Teacher suspended for facebook slam against student

[DaemonSeid]

Apex teacher suspended after parents question Facebook comments

Posted: Feb. 15, 2010

APEX, N.C. — An eighth-grade teacher at West Lake Middle School in Apex has been suspended for five days with pay pending an investigation, Wake County school officials said Monday.

School district spokesman Greg Thomas would not go into details over Melissa Hussain’s suspension due to employee confidentiality obligations, but a parent said the concern started as the class was learning about evolution and some students challenged the teacher on Christian beliefs.

Following the evolution discussion, Hussain wrote on her Facebook page that a student left a Bible on her desk with a card that read Merry Christmas with “Christ” underlined, the parent told WRAL News Monday afternoon.

Facebook is a social networking Web site that allows users to create profiles and participate in online discussions with “friends.”

Hussain wrote that the gesture was cruel and called it a “hate crime,” the parent said.

The parent said Hussain then wrote, “I have a meeting with the (possible) Bible boy on Monday … Heaven help him, I am still so mad at that child!”
Parents complained to school officials about the comments last week.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/7041186/

[Ooh La La]

Well I guess it goes both ways. I think that despite all the different opinions, we can agree on one thing...

Set your page to private.

[DaemonSeid]

I got a better one.

Keep it to yourself.

[knight_shadow]

Why are teachers friending students' parents? That's just asking for trouble.

I'm still on the fence about the student suspension, but I honestly don't see any issue with what this teacher wrote.

I guess folks are just too damn sensitive.

[Ooh La La]

Daemonseid, you win on that one.

When I was in high school, I had a lot of teachers try to friend me. I personally found it creepy and ignored them.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Why are teachers friending students' parents? That's just asking for trouble.

I'm still on the fence about the student suspension, but I honestly don't see any issue with what this teacher wrote.

I guess folks are just too damn sensitive.

I'm friends with one of my kids' teachers. She happens to be a friend outside of being the music teacher for the district. Teachers and parents are sometimes friends. Teachers don't immediately stop being friends with people just because they got a job in a district where they know some of the kids parents.

Teachers are people too. They have friends.

[Ooh La La]

My friend's mom is a teacher and she refuses to live in the district where she teaches so she won't run into students or parents of students. Then again, she also doesn't have a facebook.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by Ooh La La

My friend's mom is a teacher and she refuses to live in the district where she teaches so she won't run into students or parents of students. Then again, she also doesn't have a facebook.

So like, if her college roommate moved to the town where she teaches, would she stop being friends with her because she had a kid in the district? This seems really weird to me.

[Ooh La La]

Nah, she just really likes her work life and personal life to be separate.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I'm friends with one of my kids' teachers. She happens to be a friend outside of being the music teacher for the district. Teachers and parents are sometimes friends. Teachers don't immediately stop being friends with people just because they got a job in a district where they know some of the kids parents.

Teachers are people too. They have friends.

I realize that teachers are real people lol

If they were friends before, a phone call, e-mail, or message on Facebook could have squashed this "issue."

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I'm friends with one of my kids' teachers. She happens to be a friend outside of being the music teacher for the district. Teachers and parents are sometimes friends. Teachers don't immediately stop being friends with people just because they got a job in a district where they know some of the kids parents.

Teachers are people too. They have friends.

Online friendships between adults, yes, but between a teacher and a student? It's not the age difference that bugs me (I have two teen nieces on my FB), but the fact that the teacher is an authority figure. I just don't think that the two should be on an even playing field like FB. Of course, said teacher can set certain settings to private and such, but unless the teacher and the student were already "friends" (as in your case, AGDee), I think that the potential for miscommunication, accusations of nepotism, and just the blurring of boundaries increases.

[Ooh La La]

Ah, nepotism from teachers. We only had one drama teacher in my high school and her daughter was in the same grade as me. Besides the obvious issue when her daughter auditioned for plays, this teacher also had the "BFF with my kid" mothering style. She tried to facebook friend all her daughter's facebook friends, arrange shopping trips with us, etc. It put all of us in a really awkward position and was not appreciated.

[srmom]

Originally Posted by Ooh La La

My friend's mom is a teacher and she refuses to live in the district where she teaches so she won't run into students or parents of students. Then again, she also doesn't have a facebook.

Where I live, all the teachers live in the district. They are all neighbors and friends with the parents. It can be tricky, but we seem to manage.

We also don't post private thoughts on a public forum. But, since it seems that it is kind of Peyton Placey, all the gossip gets out anyway, no need for facebook.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by srmom

Where I live, all the teachers live in the district. They are all neighbors and friends with the parents. It can be tricky, but we seem to manage.

We also don't post private thoughts on a public forum. But, since it seems that it is kind of Peyton Placey, all the gossip gets out anyway, no need for facebook.

This is so funny, but so often true. Of course, in my community not all the gossip is grounded in reality, but when is it ever?

I think it's dumb for anyone to do a whole lot of specific work related complaining on facebook if you have even one facebook friend tied to your workplace or if you have your settings public enough that anyone at work could read it.

If the teacher didn't name the kid and was just venting in code to people who for the most part wouldn't have known who the kid was about her offensive Christmas gifts and gave the context of why she got the gift, I think it was kind of stupid but not something worth serious professional repercussions.

If the teacher in question was actually trying to get the school to treat the event like a "hate crime" or to get the school to treat it officially like a discipline issue, then talking about it on facebook takes it to a different level in my opinion because you are chatting with your friends about something that the school is going to expect you to handle very professionally.

Teachers have private lives and should be given the same social leeway to complain about work that other people are, in my opinion. But just as you wouldn't expect your doctor to vent about how disgusting your medical procedure was or your lawyer to talk about the specifics of the causes of your divorce, mentioning you by name or identifiable characteristics to people who know you, teachers probably shouldn't complain about specific kids to people who know the kids.

I think most states have clear cut professional standards about information learned in the context of your professional role as a teacher and the students' and parents' expectation of confidentiality. But I don't know that a public class discussion and a Christmas gift left on a desk in plain view are things that fall under an expectation of confidentiality. You're kind of an idiot to complain on facebook about the gifts you got and how offended you are, but I'm not sure that it's a breach of professional standards. I guess we'll see.

[christiangirl]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

Following the evolution discussion, Hussain wrote on her Facebook page that a student left a Bible on her desk with a card that read Merry Christmas with “Christ” underlined, the parent told WRAL News Monday afternoon.


Hussain wrote that the gesture was cruel and called it a “hate crime,” the parent said.

It was a Christmas card and a Bible. It's not that serious. I don't see how the teacher let a child upset her that much. It's one thing to express anger or offense with a student. We all vent about our jobs--in fact, we do it on here all the time. But publicly accusing a student of committing a hate crime? That's over the line. I can't really say she deserved a 5-day suspension because I didn't see the actual comment, but sounds like she did more than some harmless venting.