Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 11-13-15 Edition

Feature
Punishment Of Teacher Who Posted Negative
Remarks About Black Children Gets Overturned
BY IRIS B. HOLTON
Sentinel City Editor
Last month in a 4-3 vote, members of the Hillsborough County School Board over- turned punishment handed down by the Superintendent. In- stead, the board voted to relo- cate the teacher and provide additional training.
In July of this year, Dennis Brooks was a teacher of ESE students at Mango Elementary School. While reading articles about discipline issues, Brooks posted a blog.
According to the school board meeting records, Attor- ney James J. Porter, who represented the School Board, quoted Brooks as saying, “Keep catering to them. Political cor- rectness is going to destroy this country. Face the facts adminis- trators and politicians. One race is causing most of the problems in public schools, black, all cap, exclamation point.
“He posted that comment out there for everybody to see. People commented on his com- ment. One person put in a rhetorical thing asking if he was a racist. And Mr. Brooks re- sponded the next day, ‘can you read, bro. Not a racist either. Stating facts. The facts being that Blacks are the cause of most of the problems in public school education,” Attorney Porter said.
According to the documen- tation, several people read the blog and were concerned about it. His principal, Ms. Felicia Davis, said the comments
DORETHA EDGECOMB Board Vice Chairperson
CAROL KURDELL
turned by School Board Chair- person Susan Valdes, and Board Members April Griffin, Sally Harris, and Cindy Stu- art. These Board Members are the same foursome who voted to oust former Superintendent MaryEllen Elia earlier this year.
By overturning the punish- ment, the four decided that Brooks, who had been as- signed to the school for 14 years, should be relocated and re- quired to receive additional training.
Vice Chairman Doretha Edgecomb, Carol Kurdell, and Melissa Snively voted in favor of the suspension and re- location handed down by Su-
those.
“... At what point do we say
this person’s speech is okay but this person’s speech is not. I’m not going to sanction anybody’s speech when they’re speaking on their own time.”
Ms. Edgecomb said, “I, too have regard and respect for the First Amendment rights and the ability of each of us to express those. But for me there is also a line that comes with your re- sponsibility and your roles, pub- licly or privately. The fact that it was in July, he was still a teacher. December, he would still be a teacher. August, he’s still a teacher. And so just be- cause he was just a guy respond- ing to an article doesn’t lessen his responsibility and role as a teacher.”
Ms. Edgecomb pointed out that this is the first time the board has conducted a hearing of this nature.
Ms. Melissa Snively, who voted to support the suspension said, “... It is clear that a policy created by the Board has been violated. That is very clear that it has been violated by Mr. Brooks.”
Ms. Snively also pointed out that “it’s our job to uphold the policies of the school board. And if we want to change that tomorrow, that’s fine. But this is what we’re dealing with right now today.”
Ms. Sally Harris said, “By no means do I agree with the public comment that was made, nor support it. However, I do feel that there’s quite a bit of punishment here, ten days, no pay, moving schools. That had to be a disruption of life for this person... there was a public apology and there has been training.
“So it goes back to how our district is looking at discipline, even for the children. We’re try- ing to be fair. We’re trying to be equal. We’re trying to not go overboard. And I kind of feel like we’re going overboard on this issue.’
Ms. Harris voted in favor of overturning the suspension.
Ms. Carol Kurdell said, “I think of 14 years worth of stu- dents that were under this teacher’s care that felt like that. And I can tell you, as a parent of a child who had an exceptional- ity, and what comes with that, whether it’s intended or not, it is unconscionable that anybody in the teaching profession would do this, whether it’s on time or off time.”
JEFF EAKINS School Superintendent
MELISSA SNIVELY
reached her. Eventually, the comments were brought to the attention of Professional Stan- dards.
Superintendent Jeff Eakins decided to suspend Brooks without pay for ten days and relocate him to another school. Brooks appealed his punishment to the School Board.
Attorney Porter advised the board that they could vote to support the recommendation from Superintendent Eakins, vote to deny the rec- ommendation, or vote for pun- ishment or a disciplinary action less than the recommended 10- day suspension.
The punishment was over-
perintendent Eakins. Brooks was represented by
Attorney Mark Herdman,
who argued his case based on Brooks’ Constitutional First Amendment right.
Attorney Herdman said, “I think it’s a free speech First Amendment issue... And there were people on blogs, started writing on the blogs and Mr. Brooks joined in and wrote something on the blog that was, by own admission, inartful, and probably inappropriate. And if he had to do it over again, he would change the wording of it.”
Attorney Herdman goes on to state that Brooks did not identify himself as an employee of the Hillsborough County School District. However, he said if someone were to hit on his name, it would then take that person to Brooks’ Facebook page.
“So it’s not like he was stand- ing out on the street, you know, on a soapbox talking. He was --- he wrote something on a blog in July when he was not working, not employed, that the district found offensive.”
He further asked if the School Board wants to put themselves in the position of disciplining its employees for speech made in their private lives that the District does not like.
Ms. April Griffin said, “My thoughts as a Constitu- tional officer are this. I must protect the First Amendment. I must allow people to have differ- ence in opinions than myself and be able to freely express
SUSAN VALDES Board Chairperson ... Voted to overturn
SALLY HARRIS ... Voted to overturn
APRIL GRIFFIN ... Voted to overturn
CINDY STUART ... Voted to overturn
PAGE 4-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2015