Here come the lawyers: High school teacher Elizabeth Anne Moore is tired of students telling her to go *beep* herself in class, and so she's taking it to the courts:
Elizabeth Anne Moore, a reading teacher at Trevor G. Browne High School (AZ), claims in a court petition that the 15-year-old student daily tells her in front of other students "to go (expletive) myself." Moore, 53, says the boy also uses a crude expression in telling classmates that she offers sexual favors to students.
"I am sexually harassed and abused by his vulgar language and unable to protect my other students from him," Moore wrote. "His father tells me he cannot control (his son)"...
Moore, a Peoria resident, asked the Peoria Justice Court to issue an injunction to stop the harassment. A hearing is set for April 20.
Tom Horne, state schools superintendent, said Friday that legal action is rare for a teacher, if not unprecedented. "If the facts alleged are true, the student should have been expelled," Horne said.
Penny Kotterman, president of the Arizona Education Association, said she was unaware of the case but believes Moore may have failed to get relief through normal channels, so she finally took matters into her own hands.
"It's not common," Kotterman said. "It should never be necessary."
Kotterman also said school administrators sometimes tend to brush off problems by accusing teachers of failing to control their classrooms.
What IS Ms. Moore supposed to do with a kid whose parent brushes off her concerns? Send him to the principal's office every day? Suspend him every time he opens his mouth? Apparently, she tried that, and wasn't happy with the administrative response (although a district spokesman said officials have responded properly). I hope the school district is very embarrassed by this situation, because Ms. Moore shouldn't have to face this kind of abuse every day on her own.
Posted by kswygert at April 12, 2004 11:33 AM