Why Let A Good Teacher Go?
I have just recently learned about a teacher at Lawrence High School in Lawrence,KS . I suppose that would qualify as almost the heart of the country’s heartland. The teacher in question is a married father of three, Tim Latham. Mr Latham teaches( or taught) American history and government . He had taught for 19 years prior to this year. So, we aren’t talking about a rookie or an unproven teacher.
Mr Latham was told in April of this year that his contract was not being renewed and according to him, propper procedures were not followed and he is somewhat convinced that his conservative views are the culprit.Assistant principal Jan Gentry net with Latham early in the school year to let him know his school affiliated web site was “too patriotic” with links to a number of military and history web sites( FYI, go to his web site and see for yourself, I didn’t see the problem). How can one be too patriotic as an American history teacher? Don’t know.
Moving on, at a later meeting with Gentry, he caught flack for his MccCain-Palin bumper sticker. Ms Gentry said, ” I don’t know how you could support that woman”. The meeting in question came about because Latham was accused of picking on Obama by a student. Perhaps his error was in pointing out a relative lack of experience between McCain and Obama. Latham sees these meetings as the beginning of an effort to remove him.
Now, of course, virtually no one is saying anything . David Cunningham , human resources director for the school district says all procedures were followed correctly. Other parties in question, Ms Gentry, school principal Dr Steve Nilhas( who just retired),District Supt Randy Weseman and even NEA Director Bruce Lindskog( who presumably would be on Latham’s side) refused comment.
This is a school district that has been rated as recently as 2007 as one of the nation’s 10 best metro school districts and is is the same city as the University of Kansas.
Although there has been lots of no comment, there are students making an effort at getting Mr Latham reinstated. Good luck with that. So is the case of an incompetent teacher getting removed, a perceived Obama critic being silenced? Hard to tell. As for Mr Latham, he just wants to teach. How would you like being the new principal and having the pleasure of facing this? Oh, the Lawrence School Board meets again on June 22nd. Standing room only, ya think?
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June 13, 2009 -
Posted by tarheeltalker |
education, Politics | Barack Obama, Bruce Lindskog, Jan Gentry, John McCain, Lawrence, NEA, Randy Weseman, Sarah Palin, Steve Nilhas, Tim Latham, University of Kansas
First off, the “no comments” are correct: the school administration should be publicly commenting on confidential personnel matters. And a “no comment” from the teachers’ union is also probably appropriate, at least for now. They’re respecting the teacher’s confidentiality and not trying his case in public — at least , not yet.
But it’s kind of curious that such a conservative teacher would even be a member of the teachers union. And it’s also curious that a conservative such as yourself would be advocating for union protection of a public school teacher.
This case seems to highlight one of the biggest reasons teachers unions exist: to make sure that proper procedure is followed before teachers are dismissed. They’re not interested in “protecting bad teachers” as the standard rhetoric claims. They’re interested in making sure everybody gets due process. If due process was followed in this case, Mr. Latham is a goner, whether he be a conservative, liberal, or Martian. If due process was NOT followed, then Mr. Latham keeps his job.
Please remember this case when people scream about the innate evil of teachers unions.
Obama is punishing anyone that speaks out against him, and the ones that supported him with campaign funds are being given jobs in the government! Its pay to play no matter which way we look at it! Obama is a dictator!
Do you really think President Barack Obama micromanages to the level that he gets high school history teachers fired in Lawrence, Kansas? Really? Let’s walk this through….
The people that gave Obama campaign funds (in the last year, of course) somehow were hired into positions of power in the Lawrence KS school system, just so that they could fire conservative teachers?
And they paid for those jobs, to augment Obama’s well-documented but nonexistent “pay for play” system?
And that makes Obama a dictator?
That’s about two steps short of being declared officially silly.
i think i would agree completely with what you just said if you would have said it when George was prez. ur the only conservative i’ve heard speaking of Obama being a dictator, most think he’s taking too much time listening to all points of view instead of the fast draw cowboy approach. strange how republicans are so about speaking out against their prez out of patriotism when speaking out against GW was anit-patriotic. can one of you please explain how this is not hypocrytical? much love to all my fellow members of the earth
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Larrys- good point on teachers union on two fronts- why is he a member and as best we can tell from the outside, they are doing their job.
Thanks for keeping an open mind, THT. It’s nice to find a place that allows for an honest exchange of ideas.