Thank goodness we live in a "free" country, huh? Nudge nudge wink wink.

I think Connie Heermann's using her students as a political football in this way would be less likely under a McCain administration than an Hussein Obama one.

Hey off22 - awesome book!

I assume you already know about Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States"? If you don't, check that one out too!

I tip my hat to all you subversive teachers!

With McSame as President we can look forward to his appointing a couple of "real conservative" judges to
the Supreme Court. Then we can look forward to having our reading material selected for us by some old perverted Republicans and approved by that court. If anyone thinks they have problems with closed minded people in Indiana, they should live in Texas.

I smell politics. Someone laid in the weeds and complained after the school year was well under way to make a big splash. I actually believe in parental control of the school and any parent that wanted to keep this away from their kid should be able to do so.

The teacher took great pains to get clearance and should not be severely punished if at all. The administration should be reprimanded for not notifying the parents of all curriculum prior to the school year. The administration is at fault here and are covering their highly paid asses with a UNION teacher.

Soeharto:

How is stimulating students to learn using them as political footballs?

You are so right though! Under McCain Ms. Heermann likely would be jailed for subversive activities.

A dolt like you would fit well on the Perry Township school board!

Oh, so many stories I could tell about working in the hallowed halls of public education. My husband as well. Some really really good folks that dig kids knocking themselves out in those tight ass places. Reminds me of the end of the year, same year I picketed against the war in Iraq, that I had two flat tires when I went to get in my car or how about when I resigned rather than be fired for trumped up crap.
Oh yes, they can do whatever they please to you. Being a public school teacher/employee is like sizzling in a frying pan on low heat.
The good ones aught to be sainted.

Makes sense. If students read about freedom, first thing you know, they'll all want some.

Sticking to the truth when confronted with power is the most courageous thing one can do (when the power insists you do otherwise).

For her insurbodination, she should receive a medal, and she should be used as an example for others to follow.

Who am I kidding, things don't work like that anymore, right?

A case of law being followed minutely but without meaningful justice of any kind.

This seems to be case of a system power play to crush the smallest ounce of insubordination and creativity. If teachers do not have a little latitude in these professional matters, then their is no freedom at all, and such teaching might be a joyless task. If experimentation and variation is not allowed, there is no development or evolution.

The mere fact that a teacher felt the necessity to undertake such boot licking approval outside of the class room situation, to introduce worthy and uplifting material speaks volumes about a intolerant and overly rigid and authoritarian supervision of education.

The by-laws used here are are far too rigid. If no one is allowed to bend restrictions and take small liberties with instructions under advisement without fear of career retribution, then both US education and society are due to break and shatter.

What was the problem/reason for objection about the book?
How come this is a US school, but the issue is reported in a UK newspaper?

God forbid, any teacher should do more than teach the Bush politics and the party line to her/his students. In conservative America, teachers aren't really permitted to teach-it's all propaganda or out the door they go! It's GOP all the way-and it's their way or the highway. Sad.

"How come this is a US school, but the issue is reported in a UK newspaper?" There is a great deal about the "US" that is better reported, or simply reported as opposed to ignored, in UK and other foreign presses, than in US papers.

Lemme guess... the sole dissenter to the book was a Christian, right?
I thought so.

Insubordination?

Cleic your heels as you obey our commands!

Insubordinate to education is what that so-called "school board" is.

Another one of many little acts. Next come the jackboots.

If there was any justice, the kids in that school would leave and refuse to come back for 18 months. If the school board wanted to know where they were, they could find them at Teacher Heermann's house, getting an education for a change.

Soeharto said: "I think Connie Heermann's using her students as a political football in this way.."
Wow. Someones been hit by one too many footballs...

Several here have written about the poor state of public education, one even calling public schools "government schools" - Implying a support for privatization of education - or home schooling.

But by doing so, you are falling into exactly the trap the corporate, "libertarian" capitalist right has set for you.

It is a deliberate project of sabotaging the public service by filling it's management with people who are tasked with destroying it. Then once the service is bad enough, people associate it with "big government" and accept privatization. It works the same whether it is a public utility, public transportation, or public education.

Free public education is the fundamental in any democracy. The answer isn't privatization or home schooling, it is taking the schools back from the capitalists and the dumb neanderthals in the school boards.

Neanderthals had bigger brains than ours. They may have been 'dumb' in the sense of not having spoken languages (that is recently being argued with the discovery of a hyoid bone in a Neanderthal fossil), but they survived for hundreds of thousands of years so i don't think they were stupid. It is a mystery to me why we are not more interested in these recently disappeared hominoids who were really our closest relatives . . .

'Entrenched Reptiles' would be my choice of describing who is on the school boards, as well as pretty much every other board i can think of . . . anyone who has been a board member has a pretty good idea of the type of people you can expect to meet . . . the board i am on now is presided over by a lonely older single woman who thinks of the board members as her (dysfunctional) surrogate family . . . since this particular board is self-selecting and has not bothered to set any term limits you can imagine what it's like, i am the vocal newbie and they are already trying to run me off so they can go back to sitting around with their collective thumb up their collective you-know-what . . .

Teaching sounds a lot like medicine, you start off with good intentions but then end up sucked in by the system . . . i know a lot of teachers who are bailing for other occupations . . .

Yeah, I guess inspiration empowers, and the powers-that-be can't be havin' a bunch of empowered poor kids running around! That would be scaaary. Like, maybe they'll start to see the big picture and find solidarity with others who are disillusioned, disadvantaged, and disenfranchised.

Someone needs to find out what local chapter of which union is SO FUCKING GONADLESS to not take this to court.

Then we need to have their website, mailing address, and phone number posted so we can all call and tell them that IF THEY DON'T TAKE THIS TO COURT THEN THEY AREN'T WORTH THEIR FUCKING DUES!!!

*ackhem* excuse me for being so...untactful.

I've been harrassed out of a job over religious differences (my team lead, supervisor, and HER supervisor all went to the same congregation when they found out I was pagan. Suddenly there was an alarming focus on my work errors - no more than they made themselves - and being 1 minute late for lunch here and there, etc.). I quit six months later. Throwing up bile everyday before you go to work is a sign that you are in the wrong job.

Oh yeah, this was under the auspices of SEIU Local 30 in San Diego. They had accountants classified as "data entry" staff and basically collected dues and did whatever management told them. Management says "Fuck you" and they roll over and say "Okay, goodie goodie!"

If unions weren't so toothless these days, everyone would be better off.

So hell yeah I'm bitter on the subject of unions. The most innovative and original people who could really bring change to organizations ARE NEARLY ALWAYS THE FIRST TO GET SNUFFED OUT OF THEIR PROFESSION.

And teachers and education is needed MORE THAN anything else in our nation. We need to reroute about 80% of pentagon money to the educational system and kill No Child Left Behind. Then we'll have a semblance of a chance for equal footing in global politics for the next generation.

I can only hope that we invest in SOCIAL PRIORITIES rather than senseless WARS soon enough to save ourselves.

So there is not going to be a lawsuit? One would think, if that union wasn't totally worthless, they would already be in the process of going through the motions to see what can be done.

What a total waste of an apparently decent teacher, all for retarded pretended morality on the school board. It's about time younger people started running for the school boards of the nation; while I don't know the age of the people on that board, they're certainly older, small town conservatives who frown at the idea of intellectualism. Many great books have "swearing" in them. Who gives a shit? Do these idiots not think those kids probably swear all the time themselves? I've got a ten spot they do. Would they ban her from having her students read 'Of Mice And Men'? That has swearing in it. Does that not teach their standard of "morality"?

I agree with some others, that this is just one more example of why "local control" in education is a bad, bad idea. It smacks of that conservitard favorite "states rights" nonsense, and leads to a gap in quality in education.

The biggest danger in American public education is the ignorance of the vast majority of the public who went through this public education. Teaching to the lowest common denominator is bearing fruit, and probably has for decades. We, as a society, have become too stupid to recognize an education when it bites us in the butt. The curriculum is a reflection of the fear and ignorance that pervades our society -- and the biggest deterrent to fear is education. Looks like the logical outcome is: "We're screwed."

Is Barbara Thompson, a bush licker or the bad type of communist? there are 2 types of communisism, one that wants to conquer the world, the BAD one, like W Bush and the GOOD form of communism which is Socialism, that takes care of the people, like China does. I Back Up Heermann the Teacher.

I can see another Thomas Frank book coming out. What's the Matter with Indiana? - to go along with his other two - What's the Matter with America? - and What's the Matter with Kansas?

Ain't America great?

I am an adjunct professor in a community college, and I see the students who come from No Child Left Behind. They cannot read anything but text messaging and comic books, cannot write a proper sentences. The "suburban" ones demand a good grade whether they work for it or not. On the other hand, the "urban" students work hard, despite being put down so long by this f**ked up society. Most of my students are planning to get a degree in business administration to "make lots of money." I try to teach them to write essays that work independent thought into a basic essay with good sentence structure. Most of them make it to English Comp I, but some do not. I'm not blaming the teachers, who, I'm sure, work hard to do more than be atrociously paid babysitters. I'm blaming the indoctrination of our children to be good workers or business owners, but forget about being intelligent, free thinking, creative people. I do battle to free their constricted minds every day. Blessings to all teachers who believe in their students' inherent humanity and creative ability. Blessings to you, Connie Heermann.

Nicely put, Lairderg. Honestly, what a crap society and civilization we live in. This is supposed to be the 21st Century and yet we have Dark Ages values and ignorance exhibited at the highest levels and in the most important of institutions. No wonder homeschooling and other independent means of learning are on the rise.

"No teacher's career should be subject to the whims of local politics which are virtually never driven by concerns for educational quality. -jj"

ridiculous assertion

as is the suggestion that some national head knows best, this is authoritarian myopia.

I want to thank everyone for their comments regarding the story about my wife, Connie Heermann, and her 18-month suspension for using the Freedom Writers Diary in her classroom...

Connie and I have been in a struggle with the Perry Township School Board since January of this year (she was removed from the classroom last November).

When we began this struggle, we had no idea how it would resonate with the public. Media coverage began with an "above the fold" front-page story on January 22, in the Indianapolis Star. Then all the local newspapers and TV stations covered her removal from the classroom.

Erin Gruwell herself took the red-eye and testified in the second day of the Board hearings. Each day of hearings lasted 6 hours each.

At the outset, we were pretty sure we would lose. The Board attorney, Jon Bailey, had made several disparaging comments before the hearings, including "she will never teach again," "she has zero chance with this board," etc.

But through all this we have felt we have touched a nerve with the public -- not only locally -- but internationally. Connie's harsh suspension has been covered by CNN, Newsweek (Anna Quindlen), The Huffington Post, The L.A. Times, The Guardian (U.K.) and The Telegraph (U.K.), to name a few. But what is most exciting, is the coverage that caring publications like CommonDreams have done. I google "Connie Heermann" several times a day. I see publications/blogs/forums in different languages discussing Connie's plight. News doesn't die today like it did not so long ago: it lives on and gets redistributed by bloggers, etc., via the internet. It is a great mechanism for grassroots movements. It's hard to cover up things anymore, isn't that marvelous?

We are now working with the local teachers union to see if we take the matter to court. The union is now reviewing the case. Nothing much will happen until at least October.

Meanwhile Connie is teaching this fall at a local community college. She is being asked to speak on censorship at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in August.

When all this insanity began my sister said: "something better will become of this." I consider that ironic. Those exact words were spoken by Erin Gruwell in Connie's hearing.

Thanks again.

P.S. Recently Connie was covered by local WISH TV as she was going to California to receive more training from Erin Gruwell. The reporter also interviews the new board president. Instead of commenting on Connie's continued dedication to teaching by attending the workshop, the board president just complains about bad media coverage. I urge you to see it.

http://www.wishtv.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?ClipID1=2708996&h1=Suspended%20teacher%20making%20international%20headlines&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=150233&LaunchPageAdTag=

Tom Heermann
Better known now as "Connie's Husband"
10:24 PM