[LINK] Facebook Photos Lead to a Teacher Losing Her Job

Jan Whitaker jwhit at melbpc.org.au
Mon Feb 7 16:22:18 AEDT 2011


At 04:07 PM 7/02/2011, Kim Holburn wrote:
> > In fact, the picture that concerned the principal - showing Payne 
> holding a glass of wine and a mug of beer - was on her Facebook 
> page. There was also a reference to a local trivia contest with a 
> profanity in its title.
> >
> > Payne was told a parent of one of her students called to 
> complain. And then, Payne says, she was given a choice: resign or 
> be suspended.
> >
> > "He told me that I needed to make a decision before I left, or he 
> was going to go ahead and suspend me," she said.
> >
> > She resigned. Attorney Richard Storrs is fighting to get Payne's job back.
>
>.....
>
> > But here's the really troubling part: Payne had used the privacy 
> settings on Facebook. She thought that only her closest friends 
> could see her vacation photos or her use of the "B" word.

And will Facebook be sued because their security (sic) protections 
didn't work? I certainly hope so.

As for the photo, this is Georgia, still a rather conservative part 
of the country outside Atlanta. When I was a first year teacher 
(first and only public school semester, truth be told), I was advised 
not to go anywhere locally to my small town in northern Indiana if I 
wanted to drink. So we would go to a neighbouring larger town 
sometimes, not often. When I knew I wasn't going to have my contract 
renewed (Superintendent hired his NIECE the following year -- but 
that's another story; I wish I'd known then what I know now about 
nepotism, I'd be rich today -- back to my story about drinking when 
you're a teacher), I went to the local watering hole with one of my 
friends, also a teacher not coming back the next year. Who did we 
find? The entire school board!

Hypocrisy is rife in conservative circles. The complaining parent 
(teacher in the story) was probably just jealous she wasn't able to 
go on the trip. How dare an underpaid teacher in their district take 
a trip like that!

Jan


Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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