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Video: Teacher Melissa Cairns May be Fired for Facebook Joke with Students
Melissa Cairns, a middle school teacher in Akron, Ohio, may be fired for posting a picture of her students with duct tape over their mouths on Facebook with the caption: “Finally found a way to get them to be quiet!!!”
The students had placed the duct tape over their own mouths and asked her to take a picture of the joke, reports WEWS-TV.
But a colleague reportedly saw the picture on Cairns’ Facebook page, did not find it funny and told on her to school officials.
Cairns told WEWS-TV: “Do I feel that this one, stupid mistake should cost me the last 10 years of all the good I’ve done? Absolutely not."
Even though she took the the picture down, the Akron School Board voted to fire Cairns earlier this month.
Akron School Board President Jason Haas suggested that the students' rights had somehow been violated by choosing to participate in a joke: “Students are protected under federal law and they have certain protections. Not knowing all the circumstances, it looked like that potentially violates those protections.”
Cairns attorney told WEWS-TV that she would file an appeal today.
(Photo via Inquisitr)
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Comments
The colleague who reported
The colleague who reported her should definitely be fired. What is wrong with a teacher and students sharing a laugh in a perfectly harmless situation? Who was hurt by this? How were they hurt?
The colleague who reported
The colleague who reported her didn't make the decision to fire her. The school board did.
IMO the real culprits in this situation are the people who have been too quick to criticize, to call for resignations, and to sue. It has led school boards, hospitals, and other professional entities to a serious state of perpetual overreacting.
No, the colleague who
No, the colleague who reported her did not make the decision to fire her, and of course will not be fired. My point is that the colleague was petty to think that there was something to report here. The colleague needed something else to do.
I can understand the concern
I can understand the concern over that teacher who joked about stabbing her students, but this is just bullshit.
"At question is whether
"At question is whether Cairns violated student privacy and how the duct tape was used."
The Huff Post article doesn't seem to imply the joke was the issue at all. It has focused more about privacy and even more about how the duct tape was used (whether she actually put it on the students versus they themselves doing it).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/22/melissa-cairns-ohio-teach_n_2529166.html
People with no sense of humor
People with no sense of humor should be tickled to death.
Those that can't or won't defend themselves can only be slaves.
What vital piece of
What vital piece of information, that would make sense of an otherwise nonsensical story, is Michael Allen not telling us THIS time?
Reason number
Reason number 1,089,567,462,893 not to "friend" or allow access to your facebook account for employers or coworkers - or keep a separate account for work.
So she's in danger of losing her job - not for breaking any rules or laws, but because she gave the appearance of doing so (on facebook - not a normal part of the work environment). In today's zero-intelligence school atmosphere, anything that gathers attention of any kind is likely to cost someone their job - and it's usually the wrong people that are losing their jobs over it.
Sadly, Many employers are now
Sadly, Many employers are now asking in their application if the applicant has a social network account(Facebook, mySpace, whatever). Then they ask if they will allow that employer to monitor those accounts. If an applicant says they have an account but will not give an employer access, the applicant will not be hired. If they claim they do not have any accounts and one is located with a creation date prior to the application date, this is legal grounds for termination at anytime without notice. Many employers are even asking for passwords to their employees personal accounts. This has been challenged but State courts usually support the rights of employers unless an employee has a detailed contract supporting certain rights. It will be years before such a case could come before the Supreme Court, even if they agreed to hear it.
... and at least one state so
... and at least one state so far has made it illegal for employers to ask for access to employees social media accounts.
These days it seems corporations have far more rights than people, and they're able to intrude far too much into employees' lives when they're not on the clock.