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Rita Bianco, Parent: "Children should know their president and their first lady!"
Parents expressing outrage after a teacher is kicked out of her public school for hanging a picture of President Bush next to pictures of other presidents in her classroom.
Shiba Pillai-Diaz, Teacher: "It happened on a small bulletin board near the American flag and also with a poster of the Declaration of Independence."
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.
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.
This has been on the local TV news here in NYC. The full story is that the teacher didn't have any Democrat presidents in her in-classroom montage (only recent Republicans), and the open house parents had originally asked for pictures of Clinton and Carter be included, not Kerry (though they asked for Kerry when she refulsed Clinton). I'm not sure how this story evolved this way... but it would be strange for the teacher to exclude democrat presidents.
Originally posted by Esoterica Sad, sad, sad. So now we're only supposed to know the history parents see fit?
Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
This has been on the local TV news here in NYC. The full story is that the teacher didn't have any Democrat presidents in her in-classroom montage (only recent Republicans), and the open house parents had originally asked for pictures of Clinton and Carter be included, not Kerry (though they asked for Kerry when she refulsed Clinton).
I'm not sure how this story evolved this way... but it would be strange for the teacher to exclude democrat presidents.
Hrm... I'm not sure when politics goes right! I think it was NY1 who actually interviewed the parents who wanted an alteration in her montage of presidents, the flag, and the Declaration of Independence. This just shows how easily a story like this can be altered to suite the priorities of whoever is telling the tale.
Originally posted by Esoterica but it still sounds like politics gone wrong.
Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
This just shows how easily a story like this can be altered to suite the priorities of whoever is telling the tale.
Originally posted by dgtempe
In that case, the teacher should lose her job. Perhaps Bush can get her a job.....