Effigy Of President Found Hanging In R.I. School

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CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. (CBS) ― Click to enlarge1 of 1
President Barack Obama waves as he walks towards Marine One while departing the White House on March 15, 2010 in Washington, DC.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

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A Rhode Island teacher has been disciplined after an effigy of President Barack Obama was found hanging by its ankle in his classroom.

The male teacher at Central Falls High School was not named, nor did the school district say specifically what disciplinary action was taken.

Central Falls is the troubled high school where all of the teachers were fired last month in an effort to reform the chronically underperforming school, reports CBS station WBZ-TV.

Superintendent Dr. Frances Gallo told CNN that the President Obama doll was found late Monday night holding a sign that said "Fire Central Falls teachers." Obama had called the firings in Central Falls an example of holding failing schools accountable.

"This was an ill-conceived imprudent act that has upset the lives of some of our students," Gallo said in a written statement. "The matter was investigated by the District, reported to the appropriate authorities, and the proper disciplinary actions have been taken."

The Central Falls teachers union also condemned the teacher's action, which he described to the union as a "lesson plan."

"Simply put, the teacher's actions were wrong and cannot be condoned under any circumstances," union president Jane Sessums said. "The teacher has apologized verbally to his students and has asked Superintendent Frances Gallo for permission to apologize to them in writing. He understands that his actions affect not just his students but all of us. There is no excuse for what he did."


http://wcbstv.com/national/president.barack.obama.2.1572732.html

[Mari333]

1. man, its ugly out there.

[bluestateguy]

2. I have been undecided about the Central Falls teacher firing matter

I am now in the "leaning in favor" camp.

[my2sense]

3. Yes, this man has no

business teaching our youth.

[reggie the dog]

12. why not?

he had a doll of the president hanging by his ankle....

[EFerrari]

7. So you also believe in collective punishment?

[DevonRex]

30. I am at least questioning the culture that exists among the teachers there.

If this teacher thought it was okay, do the others feel the same way? If this teacher thinks that promoting violence and racism in an actual "lesson plan" is okay, then what do the other teachers think?

At the very least I am glad this man lost his job.

[Arctic Dave]

4. What are they going to do, fire him.

Personal attacks are usually met with personal attacks.

[Tailormyst]

11. Bingo

[radical noodle]

5. It's sad that it's come to this

What this teacher did was totally wrong, although I think Obama was off base to applaud the firings of all the teachers as well. I think it made him seem mean-spirited and out-of-touch with teachers, and was a huge blow to a group of people who probably supported him.

[Catshrink]

6. Well said.

The guy probably figured he's lost his job anyway so why not show his frustration. But that's not the way to do it. People need to see this as the act of one person who showed poor judgement and not use it to castigate the entire teaching profession but I've seen too much here lately to think this will happen.

[WinkyDink]

19. Out of touch with teachers; with the reality of teaching; with the ECONOMY; with the value of public

schools, now and historically; with too many things.

Including, I suspect, his own political future.

[Pirate Smile]

8. Not exactly a good PR move.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. I blame the parents of the students. Not the teacher.

:crazy:

[Fresh_Start]

13. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to blame the teacher's parents

shouldn't they have raised him better
and spent more time teaching him how to behave in an appropriate fashion
and most important to teach him to show respect

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mbperrin]

14. Let's see, fire someone and expect them to cheerfully work for the next

three months as if nothing had happened, and then the President applauds your firing, while expecting that same fired someone to complete their job as if nothing were happening?

I suspect the doll was hung by its ankle for a reason, so that lynching was not a factor.

Do I condone the teacher's action? Not at all. But the management of any organization that fires a group months in advance and leaves them on the job certainly has no understanding of people at all or of standard practices involved in termination of employees.

So there's plenty of opportunity to point fingers at lots of people, including the President.

[northernlights]

15. I for one am a little tired of pics of President Obama cheerfully smiling and waving

while over and over again, I get stabbed in the back by his policies.

While I don't condone the teacher's inappropriate behavior, I also think mass firing of the school was totally inappropriate and President Obama approving it equally inappropriate. I don't care how much President Obama was smiling and waving. It was wrong.

3 wrongs don't make a right. But neither did 2 wrongs make a right.

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. +1

[kiva]

24. +2 n/t

[JVS]

17. I don't care. Obama pissed all over that teacher, and if that's how the teacher chooses to...

exercise his right to free speech, so be it.

[msanthrope]

31. How about the minority students who got to have it in their classroom?

He has very limited speech rights in his workplace.

[DevonRex]

37. You think it's fine to hang the black president in effigy as part of his "lesson plan?"

Good lord. What has DU come to?

[WinkyDink]

18. The teacher just MIGHT have been a bit upSET that he was FIRED, and Obama APPLAUDED THIS ACTION.

A MAN LOST HIS JOB, FIRST, AND SECOND, IN THIS ECONOMY, AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES THOUGHT IT WAS GREAT.

I KNOW WHICH MAN'S ACTIONS I VIEW AS REPREHENSIBLE.

[tonysam]

21. +1,000

The man didn't just lose his job but his entire livelihood and will likely NEVER be able to teach ever again anywhere in the United States because he was terminated. And that was BEFORE the "effigy" deal.

[Tailormyst]

28. Not just terminated, but a termination cheered on by THE PRESIDENT

He will be lucky to get a job teaching anywhere other then some RW private school. I would bet that every single teacher Obama applauded the firing of, was a supporter of his during the election.

[tonysam]

40. The fact he worked at Central Falls H.S. blackballs him throughout the country.

Pretty pathetic when this kind of bullshit is cheered on by so-called liberals on a DEMOCRATIC board.

[DevonRex]

26. There is NO excuse for hanging a black man in effigy. NONE.

It is racist. It is violent. The man should never be allowed near children again in his whole life. He obviously chose the wrong profession. And now I applaud this particular man's firing. I cheer it loudly.

[dave29]

32. wow.

all caps in support of effigy. Nice.

[msanthrope]

33. So that excuses his actions toward minority students? The teacher's union

doesn't support your position.

[RexS]

20. And we see why they get fired, to bad a few are probably wonderful

teachers...hell move down here to Texas! We need educators ASAP, our state is going loonie for superstitions right now. I'm sure the Great Pumpkin will one day appear in Texas history books as an antagonizer of Jesus before his cowboy days.

[WinkyDink]

22. Excuse me, but if "we see why they get fired", then why, pray, was this teacher not THE ONLY ONE?

And why, then, didn't his Administrators FIRE HIM BEFORE NOW?

Yeah, because THE ANTI-TEACHER CROWD is using this POST-FIRING revelation as a PRE-FIRING raison d'etre.

Sorry.

[tonysam]

27. I am glad you see through the bullshit.

Too many people have too much invested in Obama to see the reality of what he is doing to public education.

[RexS]

29. Anti teacher crowd? You sound like a loon.

No one is against teachers, duh. I've personally worked with a lot of shitty teachers and a few good ones. You go ahead and assume away anything you want. Some teachers suck, deal with it.

[FBaggins]

34. "No one is against teachers"

Yet you know lots of bad ones and a "few" good ones?

Sure sounds like an anti-teacher sentiment.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

35. You insult your former teachers with such a poor display of logic.

Using an extension of your logic, you are anti-teacher.

[FBaggins]

36. Nope.

Notably missing from your statement is anything that backs it up.

The post described a data set of personal experience with teachers that included a solid majority ("most" compared to "few") that were "sh1tty"...

...since this does not describe reality - it is in no way unreasonable to assume a bias... it's certainly less insulting than assuming the alternative (gross ignorance on the part of the poster).

[tonysam]

38. Oh, B.S. The anti-teacher crap is rife here because Obama is GOD

despite his neoliberalism and right-wing beliefs about education, but you're too invested in Obama to admit it.

I call bullshit on your knowing "shitty" teachers. I'll bet you don't.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

39. Uh, puhlease.

If Obama had spoken out against the teacher firing, all the people shouting "anti-teacher" would instead be shouting "anti-student."

[ProSense]

23. Statement by Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers

Statement by Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers

WASHINGTON—No facts or circumstances can justify the actions of a Central Falls High School teacher who hung a doll of President Obama upside down in his classroom as part of what he described as a lesson plan. The teacher’s actions were wrong and unacceptable.

The teacher has apologized to all his students, and understands that his actions affect not just them but all of us. As teachers, we hold ourselves to a high standard, and must do everything possible to promote respect and fight bigotry.

[laughingliberal]

25. Disgusting nt