Charlotte teachers disciplined for Facebook posts
CHARLOTTE (AP) - Several teachers in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district face discipline for posting images and material on the social networking site Facebook that school leaders find objectionable, including one teacher who wrote, "I hate my students!"
District spokeswoman Nora Carr told the Charlotte Observer that officials are recommending that one teacher be fired for writing that she teaches "in the most ghetto school in Charlotte" and describing her students as "chitlins." That teacher has been suspended with pay pending a final determination about her dismissal. Teachers can appeal firings.
Other pages discovered by WCNC-TV of Charlotte included photos of female teachers in sexually suggestive poses and a black male teacher who used the N-word. A special-education teacher wrote, "I hate my students!"
"I would understand a parent being appalled and very upset by the comments," Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Chief Operating Officer Hugh Hattabaugh told WCNC. "We are too."
Carr said four teachers face unspecified discipline that is less than suspension or dismissal. Teachers can be punished at any time for "behaving in any unethical or lascivious conduct," according to the district's code of conduct, and the district is working on a memo to remind its 19,000 employees that Web information should be appropriate.
"When you're in a professional position, especially one where you're interacting with children and parents, you need to be above reproach," Carr said. "I think they just didn't think these things through. That's kind of mind-boggling."
Carr said "several" employees are disciplined each year for material they post on the Internet. The district has an investigator who specializes in such issues, and the district checks networking sites before hiring, Carr said.
District spokeswoman Nora Carr told the Charlotte Observer that officials are recommending that one teacher be fired for writing that she teaches "in the most ghetto school in Charlotte" and describing her students as "chitlins." That teacher has been suspended with pay pending a final determination about her dismissal. Teachers can appeal firings.
Other pages discovered by WCNC-TV of Charlotte included photos of female teachers in sexually suggestive poses and a black male teacher who used the N-word. A special-education teacher wrote, "I hate my students!"
"I would understand a parent being appalled and very upset by the comments," Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Chief Operating Officer Hugh Hattabaugh told WCNC. "We are too."
Carr said four teachers face unspecified discipline that is less than suspension or dismissal. Teachers can be punished at any time for "behaving in any unethical or lascivious conduct," according to the district's code of conduct, and the district is working on a memo to remind its 19,000 employees that Web information should be appropriate.
"When you're in a professional position, especially one where you're interacting with children and parents, you need to be above reproach," Carr said. "I think they just didn't think these things through. That's kind of mind-boggling."
Carr said "several" employees are disciplined each year for material they post on the Internet. The district has an investigator who specializes in such issues, and the district checks networking sites before hiring, Carr said.
posted by BP News Bureau | 12:00 PM
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