Teacher Loses Job After Commenting About Students, Parents on Facebook

[Valerie]

She said she thought it was the right thing and she probably would have fired herself too.





"She did what was probably the most appropriate thing to do," Talvitie-Siple told ABCNews.com. "I embarrassed her, I embarrassed the school district and, you know, if I were her, I probably would have done the same thing. It was not a surprise."

The 54-year-old teacher said she thought her posts would only be visible to her friends and didn't realize that her Facebook settings made the comments visible to others on the Internet.



The comment about the parents stemmed from "political activity" between the teachers' union, the administrators, the school committee and parents, she said.

"It's caused a very stressful year for every administrator, not just me. And it's made it a very caustic place to work," Talvitie-Siple said. "[It's] a product of a lot of frustration and angst about whether I should leave or not."

After writing on Facebook "I'm so not looking forward to another year at Cohasset Schools," she added that the community was "arrogant" and "snobby."

"I made a stupid mistake, it may have cost me my career," she said.

Talvitie-Siple said she's adjusted her Facebook settings and hopes her experience can be a lesson for others.

 

[froggy]

Where's that bunch thats always around when some foriegners right has been violated, they never show their face for Americans.

 

[Valerie]

Where's that bunch thats always around when some foriegners right has been violated, they never show their face for Americans.

Not sure what you mean.....

 

[Annie]

Making a stupid mistake does not mean a person is stupid. I would hope that the board looked at her entire career and not just an internet posting. Otherwise, that would be stupid. Maybe its time for school personnel to be offered malparactice insurance. A doctor makes a mistake; people can die. A teacher makes a mistake; someone might get insulted. Hmmmm.

There is 'malpractice insurance' for teachers and other professionals that carry some risk of liability. It's a 'rider' to your homeowner's policy. It's cheap and you can get it in million dollar increments.

 

[Annie]

Moral of the story: Think twice before you click SUBMIT.

Indeed. Better to go out at the end of day with friends and vent, then start posting about school, with NAME online.

Teachers/school personnel are paranoid about germs, kids do make you sick. However a good supply of vitamins, hand sanitizer, and Coldeeze should be enough for most.

 

[Bullfighter]

Where's that bunch thats always around when some foriegners right has been violated, they never show their face for Americans.

Her private life is her own. What crap.

Before I looked at the story, I thought she "N"ed somebody.

What she said was nothing. It wasn't even dirty.

 

[froggy]

Where's that bunch thats always around when some foriegners right has been violated, they never show their face for Americans.

Not sure what you mean.....

You know that aclu bunch.

 

[CurveLight]

I don't know why people post on the 'net then realize afterwards......other people can see it. But, she is right about Cohasset as well as many other suburbs in the Boston area. The parents who were stalking need to get a life.

 

[xotoxi]

Where's that bunch thats always around when some foriegners right has been violated, they never show their face for Americans.

Her private life is her own.

But she made her private life public.

 

[xotoxi]

If one of my employees was making disparaging remarks about any of our clients on face book, I'd be on them like white on rice in a glass of milk on a paper plate in a snow storm and they'd be shit canned so fast that a week later they'd still be wondering what happened.

Would you waterboard them? That would be fun.

 

[Valerie]

Where's that bunch thats always around when some foriegners right has been violated, they never show their face for Americans.

Not sure what you mean.....

You know that aclu bunch.

You think her rights have been violated ?

 

[froggy]

Not sure what you mean.....

You know that aclu bunch.

You think her rights have been violated ?

You don't

 

[Valerie]

You know that aclu bunch.

You think her rights have been violated ?

You don't

No, I think you have a certain responsibility to your employer and your employer has the discretion to fire you if you fail to uphold that responsibility. She acknowledged herself that being fired was the appropriate result of her mistake.

 

[Valerie]

I don't think her career should be ruined over it...She made a forgivable mistake and I'm sure she'll find a better situation elsewhere.

 

[Truthmatters]

When will people learn facebook is public and not private

 

[froggy]

You think her rights have been violated ?

You don't

No, I think you have a certain responsibility to your employer and your employer has the discretion to fire you if you fail to uphold that responsibility. She acknowledged herself that being fired was the appropriate result of her mistake.

You think people should not be allowed to voice their opinion. without fear of losing their job.

 

[Valerie]

You don't

No, I think you have a certain responsibility to your employer and your employer has the discretion to fire you if you fail to uphold that responsibility. She acknowledged herself that being fired was the appropriate result of her mistake.

You think people should not be allowed to voice their opinion. without fear of losing their job.

No, she did more than just voice her opinion. She publicly disparaged her employer as well as the community it serves. She is free to feel that way and voice her opinion privately, or publicly in the proper forum such as an administrative meeting, just not on a public facebook page.

If you read the article, you see there was a lot of political tension in the air already, so the school had a responsibility to control the situation. In light of the sentiments themselves and the fact that they became public fodder as a result of her stupid mistake, they asked her to resign.

 

[Valerie]

Don't worry, Froggy...Massachusetts will now give her 99 weeks on the government cheese!

 

[CurveLight]

This is a tough call because it raises the question of legal boundaries between employment and the 1st amendment. Why should an employer be allowed to fire an employee for off-time remarks? When did working for a company translate into 24/7 speech control?

 

[Valerie]

The article says her superintendent sent her an email asking her to resign. She said she felt it was appropriate and not surprising, so she resigned. I'm sure she could have tried to fight back but she chose not to.