Facebook post lands Torrance special-education teacher in hot water

[alp227]

By Rob Kuznia, The Daily Breeze

Posted: 12/12/13, 7:50 PM PST |

Torrance >> A special-education teacher in the Torrance Unified School District has been removed from the classroom after infuriating parents with a Facebook post saying she was about to enter a meeting with “crazy parents” to discuss an autistic student whom the teacher describes as a “hot mess.”

The teacher, Suzanne Hutton, led a class of seven children with autism at Howard Wood Elementary School.

The swiftness with which the district took action in her case underscores how quickly a social-media blunder can backfire in an age where every private person has a public platform.

A few minutes before 9 a.m. on Dec. 5, Hutton was about to enter a meeting with parents to discuss their child’s Individualized Education Program, which amounts to a plan that spells out learning objectives and documents the progress of special-education students. Widely known as IEPs, the plans are a staple of the special-education experience and require regular meetings involving teachers, attorneys, administrators and parents.

full: http://www.dailybreeze.com/social-affairs/20131212/facebook-post-lands-torrance-special-education-teacher-in-hot-water

[Warren DeMontague]

1. Yeah, referring to a student as a "hot mess" and parents as "crazy".. I could see how that would be

a problem.

[Decaffeinated]

29. Leaving accuracy aside of course...

[Jenoch]

2. This woman apparently has no idea how Facebook really works.

[bluestateguy]

3. Not appropriate but I don't want a precedent set that people can lose their job b/c of a FB post

Those who are offended by her FB post are welcome to ignore it.

[Logical]

8. I disagree. How about calling the principal an asshole? Or a student retarded? That ok? n-t

[etherealtruth]

12. I don't think FB gives liscence to abandon professional ethics

I thinking firing someone because they (albeit stupidly) post photos of themselves in asinine positions, post political beliefs, group affiliations sets a really bad precedent .... However, abandoning professional ethics is never acceptable

[WinkyDink]

13. She isn't just a "people"; she is, legally, a representative of her school district, which can now

terminate her employment.

[Ms. Toad]

15. Anything related to a student's disability is highly confidential.

Aside from anything else, this teacher had a grand total of 7 students in her class. Not too hard for even a casual observer to figure out which one was meeting with her that morning.

Because of the nature of the work she does, it would have been inappropriate for her to have that conversation with anyone (other than perhaps other faculty/staff members with access to the confidential information about that student)just as she was heading into that meeting; she broadcast it to the world. It is not a matter of posting on Facebook about life in general; it is because she was making in appropriate disclosures (regardless of the media) given the nature of her job and obligations of confidentiality.

And - in case you aren't aware - in most states you can get fired because of a FB post, or because you have blue eyes, or because you like coffee - or anything else except for being a member of a protected class.

[Johonny]

41. I agree

management that fire workers based only on crap in the social media and not on job performance are idiots. Like everything on the social media a good manager knows the public has a 30 second attention span and if they do nothing... people will move on to the next Outrage!!!!!!!. Of course it is always possible the person does suck at their job and this made a nice excuse to a remove the person. A FB post and the outrage never tells the really story about what is going on. We pretend to know but we never really know

[ManiacJoe]

4. Now would be a good time for folks to review their FaceBook privacy settings.

The default for "who sees my posts" should NOT be "everyone".

[ecstatic]

45. Also a good time for teachers who view their students

and their parents as crazy/hot messes to change careers. I'm sure it's not easy to be the parent of a child with autism. That woman shouldn't be teaching! Good riddance!

[etherealtruth]

5. She basically identified the student (without naming names) on a public forum

Anyone familiar would likely be able to immediately identify the student and the parents ... which is simply unacceptable.

I loathe people being fired for posting on facebook ... political opinions, personal behaviors, affiliations etc ... but, identifying a student/ family in such a manner is really unacceptable.

[Stargazer09]

39. ^^THIS^^

I agree that getting fired over Facebook posts is not usually a good thing, but that post crossed a line.

[NightWatcher]

6. What good could have possibly come from a post bitching about work?

I love when people do things that have no possible upside, but as in this case, a very negative downside.



I do love that I don't have to worry about a job or security clearance anymore. I can post anything I like...but I don't because there's no upside and might be a downside.

[dionysus]

23. my tenant bitched about his boss on facebook; he was facebook friends with the bosses daughter.

he was lucky, all he got was "why don't you pick up the phone and call us instead of bitching on facebook?"

[JI7]

7. it's one of those things which if said to close friends would be ok

but do people have such huge egos that they feel they are so important to put out everything they think , do, say out to the public ?

and i don't have a problem with people getting fired because of facebook if it relates to their job in some way or even if it's just so offensive.

[Logical]

9. + 1000 nt

[etherealtruth]

16. Actually, even that is a breach of her professional ethics

[JI7]

17. yes, i mean more about complaining about work

not about giving away info on students.

even on facebook if she had just said she is tired after a long day at work or something similar and wanted to go for drinks there would be nothing wrong with that.

but she attacked and pretty much identified a student.

[etherealtruth]

18. Yeah, we are in agreement on this

[demigoddess]

43. as a parent of a handicapped daughter

I was subjected to so much prejudice from special ed teachers that I find this disgusting. "Crazy parents" can mean that she does not respect their side of things or the work they do to take care of their kids. The parents are also doing a job. Would the teacher like having their complaints about her all over the place?? Believe me, I could tell stories about my daughter's teachers over the years!!!

[alp227]

37. Well if you're in a job that involves service to people, whether education, law enforcement,

medicine, or food preparation, you open your public personality to scrutiny. It's not like this teacher is being railroaded based on hearsay and gossip. The evidence is out there in the form of social media posting.

[Jefferson23]

10. Hopefully, she'll get her wish:

Hutton’s first post that raised eyebrows happened during the first week of school, when she wrote, “OK so this work thing is getting in my (sic) way of my social life! June can’t come fast enough!!!”

[knitter4democracy]

22. Um...okay....

I see many problems that someone should have been working with her on...

[Jefferson23]

25. Yes, and I am curious why her language one week into school and then again

before a PPT refers to stress and her social life. She may have been a competent teacher before,
but something is up.

[lumberjack_jeff]

31. I think that a good case can be made that she's a problem that the community needs help with. n/t

[WinkyDink]

11. She oughta be fired for STUPIDITY!! (I speak as someone who also once dealt with IEP's.)

[tritsofme]

14. She made her comment visible to the public.

Without any privacy settings, not a smart move.

[mythology]

19. Why I never talk about work on social media

I don't have a Facebook account, but I don't list my employer on my Google+ account and don't talk about my work. It just doesn't have enough of an upside to justify the risk. Not just in terms of this, but there's the idea that somebody might mistake my words for the company's position.

[dionysus]

24. yup. 1) privacy settings; use them 2) don't talk about work, or coworkers.

[liberal_at_heart]

20. Any one who can't handle the stress of being a special education teacher better than that shouldn't

be working with special education students.

[Whisp]

21. really unfortunate.

be careful what you say, didn't Ari Flescher the ratfuck say that back in George Junior reign?

seems to be true.
you won't catch me saying anything Slightly controversial or possibly misunderstood on FB - I hardly ever visit there tho. FB is sick.

sick. There is something terribly wrong.

[leftyohiolib]

26. that is who i was thinking of the whole time reading this hot mess

[Le Taz Hot]

27. She needs to be let go

to get a few more years of schooling. If you're a teacher and you can't tell the difference between to, too and two, you need to find another profession.

[tblue37]

42. Last week I read several comments on an article about tenure. The

grammar errors committed by teachers in their comments were beyond belief!

[ileus]

28. We have a private facebook group with a few teachers.

included....parents wouldn't be happy if they could read our posts sometimes.

[lumberjack_jeff]

30. Now happy hour is 8 hours longer. n/t

[WillowTree]

32. One more time.......Facebook didn't land this teacher in hot water.......

........she did that to herself. Personally, I don't think she's smart enough to teach children.......autistic or otherwise.

[Sheldon Cooper]

33. What a dumbass.

I read the article and I wonder if she's said stupid things before. A group of parents was monitoring her?

The meeting began at 9 a.m. By 9:15 a.m., parents of another child in the class had screen-grabbed the post and emailed it to Jacqueline Williams, the district’s director of special education. By the time the meeting ended at 10:30 a.m., an attorney who represents the school district had seen the email and forwarded it to human resources, according to one of the parents who’d been monitoring the teacher’s posts. The next morning, Hutton was removed from the classroom.

[Terra Alta]

35. She made it very easy for these parents to monitor her

By making her posts public. These parents could see her posts without friending her on FB. Not a wise move on her part.

[Sheldon Cooper]

36. Really dumb move. But why were they monitoring her, I wonder?

Does she have a history of bad public behavior with regard to her job?

[Terra Alta]

34. She isn't smart enough to use privacy settings

And she's teaching autistic children?

ANY teacher -- whether they teach autistic kids or not -- ought to have their posts set to "Friends Only".

[Shandris]

38. So in this thread we have...

...people who think that she doesn't understand how it 'really' works, people who think it's completely personal, others who think it's a platform for 'professionalism', others who think it makes one a 'representative'. There seems to be little agreement on what a Facebook is to be used -for-. I find that anything so ubiquitous, but so misunderstood, is invariably something that exists only to get normal people in trouble.

"Gee Shandris, I can't imagine why you don't have Facebook! Everyone needs one!" Not in a million years.

[Initech]

40. Another idiot who failed to learn the first rule of social media.

Don't say anything you'll regret later.

[Coyotl]

44. Suzanne, buy this: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Facebook, 3E

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Guide-Facebook-Guides/dp/1615642161

[AverageJoe90]

46. I really don't see the issue here, TBH.

Who knows? Maybe the kid was a mess. Maybe this kids *does* have crazy parents.....not willing to judge her on this, sorry.