A ninth grader who snapped a picture of a snoozing substitute teacher with his cell phone camera and posted it on a social network is in hot water with his school district.Let's grant that the student violated a policy. Did the school act appropriately? If so, would the suspension be justified if, instead of putting the picture on a social network, the student had shown the picture to the school administration as a sort of FYI?
The unnamed student, who attends Mustang Mid-High School in Mustang, Okla., was suspended, according to ABC affiliate KOCO...
"Appropriate follow-up action has taken place," Mustang Public Schools spokeswoman Mary Leaver wrote to ABCNews.com.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Which Is The Bigger Problem Here?
Is it worse that a substitute teacher was dozing off in class, or that a student used "an unauthorized electronic device" (my term) to document it?
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6 comments:
Been there, never done THAT but...
There HAVE been days, after school, where I have sat and decompressed a bit before leaving the classroom.
if i do recall correctly, i do have a photo of you sleeping at your desk during class....
....in your defense, it was the last day of school
It would be a joke, because there's *no way* I could ever fall asleep at school!
Decompressing is an entirely different subject--you're not paid to supervise kids at that point!
Sorry to sound a serious note but it occurs to me that the response of the administration exemplifies my point that, within the context of the public education system, a significant part of a teacher's job is to shield their superiors from discomfort, embarrassment and any other unhappy circumstance that might befall higher-up administrative types.
"Good" teachers are teachers who prevent problems from escalating to the level where they become a problem for their principal or, heaven forbid, the superintendent.
So the only harm in the teacher being caught napping is that it became a problem for the administration.
You are exactly right that the problem that admin had was the mode of dissemination. If the kid had just come to the principal's office and said "I know it's against the rules, but I took this picture to show you what's going on with this sub" then they would have said thank you, called the sub in and had a discussion. As Allen says, when the problems become public, then there are more "fires" to put out. Pretty sure the school took care of the issue with the sub but they are not allowed to comment on personnel matters. The kid is then held responsible for his actions. There are consequences, you know?
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