Philly teacher: Student's Romney T-shirt like wearing a KKK sheet
Last Friday was dress-down day at Charles Carroll High School in Port Richmond — a day for students to leave their uniforms at home and wear whatever they liked.
Philly teacher: Student's Romney T-shirt like wearing a KKK sheet
Kristen Graham
Last Friday was dress-down day at Charles Carroll High School in Port Richmond — a day for students to leave their uniforms at home and wear whatever they liked.
One young woman chose to wear a shirt showing her support for Gov. Mitt Romney’s presidential candidacy. Her geometry teacher didn’t like it, the girl’s father said on a radio call-in show on IQ 106.9 FM today.
The teacher allegedly told the girl to take off the shirt, saying it was like wearing a Ku Klux Klan sheet. The teacher allegedly threatened to use a marker to cross out Romney’s name and that of Rep. Paul Ryan, his running mate. The teacher also allegedly tried to throw the student out of class.
The teacher also allegedly said that Carroll was "a Democratic school."
Her parents were livid. The student was afraid to go back to the class. She thought she would be retaliated against.
Philadelphia School District spokesman Fernando Gallard confirmed that last Friday at Carroll, “a teacher made some comments to a student wearing a Romney t-shirt in their classroom. The comments were of a political nature, and also of a personal nature. We are looking into the comments, and the conduct of the teacher.”
Once the school received a complaint, an investigation was launched the same day, Gallard said. The investigation is ongoing.
In the meantime, the teacher was switched out of the class “to allow the student to feel comfortable to come to the class.”
Gallard said the student was within her rights.
“She was expressing her freedom of speech, and was not in violation of any school or district policy,” he said.
Unreal. This is the mind of an Obama fan.— Phillies2008WSChamps- If the allegations are true, the teacher should be ashamed of him/herself.
Freedom of speech does not mean freedom only for the ones who agree with us! That goes double/triple for a teacher who is supposed to be educating kids!— EIK - Hey, all Philly public schools are Democrat schools. The teacher just wasn't supposed to admit it.— Falls Ed
- Disgusting...and this is where it stems from...
Some Obama quotes:
“When a company town sees its plant closing because some distant executives made some decision despite the wage concessions, despite the tax breaks, and they see their entire economy collapsing, they feel violence.”
"a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded (as the military).”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but rich people are all for nonviolence. Why wouldn’t they be? They’ve got what they want. They want to make sure folks don’t take their stuff.”
"The philosophy of nonviolence only makes sense if the powerful can be made to recognize themselves in the powerless. It only makes sense if the powerless can be made to recognize themselves in the powerful.”
“What’s happening down in New Orleans? Where’s your dollar? Where’s your Stafford Act money?” Obama shouts. “Makes no sense! Tells me that somehow, the people down in New Orleans they don’t care about as much!”
“We should be investing in minority-owned businesses, in our neighborhoods, so people don’t have to travel from miles away. We can’t expect them to have all the skills they need to work. They may need help with basic skills, how to shop, how to show up for work on time, how to wear the right clothes, how to act appropriately in an office. We have to help them get there...We don’t need to build more highways out in the suburbs."
“America will survive. Just like black folks will survive. We won’t forget where we came from. We won’t forget what happened 19 months ago, or 15 years ago, or 300 years ago.”— SuziSaul - Fire the teacher end of story. Personal and Political views should not be impressed upon students. Each individual has the right to make their own choices— jfay
- Unbelievable that a student in that school was able to keep an independent mind. The indocrination program failed. More Federal Government money must be sent to make sure 100% of all students believe all good things come from the government, and those that don't believe that are racist.— shawn1999
- Not to defend that reprehensible teacher, but that student didn't "keep an independent mind". She's parroting her father's talking points.
- Because, of course, no young person could possibly fail to fall down and worship the unicorn-riding demigod Obama, right? Seems to me that you are the closed-mined person failing to keep an independent mind. — RhymesWithRight
- Teach your children well... their fathers hell...
6. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Pot meet kettle... kettle meet pot.
How dare you try to inpune a father... whom you don't know and have no clue what his personal politics are.... and who's God given responsibility it is to "train" their child.
Ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe if we had more fathers "training" theirs and not so called "teachers" doing the "training" according to their "talking points" the world wouldn't be in the mess it's in.
It is you who did not keep an independent mind. And by your disclaimer of "not to defend"... you went on to try to do just that by the equation of impuging the father because his idology differs from yours.— Duuuuh - This could have been an opportunity for the teacher to take a moment aside to discuss the upcoming election and from the student's perspective, assuming they could cast a ballot, ask who would they support and why. Too bad it did not unfold as such.— Same ole same ole
- As a teacher we were always taught to keep our political views to ourselves. This person is an idiot and needs to be reprimanded.— sabelotodo
- If the allegations prove to be true, the teacher should be fired and stripped of his teaching credentials. This behavior should never be tolerated in any classroom and this teacher should be held accountable for his actions.— TGC
- One sided story. Can't make determinations without all the facts. The fact that the father went on a radio show to talk about this suggests that the child might be doing more than just wearing the shirt. Very likely more going on here. At worst this was poor judgment by the teacher probably preceded by poor judgment by the student, but when all we have is the opinion of a probably very right wing father, that's not much to go on.— dbl118
- The child is no doubt a MINOR. The teacher is an adult. Apparently, the student understands the difference between protected speech and being responsible, while the teacher evidently doesn't understand their role as a teacher OR as an adult.
If there is any place a child should feel safe besides home it IS a SCHOOL.
Your response makes you out to be an intolerant and severely subjective individual. Please seek help. And, good luck. You'll need it.— DevilsPrinciple - Reminds me of cat in Ohio run over by car in accident.
You really call this News?— BBYTE
During the school year, you’ll frequently find her hosting live chats about the district on Philly.com. Please do pass along the scoop about what’s going on at your Philadelphia public school; Kristen welcomes tips, story ideas and witty banter at kgraham@phillynews.com or 215-854-5146.
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