Natalie Munroe, a former English teacher at Central Bucks East High School near Philadelphia, alleges that her firing was an act of retaliation for calling students "disengaged, lazy whiners" on her blog. A Philadelphia-area high school teacher who was suspended last year for calling her students "frightfully dim," "whiny" and "tactless" on her blog has been fired.
Natalie Munroe, formerly an English teacher at Central Bucks East High School, is alleging that her freedom of speech rights were violated when the school board voted unanimously to fire her on Tuesday. Munroe filed a suit in federal court on Friday after being notified of the board's intention to fire her, according to the Associated Press.
School board president Paul Faulkner said in a statement that the termination "has nothing to do with freedom of speech," but rather an "obligation to have satisfactory teachers in its classrooms.""Ms. Munroe's lawsuit against the school district asserts that she was an excellent teacher and given excellent ratings," Faulkner said, according to The (Doylestown) Intelligencer. "Nothing could be further from the truth. Ms. Munroe was, at best, a satisfactory teacher and was experiencing performance difficulties well before her blog became an issue."
Munroe's suit accuses the district's superintendent and the Central Bucks East principal of violating her free speech rights by "harassing and retaliating against her" because of her blog. Munroe said she was subjected to frequent unannounced classroom visits and "ridiculous and overly critical evaluations."
The 31-year-old teacher was suspended in February 2011 after the school read her blog -- entitled "Where Are We Going & Why Are We in This Handbasket" -- in which she called her students "disengaged, lazy whiners.""They curse, discuss drugs, talk back, argue for grades, complain about everything, fancy themselves entitled to whatever they desire, and are just generally annoying," Munroe wrote.
She also listed comments that she said she wished she could write on student evaluations, such as "I hear the trash company is hiring" and "I called out sick a couple of days just to avoid your son."
Munroe told Good Morning America that it never crossed her mind that anyone would see her blog. When she returned to the classroom after her suspension, over 200 parents had notified Central Bucks East High School that they didn't want their children in her class.
In an interview with the Associated Press last year, Munroe said she wrote partly out of frustration because she felt many kids today are being given a free pass at school and at home. "Parents are more trying to be their kids' friends and less trying to be their parent," Munroe said.
Faulkner insisted that Munroe was "subject to the same supervisory observations from district administrators as other teachers and all found her performance to be unsatisfactory."
On June 5, Munroe posted on her blog, saying, "In short, yes, I've been set up. For now, that's all I'm going to say about it." She later blogged about how the issue was "bigger" than just her job:"It's about freedom of speech," Munroe wrote. "It's about having integrity and not compromising the truth. It's about the downward spiral of our education system and the low value that people place on education."
What do you think -- Was Munroe's termination a violation of her freedom of speech rights? Leave your comments below.