DN Editorial: School district squanders Hope

HOPE MOFFETT is scheduled to lose her teaching job today, after her banishment two weeks ago from her classroom at Audenried High to an empty office. Her banishment followed her outspoken criticism of the Renaissance school plan that would overhaul 18 failing schools, including Audenried, and sparked student protests at school district headquarters.

The district maintains that she is losing her job not because of her criticisms, but because she gave tokens to Audenried students to leave school without parental permission and travel to the district to protest the Renaissance plan. The district, in a letter from Assistant Superintendent Linda Cliatt-Wayman, also cited Moffett's releasing confidential documents and making statements without regard to their truth or accuracy.

But it's hard not to believe that the teacher's outspoken opposition of the Renaissance plan was not a factor in the district's recommendation that she be terminated. Moffett, who came to the schools via Teach for America, is a highly regarded teacher. Even putting her students' academic performance aside, we think she has been giving young people invaluable lessons in civics, in the First Amendment, and in the importance of students' and others' being actively engaged in the issues that affect them - particularly in their education. Besides, as we fret over teacher quality and wring our hands over the price of student alienation - dropout rates, truancy, and the failure of many students to go on to college - the idea that students would rally behind their teacher and their school should be celebrated, not castigated.

And while we understand the district's concern over letting students loose on the streets of the city without parental permission, surely the idea that these students showed up at the district to peacefully protest rather than, say, hit a SEPTA platform and beat a passenger to death should be a mitigating factor in the outcome of this case.

Many teachers buy SEPTA tokens out of their own pocket and give them to students who can't afford carfare to get back and forth from school. That's a sad commentary on our society, but it's a damn promising commentary on the quality of some of our teachers, Moffett included.

The school district does itself no favors in how it has handled Hope Moffett; by firing a good teacher and shutting down dissent, it blew an important teaching moment, not only for its students, but for the rest of us. *