Bigoted Georgia Teacher Escapes Unscathed

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To be fair, the teacher in question was corrected by the principal for this incident and then fired for another. How is this “unscathed”? Time to turn the other cheek, forgive, and move on.
 
I am not a lawyer but couldn’t the teacher be charged with assault for “touching” her without her permission.
 
Timidity said:
To be fair, the teacher in question was corrected by the principal for this incident and then fired for another. How is this “unscathed”? Time to turn the other cheek, forgive, and move on.
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The outrage is in the local superintendant’s reply that the teacher “made and honest mistake”.

How is wiping the students ashes off her head and harassing her for being catholic and honest mistake?
 
If they are like most places, they need to have written documentation of several attempts to counsel an employee before they can terminate. It sounds like they used this incident, then were able to fire her with the next. Union protections require this and also some state laws. You can’t usually fire someone with one incident.
 
Michael_C said:
The outrage is in the local superintendant’s reply that the teacher “made and honest mistake”.

How is wiping the students ashes off her head and harassing her for being catholic and honest mistake?
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It means, Georgia is in the Deep South and there is a lot of anti-Catholicism there, so it was an understandable mistake. 😉
 
I wonder if the teacher swiped a yamica off a students head and did the same thing what the reaction would be. I doubt it would be considered an “honest mistake”.
 
Michael_C said:
I wonder if the teacher swiped a yamica off a students head and did the same thing what the reaction would be. I doubt it would be considered an “honest mistake”.
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The Jewish legal team would be too much of a formidable force to reckon with, I would presume.😉
 
I’m not interested in defending this teacher necessarily, but yes, it could have been an honest mistake, particularly if the student didn’t have a chance to explain why there were ashes on her forehead (you know how some teachers can be - no backtalk!) I have seen a Protestant friend come up to a Catholic friend on Ash Wednesday and say “Omigosh, you have a HUGE smudge on your face - hold still, I’ll get that for you!” entirely innocently.

On the other hand, if the teacher was aware of Catholic practice on that particular day, then that incident was no different than than if the student had been wearing a Muslim headscarf (hijab) or a Hindu bindi or a Jewish yarmulke and had been forced to remove those, and equally reprehensible.
 
Mirdath said:
I’m not interested in defending this teacher necessarily, but yes, it could have been an honest mistake, particularly if the student didn’t have a chance to explain why there were ashes on her forehead (you know how some teachers can be - no backtalk!) I have seen a Protestant friend come up to a Catholic friend on Ash Wednesday and say “Omigosh, you have a HUGE smudge on your face - hold still, I’ll get that for you!” entirely innocently.

On the other hand, if the teacher was aware of Catholic practice on that particular day, then that incident was no different than than if the student had been wearing a Muslim headscarf (hijab) or a Hindu bindi and had been forced to remove those, and equally reprehensible.
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The incident:

“Catholic female student at White County High School in Cleveland, Georgia had her ashes wiped off her forehead by a substitute teacher in her Honors Trigonometry class. When the girl’s classmates protested, the teacher laced into the girl making patently untrue and derisive statements about Catholicism”

Paul Shaw, superintendent of the White County Board of Education said "I am aware of the incident and believe the principal resolved the matter in an appropriate manner. He has met with [the girl] and her father to hear concerns. The employee made an honest error in judgment and has been appropriately counseled and cautioned and I believe a similar incident will not be repeated.”
 
Oh, I read the article - but it didn’t give enough specifics, such as just what was said and done in the incident in question. Yes, if the teacher was, in fact, intentionally denigrating Catholics and Catholicism, I am as disgusted as you are. If the teacher’s words were merely ignorant and unintentionally insulting, then perhaps the discipline administered was sufficient. With so little information in this article, it’s pretty hard to tell.

Either way, as Timidity pointed out, that teacher is out of a job now, and most likely for the best.
 
I followed the link and sent this email:
Dear Ms Cox:
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I am contacting you to protest the injustice of allowing a teacher to wipe the ashes off the face of a Catholic student at White County High School in Cleveland, Georgia. The failure of Paul Shaw, superintendent of the White County Board of Education, to take immediate and appropriate action on this truly dispicable act of bigotry constitutes a failure to protect the rights of Catholics under Georgia’s Code of Ethics for Educators (505-6-.01),. It is not acceptable to sweep such an outrageous act under the rug, as Mr. Shaw attempted to do. If Mr. Shaw cannot uphold the law, he should seek less a less responsible position in some other field.
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Vernon Humphrey
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The important thing here is that people should know there are consequences to this kind of bigotry – and there are consequences to tolerating it.

Imagine if the teacher had used the “N” word! Her feet would not have touched the floor while she was being hustled out of the school!
 
vern_humphrey said:
I followed the link and sent this email:

The important thing here is that people should know there are consequences to this kind of bigotry – and there are consequences to tolerating it.

Imagine if the teacher had used the “N” word! Her feet would not have touched the floor while she was being hustled out of the school!
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I know the superintendant wouldn’t call that an honest mistake.

Good letter, mine was simular.
 
Michael_C said:
I know the superintendant wouldn’t call that an honest mistake.

Good letter, mine was simular.
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When I was a lad and attended Catholic schools, I was on the boxing team. There, I learned three great lessons:
  1. Stand up for yourself – because no friends are allowed in the ring with you.
  2. No matter how mad you get, you have to follow the rules.
  3. A punch in the nose really hurts!
This is an opportunity to teach those valuable lessons to the Georgia Department of Education.😃
 
To be fair to the teacher, I was born and raised in Georgia, and was well into adulthood before I saw a person with ashes on his forehead. I believe it was Robt. Novak on CNN–I remember wondering if he had just suffered some sort of scorch-related mishap!

Perhaps there was genuine bigotry at work, but I can also easily imagine being that teacher. If I’d not seen or heard of such a thing, I could well imagine that the girl was feeding me a line and trying to cause some sort of cute in-class disruption (it happens). The report does not say what the teacher’s “untrue and derisive statements about Catholicism” were, and I’d have to hear them to judge, but one wonders if all this wasn’t simply a “perfect storm” of miscommunication.
 
Michael_C said:
The incident:

“Catholic female student at White County High School in Cleveland, Georgia had her ashes wiped off her forehead by a substitute teacher in her Honors Trigonometry class. When the girl’s classmates protested, the teacher laced into the girl making patently untrue and derisive statements about Catholicism”

Paul Shaw, superintendent of the White County Board of Education said "I am aware of the incident and believe the principal resolved the matter in an appropriate manner. He has met with [the girl] and her father to hear concerns. The employee made an honest error in judgment and has been appropriately counseled and cautioned and I believe a similar incident will not be repeated.”
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An error in judgment would have been simply wiping off the ashes. By making statements about the Catholic Church, the teacher moved from making an error in judgment to violating the girl’s civil rights.

If there isn’t a law suit filed soon, I’ll be be surprised.
 
This is interesting. This happened close to where I am but this is the first I have heard about this incident. I think I’ll see if I can find out more details.
 
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