Central Bucks students to get word on blogging teacher
Class schedules for CB East High School will be posted 4 p.m., Friday. Requests for transfers out of Natalie Munroe's three classes could follow.
Central Bucks High School East students will get their first look at their class schedules on Friday, including those assigned to controversial English teacher Natalie Munroe. The question is: How many students, if any, will request to be transferred from her three classes.
District spokesperson Carol Counihan could not provide an update today of the number of students who have requested to be kept out of Munroe's Debate class and two 11th grade English classes. As of two weeks ago, about 60 students had made such requests, though not all of them were assigned to Munroe, Principal Abe Lucabaugh said.
Lucabaugh also said he expected to get more requests once students see their rosters. The rosters will be posted online Friday at 4 p.m., Counihan said.
Students are allowed to opt out of a teacher's class only "when egregious or unique factors are in play," Lucabaugh said. In this case, involving a teacher who made "crass and cruel" statements about students and co-workers that resulted in her suspension, all such requests will be honored, the principal said.
Munroe typically would be assigned about 90 students for the three classes, plus a homeroom period.
Munroe attracted national attention in February for blog posts describing some students as "frightfully dim," "whiny," and "utterly loathsome." She wrote that she felt limited by "canned" report card comments, wishing for alternatives such as "dresses like a streetwalker," "shy isn't cute in 11th grade; it's annoying," and "just as bad as his sibling. Don't you know how to raise kids?"
She wrote under the name Natalie M. and did not identify her school, district, colleagues, or students. But the blog, called Where Are We Going & Why Are We in This Handbasket, included her picture.
Munroe said it was a personal blog read by seven friends and her husband. But once students found it in February, she was suspended with pay for two weeks. She then went on unpaid maternity leave.
Two weeks ago, Lucabaugh said Munroe was being reinstated because she has a legal right to her job. She was assigned to CB East so the district could contain the issue, Lucabaugh said.
Munroe said she preferred to be assigned to a different school. Concerning the policy allowing students to transfer out of her class, Munroe said calmly, "I'm there to teach -- I'll teach in an empty classroom if I have to."