Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Free-Speech...just not for teachers?!
Most of us have completed our American Heritage requirement and perhaps still remember a few things, if nothing else, some of our "Constitutional rights and freedoms" in being American citizens. The First Amendment is supposed to protect the freedom of religion, speech, and the press, as well as the right to assemble and petition the government. However, in a recent court case, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of a Michigan special education teacher who argued she was fired for her complaints that the size of her teaching caseload kept her from providing the proper amount of instruction to each of her students. The teacher was suing that she couldn't be fired for such complaints, on First Amendment free-speech grounds, however the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against her (following a previous court decision that ruled on-the-job speech by public employees is not protected by the First Amendment.) (See: Article 1) Where does that leave us, as potential special educators, knowing that we are limited in what we are allowed to voice our opinion or raise concern for? In this case, the teacher was taking issue with her class size and her ability to meet the needs of her students. Did voicing such concerns warrant her termination? Are we not supposed to be advocates for our students? Can we successfully do so if we have to "clear" our arguments before voicing them? On the other hand, in another recent court case (this time parents of special education students in Stamford schools) are threatening to file a civil rights complaint against the district if the proposed cuts to program funding are passed. It was proposed to cut more than a dozen special services providers (teachers, speech therapists, social workers), which in turn, would increase the class sizes for the remaining teachers.(The exact same argument that got the teacher fired!) The argument was made that "every student with a disability gets an IEP. They get what they need, not what happens to be available," which is what angers parents. (See: Article 2) It is necessary for parents to have an active role in planning the IEP, however, if their constitutional rights allow them to fight against certain conditions (such as class sizes and proper funding), and yet teachers have limitations in what they can "fight" for, how will the student's needs be met? By limiting teachers' free-speech rights, are teachers limited in what they can actually advocate for a student? Should teachers have the same rights as parents? How do you feel knowing that there are potential limitations in what you (as a future educator) are allowed to say in promoting student's rights and needs? What can and should be done about this?
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I could not believe that the teacher in discussion was fired for stating that the conditions she was working in was not allowing her to do her job in the manner that she should. I was unaware that the 1st amendment did not protect our speech at our jobs. Furthermore, it makes me wonder what I am going to be allowed to fight for when I do begin teaching. I am a pretty blunt person, which scares me because when I disagree with something or feel that something should be ran differently then I speak my mind. Am I going to be held accountable for when I believe I need to fight for my students? Let’s hope not. In regards to the 2nd article I believe that parents do have the right to fight for their children and yes a little more than teachers do. It is important that as teachers we fight for our ability to be the best we can, but also need to be aware of how close we get to our students because that is not always a good idea either. As teachers we do have boundaries that should not be crossed, but also we should have the right to fight for the conditions that we work in without being afraid that that we are going to be fired or put on probation.
ReplyDeleteWow. I cannot believe that a teacher was fired on those grounds. I was also very surprised that she was not allowed to voice her opinion in a country that prides itself on such rights.
ReplyDeleteOn one hand, I can see why these limitations have been put in place. As a teacher, she was representing her school, her school board, and the entire district. I can understand that the district does not want anyone to say something without permission because they don't want to look bad or get in trouble for anything. However, is this a good enough reason for them to limit the teachers rights PROMISED to her by the very document and amendments that this country is founded upon? Of course not!
A teacher, as a citizen of the United States, is entitled to the same rights as every other citizen, on the job or not. It may cause trouble, it may make the district look bad, it may even get some people fired but it is her RIGHT. They cannot take it away.
As a future teacher, it worries me that limitations on my rights exist. I don't feel good about it at all and I believe that something needs to change.
I think that teachers are slightly limited to what they can actually advocate for their students. In this case, we don't know whether this teacher had brought similar complaints forward at earlier times during the school year, but we do see that "complaining" about these issues brought forth their termination. So, I think they are limited in the context that they express their feelings.
ReplyDeleteTeachers and parents should and do have similar rights, but not all the same ones. I would suspect that parents and their students have more rights than teachers do. I don't have a problem in there being limitations about what, as a potential future educator, can say about certain things. If fair, they can be good guidelines for me throughout the course of my teaching career in what I should or shouldn't say.
Being a member of a teacher's union will help me out a lot, for there to be a place where I can voice my many complaints, thoughts, and opinions about issues dealing with the realms of Special Education.
After reading this first article, it makes me a little worried. I do not want to have to monitor what I say in regards to certain things. I understand that schools and districts need to be viewed highly, and the teacher voicing his/her complaints might bring down that high standard, but this is something I would have fought for too if I was that teacher. Knowing this, I think we need to involve parents a little more when we feel something is unfair. Parents, I feel, have more freedom of what they can say about a special education program because it is their child involved. It blows my mind that someone would say "oh every student has an IEP, they are fine". Student's need more than just an IEP; they need teachers, aides, and specialists to help carry out those goals.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I was shocked when I read that the teacher was fired for trying to voice her concerns. I can see why the school district was trying to keep her from have her freedom of speech in order to protect there reputation. But I believe that made them look worse because it made them seem like they had something bad that they had to hide.
ReplyDeleteAs a future teacher I believe that we should have the right to express our concerns and feeling in order to make sure all the needs of our students our met. The school will not be able to know what each student really need unless we speak out. Also we owe it to our students to provide them with best education we can give them so in order to do this we must be able to speak out and say if we do have needs that need to be met.
Reading the first article I was shocked that something like that is going on in our country. I do not think that it is fair that a teacher could not voice her opinion on behalf of their students. It really makes me think about when I become a teacher will I get fired if I try to stick up for my student. The teacher in the article was given too many students and because she spoke up she got fired. I hope that doesn't happen to me when I become a teacher and I need to protect my students so they get the education that they need. As a teacher I feel like in order for people to understand what the kids need we as teachers need to speak out in hopes that the children will benefit from it. Teachers should be able to state their concerns.
ReplyDeleteAs a future special educator this saddens me a little. We are expected to do all we can for our students but we cannot do that if we cannot vocalize it.It is all nice a dandy that the parents can say what they want, but what about the students who do not have parents, or the ones whose parents don't care? What then? Who will advocate for them, isn't that our jobs? How can we do our jobs if we aren't allow to say anything. Teachers should be able to state their concerns.
ReplyDeleteHowever I do not think that parents and teachers should have the same rights as parents, but I do think that they should be similar.
The idea of a teacher not being able to speak freely truly sickens me. It would be one thing if this teacher was using her freedom of speech to exploit her students' conditions or use profane language in the work place. This teacher, however, was only making a simple request for an improvement in her classroom's conditions. She was advocating for her students, which is a major part of any special educator's profession. The school district had no right to consider any form punishment, especially termination. What really shocked me was the fact that the US Court of Appeals ruled against this educator. If the government is not willing to support Special educators in advocating for their students, then they will become virtually useless.
ReplyDeleteI think it is absurd that the teacher got fired for addressing her concerns. Obviously, an employer should reserve the right to terminate employment if the employee acts unprofessionally or irresponsibly, but as long as the teacher voiced her concerns in an appropriate manner, she should have been respectfully considered rather than fired. It's even more absurd that the courts refused to count her opinion as valid. I believe that teachers should be able to advocate for students just as parents can. I do, however, think that parents and teachers need to be understanding of the economically hard times our country is suffering right now. Surely these students need the attention and special services that their disabilities require, but sometimes those resources simply aren't available. We cannot expect our government to fork our millions of dollars for special education services simply because we asked for it. I think we need to be understanding that all industries are suffering right now and making the needed adjustments. The education industry also needs to make those budget adjustments to cope with the hard times as best we can. And yes, sometimes that means budget cuts, lay offs, and a higher teacher-student ratio. But we cannot simply print money to pay for what we can't afford. We need to be understanding that sometimes our district does not have to resources we would like. When that happens, we must make the best with what we have.
ReplyDeleteI am in shock that the teacher was fired for voicing her concerns. I think that teacher's have every right to raise their voice and express their concerns without having to worry that their job is on the line. The teachers are the ones working with the students one on one every day and I believe they know what each one of their students needs better than most. It is our job as educators to let each child live up to their potential and we need to be able to express our concerns if it is not taking place. I do believe, though, that parents do have more of a right to dictate what happens to their child's life than the teacher does. There is a fine line there, but I think that the teacher should be able to express his/her voice because they know what is best for the student working with them first hand.
ReplyDeleteI just wrote a long response that got deleted- so I will reiterate what I had said.
ReplyDeleteI think it is appalling that the teacher got fired for voicing her concerns. However, I know people that have been threatened with being fired for voicing their opinions in the school system! My mom has been threatened many times because she isn't afraid to tell the school board all of the problems going on in the individual schools. I think teachers should be able to share their opinions without the fear of being fired for it.
I think that the teacher had a legitimate request that was meant to be beneficial to all. She wanted a smaller class size so that she could devote more effort to each student as an individual. The parents and teachers should have been on board in order to help her attain this goal. Her students were not getting quality instruction because there was so much to be done. She couldn't do it all. I think a smaller class is a beneficial request.
Its pretty stupid to fire a teacher on those grounds. We don't know the whole story, for all we know she could have been a horrible teacher, but it is pretty ridiculous to let someone go for complaints on class size. I think that its ridiculous that special education teachers are restricted anyways, in that they aren't supposed to speak about their work outside of class. Our country allows people to picket the temple during general conference or for other idiots to hold KKK rallies in public, but if a special ed teacher talks about their students? heaven forbid.
ReplyDeleteEven if schools do listen to teachers' complaints they probably can't fix most of the problems anyway. If we want to get unfair laws changed or more money going to schools than its the American people who have to petition and vote and change the laws to do so.
I was surprised to hear about the teacher being fired for voicing her concerns for her students' welfare. I recognize that the article does not give the full situation and context however I think that teachers should have the right to voice their opinions without being penalized. I also understand that the school district wish to be represrented-well by their employs but as a future special educator it is scarey to think that I could be fired for expressing and pointing out problems.
ReplyDeleteI think that the parents in the 2nd article had the right idea in advocating their students. I personally love all the students I spend time with, and I'm sure that when I'm a teacher I will care for all of my students. I therefore think it is ridiculous that when the biggest concern is the student, that teachers or parents should be in trouble for trying to speak out for them.
Stories like this always surprise me because we pride ourselves so much as a country on having great rights that most countries don't have. These situations do not make it seem like we no. Frankly, that she was fired for just stating that it wasn't working is absolutely ridiculous. If teachers can't state when there are problems then how on earth are we supposed to fix anything in this educational system? If we don't constantly look for and fix things then we will never catch up to the rest of the world and will just continue falling behind.
ReplyDeleteThe second part is tricky. First off I would have liked to say right away that of course parents should have more say than the teacher. But I don't think that that can always be the case. My mother is a teacher and see within her SpecEd classroom that sometimes the parents don't really care about anything. They never show up for IEP meetings and don't care to know what their student is doing. Some parents think that they always know best what their child needs even though they don't understand how SpecEd works and can't believe the words of trained professionals. Someone has to stand up for those students at that time-really, it is a messy situation with no right answer.
I do not believe that is a valid reason for a teacher to be fired. Especially when you consider all the teachers out there who should be fired, it really irritates me that the teacher that was fired was concerned for her students and only wanted what was best for them. I understand that teachers can't be allowed to say just anything to their class. A lot of students really look up to their teachers and take their opinions seriously. We as teachers need to be careful to not take advantage of that and try to mold our students opinions. However, just because we can't say whatever we want doesn't mean we can't express an opinion at all. I think that that teacher was completely in the right when she spoke out about class sizes being too big for her students to reach their full potential.
ReplyDeleteThe nerve of some people! I can not believe that a teacher was fired because of this, not only was her first amendment right violated, but it was violated when she was working towards the benefit of her students. It is amazing the me that there are so many rules as to what teachers can and cannot say. How can anything in education ever be changed if teachers are so restricted as to what they can defend?! It is obvious to me that the members of the supreme court do not know anything about education and can not understand her argument. Parents should have a say in the matters of their child's education of course, but it is a different say. Parents are not in the class all day and do not see what is going on and they do not have to carry the burden of a full class of people with disabilities. I think that parents and teachers need to join together. Since teachers are so restricted in their rights, parents need to fill in and be advocates for the teachers as well as their children. Someone needs to defend these children and their educations, if parents and teachers can't do it, who can? Teachers should not fear termination anytime they open their mouths to share an opinion.
ReplyDeleteSo I am not typically one to be involved in politics or what should and should not be someones right because I feel like most people have a different opinion on what our rights are and I don't want to be involved in an argument. However, I honestly think that it should be straight forward that this teacher has the right to express her concerns for her students. She should not have to worry about being fired just for saying that her class size is too big. It makes me worried that when I am a teacher I am going to have to watch what I say because I may lose my job over it. I think that teachers need to have just as much say in how to give the child the best education that they can. I mean after all, they are the educators. They know how to best meet each child's need. I most definitely think that this has to change. We should not have to be nervous to share our opinion.
ReplyDeleteI agree that teachers should be able to have free speech just like everyone else, but, as with many things, some speech does not belong in schools. I believe that educators should be able to discuss issues, but there is a confidentiality constraint that is critical to special educators. No boss wants to be complained against, and while that is not a justifiable cause to fire someone, there are better and more professional ways to handle disgruntled feelings. I do believe in free speech, but I also believe that some things don't belong in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteLike everyone has said, I am shocked as well that the teacher got fired. I think it is kind of ridiculous that she got fired for voicing her opinion. It's not like she was saying anything bad about the school or anything offensive. She was simply trying to make her classroom and the learning environment better for each student. I think the teacher, the one who is in charge of the class, if it is not inappropriate or offensive should be able to voice their opinions about the class. She was merely trying to make the learning environment better for the student. Of course, the school never wants anything bad coming from their school but I think this was blown out of proportion. It kind of scares me because one day when we are all teachers, if we have concerns and opinions involving the success of our classroom, we will lose our job if we try to improve our classroom circumstance? However, I do believe that teachers need to be cautious about what they say as well.
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