November 9, 2011 3:32 PM

First-grade teacher should lose job over Facebook post, rules N.J. judge

By
Crimesider Staff
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Daily Blotter

(Credit: facebook.com)
(CBS/AP) -- An administrative law judge has ruled that New Jersey first-grade teacher Jennifer O'Brien should lose her tenured job, because she wrote on Facebook that she as "a "warden for future criminals." 

Fox News reports that the Paterson, N. J. teacher posted the remark to 333 friends in March 2011, and it was forwarded along and several parents saw it.

In a ruling made public Tuesday, the judge called O'Brien's conduct "inexcusable." Her lawyer , Nancy Oxfeld, says the teacher will appeal the ruling. O'Brien has previously claimed she wrote the post in exasperation after several students disrupted her lessons, and after one boy had hit her.

The state education commissioner now has 45 days to accept, reject or modify the judge's decision regarding O'Brien.



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by cdpop1961 November 10, 2011 3:04 PM EST
Where is the freedom of speech if a teacher is reprimanded for expressing her educated opinion? Obviously, the teacher knows better than you and me the kind of kids she is dealing with day by day and she makes her worries known to the public as an outcry. It proves she really cares about her students and tries to make the world aware and help. The parents who read her message would better cooperate with her to get their kids on the right track (it's more the family's than teacher's interest and responsibility), instead of bringing her to Court and looking for revenge. In the long run, the families are at risk, letting kids to become losers, criminals etc. And, evidently, our country will lose. Not the teacher, but the N.J. judge should be fired, for bad judgment and irrational and illegal decision to drastically punish a citizen's freedom of speech and, even worse, to discourage a concerned teacher from speaking out. Don't we have enough high unemployment? What kind of country and people we became? Everyone closes his/her eyes and ears to media, political and legal abuses, pretending they don't happen. Is this the ostrich's strategy? Wake up Americans, we already became the laugh of the world. Are we cowards? Let's pray to God and prove we are not! Ask for turning down the Court decision against this N.J. teacher and let's make sure the teacher's lawyer could rely on citizens' support for her appeal!
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by clgohio November 9, 2011 11:08 PM EST
I understand where she is coming from BUT if you can't handle the children maybe you should not be a teacher...She also should not have acted like a child herself and posted it to the world. Maybe she could have vented to a friend not 333 people she barley even knew.
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by cdpop1961 November 10, 2011 3:07 PM EST
It is partially true, but don't make the teacher the escape goat.
by smushyface November 9, 2011 9:09 PM EST
Well it's true! I know several grade school teachers and have heard them say the same thing for children as young as 6. They try to help the child but there are many and many more to come, that have no chance.
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by cdpop1961 November 10, 2011 3:11 PM EST
We all have to help, taking the right position on the issue. Should we punish the teacher for kids' bad behavior? Where are the families who raise these kids? They have no responsibility?
by pak31 November 9, 2011 8:06 PM EST
As a parent, I expect to hear that both of my children are well behaved, decent students. This, to me, is just as important as good grades. There is nothing that bugs me more than students or kids in general, who are disrespectful to authority. I had a teacher tell me that my child was a great helpful student and to take it as a compliment because it shows she's being raised well. I will never forget that. It's not that hard to raise your children the right way, but so many don't. I don't know how some teachers handle a classroom filled with 25 or more different personalities. I miss the days when kids weren't give so much freedom, they were better behaved.
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by cdpop1961 November 10, 2011 3:35 PM EST
You are so right. Punishing teachers for students bad behavior or for complaining about it is not the solution, but part of the problem. Instead of disarming and discouraging the teacher to act properly, we would better help by reenforcing discipline and respect on our kids. This particular unfortunate teacher needs all our help: against unjust media and justice, against children who feel powerful in getting rid of teachers who care about their education, against irresponsible parents who undermine their own interests and their kids' wellbeing, against an increasingly uneducated and dangerous public opinion. We all should make a front for better education. America needs to rely her future on her own citizens, not on foreign imports anymore. We just see what kind of "imports" we get with tens of millions of illegal immigrants, which devour our country like locusts. God bless you and all good parents and citizens and God bless America!
by ahendryx819 November 9, 2011 4:26 PM EST
This is ridiculous. If I saw that from my kids' teacher, I wouldn't get offended, because I would know damn well it wasn't my kid that pissed her off. The parents who are getting offended are, because they know that they have failed.
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by pak31 November 9, 2011 7:58 PM EST
Exactly. Well said.
by cdpop1961 November 10, 2011 3:37 PM EST
Yes, yes, yes. God bless you and parents like you and open the others' minds!
by Harden_Tar November 9, 2011 3:52 PM EST
I guess having an opinion now is grounds for firing. If they still allowed corporal punishments in schools, those little hellions would have a hot butt and she would still have her job.
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by rrozsa November 9, 2011 4:26 PM EST
ITA. Our departmental secretary used to be a middle school teacher, for many years. She quit because she felt that the school administration made it so difficult to maintain control of her classroom. If a student was disruptive, she was not allowed to send them to the principal's office because the student would be walking unescorted from the classroom to the office. She wasn't allowed to escort him/her to the principal, because she would then be leaving the rest of the class unattended. Gone are the days when a teacher would appoint a student as "class monitor" and "take names" while she was out of the room.

So I can certainly see the teacher's point of view.
by cdpop1961 November 10, 2011 4:05 PM EST
Both your message and rrozsa's reply to it are right. If we punish the dedicated educators who try to do something for their students, we shouldn't complain that our education system is one of the worst in the world, both for academics and for discipline. But we must be aware that today's are tomorrow's citizens and our country is going fast and surely down the drain. God help us!
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