The story of an Enka Middle School teacher’s written comment on a student’s paper is being picked up by all kinds of news outlets.
Here’s the gist, from the Asheville Citizen-Times:
ASHEVILLE — An Enka Middle School teacher was suspended for two weeks without pay Monday following an investigation into a complaint that he wrote the word “loser” on a student’s paper.
The decision came after county schools Superintendent Tony Baldwin met with the family of the child over the weekend and with the teacher, Rex Roland, on Monday, according to schools spokeswoman Jan Blunt.
In addition to the suspension, Roland must undergo “training in professional and ethical classroom behavior before he returns to the school,” according to school officials.
“We do not tolerate, we do not support that type of behavior. We don’t in any way excuse it,” Blunt said.
The student’s mother had complained that Roland, a social studies teacher, wrote “-20% for being a loser” on one of her daughter’s assignments.
The mother first complained last fall about “loser” being written on her daughter’s school work. She contacted school officials again this year after discovering another assignment with the remark written on it. That assignment, which was undated, apparently was from last fall, before the mother’s initial complaint.
Roland could not be reached to comment Monday. The Citizen-Times has not identified the student or her mother, who could not be reached for comment.
A counselor at the school talked with classes to let students know the girl involved “was not to be bothered in any way,” Blunt said.
Fox News has a story. Associated Content has it, too. You can check out the WLOS story here.
5 Comments
Yes, that is an excellent approach to teaching! Label the student a "loser" and demonstrate one’s own immaturity, cuteness, and tendency to bully. We wouldn’t want the TEACHER to annotate the weaknesses in the paper and provide guidance on improvement. We certainly would not want specific and objective guidance and the request that the student re-write the paper. That might improve the student’s writing!
Of course, as Bill said, I’m sure this "teacher" is able to identify a middle-school kid as a "loser" and he was perhaps just exercising honesty.
I went to Enka Middle School. My life took a turn for the ground shortly there after.
The punishment seems appropriate. Sadly, this little girl will always have to remember this publicized event. And Roland’s family has had to deal with all of this negative attention towards him, and now the loss of his wages during his suspension, all because he can’t seem to teach without pretending to be an 11 year old boy. A teacher who tries to ingratiate himself with students by behaving as though he possesses the same level of maturity as the children is a poor teacher. He is an adult authority figure and should behave as such. . He needs to re-examine his motivation for teaching and think about his role in his students’ lives. Newsflash: It’s not to be their cool "buddy".
There’s a silver lining to this episode. Since the story broke, more people will be convinced that the media has the world’s worst judgment when it comes to deciding what’s worth publishing and what is not. Just speaking for myself, the more people who these stories lwith tablespoons of salt, the better.
We’re all a lot safer that way.
well? is the kid a loser, or not?
maybe he was being honest.