Ravenwood - 10/06/04 01:15 PM
Kudos to Geek for pointing out that the lunatics are running the asylum up in New Jersey, and making a strong case for homeschooling:
This is Crossroads South Middle School in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey. On Thursday, there was a back-to-school night for parents of students. Veteran English teacher Shiba Pillai-Diaz says she was shocked when three parents confronted her. The three, insisting the teacher either add John Kerry's photo to the montage of presidents or remove the Bush photo. When Pillai-Diaz refused, she says the school's vice-principal threatened her job which is an act that has parents here fuming.The display in question was a photo montage of U.S. Presidents, and complimented a display of the Declaration of Independence, and the American Flag.Paula Sjolund, Parent: "She didn't do anything wrong, and I think that it should have stayed up there."
Pillai-Diaz ultimately removed the entire bulletin board and says School Principal Jim Warfel told her she disrupted the school with her "inflammatory politics". She says he then ordered her out of the building. While she says she is a Bush supporter in her personal life, Pillai-Diaz says she keeps politics out of the classroom.
Shiba Pillai-Diaz, Teacher: "There was no political intent, nor was there any political content in that photograph nor on the bulletin board."
School officials would not talk on camera but insist nobody here has been fired. To that, Ms. Pillai-Diaz asks what does it mean then when your boss asks you to hand over the keys and kicks you out of the building? She also says she is not sure if she'll be returning to school tomorrow.
Had the teacher included Kerry, she should also have included Sharpton and Dean.
Get all the facts before you come to a conclusion... As you should be able to figure out, there are always two sides to every story and just because a local ABC news station did a story on it, doesn't mean that they got it right. I live in Monmouth Junction, my wife works at Crossroads South Middle school, I know students in here classes, so I have a bit more information than the news folks gathered. This isn't about a teacher with a president's picture on a bulletin board, it's about a teacher openly criticizing students in class for having opposing political views than she does. Keep reading articles on the 'net, you'll find the truth...
Posted by: baseballdad at October 8, 2004 6:25 PM(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014