Teacher arrested at board meeting for criticizing superintendent's raise

a reply to: OrdoAdChao

Great find Op. This video should be shown in the main stream media.

I can totally relate to this being a retired teacher. We have a school district that has closed several schools and instead of having those school administrators (Principals and Assistants) lose their jobs or be given the option to go back into the classroom at a reduced teacher salary, the superintendent made jobs for them so these administrators could still keep their hefty salaries. The teachers who had the least seniority at these closed schools simply lost their jobs. If that wasn't bad enough, administrators continued to receive their raises while teacher raises were put on hold for 4 years! Classroom sizes jumped from an average of 25 students to 39 students. The teacher's union did nothing to help and would tell teachers not to speak at the school board meetings because they were afraid teachers would be singled out for dismissal. Teachers spend a lot of money to belong to the teachers union, yet they really don't do a damn thing.

This board meeting was like a police state. That cop should have been suspended and the board meeting should be televised on the local news stations for all to see. I give that young lady a lot of credit, she did nothing wrong. She had every right to question the raise given to the superintendent. Districts can squeeze as many students in a classroom at the detriment of both the students and the teacher. Yet teachers are not compensated for the additional work due to the larger class size and the additional stress put upon them.

She stood up to a political system that is so similar to many school districts across our country. Kudos for her. She put her own job on the line for defending truth and her fellow teachers.

a reply to: toysforadults

Google isn't turning up anything but I don't have ze Twitters or ze Facebooks. I oblige anyone with more than ATS or /r (in my case) to try on those platforms.

originally posted by: WeRpeons
a reply to: OrdoAdChao

Great find Op. This video should be shown in the main stream media.

Thank you! I don't mean to brown nose, but that means a lot coming from one of my favorite members of ATS.

I can totally relate to this being a retired teacher [...] Classroom sizes jumped from an average of 25 students to 39 students. The teacher's union did nothing to help and would tell teachers not to speak at the school board meetings because they were afraid teachers would be singled out for dismissal. Teachers spend a lot of money to belong to the teachers union, yet they really don't do a damn thing.

Were you in an area that knocked the teeth out of unions (public and private)? No need for specifics as I see your location is classified. Also was it like that when you first started?

This board meeting was like a police state. That cop should have been suspended and the board meeting should be televised on the local news stations for all to see. I give that young lady a lot of credit, she did nothing wrong. She had every right to question the raise given to the superintendent. Districts can squeeze as many students in a classroom at the detriment of both the students and the teacher. Yet teachers are not compensated for the additional work due to the larger class size and the additional stress put upon them.

She stood up to a political system that is so similar to many school districts across our country. Kudos for her. She put her own job on the line for defending truth and her fellow teachers.

I quote the above because I am in agreement. I set out to become a teacher when I was younger but recoiled in horror when I accepted the full reality of the position. On some level, I feel if I were a better, stronger person I could have taken it on. So now I work in the construction industry. It's a better fit for someone like me ;-).

Kudos to you for taking on a job that has ran off many "tough" people.

originally posted by: tadaman
a reply to: OrdoAdChao



Here is an update to the story.



www.katc.com...



Its insane. No charges filed yet she was still booked and had to post bond. She has the louisiana educators association and ACLU investigating.



The arresting officer was not a cop, he was employed by the school board and not the city directly. Its on his complaint alone that she was arrested. The actual police and the city prosecutor refused charges against the teacher outright.



I smell million dollar lawsuit.

we call that kidnapping since he had no police power.

Maybe it's payback for not truly educating the kids.

a reply to: yuppa

The bizarre thing is that he has a quasi jurisdiction. I can't dig up his exact info, but as a state marshal (from my understanding of the term) he has a lot of discretion. That includes charging an individual with a crime in one county/jurisdiction and remanding it to the "offenders" home county. It's a very effective tool in some areas but can become a crutch to overreach, which is exactly what we have in this case.

The video is damning evidence of a miscarriage from multiple levels of authority. Watching the video is like watching a dystopian play in real life. "This can't be happening!" is a valid reaction and is portrayed in the same footage. This whole situation deserves honest outrage. There is nothing that happened here that should have resulted in an arrest.

Few things are as corrupt as Louisiana politics. That said, I have zero to no respect for Louisiana public schools. That includes teachers.

If you do some digging, you will see that the entire scene is messed up from funding to allocation to unions to school boards to facilities. Anyone who can afford it sends their kids to private schools.

Additionally, I worked for both local and state governmental offices in LA and faced corruption at both.

Young people are moving away in droves. I belong to local discussion boards and, weekly, there are threads about the sorry state of things in that State and if people should stay or move.

Love the people and culture, hate the "cultcha" and corruption. Too bad they go hand in hand.

originally posted by: Edumakated

originally posted by: OrdoAdChao
Note: I wanted to post this is Posse Comitatus but lack the post count.

As the title suggests, a Louisiana teacher was arrested after delivering a calm but scathing criticism to the board. After the president scolds her for speaking out and asking for her to be removed, the other meeting attendees (I am assuming fellow teachers) begin to speak out as well. The board member then taunts the rest of the people with "Oh, another comment?" in a condescending tone.

To top it all off, it appears as if the arresting officer does the classic trip/shove and says "Stop resisting!" as he flails her around like a ragdoll.

This is yet another example of authority overstepping its bounds. In this particular case, we see elected/appointed officials and a hired officer completely trample someone's rights. It's beautiful, really.

Most complete video I've found:

Local news source

And people still don't get why many of us want smaller government...

If you think smaller government would solve this you are deluded. I'm all for smaller government for greater control by the people but at the end of the day that room of people and the procedures governing it had bugger all to do with the size of government and everything to do with corruption. Those board members were feathering their nest and most were in it together. I noticed that the board members voted for their own salary increases and the audience were merely commentating !!!!!!! Jesus H!!!!!! That's your problem.

Corruption is rife irrespective of the size of government and until people grasp the nettle of obscene levels of income in the hands of the few controlled by the few this will continue from the biggest to the smallest from private to public. It makes little difference it's a mindset amongst the greedy. The only minor difference is that private corruption hides behind "private is good" beliefs and public corruption is more visible.....if you choose to look.

Trust me "privatisation" is very popular amongst the greedy because they can hide the corruption !!!! DUH!!!!

a reply to: SkeptiSchism

Welcome to the thread! Would you like to expound upon your comment and give us an anecdote as to why an elected official deserves a raise in order of the amount of a full Louisiana teacher's yearly salary OR two janitors?

a reply to: OrdoAdChao

An absolutely disgraceful act. I hope she sues the snot out that parish for illegal detention, kidnapping etc.

One of my kids sent me this story today, and ill say the same thing here as I did to him...Until we start standing up as one and come to the defense of those brave enough to speak up it will never stop. Instead we see the same thing as always. One person with the balls to speak up while the rest of the crowd sits meekly while the speaker gets drug out.

When we stand up and fight back the $h!t will stop

a reply to: kosmicjack

I am not a citizen of Louisiana nor do I know much of the politics. As a an American, I find the end result of this situation detestable. I understand that there will be nuances to every situation, in particular if the situation happens in America. But, being a member of our crazy clan, I can't help but notice the lack of bite from the conservative end on this particular happening. It's an outright trampling of our values and there isn't much bark. Seems like the authoritarians are retreating to other headlines in order to further the echo chamber.

So as to not drift my own thread: When you entered this fiasco, was it political or class? And by that I mean were the board members predominately from a set of families focused on education in your area who had ties to law enforcement / judicial types who maintained a status quo? Or on the other hand, was it more of a money thing, where regardless of the officials, the "monied" all stayed the same?

a reply to: richapau

I fully agree. Can you help explain a parish vs a county vs a city? Or at least a parish. I understand the others but I think it will help highlight how devious this whole situation was. I am reading about parishes right now and maybe you can expound on the notion of a parish. It's key to understanding what's going on here.

How do I embed the follow-up article "Board president thinks incident with teacher was a 'set up'"?

Since all of the high profile coverage they are saying they won't press charges.

a reply to: Simon_Boudreaux

This is a fine example of being "The One". Stop screaming and acting a fool in public forums, give an honest remark about the situation, then let TPTB treat you like cattle. It is a brave act and I would like to point out that she is a 5' woman who would have never presented a threat to the marshal in the current situation.

Classic case of police escalation caught on camera. Whoever thinks this is proper needs to sit down and read a book or twenty, then properly evaluate where they stand on this kind of situation that is popping up more and more.

a reply to: yorkshirelad

And your post is precisely why we need the right to record public meetings on a video medium. The resentment was rife among the "board" towards their lowly peons. How dare they question the acts of rightfully elected and appointed officials! The shame!

This is a post to fulfill my misunderstanding of Louisiana jurisdiction. Long story shorty (LSS) the state of Louisiana has a completely different concept from most states in regards to counties/cities etc. It's unique and I present the baseline Wiki ("Wiki" means "read the sources" to me) as a starting point. I am going down this strange legal rabbit hole as we speak. My personal prediction is, that in this case - in this state, it's going to be hell for a suit that encompasses both officials. Not saying both won't happen, but there is an intrinsic "cover" within the county/city/parish situation. Total BS and no one should have that much authority over public meetings.

originally posted by: OrdoAdChao
a reply to: SkeptiSchism

Welcome to the thread! Would you like to expound upon your comment and give us an anecdote as to why an elected official deserves a raise in order of the amount of a full Louisiana teacher's yearly salary OR two janitors?

Surely, it was more of a rhetorical comment. Considering the public education fails miserably to educate people, it's no wonder that our society has degraded into this mess.

Edit: I'll add I think they should all be fired on the spot, teachers, administrators, janitors the whole lot.

a reply to: SkeptiSchism

I understand the argument. Without fomenting much, where did you learn the ability to write and type English? And if not the public education system, which private institution instructed you with this miracle of communication?

sue the crap out of the rent a cop. fire him and bar him from applying for any other job in that type of industry. strip him of any pension due.

tar and feather the superintendent. take his job from him and his pension. then sue him civilly.

sue whatever idiot judge forced the innocent victim to post bond. the judge should also be fired from his position and stripped of any form of pension.

enoughs enough. people like this can no longer be tolerated in any position of power.

repeal any loophole in the law that allows for this sort of disgusting abuse that should quite frankly be below any American.

it's a crime against humanity