Follow-up to "Educators protect bad apples"

On February 8th, I illustrated how educators around the country and here in D11 protect other educators, even when they are "bad apples." In that post, I included an email exchange between a parent and D11 administrators in dealing with an incident at Doherty High School. At the time, I did not know the specifics of the incident. It is routine for the administration to keep the board in the dark about incidents involving employees. I have since been contacted by people who told me about the nature of the incident.

According to witnesses. the teacher in question used a racial slur to a black student, specifically calling him a "stupid nig__r" in front of several other students. These student witnesses were interviewed by D11 staff and D11 attorneys from HRO. D11 staff and HRO attorneys confirmed the story. Parents were informed that the case had potential to go to court because the teacher was going to be fired. Parents were later informed that their students would probably not have to testify in court because the teacher was not fighting her termination.

Sharon Thomas was the superintendent at the time of this incident. She chose not to fire this teacher, but failed to tell that to the parents. Instead, this teacher was suspended with pay, and then transferred to West Middle School. The board was never informed of this incident prior to the transfer. Another parent had to bring it to the board in an email, after which others filled in the remaining details.

As a reminder of the cavalier way in which D11 Human Resource Director David Schenkel handled the incident, here was his email:

-----Original Message-----From: SCHENKEL, DAVID
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 9:34 AM
To: BISHOP, TERRY N.
Subject: RE: question
Dr. Bishop, There is not a teacher from Doherty High School that was terminated and working in a middle school this year. This individual is referring to a teacher who was up for termination that we went to mediation about and settled the issue by her accepting probationary status for this year. I have not heard of any problems at the middle school this year but if there are we will deal with a non renewal. The issues involved could have led to a very expensive legal battle on top of the other one we just settled last year. This mediation agreement gave her another chance and avoided large legal expenses to the District. Both principals involved agreed to the settlement as well as the Superintendent (Sharon). If you need further information please let me know.DFS

Thanks, David. Looks as if this teacher hasn't used that racial slur just yet at West, so she is good to go. Don't want a legal fight over this one. Now, if she makes it through this school year without using a racial slur, she will no longer be on probation anymore. Then, if she uses it again, well, D11 can just transfer her somewhere else. Such great and strong leadership.

Is this really a minor issue to have a teacher use that type of slur against a high school student (in front of other students, no less)? The D11 labor union stepped in on behalf of the teacher, not the student, of course. The attorney for this teacher even requested (and received) student records of the student witnesses. This was apparently some sort of attempt at intimidation.

The labor union was heavily involved in the recall effort against Sandy Shakes and Eric Christen. They said that Christen was "mean" and that board members who fought with each other set a bad example for "our children." Is calling a student a "stupid nig__r" a good example for kids? If unpaid board members have no right to serve on a school board because they are perceived as "mean," should paid employees have a right to serve in the schools when they clearly violate all standards of professional conduct in dealing with students?

This action is actually very consistent and very expected from the liberals who run D11. They and their most vocal apologists have always shown a strong disregard for poor and minority students who they feel are not worthy of much effort in the first place. Why inconvenience a labor union teacher over an offense dealing with a minority student? Transfer the teacher, keep the whole incident hush-hush, and to Hell with the student.

Remember when Willie Breazell stated that he did not think that the white teachers were setting high enough expectations for black students? Remember how the labor union organized a protest against Breazell, calling him a bigot and a racist? Did anyone hear of any protests against this teacher who used this racial slur?

Close your eyes for a minute and use your imagination. Imagine if Craig Cox or Eric Christen or Sandy Shakes or Willie Breazell would have used that slur. What would the response have been from the labor union? What would the response have been from Create Chaos? What would the Gazette headline have been?

A D11 teacher uses a racial slur against a student, she threatens to sue the district if any action is taken against her, the labor union steps in to protect her, she loses no pay, she loses no seniority, she simply transfers to another D11 school. On top of that, parents of students who witnessed the incident are told that they have no right to know anything further about the incident, citing privacy rights of the teacher.

Where are the self-appointed watchdog groups who claim to care so much about the children of D11?