Bad Idea: Unprofessional Online Behavior

Late last winter, I read online about Natalie Munroe, a Philadelphia area teacher who blogged quite negatively about her school district and students and was subsequently asked to leave her job.  At the time, I thought that her behavior was thoughtless and very unprofessional, and that she was yet another public story portraying the teaching profession in a bad light.

This week, she is back in the news, and it sounds like she will be back in the classroom for the new school year. She also has resumed blogging, and I find her writing to be very self-absorbed, self-rightous, and neither interesting nor entertaining.

While we are insured freedom of speech by the Bill of Rights, we as teachers are held to a higher standard.  I do not find it appropriate that she will retain her job.  She used her freedom of speech to insult her young students! Any rapport she may have built with her students will be destroyed, and she will not enjoy respect from her students, parents, fellow teachers, or administration.

 Everyone makes mistakes, but I do not think that Natalie Munroe should get a second chance.  She has lost the trust of her students that is necessary to be an effective teacher.  What do you think?  Does she deserve this second chance at a teaching career?