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Topic : 12/06 Teacher Troubles

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Created on : Friday, December 01, 2006, 03:22:29 pm
Author : DrPhilBoard1
Kids across the country are playing pranks and harassing teachers. Tericka, a high school science teacher who loved her job, lived in fear of her scandalous past catching up with her and getting her fired. Students eventually found out about her shocking past and the news spread throughout town like wildfire. Are other teachers taking her side, or do they feel her punishment was justified? How can she move forward? Then, Anna, an assistant principal, was harassed on the Internet when two students created a fake MySpace page alleging to be her. She says they completely attacked her character and need to be held accountable for their actions. Was this just a practical joke gone bad, or were these students out for revenge? Find out what Anna did to show these kids that some jokes just aren't funny. Could the mischief your kids get into end up costing you thousands of dollars? Talk about the show here.

Find out what happened on the show.

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December 8, 2006, 1:59 pm PST

Bible Belt

Quote From: aubija2

I am from the same area this teacher is from.  I do not think she should have lost her job.  She made a mistake when she was younger and changed.  I know it would cause a disturbance within the school, but I think she could have been transferred or something....not fired and condimed for her past.   I think what made it worse than it would have been in other areas is because we live in the "Bible Belt".  I feel sorry for her.  I wish her luck.  With all the publicity this situation has stirred up, I'm sure she is having a rough time.
 Wow, one of the things that irks me as a Christian is hearing the phrase " bible belt" and immediately hearing about  someone being hurt because of a lack of FORGIVENESS. I guess the people in the Bible belt got a different Bible than me. Mine says to forgive.

As for them screaming that an ex porn star should not teach their children...what about God asking Saul, who became PAUL to teach His children about his beloved son? OUCH !! God could forgive a man that KILLED his children. tortured them for their Faith in his son.Stephen ,dying at Saul and his cronies hands by stoning begged God to forgive them all. In the end Paul went on and wrote much of the New testament.

Terikka, God be with you hun, Fight this all the way. You might want to talk to Melanie, the previous host of the Goodnight show for PBS sprout. She lost  her job for the same thing basically.

I realize there is a limit to saying " its in the past", but what are we afraid of ?????. We need to deal with our insane fears of the Internet and of our own children. The Principal saying " its out there it will keep being watched" (not a direct quote I admit) is so insane!. Cheese and crackers people, then deal with it every time until it ends!  Even a dog eventually learns not to be bad if you correct it enough. Why not spend time teaching our teens what is appropriate? Makes a little more sense than throwing a perfectly good ( superior ratings I believe?)teacher to the wolves.


 
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December 8, 2006, 2:00 pm PST

12/06 Teacher Troubles

Quote From: michelless

This has been on mind and it's making me crazier by the day, so I just had to post my opinion.  The Vice Principal who is suing her student is incapable of handling her job.  I'm sorry but if she DIDN'T expect to get some harrassment as a teacher or administrator, I don't know what world she lives in.  I keep thinking to myself that she was probably one of those kids who were bullied as a child and is now getting her revenge on the bullies by making life hell for these 2 kids.  She won't accept a letter of apology, she wants a face to face.  Fine.  Why didn't she just demand an apology and quit acting like a baby?  I would take my kids out of her school and put them in a private school, God forbid one of them says or does something that might cause her to spin out of control. 

She was doing her job. She disciplined those boys. They had a long feud for quite sometime, mostly one-sided feud. She disciplines, they take revenge. This wasn't a prank. This is a crime. Not sure if I buy into the brains haven't develop yet. At 16 they knew what they were doing. Now at 17 they're going to get a civics lesson. Libel and Slander may or may not be a "worst" crime. However a crime is a crime regardless and they should be made examples of. You just can't go around slandering people you don't like without suffering the consequences. How would one react if someone you know takes your name, phone number, street address, personal information devote a webpage pretending to be you calling  you a homosexual, drug dealer/addict, sexual deviant,and other lies. Don't say you will react in a calm manner.

If y'all only knew the case besides what you see on Dr. Phil show. There is more to this than just a 30 minute segment.

 
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December 8, 2006, 2:09 pm PST

myspace teacher

I believe she is taking this way to far it was definately wrong what was done to her and they should be punished but sueing for money or ruining teens lives over it is much worse.

If people are allowed to sue or bring criminal charges every time they feel offended what would the world turn into. I myself am a large woman and i have comments etc made about me in public everytime i go outside it is hurtful but should i sue everybody who makes a comment about me, no i ignore them because they are ignorant and don't deserve my time.

She deserves a proper appology from all the parties involved and the students should be punished in some way like community service but as for anything else i say to this lady

Buck up and stop all the boo hoo's and get on with your life, everybody has people say something mean about them at one time or another time move on or your only hurting yourself

 
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December 8, 2006, 2:25 pm PST

12/06 Teacher Troubles

Quote From: madeline2525

I think Anna is absolutely right to pursue her case in the courts.  While I respect Dr. Phil's statement that this should be handled within the educational system, what these students did, definately occurred OUTSIDE the system.

 

MYSPACE is an international venue and they defamed her in a very very public way.  In this case, this isn't simply writing on the bathroom wall.

 

This is a criminal act.

I think Anna is wrong pursuing legal action. She is in a teaching role and the culprits are students.  They did wrong and deserve punishment.  Anna needs to feel that her good name is cleared but seeking life long retribution against young adults whom she TEACHES feels excessive.  She is safe and the community knows she is not a lesbian.  The publicity of this show has help afirm her good name.  Her response is more than justified anger and has become vendictive.  I do not condone the students action and I do not condone Anna's reponse.
 
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December 8, 2006, 2:34 pm PST

Teacher troubles or parenting problems?

I think a lot of the problems in public school especially has to do with undisciplined children and administations that are took concerned with being politically correct and too worried about test scores. I live near enough to Dallas that I watched the news about the Frisco teacher, fired because of taking her class to the museum where a child saw a nude statue. What no one seems to mention in any news that I have seen, is that parents MUST sign a permission slip for their student to go. As far as I am concerned, that teacher had no liability for what the children saw at the musuem of ART. But the parents complained and the teacher was fired. The teacher, who just the year before, received awards for her teaching practices. Schools are so concerned about law suits, that administration bend over backwards to please parents, and accomplish nothing for the benefit of the child. I had an incident recently where my 8 year old daughter and a group of her friends got into a "who can make the ugliest faces at each other" match with a group of girls in an older grade. They got caught and got in trouble. I went to the school to find out what was going on and the administrator told me that the situation wasn't handled right and that the lunch detention the children received would not happen. I told her she better think again, because I had told my daughter I was going up there to find out what happened, not to get her out of punishment. Now, I'm not a perfect parent by any means, and I'm not trying to toot my own horn here, but there were other parents there that morning that WERE trying to get their daughter out of the punishment. Sorry, you do the crime, you do the time. Period. Children don't respect their teachers because parents don't stand behind the teachers when they need to. JMO
 
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December 8, 2006, 2:55 pm PST

12/06 Teacher Troubles

Quote From: madeline2525

I think Anna is absolutely right to pursue her case in the courts.  While I respect Dr. Phil's statement that this should be handled within the educational system, what these students did, definately occurred OUTSIDE the system.

 

MYSPACE is an international venue and they defamed her in a very very public way.  In this case, this isn't simply writing on the bathroom wall.

 

This is a criminal act.

depending oh just how you look at it but,the court system is a educational system,it educates criminals to teach them to not commit crimes! so this would seem to be staying close to what Dr Phil suggested and if we want to call it school prison can be considered a school as well,it teaches people to not break laws, and teaches the outcome of breaking the laws.
 
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December 8, 2006, 3:00 pm PST

12/06 Teacher Troubles

Quote From: wiseguys95

As I explained, the kids will never stop passing around these videos as long as she's a teacher.  Kids will view her porn movies out of curiousity.  Kids, who otherwise may not have been exposed to porn.  I worked with teens for many years.  I know what I'm talking about.  It's just not wise.
do you honestly think these kids would never have gotten there hands on porn had she not made a porn movie? her being in a movie had nothing to do with them getting one,and her teaching or not teaching wont stop other children from getting there hands on porn movies,that is a parents job!
 
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December 8, 2006, 3:15 pm PST

12/06 Teacher Troubles

Quote From: hmccall

OK I agree with you there.  I don't think this warrants a felony that they'll have to deal with every time they fill out a job application.  But their lives should definitely be very unpleasant for a good long while--but not forever.  I just feel very strongly about these "pranks" not being as innocent and harmless as people tend to think.
I hear ya!  I wish the parents and AP would have sat down together and figured out an appropriate punishment.  I think they need community service for the rest of their high school years.  I think they should also have to work with victims of identity theft so they can see what an impact this has on people that have to deal with it.  All they know is this AP is scared and embarassed.  There's no way they can really grasp the concept of what this AP has dealt with-they need to desperately.

I don't think it should end there either.  I think other punishments should be given as well. 

They need the book thrown at them but they don't need to be killed by it. ;)
 
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December 8, 2006, 4:37 pm PST

What to Do?

Quote From: wiseguys95

As I explained, the kids will never stop passing around these videos as long as she's a teacher.  Kids will view her porn movies out of curiousity.  Kids, who otherwise may not have been exposed to porn.  I worked with teens for many years.  I know what I'm talking about.  It's just not wise.

I have comments on both segments.

 

1) With regard to the teacher who did porn...  She is being penalized because there is a photographic record of what she did.  The hypocrisy of those who have done wrong in secret - and there must be a sizeable percentage of those judging her - is apparent.  One alleged reason being given as to why her contract is not being renewed is as above - that one of these videos  will be passed around amongst other students.  This very observation reveals the failures of parents and educators in raising students who understand pornography is corruptive, exploitive AND ILLEGAL where those under 18 are concerned.  Despite the claims of some, not all children "have" to view pornography, let alone attack people for exercising poor judgment in the past.  Some people - many of them under 18 - understand their responsibility to look at the facts and not unreasonably pre-judge people.  And that's much of the motivation behind getting rid of this teacher - because those people judging her are afraid to face their own lack of ability to deal with this situation in a fair way.  They are as bad as those teenagers who giggle about some teacher doing porno, and perhaps worse - because they aren't being honest about their own fears, let alone doing something constructive about it for themselves and for their children and neighbors.  As the teacher commented, she is perhaps better able to reach all those kids who don't have involved parents, even though she had to learn the hard way.  I would rather have someone who has learned, particularly through hard experience, who has lived the sorrows and was strong enough to achieve better, rather than failures who can't even face the problems - for the latter merely further cement denial, ineptness, and not recognizing the signs which lead to these problems continuing, generation after generation.  I would rather have a teacher who is strong enough to have survived from such a deficit, rather than those alleged educators who would rather destroy her for having done so and weren't able to achieve as much even with more advantages than she.  And I would rather be taught by those who have the ability to reach out to her, censure teachers who stand by for their sports teams illegally viewing and laughing about pornography, and using such to destroy a superior teacher.

 

2)  As to the vice-principal, I hope Dr. Phil might consider doing a show on this woman - and the wounds that this defaming webpage inflicted upon her psyche.  I've lived through this sort of organized internet defamation.  What was not brought up is that there are predators, sexual and otherwise, who have been encouraging young people to do these sorts of things.  It makes me wonder about some of the people at her school and district - not necessarily students or underage - who might well be upset at a woman who has obviously lived all her life believing in principles and ethics.  There may well be reasons - and people - behind why her school and district has behaved so badly in all this, forcing her to resort to the courts and the legal system to get anything done.  I personally agree with Dr. Phil's suggestions - the students should clean graffiti (, highways, and toilets) for a year - during school hours, and both the students involved and their parents should participate in school and community education programs.  There was a LOT of work involved in putting together that horrible webpage.  I would venture a guess that such attacks on this principal weren't the first of its kind amongst students at this school, and given how this case continues to focus on a few participants, I would bet it won't be the last unless and until some more responsible parents (since the school and district are doing a lousy job) step up and INSIST that those students and/or teachers/community or internet adults involved turn the page.

 

Because while so many parents and educators are so very upset about a repentant porn "actress" who has cleaned up her act, the reality is that - according to 2006 U.S. Department of Education statistics, one out of ten students will be sexually harrassed or violated by a school employee.  There are predators of all stripes who have access to your kids everyday, and more on the internet.  These predators are encouraging YOUR children in disrespect, cruelties and other forms of psychopathic behavior and lack of respect for self and others.  These are phonies and criminals who have been hiding behind "respectable" resume credits for decades in some areas - a fact that the Catholic Church scandals ought to have driven home (but there are plenty of predators out there who like to manipulate people back into denial, a fact I see here and there even on this discussion board).  If the truth were known and faced, a similar crisis in our schools is FAR larger than the Church scandals.

 

I didn't see this vice principal as "vindictive".  A little uptight, perhaps.  But she seemed to me quite willing to consider other GENUINE means of remediation which would protect her and others, as evidenced by her emotion when Dr. Phil gave those real suggestions (which have been purely speculative to this point).  What I *did* see was a woman who had been deeply wounded and violated, and disrespecting such feelings will only confirm in her a belief that some large lawsuit will better inspire remediation than a call which requires good people to step forward and put at least as much effort into fixing the actual problems as those boys put into constructing that website. 

 

I strongly encourage all who care about their kids and this society we live in to face the truth - because doing so will help eliminate much of the problem.  Such predators who encourage shallow, predatory behavior in your children are cowards, and very few of them will stand even minor, sustained scrutiny.  Someone on this board accused the vice principal of being naive to not have expected this sort of behavior.  I call on all readers to not be naive - there are plenty of people who would prefer your children - and YOU - be no more than used and users.  We must, as adults, face these facts and develop the skills to prevent these abuses and the grooming of future abusers, and IT CAN BE DONE.  Anyone who tells you otherwise is obviously someone you shouldn't be listening to.  Sure, not a truth we want to face, but it's there - and really not too difficult.  Because if we don't, there will be far worse problems - and unlike the teacher who survived her past and should be applauded therefor, there will be many, many costs and casualties.

 
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December 8, 2006, 4:45 pm PST

Vice principal=foolish

Ughh when will people learn that sueing people or throwing them in jail DOESNT WORK.  It seems like these days in America, people's solutions to all life's problems have to do with money, probably as a result of such a materialistic culture.  Duh, of course being sued for 100 000 dollars is going to make the parents sit up and pay attention, but that doesn't mean that either they or their children will agree that what they did was wrong and will go out of their way to not do something like that in the future.  Chances are the focus will be more on being thousands of dollars in debt, as opposed to on the actual problem.  The children's tarnished public image has already undoubtedly closed doors on them, why bankrupt the family and close more doors, such as the ability to have a university education.  It is well documented that the people in society with the least opportunities are the ones who lash out...isn't that the opposite of what the goal is here?  Also, the last thing America needs is more people in the already overcrowded jails.  Save jail for the murderers and rapists, those who pose immediate danger to society.  A couple of kids joking around on myspace, as serious and dumb as their joke turned out to be don't pose this danger.  Personally, I think the vice principal was over reacting big time about her safety being in danger.  There are probably thousands of fake Myspace pages out there, there's probably even a few for Dr. Phil, it happens to celebrities all the time.  Those people don't go out and sue the people who made those ones. 

 
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