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NJ Teacher Suspended For Calling Students "Future Criminals" On Facebook
By
Jaya Saxena
Published Apr 2, 2011
Modified Apr 2, 2011
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published Apr 2, 2011
Modified Apr 2, 2011
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For the last time, if you don't have something nice to say, then don't put it on Facebook. A first grade teacher in Paterson, New Jersey was suspended after writing on Facebook that she felt like a "warden" overseeing "future criminals." Parents started arriving at the school to complain, and the school is now conducting an investigation. Board president Theodore Best said, "You can't simply fire someone for what they have on a Facebook page; but if that spills over and affects the classroom then you can take action."
The teacher is currently on paid administrative leave, and her lawyer Nancy Oxfeld said that the comment had nothing to do with the teacher's commitment to her students. “My feeling is that if you’re concerned about children, you’re concerned about what goes on in the classroom, not about policing your employee’s private comments to others,” she told the Times. However, her privacy settings seemed to make the comment available by anyone on Facebook, including parents and students. And if a teacher can't figure out how to keep her Facebook profile private, can she really be trusted to explain multiplication tables?
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