Schools

MSNBC Poll On CB East Teacher's Side

National debate over Natalie Munroe's blog glosses over important details.

MSNBC.com readers are siding with Natalie Munroe by a huge margin, as of Wednesday morning.

The national news website has posted an Associated Press story on the suspension of the Central Bucks East English teacher.

In an accompanying poll, it is asking its readers "Does Natalie Munroe deserve to be suspended for her blog posts?"

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Respondents are given two choices:

"Yes, her conduct steps over a line and is clearly verbal abuse."

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"No, today's students deserve some tough love."

As of 7 p.m., about 97% of the nearly 74,000 voters were siding with Munroe, and voting totals were climbing fast.

Munroe is succeeding in framing the controversy as an educational debate, and the "what's-wrong-with-kids-these-days" crowd is backing her in full force.

More to the Story

But buried in the now-suspended CB East teacher's blog were a few details that the ensuing national cultural debate has missed:

She didn't just call her students out for being "lazy whiners." She called them profane names online.

She didn't slam only her students. She also slammed her colleagues, calling one man a "douche" in one post, and clearly had difficulties getting along with her co-workers.

Another post outlines why she ate lunch in her own room rather than with her colleagues.

"Because some of the people I work with have, in past, not been nice to me at lunch--have ignored me, belittled me, disrespected me, or been annoyed by me--I took to eating in my own room instead of the main eating area," Munroe wrote on her blog. "I found that eating alone meant that I was never ignored, belittled, or disrespected, nor, in fact, did I bother myself."

The teacher, who had been teaching at CB East since 2006, also took aim not just at the privileged, self-involved teens that the national debate seems to be obsessed with - she also criticized shy kids and those who asked too many questions, keeping her too long after class was over.

"Shy isn't cute in 11th grade; it's annoying." she wrote on January 21, 2010.

"Asked too many questions and took too long to ask them. The bell means it's time to leave!" she wrote in the same post.

And an illustration accompanying one of her blog posts mocks disabled children. The drawing of the "short bus" is overlaid with the words "I don't care if you lick the windows, take the special bus or occasionally pee on yourself. You hang in there, sunshine. You're friggin' special."

Familiarity Bred Contempt

Everyone has an opinion about Munroe.

Reaction to the story has been strong and swings from those who would see her fired immediately to those who think she's being unfairly punished for speaking the truth.

"why in the world would this be considered "verbal abuse" ?? She didn't name any student in particular nor slander anyone; #ridiculous," wrote one person on msnbc.com.

"One of the biggest problems in today's education system is that there is no way to fail," wrote another. "We are teaching our kids that no matter what they do they will never fail... that is not real life... In real life you either perform or get left behind.. In real life you either make the grade of you are out on the street."

"The immaturity of the students is not really the issue here. The question is whether or not an angry rant like that is likely to be helpful," wrote MGinRochester. "It may have felt good to write those things but it's silly to think that the kids are somehow going to become more mature because a teacher wrote a profanity-strewn rant on the internet.

"That's not "tough love." Tough love is expecting the child to accept the consequences of his or her decisions. If you choose not to study, you're going to get a bad grade. What this teacher (and her defenders) don't seem to understand is that tough love is not incompatible with having respect for the child.

"Quite the contrary -- the basic philosophy of tough love is a recognition that the child is a smart, capable, mature individual that is ready to accept responsibility and the consequences of his or her choices. If, on the other hand, you tell your students that they are lazy, unmotivated, ignorant, immature clods then why would they think they can do anything?"

Those here at home who actually know Munroe have had much to say, as well.

"I graduated last year in the class of 2010 so i think i have a good idea of what teachers go through," adama wrote here at DoylestownPatch. "First of all, i just read the blog, i think it was clever and true. East teachers put up with so much crap from students, who are either lazy, obnoxious or just downright rude. Ms. Munroe should be applauded for expressing her aggression in such a truthful way!"

"adama, Ever work at any job and use derogatory, or obscene names describing the head of the business employing you? Tell your customers or those who pay your salery you hate your job and despise the work you are being paid to perform?" responded Steve. "Well some of our observations may agree with hers but, she as a employee, has no right to publically be insubordinate, and disrespectful to her employers and students."

"She taught me less about English than my friend from Russia taught me. CB EAST 2010!!" wrote Jim.

"As a student at East I do agree that students are difficult. But I do know pretty much all of the students she was referring to in her blog, and while many of them can be very difficult and pretty rude, they're not terrible kids," wrote Cady. "And I'm saying this from the viewpoint of someone who isn't even friends with them and at times strongly dislikes them."

"If parents did a better job of teaching their children to be respectful towards teachers, maybe she wouldn't have felt the need to write so strongly about her frustrations," wrote penny lane. "While I agree completely she shouldn't have written about it in such a public way, I feel she's most likely justified in her feelings."

"I think it was the tone of her comments. She is a teacher of high school kids which can't be easy but if she has lost her love of teaching that age..then apply for younger children without an attitude," wrote momof2. "The student posts clearly show her NOT to be a teacher that is admired. Maybe THAT should be addressed by the school more that the blog."

Legal Battles Are Sure to Come

Central Bucks School District officials, including Superintendent N. Robert Laws, have declined to comment on the issue since the first day the scandal broke last week.

District officials undoubtedly are focusing on whether Munroe used school computers for personal use, including the blog - at least one post seems to suggest so.

"I'm being a renegade right now, living on the edge and, um, blogging AT work.
However, as I'm blogging about work stuff, I give myself a free pass of conscience." she wrote on January 21, 2010.

Meanwhile, Munroe has hired lawyer Steven Rovner to plead her case to the media and the district.

"She could have been any person, any teacher in America writing about their lives," Rovner says in the AP story. "It's honest and raw and a little edgy depending on your taste. ... She has a deep frustration for the educational system in America."

Rovner told the AP that he "would consider legal action" if Munroe loses her job.

And yet, is there any scenario where Munroe returns to Central Bucks East as an effective, respected teacher?

Jack in TX doesn't think so.

"I taught school for years. If her students are disrespectful, it's because she allows them to be," he wrote Wednesday morning. "If she's this inept she needs to find another career anyway."

"I'm convinced that she doesn't want to return to CB East, nor do I suppose any other school district would want to hire her," Melvin wrote here at DoylestownPatch Wednesday morning. "Taking it further, who would want to sit in her classroom, what parent would trust her? She's toxic."

Munroe, who is pregnant with her second child, was scheduled to go out on maternity leave at the end of the month.

She has reactivated her blog, which can be read here, and at last count had more than 200 followers.


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