Can a public school fire a teacher for violating its no-profanity rule?
Educator Freedom in School
A high school English and journalism teacher failed to censor her students' creative writing
assignments even though some of her students used profanity in their work. After a complaint, the school principal terminated the teacher for violating the school's "no-profanity" rule, which had traditionally not been applied to classroom exercises. The teacher sued, alleging a violation of her First Amendment rights. A jury sided with the teacher. The school district appealed.
Can a public school fire a teacher for violating its no-profanity rule?
YES — Teachers are public employees; as such, they have no First Amendment rights while on the job.
YES — If officials have evidence that a teacher has knowingly allowed her students to violate a school-wide rule, they can fire her
and not run afoul of the First Amendment.
NO — Although the First Amendment rights of teachers are not absolute, they do protect the freedom of teachers to decide how best to educate their students.
Learn More & Cast Your Vote
A high school English and journalism teacher failed to censor her students' creative writing
assignments even though some of her students used profanity in their work. After a complaint, the school principal terminated the teacher for violating the school's "no-profanity" rule, which had traditionally not been applied to classroom exercises. The teacher sued, alleging a violation of her First Amendment rights. A jury sided with the teacher. The school district appealed.
Can a public school fire a teacher for violating its no-profanity rule?
YES — Teachers are public employees; as such, they have no First Amendment rights while on the job.
YES — If officials have evidence that a teacher has knowingly allowed her students to violate a school-wide rule, they can fire her
and not run afoul of the First Amendment.
NO — Although the First Amendment rights of teachers are not absolute, they do protect the freedom of teachers to decide how best to educate their students.
Learn More & Cast Your Vote
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Tia Griffin on -
I felt that the teacher had a responsibility to enforce the non-profanity rule in school. Teaching is preparing youth for the future and profanity is not always the way to communicate.
-
Permalink Reply by Sandy Woodcock on -
I certainly agree that profanity is not always the way to communicate. Profanity and its use is a slippery slope in the school setting, especially the high school setting. Conversations amongst students are so imbued with profanity, some of the most beloved American literature contains profanity, much of popular music contains profanity. I can appreciate that a school has non-profanity rules. In general, I believe they are in place to discourage cursing at others in an aggressive way and using that language in public situations such as sports chants. Such application seems reasonable to try to ensure a safe and tolerant school climate. However, limiting or imposing such restrictions on a student's creative writing assignments seems to me to be an intrusive infringement of both free speech and creativity. Such action would be completely counterproductive for such an assignment. To chose words carefully in an attempt to convey meaning in prose and poetry is fundamental in the teaching of writing. While it would be completely inappropriate for a teacher to insist that profanity be used in a creative writing assignment, when students are charged and expected to be descriptive, realistic, and sensory in their writing, the teacher can't deny them the use of the words they believe necessary to accomplish the job. This is not only a first amendment issue for the teacher--it's completely counterproductive to the goal of instruction.
-
Permalink Reply by Barbara Wiesenberg Manzo on -
In my secondary classroom, students were told to keep it "G" rated from the getgo. This forced them to be "creative" in their usage of language in their writing, and we actually had great fun finding words to use in place of the words you "can't say."
That said, it is impossible to pass judgement upon the fired teacher, unless the teacher aided and abetted and encouraged the use of profanity, or worse, made using profanity part of the assignment.
I have a few questions.
a. Did the teacher in question have a history of being inappropriate with language, its use, and its intent in the classroom?
b. Did the teacher in question have a file with disciplinary actions in it?
c. Was the assignment prescriptive, and was there a pedagogic explanation for the use of profanity in this case?
d. How does a district expect English language and literature to be taught minus the use of "profanity?" Is this one of those "burn the banned books" flavored districts?
e. If "d" is true, has the district specifically cited George Carlin's "7 Words You Can Never Say on T.V." and swapped out "T.V." for "Classroom" in it's proclamation of profanity?
I would have had my chairperson sign off on that lesson plan first ;-P First rule of teaching: C Y A, I mean D, for Donkey.
Groups
-
McCormick Leadership Fel…
46 members
-
The Soapbox
Teaching Creative People
Started by Cindy Jo Robinson in Quick Start Guide & Help Apr 15. 0 Replies 0 Likes
Highly creative individuals sometimes demonstrate characteristics that are not always liked by others, such as independence of thought and judgment, courage of convictions, skepticism toward the…Continue
Videos
Badge
About
© 2012 Created by Sam Chaltain.
