Teacher Loses Job After Commenting About Students, Parents on Facebook

Transcription

1 Teacher Loses Job After Commenting About Students, Parents on Facebook By KI MAE HEUSSNER and DALIA FAHMY Aug. 19, Facebook users take note: If you want to keep your job, you're better off doing your job-related griping offline. Match these words with the underlined words. Full of germs Complaining (2 words) Bacterium Governing body of schools Leave a job voluntarily Boss of a school district 2Massachusetts high school teacher June Talvitie-Siple learned the hard way that a Facebook wall is probably not the best place to spout off about the students and parents in her community. 3Talvitie-Siple, a supervisor of the high school math and science program in Cohasset, Mass., was forced to resign this week after parents spotted Facebook comments she wrote describing students as "germ bags" and parents as "snobby" and "arrogant." 4Two parents in the community alerted the school superintendent after noticing the posts on her Facebook wall, Talvitie-Siple said. The superintendent, who was on vacation overseas, sent an ing asking her to resign. 5"She did what was probably the most appropriate thing to do," Talvitie-Siple told ABCNews.com. "I embarrassed her, I embarrassed the school district and, you know, if I were her, I probably would have done the same thing. It was not a surprise." 6The 54-year-old teacher said she thought her posts would only be visible to her friends and didn't realize that her Facebook settings made the comments visible to others on the Internet. 7In one of the posts, she said, she joked to her friends that students were "germ bags" because she was so tired of catching illnesses from school kids. She said had been sick for six months, and every time she started to recover she would get another bug from a student. Section 2: Teacher: Facebook Posts Grew Out of Frustration 8"I was on my third round of antibiotics and I just basically said, 'Oh my goodness, I remember now why I got out of teaching,'"she said. "It actually is a fact that at one point I was so sick that I decided that I don't have a strong constitution for upper respiratory infections, so I went into another aspect of education to get away from that."

2 9"When I took this job, I knew I was risking the possibility that I would be exposed to kids again in a concentrated form and that I might get sick. And, sure enough, I ended the year with pneumonia." 10The comment about the parents stemmed from "political activity" between the teachers' union, the administrators, the school committee and parents, she said. 11"It's caused a very stressful year for every administrator, not just me. And it's made it a very caustic place to work," Talvitie-Siple said. "[It's] a product of a lot of frustration and angst about whether I should leave or not." 12After writing on Facebook "I'm so not looking forward to another year at Cohasset Schools," she added that the community was "arrogant" and "snobby." 13"I made a stupid mistake, it may have cost me my career," she said. 14Talvitie-Siple said she's adjusted her Facebook settings and hopes her experience can be a lesson for others. 15"I take full responsibility for my stupidity and I hope it serves as an example to kids that they need to be very, very vigilant about their privacy," she said. 16If nothing else, Talvitie-Siple can take heart in the fact that she's not the first to get fired for a Facebook faux pas. 17Earlier this year, a sociology professor at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, said she was suspended after updating her Facebook status with complaints about work that alluded to violence. Section 2 Vocabulary: Match these words with the underlined words physical condition careful and aware feel better about something mistake mention overly proud painful/uncomfortable stress cold (caused by a virus) forced to leave work/school temporarily

3 Section 3: Obscenities Draw Attention 18The comments that provoke employers into action usually contain obscenities or exaggerations that could hurt relations with customers. 19Last year, for example, Dan Leone, a stadium worker for the Philadelphia Eagles, was fired after he reacted with an online obscenity to news that one of the Eagles' star players was leaving to join the Denver Broncos. 20"Dan is [deleted] devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver. Dam Eagles R Retarted," (Retarded) was the comment that cost Leone his job. 21Although he later apologized and tried to get his job back, his employer wouldn't budge. 22''If you know your boss is online, or anyone close to your boss is online, don't be making comments that can be detrimental to your employment,'' Leone told The New York Times after the incident. Virgin Workers Fired 23In the U.K., Virgin Atlantic Airlines fired 13 cabin crew members after they made fun of passengers in their postings and quipped about defective engines. 24The discount airline, owned by Sir Richard Branson, told The Guardian at the time that the postings were "totally inappropriate" and "brought the company into disrepute." 25Social media mavens can even get in trouble before they've been hired. Remember the case of the Cisco fatty that went viral last year? Cisco Fatty's Lost Opportunity 26One Twitter user posted an update last year saying "Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work." 27A Cisco employee responded, "Who is the hiring manager? I'm sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the Web." 28Needless to say, the applicant did not end up working at Cisco.

4 Section 3 Vocabulary: Match these words with the underlined words Make employers act won t change his mind have a negative effect Very upset educated bad reputation Joked improper was popular on Internet Big salary bad words decide between money/driving Section 4: Facebook posting gets college student in trouble Posted: Oct 13, :24 PM PDT Updated: Nov 12, :24 PM PST By Steve Ohnesorge, Western Bureau Reporter - bio 29HICKORY, NC (WBTV) - A college student in Hickory is in hot water after what he posted on the school's own Facebook page. 30Marc Bechtol has been banned from Catawba Valley Community College for two semesters because for posting what the college calls "disturbing." 31Bechtol says what he wrote was satire, a joke, he wasn't serious 32"There was no intent to do it," he told WBTV. 33But CVCC officials say it doesn't matter what he says, there's still a student code of conduct. 34School officials said they believe there has been a violation of that code and that Bechtol has been upset for months over a debit card issued to access his student aid. 35The college and a bank have partnered to provide these cards. 36"It's a $19 a month fee for inactivity and 50 cents a transaction," said Bechtol. 37Though the school says students can opt out of the card arrangement, Bechtol went on the CVCC Facebook page and wrote this: 38"Anybody else have an inbox full of spam? Anyone know a good virus to send them? Maybe we should register them with every porn site known to man." 391He backtracked a few posts later, though, and said it was a bit excessive. 40But too late, the school said "no more" and told him to leave campus. He was allowed back in class on Thursday while he waits on the appeal process.

5 41Bechtol will meet with college officials Friday morning to appeal for the second time. If the suspension is upheld, he'll have one more appeal in the next week, and a committee of students will decide his fate. 42"Students we talked with say he was wrong to post what he did, even if he didn't mean it," school officials said. 43Bechtol says he'd like to put it all behind him. Section 4 Vocabulary: Match these words with the underlined words A joke changed his mind too much upsetting ask for a 2 nd chance choose not to use in trouble plan make a new start forced time away from school Questions on Paragraphs Why was Talvitie-Siple forced to resign? What did she say and about whom did she say it? 2. How did people find out about her posts on Facebook? 3. How does Talvitie-Siple feel about being asked to resign? In what paragraph do you get this idea? 4. Why did she feel safe enough to post negative comments on Facebook?

6 Section Teacher: Facebook Posts Grew Out of Frustration Notes Obscenities Draw Attention Virgin Workers Fired Cisco Fatty s Lost Opportunity Facebook Posting Gets College Student in Trouble Sources: Article 1: Article 2: