Through my Examiner.com articles I have been highlighting the struggle that education is facing with the advent of social media. This media is impacting students, teachers, and administrators. Here is another story that highlights the tension existing as schools struggle to balance free speech with the necessity of effectively regulating their education institutions.

An elementary school teacher fromNew Jerseyhas been terminated from her tenured position due to a post on her Facebook page in which she referred to her first grade students as “future criminals.”

Administrative Law Judge Ellen Bass held that the district’s need to efficiently operate its schools outweighed school teacher Jennifer O’Brien’s right to free speech. “In a public education setting, thoughtless words can destroy the partnership between home and school that is essential to the mission of the schools,” she wrote.

The judge was also influenced by what she saw as O’Brien’s lack of remorse for her actions. She noted in her decision that O’Brien did not express genuine remorse at her hearing, stating that Bass had left the hearing with the impression that “O’Brien remained somewhat befuddled by the commotion she had created.”

The ruling allows O’Brien to resume her teaching career elsewhere, just not Patterson, New Jersey, the community in which she was teaching-provided that she undergo sensitivity training.

This ruling is not final though since O’Brien’s lawyer has already declared his intention of appealing the ruling and before even that, the state education commissioner has 45 days to accept, reject, or modify the judge’s ruling.

For further details on this story, please go to the link below.
www.legalclips.nsba.org/?p=10160