High School Teacher Goes Nuts on Student Who Asked the Wrong Question About Obama

[RazorX]

SPENCER — After reviewing a video in which a North Rowan High School teacher tells a student he can be arrested for speaking ill of President Barack Obama, the Rowan-Salisbury School System said it can be a learning experience.



Meanwhile, an expert on politics at Catawba College says the social studies teacher just doesn’t have her facts straight when she insists speaking your mind about a president can get you charged with a criminal offense.

Although two students provided the name of the teacher, the Post is not publishing it because officials within the school system would not confirm her identity and she could not be reached for comment.

The video captures audio of the dispute but does not show the teacher or anyone else. It appears to have been shot with a phone or other device as the camera pointed at the ceiling the entire time.

Rowan-Salisbury spokeswoman Rita Foil confirmed the teacher is still employed with the district and has not been suspended for disciplinary reasons. Foil emailed this statement to a Post reporter Friday on behalf of the school system:

“The Rowan-Salisbury School System expects all students and employees to be respectful in the school environment and for all teachers to maintain their professionalism in the classroom. This incident should serve as an education for all teachers to stop and reflect on their interaction with students.

“Due to personnel and student confidentiality, we cannot discuss the matter publicly.”

The nearly 10-minute video, shot by a student and uploaded to YouTube on Monday, had been viewed more than 1,000 times by Friday afternoon.

It begins with a classroom conversation about a recent news story detailing Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney allegedly bullying a classmate in prep school. It turns into a heated, sometimes confrontational debate.

One student asks, “Didn’t Obama bully someone though?”

The teacher responds: “Not to my knowledge.”

In response to the Romney story, conservatives have recently been pointing to a passage in Obama’s book, “Dreams from My Father,” in which the president writes that while in grade school he shoved a little girl, the only other black student in his grade, after other students called him her boyfriend.

When the student tells the teacher that Obama admitted to bullying a girl in school, the teacher goes on the defensive.

“Stop, no, because there is no comparison,” she says. Romney, she says, is “running for president. Obama is the president.”

When the student says they’re both “just men,” the teacher continues to argue that Romney, as a candidate for president, is not to be afforded the same respect as the president.

The teacher tells the class Obama is “due the respect that every other president is due.”

“Listen, let me tell you something, you will not disrespect the president of the United States in this classroom,” she says.

The student replies that he’ll say what he wants.

“Not about him you won’t,” the teacher says.

Later in the conversation, the teacher tells the class it’s criminal to slander a president.

“Do you realize that people were arrested for saying things bad about Bush?” she says of former President Bush. “Do you realize you are not supposed to slander the president?”

The student responds by saying being arrested for talking badly about the president would violate the right to free speech.

“You would have to say some pretty f’d up crap about him to be arrested,” he says. “They cannot take away your right to have your opinion. ... They can’t take that away unless you threaten the president.”

Principal Darrel McDowell referred questions about the video to Foil.

Michael Bitzer, a political science professor at Catawba College and a widely known political analyst, weighed in on the video.

“I think what this broke down to was a perceived personal slight by an instructor against someone she sees in a positive view, and things just went out of control from there,” Bitzer said in an email to the Post.

Bitzer said he thinks the teacher did go a “bit overboard in being rude towards the student.”

“I think the student was also trying to pick a fight, honestly,” he said.

Bitzer said it appears the teacher’s attempt to make a point about showing respect for the office of the president gets overshadowed by her personal feelings for Obama.

“Her point about not being able to say anything ‘disrespectful’ about the president does fly in the face of the First Amendment, and while she may wish to enforce that edict about ‘respecting’ the president, the issue seems to have gotten personal on her part,” Bitzer wrote.

“Granted, she apparently tried to ensure that a respectful conversation was had about the president, but she seems to have taken things a bit too personally — and it appears the student was set on making a confrontation in the guise of raising a question about ‘who bullied who — both Romney and Obama?’ ”

Referencing former president George W. Bush, Richard Nixon and Abraham Lincoln, Bitzer said the fact that there are a lot of “mean, derogatory things said about our elected officials” is part of American history.

Bitzer said he has “no idea” what the teacher is talking about when she claims people were arrested for saying bad things about Bush.

“I have never heard of anyone arrested for saying derogatory things about George W. Bush , which I am assuming she is referring to,” he said. “Her belief that if one slanders the president is not very accurate — if you ‘threaten’ the president, that is another story, and that is a criminal offense.”


http://www.salisburypost.com/News/05...r-on-video-qcd
Another Obamabot, preaching the lies of Obama, and when one kid that did not drink the kool-aid and challenged her she went all nuts. Guess this teach never heard of the first amendment.

[USFREEDOM911]

In 2004 I had a similar situation.
One of my Grandsons teachers told the class that while Bush was in Texas, an ambulance had to stop for his motorcade, and the person in the ambulance died.
She went on to say that it showed that Bush didn't care about people, or else he would have stopped the motorcade and let the ambulance reach the hospital in time.
I called the Prinicpal and arranged a meeting.
I had my Grandson tell the Principal what happened, while the teacher was there, and then I had my Grandson go sit back in the main lobby.
I then asked the teacher to explain where she had heard this and she said her husband had told her that he heard it on the radio.
I explained that I had done a search on this and the story was a fabrication and that maybe she should have investigated it first.
Then she tried to say that she was trying to teach the class about empathy and I asked her why she didn't use a documented story about then President Clinton taking advange of a young woman about the same age as his daughter.
She said that she thought that would be inappropriate.
So I said but it's OK to try and make it look like someone died because of Bush.

This pretty much shut her up and I then went for the kill.
I told her that I thought she was a Democrat, that she used the incident to make Bush look bad, and that she had no right to try and push her political agenda off on any children, let alone my Grandchildren.
I then told the Principal that I had a lot of Grandkids, Nephews, Nieces, and the children of friends going to the school and if I heard of another incident like this, that I would be going not only to the school board, but to the State School regulatory board.
The Principal apologized, had the teacher apologize, and I left.
Never heard of it happening again.

[Aoxomoxoa]

In 2004 I had a similar situation.
One of my Grandsons teachers told the class that while Bush was in Texas, an ambulance had to stop for his motorcade, and the person in the ambulance died.
She went on to say that it showed that Bush didn't care about people, or else he would have stopped the motorcade and let the ambulance reach the hospital in time.
I called the Prinicpal and arranged a meeting.
I had my Grandson tell the Principal what happened, while the teacher was there, and then I had my Grandson go sit back in the main lobby.
I then asked the teacher to explain where she had heard this and she said her husband had told her that he heard it on the radio.
I explained that I had done a search on this and the story was a fabrication and that maybe she should have investigated it first.
Then she tried to say that she was trying to teach the class about empathy and I asked her why she didn't use a documented story about then President Clinton taking advange of a young woman about the same age as his daughter.
She said that she thought that would be inappropriate.
So I said but it's OK to try and make it look like someone died because of Bush.

This pretty much shut her up and I then went for the kill.
I told her that I thought she was a Democrat, that she used the incident to make Bush look bad, and that she had no right to try and push her political agenda off on any children, let alone my Grandchildren.
I then told the Principal that I had a lot of Grandkids, Nephews, Nieces, and the children of friends going to the school and if I heard of another incident like this, that I would be going not only to the school board, but to the State School regulatory board.
The Principal apologized, had the teacher apologize, and I left.
Never heard of it happening again.

Bush was responsible for enough people's deaths without having to make any up!

[Damocles]

Social Studies teacher who doesn't understand the First Amendment?

We're all shocked. <- said in robotic sarcasm.

Shocked I tell ya!

[Damocles]

She's now been suspended.

http://www.salisburypost.com/News/05...-suspended-qcd

I've heard the tape, she threatens the kid telling him that she'll tell his father he wasn't "doing the work". The 12 year old student was owning this woman in the argument. She actually comes up slapping her hands and directly threatening him...

Wow, if she isn't fired she should be placed in a position where she doesn't get access to any child. There is nothing disrespectful about using the President's own words from his book in a discussion about the President and/or his opponent. She literally appeared to be using her position to force them to spout whatever propaganda she wanted to feed them.

[ZappasGuitar]

In 2004 I had a similar situation.
One of my Grandsons teachers told the class that while Bush was in Texas, an ambulance had to stop for his motorcade, and the person in the ambulance died.
She went on to say that it showed that Bush didn't care about people, or else he would have stopped the motorcade and let the ambulance reach the hospital in time.
I called the Prinicpal and arranged a meeting.
I had my Grandson tell the Principal what happened, while the teacher was there, and then I had my Grandson go sit back in the main lobby.
I then asked the teacher to explain where she had heard this and she said her husband had told her that he heard it on the radio.
I explained that I had done a search on this and the story was a fabrication and that maybe she should have investigated it first.
Then she tried to say that she was trying to teach the class about empathy and I asked her why she didn't use a documented story about then President Clinton taking advange of a young woman about the same age as his daughter.
She said that she thought that would be inappropriate.
So I said but it's OK to try and make it look like someone died because of Bush.

This pretty much shut her up and I then went for the kill.
I told her that I thought she was a Democrat, that she used the incident to make Bush look bad, and that she had no right to try and push her political agenda off on any children, let alone my Grandchildren.
I then told the Principal that I had a lot of Grandkids, Nephews, Nieces, and the children of friends going to the school and if I heard of another incident like this, that I would be going not only to the school board, but to the State School regulatory board.
The Principal apologized, had the teacher apologize, and I left.
Never heard of it happening again.

..."then I went for the kill..."

OHMYGAWDYOUSHOULDHEARYOURSELF!!

I'm not going to laugh...
I'm not going to laugh...
I'm not going to laugh...
I'm not going to laugh...

...oh hell...BWAAAAAAAAAAAA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...WHOOOOOOOOOO!

Ya know people it's just unbelievable that we all don't know USF's real name...

Hell, you'd think someone who pretty much single-handedly saved the Arizona school system from those dastardly Liberal agents of change should be a household name at this point!

[NOVA]

Bush was responsible for enough people's deaths without having to make any up!

Bill Clinton is responsible for the death of the US serviceman that had to go in his stead because he choose to dodge the draft....not a medical or student deferment...he just refused to honor his commitment after joining the ROTC......

Bush is no more responsible for any deaths than Harry Truman, Woodrow Wilson, LBJ, Nixon, Clinton, or Obama.....and other presidents.

[RazorX]

Glad to see the Obamabot idiot got suspended, hopefully she will be fired.