Schools

Central Bucks Fires Blogging Teacher

Teacher's lawyer says it's retaliation but school board president says it's about the district's "obligation to have satisfactory teachers in its classrooms."

In February 2011, after the blog that was heard 'round the world went public, irate parents packed a Central Bucks School Board meeting essentially to demand Natalie Munroe's head.

On Tuesday, they got it, but far fewer people were in attendance to see the blogging teacher's termination.

Instead, her husband Brian Munroe watched quietly from the audience as seven school board members voted unanimously to fire his wife from her job at Central Bucks East High School, where she taught honors English. Two members were absent.

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"I am disappointed to say the least," Brian Munroe said after the vote. "I know how much teaching meant to Natalie and how dedicated she was to it."

It was a seemingly anti-climactic end to the drama that erupted last year after students and parents discovered Munroe's personal blog, which included posts about her students including "A complete and utter jerk in all ways," "Lazy a--hole," and "There’s no other way to say this: I hate your kid."

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A piece of clip art that accompanied the post particularly enraged disability advocates and Central Bucks school board members and administrators.

It depicted a special-needs school bus and read, “I don’t care if you lick windows, take the special bus, or occasionally pee on yourself, you hang in there sunshine, you’re friggin’ special.”

Her blog posts led to a national firestorm about both student behavior and online speech.

Tuesday's vote, though, was not the end but rather just the latest chapter in a story that will continue.

Through her attorneys, Steven Rovner and Stanley Cheiken, Munroe sued the school district in federal court last week, alleging that her constitutional right to free speech had been violated. She was being fired in retaliation for what she wrote on her blog, not because she was a bad teacher, the suit claimed.

The lawsuit says Munroe previously had received high marks from CB East principal Abe Lucabaugh.

In a June 2008 letter of recommendation for Munroe to pursue a master's degree program, Rovner said Lucabaugh wrote: "As a classroom teacher, Natalie is fantastic. She is articulate, creative, well-versed in her subject matter and particularly astute in dealing with a wide variety of learning styles, demonstrating an ability to motivate even the most reluctant of learners; additionally, she not only holds herself to high expectations, but fully expects her students and colleagues to reflect the meticulous, conscientious manner in which she approaches each aspect of her chosen profession."

But on Tuesday, school board president Paul Faulkner said that was not the case.

"Ms. Munroe was, at best, a satisfactory teacher and was experiencing performance difficulties well before her blog became an issue," Faulkner said in a prepared statement that he read after the vote. "Ms. Munroe was subject to the same supervisory observations from district administrators as other teachers and all found her performance to be unsatisfactory."

Only one member of the public stood up to speak on the issue.

Katrina Filiatrault stood before the school board members and asked them to follow through with firing Munroe.

"They have a duty to employ teachers who are effective," said Filiatrault, who lives in New Britain Township and has two children in the district.

"I think they're on good legal grounds to fire her," she said after the meeting. "I'm not sure why they didn't do it last year."

In June 2011, Lucabaugh gave Munroe "a retaliatory and false unsatisfactory performance evaluation" saying "teacher failed to exhibit acceptable and professional language on an internet blog."

Three months later, when school began, administrators put Munroe on an "improvement plan" and began unannounced visits to her classroom, the lawsuit said. They also required her to submit daily lesson plans on a special form the district drew up, the suit claims.

Their "ridiculous and overly critical evaluations" routinely concluded that "lessons Munroe had been teaching for years were unsatisfactory," the suit said.

Munroe received a second unsatisfactory performance review on January 20, 2012 and a third on June 1, when she was informed the district would recommend firing her.

In his statement, Faulkner stood by his assertion that Munroe's firing had nothing to do with her blog.

"The students of the Central Bucks School District deserve quality educators," he said. "When a teacher falls below the standard, intervention must occur. If the teacher is unable to improve, the teacher should be fired. The action this evening of the Board of School Directors was for performance and not freedom of speech."

Munroe had a been a teacher at CB East, which was recently ranked , since 2006. She gained tenure in 2010.

She started her blog, which was called "Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?" in 2009.

Many in the Central Bucks community had called for Munroe's firing after her blog came to light in February 2011. The district suspended her, and she remained out on maternity leave while administrators and the school board deliberated.

"Ms. Munroe, by her own actions, has made it impossible for her to teach in this district," Superintendent N. Robert Laws said during a school board meeting in February 2011. "No students should be subjected to such a hostile educational environment."

But the district ultimately decided not to try to dismiss her at that time.

Munroe returned to CB East last fall, albeit to fewer students than usual - 12, 15, and 7 students in her fall classes, as she reported on her blog, rather than the normal 30 per class.

She still blogs occasionally at her eponymous website, nataliemunroe.com.

Brian Munroe is running for state representative in Pennsylvania's 29th district against incumbent Republican Bernie O'Neill. The district includes Buckingham Township, home of CB East.

 

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