Freedom of Expression/Association
The Amendment to the Constitution by which teachers are afforded rights to freedom of expression.
What is the first amendment?
A teacher a free to fully exercise religious rights and freedoms outside normal hours of employment.
What is religious freedom?
Incompetency; insubordination; neglect of duty; immorality; a justifiable decrease in the number of teaching positions, or financial exigency; and a statement indicating other good and just cause.
What are grounds for dismissal?
Protecting capable teachers from arbitrary and capricious treatment by school officials.
What is tenure?
Teachers may exercise personal choices, ranging from who they live with to other lifestyle choices.
What is privacy rights?
Teachers must indicate if they are speaking as a private citizen or on behalf of the school district.
What is required before posting an opinion on social media?
A circumstance that renders an employer unable to make accommodations for a teacher taking personal leave to observe a religious holiday.
What is undue hardship?
The most frequently used grounds for dismissal. It can include inefficiency, a lack of skill, inadequate knowledge of subject matter, and inability or unwillingness to teach the curriculum.
What is incompetency?
Successfully completing 3 successive years in the same district during the probationary period and has received an offer for reemployment for the succeeding year.
What is attaining tenure?
A 2003 court ruling that stated consenting adults do have a fundamental right to engage in private homosexual activity.
What is Lawrence vs. Texas?
A teacher may become a candidate for public office if it does not interfere with job effectiveness and must occur after school hours.
Under what circumstances can a teacher run/campaign for political office?
The courts’ recognition that a teacher refusing to teach aspects of state curriculum based on religious beliefs is harmful to students’ learning.
What is compelling state interest?
The organization responsible for providing substantial evidence for the necessary dismissal of a teacher.
What is the board of education?
No expectation for employment beyond the contracted year, no right to be provided for reasons for nonrenewal, no right to due process, and no hearing.
What is non-tenured status?
Responsibilities that must be carried out in order for a teacher to maintain their right to privacy and work for a school district.
What are professional duties?
An amendment that protects a teacher in the following scenario:
A teacher posts on social media negatively about a political candidate. She uses inappropriate wording when she is sharing. Her coworkers are concerned that she is starting to affect her students. She has claimed that she is speaking as a private citizen.
What is the first amendment?
The courts have determined teachers must maintain this position in this scenario:
A teacher that teaches in a rural community pushes her view of Christianity onto her students. Some of her students do not believe in Christianity and is making them uncomfortable.
What must a teacher remain neutral in?
The grounds for dismissal described in the following scenario:
Mr. Williams has been teaching at his current school for several years. During this school year, his principal has noticed that he has been deliberately failing to obey her directives. They are not unreasonable and are expected of all teachers in the school. He refuses to submit lesson plans on time to be reviewed and has failed to make changes to specific teaching strategies when told they are ineffective.
What is insubordination?
The period Mrs. Kitchen is in, in the following scenario:
Mrs. Kitchen has taught three consecutive years in the Columbia Public School district and has been offered reemployment for the following year. Mrs. Kitchen wishes to continue her career at CPS.
What is probationary period?
The unlikely termination of a well respected teacher in the following scenario by school officials:
Mr. Meyer has been teaching at the same district for 15 years. His students have always scored high on MAP tests, and has demonstrated strong relationships with his students. He is also highly respected in the community because he also drives the bus in the morning. Mr. Meyer has strong political views that he shares on Facebook. He has made it very clear that he is speaking as a private citizen. Despite some complaints from other collegues, the board decides to renew Mr. Meyer’s contract.
What is removal from an employment position due to right of privacy?
A concept that limits a public school teacher in the following scenario:
Mrs. Johnson is a first-year 2nd-grade teacher. She does not like one of the Social Studies standards, so she decides to create her own about a completely different topic that is controversial. Her principal intervenes and requests that she use the standard given and the topic is not appropriate for 2nd graders.
What is academic freedom?
The right afforded to teachers that is being violated by the principal in this scenario:
A principal is interviewing a teacher for a position at their school. The teacher lets them know that she will have to take a few days of personal leave to observe a religious holiday during the school year. The principal decides not to hire the teacher because they don’t want to worry about finding a sub during that time of year.
What is religious freedom?
The grounds for dismissal described in the following scenario from the textbook:
While on a field trip, a chaperone observed a male teacher tickling and touching female students on various parts of their bodies. This chaperone immediately contacted the administration.
What are sexual advances toward students?
The type of tenure Mr. Smith receives in the following scenario:
Mr. Smith is a 3rd year teacher and has taught in the same school district for all 3 years. Last year he was notified that he was not performing well, and was given a plan for improvement. Mr. Smith did not meet those requirements, so the district decided to not renew his contract. The distract failed to notify Mr. Smith of his nonrenewal in a timely manner.
What is requering tenure by default?
The right violated in the following scenario:
A teacher informs a colleague that they have been engaging in adulterous activity in their private life. The teacher continues to excel at their job and promote learning and growth for their students. However, the colleague decides to tell the principal about the teacher’s private life and the teacher is terminated.
What is Right to Privacy?