Well, he is a liberal – and a Democrat candidate for the legislature. Why would they possibly want to fire him for professional misconduct?

An eighth-grade science teacher, who is a Democratic candidate for state office, won't face suspension for showing students a derogatory, profanity-filled Internet film about the president.

Limestone County Superintendent Barry Carroll said Thursday that he talked with West Limestone High School teacher Steve White about showing the film.
"It's a personnel matter, and it's been handled," Carroll said. "Both I and Principal Stan Davis discussed the matter with him. He's not on suspension or anything like that."

Carroll would not specify how he handled it.

White has qualified to run for District 4 state representative, which includes portions of Limestone and Morgan counties.

A personnel matter? Well I suppose it was, but it should have been handled much more severely. Consider what he showed to a captive audience of middle school students.

The video by Filmstripinternational.com opens with the words "American Civics Volume II" and shows black and white clips of war and what appears to be the Great Depression.

It refers to a country at war, the poor getting poorer and jobs moving overseas. Then it shows a color photo of President Bush with a profane caption.

That upset some parents, who complained to school officials about the content of the clips featuring Bush, members of his administration and his supporters.

Other captions, some containing profanity, are shown under photos of Texas Rep. Tom DeLay, Vice President Dick Cheney, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Focus on the Family's Dr. James Dobson and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

The band Big Jim's Ego performs the film's song. As images of Bush's administration scroll across the screen, the song says:

And I know there are those people,
Who say they never are to blame;
And that's not my modus operandi,
I don't play that game.
And then there are some people, who claim the sun shines out their behind
And it's oh so hard to get them to change their mind;
And I've given up trying.

Carroll said White did not give a reason for showing the film. Carroll said the incident occurred before spring break.

Somebody, please, explain to me a sound educational reason for showing a profane political propaganda piece in a middle school level science classroom. I mean, I only have a decade of experience teaching on the high school level (half of it teaching social studies courses) and a nearly a decade teaching government on the college level, so I may lack the training and level of expertise to understand the valid educational objective that the film would accomplish in an eighth grade science setting . I’ve not been able to think of one -- not even for my high school history classroom.

In light of the clear abuse of his position, I think termination is in order. And if the school board does not quickly intervene in this situation, I believe that the voters should see to it that they also are removed from any position of influence in the school district.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin writes on this topic today -- and the article she links to points to some interesting details about this clown's "science" class. This isn't the first time he has turned the topic to politics -- or imposed his views on students.

[Parent Christy] Jackson said she is disturbed by both the political message and the obscenities in the video. “I don’t see what that has to do with science,� she said.

According to her son and his friends, she said, discussion in White’s science class often turns to politics.

“I know of one instance where my son was told he couldn’t leave the room without saying, ‘John Kerry rocks,’� she said. “I think my son is entitled to his opinion, just like (his teacher) is. I don’t think any issue should be forced on my son.�

I'm sorry, but such conduct by a teacher is outrageous! He certainly out-did Jay Bennish by a country mile. Imposing a statement of political loyalty upon a student in any class -- much less a science class -- is not simply unprofessional, but also unAmerican.

Oh, and about the content of the video in question -- this additional article includes some furhter explanation of the objectional contents.

The video clip, which can be viewed at Filmstripinternational.com, shows a slideshow of images accompanied by a song called “A—hole.� The slides show President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and others in the administration. Words are typed on each image; a photo of bush in college bears the caption “A ‘bad apple’ in college.� A scene showing Rice said she was shopping for shoes after the “levee broke.�

The word a—hole is sung nine times and shown on screen 11 times; the s-word is used once and someone is shown “flipping a bird� once.

In.

Eighth.

Grade.

Science.

Class.

How on earth can this be defended -- and how can a reprimand possibly be sufficient?

Oh -- don't overlook these previous actions by the panty-waist superintendent, Dr. Barry Carroll.

On Dec. 14, Carroll immediately suspended and then recommended that board members fire a school bus driver accused of using a vulgarity aboard the bus. The board did not terminate the driver.

In August of 2004, Carroll removed Internet access for teachers and students from county schools to prevent misuse and protect students. A few months later, access was returned to those faculty and staff who signed Internet use agreements and stated they would not access the Internet for personal use. Students only have access to Internet sites that are pre-approved by teachers.

A single vulgar statement was grounds for terminating a bus driver back in December, according to Carroll -- but 21 vulgar words and an obscene hand gesture in the classroom merits only a stern talking-to for a teacher. Seems to me that he has a warped notion of appropriate professional conduct. And givent hat the material in question would have been barred to the students under district policy -- and that accessing the video from school could in no way be deemed as a part of White's professional duties (remember -- he teaches science), it appears that Carroll is unwilling to enforce district policies in a fair and even-handed way when the out-of-control employee is a politically-connected left-winger. I'd have to argue that not only does Steve White merit termination, but that Dr. Carroll needs to go as well. And if I lived in the area, I'd look askance at the school board, too, for letting this situation be handled in such a manner.

UPDATED HERE -- 4/11/06 & HERE

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