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Friday, July 29, 2011

Blogging Teacher to Return to CB East



Natalie Monroe

LINK
Will she or won’t she?
Ever since CB East teacher Natalie Munroe made national headlines in February for writing negative blog posts about her students, the question on most everyone’s mind has been whether she would return to the Buckingham high school this fall.
The answer to that question has arrived.
Her attorney, Steven Rovner, told news outlets Wednesday that Munroe would return to CB East and teach the same classes, including Honors English, as before.
On her blog, Munroe posted Wednesday nighther version of how she found out she would be returning to work. She said she asked to be transferred to another school, but was denied.
Munroe has been a teacher at CB East, one of the top high schools in Pennsylvania, since 2006. CB East, one of three high schools in the Central Bucks School District, ranks 9th in Pennsylvaniabased on a comparison of 2009-2010 test scoresfrom the state’s standardized testing system, the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment.
This year, it graduated 100 percent of its senior class, three out of 10 of whom graduated with a 3.7 or better grade point average. Of the 2011 graduating class, 94 percent are going on to college.
Munroe was suspended in February when her blog went public and has been out on maternity leave since then. She was scheduled to inform the Central Bucks School District by August whether she wanted to return to her job.
Wednesday, the district announced that it would hold a press briefing next Wednesday, August 3, to discuss Munroe’s status. A district representative declined comment until then.
Though they’ve had little to say publicly about Munroe since the incident went viral, the question of what to do about her has hung over the school board. Do they fire her? Do they do nothing, and allow her to return if she chooses?
“I’m really torn,” board member Geri McMullin, who represents Doylestown, said Wednesday. “I can go either way. I need to hear more from our legal people before I decide. I don’t want to put the district in financial jeopardy.”
But how parents and students and even her fellow teachers will react to Munroe’s return is another story.
"She will be completely ineffectual here," said one teacher, who asked not to be identified.

How it all began

Natalie Munroe never identified herself or her school in her blog.
Entitled “Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket,” most of her posts were about her life, her friends, her daughter, and her pregnancy with baby No. 2.
But her blog carried her photo, and the name Natalie M.
She wrote about her colleagues and her life at the high school where she had been a teacher for just a few semesters. She said she had taken to eating lunch alone because of conflicts with her colleagues.
But it was a post about her students that propelled the Warminster woman to notoriety.
She wrote about the frustration of having to choose “canned” comments to put on her students’ report cards and suggested alternatives, including:
  • “A complete and utter jerk in all ways. Although academically ok, your child has no other redeeming qualities.”
  • “One of the few students I can abide this semester!”
  • “Has no business being in Academic.”
  • “Lazy asshole.”
  • “Just as bad as his sibling. Don’t you know how to raise kids?”
  • “Weirdest kid I’ve ever met.”
  • “I hear the trash company is hiring…”
  • “There’s no other way to say this: I hate your kid.”
It ended with, “Thus, the old adage…if you don’t have anything nice to say…say 'cooperative in class.'"
A piece of clip art that accompanied the post particularly enraged disability advocates and school board members. It depicted a special-needs school bus and read, “I don’t care if you lick windows, take the special bus, or occasionally pee on yourself, you hang in there sunshine, you’re friggin’ special.”

The story goes viral

The post was from 2010, but in February 2011, Munroe’s blog was discovered, and students and parents were soon emailing the link across cyberspace.
Some students used the occasion to lash back at Munroe, calling her vulgar names, as well as the "worst teacher I ever had."
The story quickly went very, very public, from local news outlets to CNN, MSNBC and the BBC.
Competing Facebook pages were launched, supporting or bashing Munroe. An MSNBC poll garnered nearly 84,000 votes, 97% of whom voted that Munroe should not be suspended.
Of course, that national attention waned. But back here at home, everyone involved knew a day of reckoning still lay ahead.
Natalie Munroe still blogs, this time at an eponymous website, nataliemunroe.com.
She still writes about food and family but also has addressed the events that landed her in the news.
A June 7 post reads in part, “I started this year super excited and happy and flexible and hopeful. Then I got a particularly malicious group of students (again, no, not ALL of them, but evidently enough to strip the lustre from the positive feelings above) who decided to make it their business to try to ruin me.”
And a post from July 19 slams the Central Bucks School District’s recently approved contract with its teachers.
Munroe pointedly criticized a new proviso under which teachers would be terminated if they received two “unsatisfactory” ratings on their annual reviews.
“It seems like an awfully easy way to save money if there's a district shortfall, or to get rid of teachers who are at the top of the pay scale (or who are thorns in the district's sides),” Munroe wrote.
Munroe's old blog had about nine followers. Her new one?
664. And counting. Click LINK for all 400+comments

COMMENTS (420)

Louise

Absolutely not, this is an insult and an affront to students, teachers, administration and taxpayers. Staffing cuts are made due to budget restraints, but Ms. Monroe is invited to return- what is wrong with this picture?
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David Hamilton

This teacher has done nothing wrong, she expressed her opinion in her blog ... so what. She has every right to express what~ever sentiment she feels, as long as it does not violate or infringe on another persons rights and or freedoms. This has not crossed any boundry. She is protected in the United States of America by the constitution to do so.
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Lisa

Absolutely!!!!!! Kids now a days are horrible and she said it all so what..did the truth hurt? please give her a medal she deserves it!! she did not commit a crime. I would never be a teacher with these kids let alone the lazy parents that leave it to the teachers to do their work worry about raising your children the right way instead of being spoiled little mouthy brats
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Brian

Louise specd a day or several days teaching the young disrespectful brats. When did it become wrong to call a lazy kid lazy or a ignorant kid ignorant. EVERYONE is afraid to call it like they see it. Parents need to start doing their jobs and stop insulating kids from the reality of the real world. School administrations need to do the same thing, and back the teachers. The kids 6 to 26 have been coddled and are candy asses as my grand father would say.
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Jim

Why is this wrong? Because she was brave enough to say what all the other teachers probably thought also. To say what someone else should have said a long time ago about these kids!!
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Amanda Jo Johnson

I would just be thrilled to pieces if a teacher, when she feels exasperated (children do that?:), defeated, or ineffective, sought out the information or resources that would enable him/her to create a better opportunity for the children. Behavior/developmental education is not included in the public "teacher" education. And our children are critically influenced by how we respond to them and what we model for them.

Colleen Thompson

Ms. Monroe would be fired from any other job. In PA , you work at the will of your employer. Her public whinning is grounds enough for dismissal.
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Jeff Lugar

If they thought they had legal reason to fire her they would; clearly under the terms of the teachers' contract they feel they do not. The "will of your employer" concept goes out the window when there's a union contract.
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Nabob

Wrong. Pennsylvaia is an "at will" employer state to the extent you don't have an employment contract or belong to a union. She's pretty well insulated from firing by the union (of course). If you followed the story you'd know that this isn't a high brow effete. She wasn't teaching all that long and isn't particularly well spoken or intelligent sounding. Clearly, this district could do a lot better but she is typical mainstream teacher - and one that lacks a significant amount of common sense.

Amanda Mandia

Those are MY tax dollars paying her salary and she, as a teacher, should be setting a good example for my children. Not only do her actions, and the fact she is maintaining her position, set a horrible example for my (our) children, she is taking up space where a more enlightened teacher could be. I am outraged. What about accountability for our actions? What about respecting the privacy of our children/others? What about due process if she was indeed being harassed by students? Ugh.
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Cat

So by your standard she should St. Mary all day and night because any chance of her being HUMAN is wrong and detrimental to YOUR child? Give me a break, some kids are jerks in class and some are complete monsters. Just because she had an honors class doesnt mean she had "good, cooperative" students. She didnt name anyone, she didnt give her school name, and if parents would teach their children how to act right there would be no need for a blog to vent how bad the kids are. Yes I work in a school system so I have met some kids who would make an angel fall.
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Michael Vivian

I thought it was the "Parent's" responsibility to set the example??? Maybe if Parent's started parenting...our school's wouldn't be in the mess they are in. Have you people read some of the vulgar, illiterate posts your children are writing on Facebook? Little Johnny and Mary need a ruler upside the head...both at school and at home. Maybe then teacher can get back to their job... Educating. So Facebook and Blogs aren't riddled with illiteracy.
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Kay

What about making sure you're kids are respectful and well behaved? What about all the kids that say hateful, rude and ugly things about their teachers on a public forum? "Respecting the privacy of our children/others"... REALLY?! If those same children didn't act awful she would have no need to vent. She didn't name any children so if those parents identified their child in the post MAYBE IT'S THEIR CHILD WITH THE ATTITIUDE PROBLEM! Due process? It's HIGH SCHOOL... so lets expel/suspend every teen with a bad attitude and smart mouth. Teachers put up with WAY more than they should have to becuase parents don't disipline or teach their children manners and to be respectful. Then they get mad because someone tells the truth about their child "he/she is a disrepectful little sh!t". Accountability also falls on the parents who are allowing their children to mis-behave and act up.
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h

Yes!! Some parents who are parents! May I teach your children?
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Shelly Tudor

Pardon me. But I do have one small question. Are they not her tax dollars also? They are my tax dollars and I work every day with students exactly like she has described. I am also a parent. If a teacher ever came to me with behavior issuse with my child I would deal with my child's lack of discipline and rude behavior. Unfortunately, not every parent can see that their child can be a problem. Most view their children with rose colored galsses and whine that everyone is out to get their baby. Believe it or not, the majority of this teachers colleagues feel the same way. When will this country wake up and relize that the problems with todays youth, their behavior and yes their abiltiy in school, is NOT always the fault of the teacher. I also feel that she is protected by the same freedom of speech that has allowed parents and students to say and write nasty things about the teachers.
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h

I meant the replies, not the Amanda Mandia. I think I already teach hers...
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Staberdearth

Amanda, sometimes the truth IS the truth. You sure seem like one of those false self esteem types. Face it, we all went to school with some really big douches, princesses, the self entitled arrogant, disruptive, lazy "don't apply themselves" types and MORE!. She's merely calling attention to it! Sorely needed!
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sandy

Everyone is has the right to free speech and this teacher has the right to voice her opinions. She should not be in jeopardy of losing her job. Maybe it's time for the parents to look at their kids and evaluate if there is some truth to those comments.
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Jeff Van Pelt

YOU should be setting a good example for your kids. SHE should be teaching your kids academics, which is what YOUR taxes pay her salary for. She isn't paid to wipe the snot off of your brats. If you can't assume responsibility for the fact that YOUR kids don't have the respect enough to sit down and pay attention in a classroom and do their homework at home: like I had to, then shame on you . Your kids aren't the failure; the teacher is not the failure; YOU are.
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Colleen

Both my sister and my mother are teachers. May I please say... They put up with soooo much more garbage from the "children" than a prison guard! Foul language, threats, destruction of personal and school property, drugs, fights, and IGNORANT PARENTS who think they have little angels even when the "children" are caught in the act! Yes, this teacher was harsh, but she was practicing her FREEDOM of speech on her OWN blog. I would rather her vent in her off time then go crazy on the kids. Amanda, you are a human, so it is safe to say, you have days moments of frustration that you need to work through. You choose to have anger, instead of compassion, for those who try so hard to serve the extreme variety of children they have to teach. Maybe you should offer a solution(?) instead of detstruction to a persons life.
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L Jenkins

The reality is that, although her remarks might have been harsh, her blog was never intended to be read by students. NONE of her students was identified by name, nor was her last name or school. However, her ability to teach effectively at that school has now been effectively eliminated. What makes the most sense to me is to move her to another school in the system and hope everyone can start the new school year with a positive attitude.
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Jim

Its your kids that are most likely the problem. Its not a teachers job to be a perfect human being as you seem to believe exists.. Kids sometimes suck.. yours especially, im sure... Mostly because people like you don't teach your kids the meaning of a good education or respect. A good teacher's job "does not include blowing smoke up some kids rear all day telling them how great they are" it is to teach. I hate to break this to you but there are assholes in the world and they prolly started as asshole kids with asshole parents. I believe in firing bad teachers but I would use test performance and not a bad review from some kid who prolly failed or got a D and his/her parents who are like you Amanda Mandia and piss an moan blaming the teacher when the kid and parent are prolly the ones who should be removed from the school as that attitude makes it impossible to teach. Thus you end up with teachers who's only goal is to make the kids like them and produce good reviews not to teach the brats... So Amanda direct your OUTRAGE inward, would ya, please.. for the rest of us... thanks.

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