We are from the Teacher's Union, Nothing to see here folks, move along....
Posted on 01/21/2011 5:58:39 AM PST by Libloather
Grade school teacher tells student "go shoot yourself"
January 20, 2011 10:02 PM
LAWTON, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – A veteran Lawton Public Schools teacher is coming under fire.
In the middle of class Mary Botas told one of her students to “go shoot yourself.”
**SNIP**
“I had her as a teacher when I was in school,” said Pam. “I had no problem with her then.”
However, no one, not even Botas feels that in any way excuses or justifies her comments in class.
“She was very upset that she had reacted the way she had,” said Trimboli. “She was remorseful, she was tearful when she was sharing with me.”
Trimboli says Botas apologized to Nathan and his class, but has not apologized to Nathan's parents.
Trimboli also says with Botas' record, there is very little chance she'll be fired. Since she is tenured, the firing process could cost the school $80,000 to $120,000 in legal fees. However if a similar incident were to happen again, suspension or termination is very possible.
(Excerpt) Read more at wwmt.com ...
what context? a metaphor for some self defeating habit of the student?
“the firing process could cost the school $80,000 to $120,000 in legal fees”
Expensive as that is, I will bet it is cheaper than paying her a pension for life will be.
Well, as a teacher, she couldn’t say “go f*** yourself.” Another euphemism was needed.
It seems to me that this is a case of no harm, no foul.
I say ‘knock yourself out’ all the time, even to TSA agents who want to snoop through my personal effects.
Will I now be charged with inciting others to harm themselves?
What if she had said “Go abort yourself”?
That teacher has no business working with kids.
She needs to be out of the classroom.
Holy crap! It doesn't cost a business a dime. They throw your stuff in a box, and kick your ass out the door.
It’s not harmless.
My son had a friend do just that a week ago.
The kids are devastated.
“No harm?” Please tell me you didn’t mean this. Do you have an 11 year old? Would you want your 11 year old to be told this by his teacher in front of everyone?
Teachers are there to teach, protect, lead. This teacher acted in a malicious manner and injured the child.
I remember a French teacher calling a student “bit8h” in high school. He should have been fired. We were all completely stunned, flabbergasted. He had no right or cause. He was the adult in the situation and he blew it.
I will never forget how awful I felt and I wasn’t even the one who got cursed.
For that matter, all the kids in the class were injured when this teacher did what she did.
Of course, if the child actually shoots himself it will clearly be Sarah Palin’s fault.
Tenure needs to be abolished.
Isn't "firing" in itself a term that connotes violence?
In ‘63 Mrs Cutcher would say stuff like that while laughing at the class idiot. No one thought anything of it.
Haven’t any of you seen the based on true story film “Lean on Me,” where principal Joe Clark takes the kid up to the roof of the school and says, “Go on, boy! Jump!”?
Context is everything. Did the teacher instruct him to do this? Probably not. NO one said suicide was harmless. What we have now are a bunch of whiners that are not taught to deal with LIFE. Not everyone will be kind nor is everyone your friend. Kids are not taught to pick themselves up and go on. Perseverance is a dirty word and Mom and Dad sue and complain. Kids don’t commit suicide because the teacher said something mean. If they do they had MUCH bigger problems going on. Remember “sticks and stones”?
A friend of mine told another that it'd be a quicker death by just taking a gun and shooting himself than it'd be taking the drugs he was taking...four hours later the person was dead with a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head. This guy has to live with this the rest of his life...not his fault but nevertheless the guilt is there.
Under the zero tolerance laws, if a student had said that to the teacher, the student would have been expelled and sent to juvenile hall and the parent's house searched and all weapons (even steak knives) would have been confiscated and the kid placed in a Foster home.
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