Teacher Fired Because of His Conservative Views???

That's the argument Lawrence, KS teacher is citing for his teaching contract non-renewal after being with the Lawrence Public Schools District only one year.

Under Kansas law, teachers are considered probationary for their first three years of teaching and can have their contracts non-renewed by school administrators without having to disclose the reason(s).

Early in May, Lawrence High School of Lawrence, Kansas fired government and history teacher Tim Latham. Latham charges that the district fired him because he is a conservative and many of his students have since rallied to his defense.

One reason given for the firing is that Mr. Latham did not show Obama’s inauguration live in his class and another is that staff members disparaged him for supporting Republicans during the late presidential race, most especially then vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin.
www.stoptheaclu.com...

“It has nothing to do with his political beliefs,” Superintendent Randy Weseman said.

Latham and his supporters, including some of his former students and the Kansas 9:12 Project, a group in which Latham is also a member, say his political views are the reason his contract was not renewed.

“He’s being told ... you’re not conforming to our culture. You’re not fitting in,” Stegall said.

Latham was recommended for nonrenewal on April 27. He was pulled from the final list the school board approved on June 8, pending Monday’s hearing. Weseman said he would render a written decision in a few days.
www2.ljworld.com...

Because Latham is non-tenured and a school district does not have to disclose the reason(s) for non-renewing a probationary teacher's contract, he is going to lose this fight. Lawrence is also the home to the University of Kansas, both of which share a rather liberal-minded culture and history.

It seems unlikely the school district non-renewed him solely because of his political views.

But...maybe there is something here after all.

What say you?

Well if it is a (stupid) law you cannot do anything about it either way.

In other words, it does not matter.

reply to post by Truth4hire


Well, laws can be challenged or amended.

hm, i had a teacher who would basically give you a c or d if you wrote your papers to far to the left (socialist/communist) because she said it could never work. and if i even talked about 9/11 as an inside job my grade was *Snip*
hate this school...

Mod Edit: Profanity/Circumvention Of Censors – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 6/21/2009 by semperfortis]

People are going to have a Political view one way or another, just as people are going to have a Philosophical/Religious view. Some teachers are going to be on the Right, some on the Left, many in between, just as some teachers are going to be Buddhist, while some are Christian, and some Atheist.

As long as a teacher doesn't espouse their viewpoint one way or the other in Class, using their position as a pulpit to promote their own personal ideology, then one's Political Orientation, or Philosophical/Religious Beliefs never enters the equation.

I would find it difficult to believe that he is the ONLY Right-wing teacher in a school in Kansas!

Therefore, I don't think that he was fired because of this Political viewpoint.

It is more likely, if this was a factor in any way, it was due to using his Class as a pulpit.

More likely still, the Kansas school-board was probably facing severe budget cuts just like every other school in the Nation, and had to terminate a percentage of their teachers. Those without tenure are obviously going to be the first ones chosen.

It is one thing to have a viewpoint but it is another to express it to the point of censorship. If they wanted the kids to see the inauguration, his viewpoints should of been left aside.

That kind of activity and verbilization could thwart kids from paying attention to or becoming interested in the political process.

That would be like not showing a historic space mission launching because you don't believe in supporting the space program. It is not for you to decide and deprive the kids of the experience.

I doubt that was the sole reason, but I am sure in the selection process of trimming budgets it didnt' help his position any.

I had a very liberal government teacher in high school, yet his views never interfered with his grading. I remember quite well that our class was overwhelmingly conservative yet everyone but a few people pretty much passed it that class with an A. THe few that got c's were the ones that never showed up to class.

At the same time my cousin had an english teacher who wasn't tenured that always got fired from every school he taught because of his far right conservative views, gay bashing, and slightly racist comments. His most recent tirade was aimed at Obama, claiming that he's a closet Muslim and that he was going make everyone into a Muslim and allow the Arabs to take over everything...He eventually got "let go" due to budget cuts.

I just graduated from high school. Actually, not quite yet, but next Saturday is my graduation. Anyways, I noticed the vast majority of the teachers have a liberal pov. Up until high school, nobody had really talked about politics. Then, when I became a freshman, all my teachers talked politics. Bush is bad, etc. etc. You know, the basic complaining about how terrible he is, even though he wasn't as bad as everyone thinks. Anyways, that's off topic, but what pisses me off is the fact that in the McCain - Obama Campaign standoff, teachers were EXTREMELY vocal about supporting Obama. I had very few who supported McCain. Yeah, I know, this isn't really conservative vs. liberal, it's more republican vs. democrat, but it's the same situation. People can be as vocal as they want about being liberal, but if you're conservative, you get your head bitten off. That pisses me off.

Sorry about the rant.

Sorry, accidentally double posted.

[edit on 21-6-2009 by Dea_Ex_Machina]

What is really hurting our children the most is that we are involving politics way to much in school. If he feels that not showing the presidential inaguration is what's best for his class that's his perogative. Why force any teacher to stop their class's for an inaguration that's going to get them behind in their lesson's plans. I missed the inaguration because I had a college class to go to. so even I didn't get to see it, alot of people missed it for one reason or another. It's not going to hurt those students if they don't see the first african American president sworn into office. I'm glad I didn't see the inaguration because of what that one reverend said about yellow being mellow and brown can stick around. How wonderfull of the preacher to, after this nation voted in a black president, insinuate that most of the US is still racist! You can definately tell that we are including politics in school way to much when a school try's to stop a little boy from doing an assignement about who his hero is on Jesus. Would they have done the same if the child wrote about muhammad or buddah? Schools make it their philosophy to try and get their students to examine the facts and form an unbiased view yet in today's society we are bombarded with all sorts of biased opinions in the new's as well as the media.