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It's an opinion piece in a local paper that goes on to claim that these two weak unions are the reason for Louisiana schools not doing better in the high stakes testing.

But, the phrase "anemic membership representation in school districts" indicates that there is no requirement and that few teachers are members, which would go along with the "Tier 5 state" classification.

The writer doesn't seem to understand that unions' job is to improve wages and working conditions for members, not to reform curriculum, but anyway a strong union would discourage the sort of abuse of power that is described in the OP.
 
Carjosse said:
IT was a school board meeting where part of it was discussing this raise. What she did was the entire purpose of the meeting.
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The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the raise had the teacher said her peace in her allotted time fine.

She apparently kept interrupting the meeting to the point she was asked to leave and got arrested. Even if her anger may if been somewhat justified her behaviour is not excused.
 
Chillfolks said:
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the raise had the teacher said her peace in her allotted time fine.

She apparently kept interrupting the meeting to the point she was asked to leave and got arrested. Even if her anger may if been somewhat justified her behaviour is not excused.
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They had no reason to kick her out she had a very valid point that was relevant as she talked both before and after the decision, usually where discussion is supposed to take place. Also when asked to leave she did. The police officer is very clearly in the wrong here and needs to be fired along with most of the school board administration itself.
 
Dittohead not! said:
What if kids were adults?
What if a classroom were a meeting in which the public has a right to speak out?
What if the teacher who dared to speak up in an open meeting hadn't started to lea.. oh, right. She did.

Lots of what ifs there.
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Indeed and "what if" teachers and school boards were paid what they are worth?

And "what if" the board meeting was not convened for the purposes of teacher belly aching and whingeing, if you don't like the pay then quit.

You put me in the strange place of taking sides between two sets of thieves in a completely corrupt mal-functioning government education cartel that is destroying our youth by making them among the dumbest kids on the planet.
 
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School Boards generally aren't paid. At least in our area they are totally volunteer. They are elected by the community, but aren't paid.
 
Rosie1 said:
Louisiana's 2016 Teacher of the year was arrested at a her local school board meeting. What outrageous thing did she do? Stand up and ask why the superintendent was getting a big raise when teachers in her district hadn't had a raise for 10 years. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/us/teacher-arrested-louisiana.html
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I like how they trotted out the always unverifiable, "She was resisting" the officer charge. Seems to be a running joke that officers now just up front say, "Stop resisting" when they are handcuffing people so they can stack that charge.

“Stop resisting,” he said as he walked her outside.

“I am not — you just pushed me to the floor. I am way smaller than you,” she said.​
 
Dittohead not! said:
What an outrageous abuse of power. Teachers need to unite together to send a clear message that the board's actions are totally unacceptable.
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Is that what they mean by "American Exceptionalism" that you declare a "right to free speech" but arrest people for it?

LAND OF THE FREE! if you are wealthy
 
SirGareth said:
Indeed and "what if" teachers and school boards were paid what they are worth?

And "what if" the board meeting was not convened for the purposes of teacher belly aching and whingeing, if you don't like the pay then quit.

You put me in the strange place of taking sides between two sets of thieves in a completely corrupt mal-functioning government education cartel that is destroying our youth by making them among the dumbest kids on the planet.
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If teachers were paid what they're worth, then good teachers would not quit for better paying jobs, as you're suggesting the teacher of the year should do. That alone would improve the education system you think is so terrible at least to the point that the average high school graduate would be able to spell "whining."
 
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