More than 200 students ask out of blogging teacher's classes
Number of students assigned to Natalie Munroe's three classes at Central Bucks High School East is changing daily, one week before school starts.
More than 200 students ask out of blogging teacher's classes
More than 200 Central Bucks High School East students have requested to be kept out of controversial teacher Natalie Munroe’s classes one week before school starts, a district spokeswoman said Tuesday.
That’s more than double the 90 or so students who have been assigned to her 11th grade Honors English and Academic English classes and her Debate class. Spokeswoman Carol Counihan could not say how many students were still assigned to Munroe, because the number keeps changing and probably would continue to do so until the first day of school.
Munroe, whose blog posts calling students "frightfully dim," "whiny," and "utterly loathsome" prompted her suspension in February, will be returning to the school on Monday, along with 10th graders. Tuesday will be the first day for the full student body of about 1,640, including 547 students in 11th grade.
Students’ schedules were made available Thursday, and those who opted out of Munroe’s classes are being reassigned to the other 11 English teachers, Counihan said.
Munroe could not be reached for comment but has said she “will teach in an empty classroom if I have to.” And Superintendent N. Robert Laws has said the district has “backup plans” if Munroe does not have enough students to conduct her classes, though he declined to elaborate.
Principal Abe Lucabaugh has said that all requests to opt out of Munroe’s classes will be honored -- a policy reserved for “when egregious or unique factors are in play.” He called her blog posts about students, co-workers and adminstrators “unprofessional, disrespectul, and disturbing, partcularly coming from the heart of an educator.”
Munroe has maintained that she posted her comments on a private blog read by her husband and seven friends and that she did not identify students, the school or the district. She called herself Natalie M and posted her photo on the blog, titled, Where are we going & why are we in this handbasket.
She was suspended with pay within a day of students finding the blog and spreading its contents on Facebook. Two weeks later, she went on unpaid maternity leave.
Munroe was reinstrated at the high school in Doylestown because “all parties will be best served by containing the issue and monitoring the known environment,” Lucabaugh has said. “We will not condone shifting a toxic situation to another building and creating a maelstrom there.”
You can't help what you think, but the "brainbone isn't connected to the mouthbone." Truth can't always be spoken. Many don't really want the truth anyway.— Xyro- The truth hurts...Get your butts in class kiddies...next thing we know you'll be hiking on the Iranian border without a clue.— dogman5
- I would make them take her class. Who is running this asylum anyway?— BillyBob369
- welcome to public education — vathi
- I don't agree with what the teacher did, however, she was punished for her conduct, and that should be the end of it? The students should not be given the choice of taking the course. That is what is wrong with this society, children making decisions in an adult world.
If the students had any gumption, they would take her class and prove her wrong.— LadySLR - No comment on her lack of judgement in posting those comments but, sadly, she speaks truth.— Glider2001
Comment removed.- Mommy and daddy the mean teacher is back boo hoo.— delcodanno
- I would say most of these kids are withdrawing because of their parents, not themselves. Most kids would care, probably think she's some kind of rebel. The school district made this much ado about nothing. Now they will have to pay a teacher to teach in almost empty classroom when they could have just told her to knock it off.— mike l
- Hopefully, the students will opt out of their jobs when their boss has less than positive comments. The teacher apparently not aware that anything on the internet is fair game. Her comments should have been dinner conversation with her husband and friends, not public statement. Her crime is stupidity, not unfair assessement of snot nose brats.— toolhead713
- How anyone could justify what she did is beyond me. It's one thing to say these things amongst her friends or colleagues, but to use social networking to talk about children in her classroom is totally unprofessional. Children have rights to and they should be respected, even if you are doing a blog. I'm sure if someone started a blog about her being a crappy teacher that she would have a fit and want the kid suspended.— mat719
- Comment removed.
- Once again permissive parents and an over compensating school board let the inmates run the asylum. Good luck to you Madam and maybe at some point you will get to teach real students not a bunch of coddled brats.— Bubba James
- LOL @ the suburban county and it's "incorrigible" teaching problems. Try being in Philadelphia where the City rarely expels students so the terrors send teachers to the hospitals. At least the teachers don't have to put up with Ackerman anymore.— EastChestnut
- Ready for a brave, new, and wildly unique teacher’s journal? One that’s deeply thoughtful, literate, and downright funny? Then enjoy A Dixie Diary, at www.adixiediary.com.
The response from readers all over the world has been astonishing. Actually debuting during the February fury of the Natalie Munroe business, this unique online journal shows a different look at what happens in the schoolhouse by a very rookie teacher who loves his work and his students, but he expresses his thoughts and observations in a hugely different way than Mrs. Munroe. Sure, there are some intense student-teacher moments, even some choice words, too, but mostly it’s world-class hilarious and heartwarming … like reading a good book.
It’s the look at a teacher’s madcap classroom world we’ve been waiting for. It’s simply mesmerizing.
— TeachingMoment
