Kissimmee Middle School reading teacher Deborah Mayer said her world has been "devastated" by four words she uttered in an Indiana classroom four years ago: "I honk for peace."Mayer, who now lives in Celebration, was fired from her teaching job in Bloomington, Ind., after that 2003 comment. Now she's appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, asserting that her dismissal for expressing her political views violated her First Amendment rights.It's a case with national implications for what teachers can -- and can't -- say in a public-school classroom.
"This has been devastating to me," Mayer, 57, said of her case, which has cost her $70,000 in legal fees.
"What's important is that when I decided to stand up for my rights and take this school system to court, the court said teachers have no right of free speech."But Thomas Wheeler, attorney for the Monroe County Community School Corp., said her real problem is she was a bad teacher. Besides, he said, teachers don't have First Amendment rights in the classroom because they teach a curriculum decided by state and local officials.
So far, lower courts have agreed -- and the Supreme Court has not decided whether to hear her appeal.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/osceola/orl-honkerfired1307sep13,0,5116664.story
2 comments:
Oh pa leeze what went on in the CPS when I went through it would have had all my teachers in court.
Bloomington, Indiana and CPS are so different it's like two different countires.
Biloxi--what the heck did you change on your blog that is making everything run very slowly? 3rd Gen.'s blog is not doing that.
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