Here's a followup to last week's news that a 9-year-old boy was suspended for calling his teacher "cute." From a blog post at Education News which has all the details (click here):
[A]fter a district investigation, officials have found that Emanyea [the boy] did nothing wrong. The school board then gave principal Jerry Bostic the option to resign or have his contract terminated.
Bostic, who had been working for 44 years, said:
"I didn’t show a history of making problems like that. I’ve had the best of evaluations my entire career and because of some syndicated columnist in New York or California, I don’t have a job. ...
"I admit I made some errors in what I did, but to fire me or to demote me with 44 years in it, it just doesn’t make sense. ..."
So, because of the action of suspending the boy the principal has now been fired for his heavy handedness. I guess if you're in a punitive system the buck gets passed up the chain of command. But I say this all seems heavy-handed to me, especially when we know that when people get into a circle and talk things through – even when mistakes are made – there's the potential to resolve problems sanely and to everyone's satisfaction.
