As a parent of two high school students in Central Bucks (but at different high schools) I feel she should be fired and never be allowed to teach again.

First she admitted on her blog she was posting at school on the taxpayer’s dime. That is a clear violation of the schools policy!

Second anyone who uses Blogger knows that one can set their blog posts to private and only allow accepted individuals to see the entrees so she either didn’t care that people could read these posts or was so naive that she thought no one would see her posts.

Third how is calling a student “rat like”, “dresses like a street walker”, “Dunderhead” helpful, I understand she wanted to vent her frustrations. But to demean and degrade students in the manor she wrote just shows she is as immature or more than the high school students she taught.
In particular her posts where she compares siblings just shows that she is not capable of any type of objective honest evaluation of her students ability and she is not objective in her dealings with students. One has to wonder how much of her resentment of her students carried over to her dealings in the classroom, how many children did she turn off to education because of her actions in the classroom?
Fourth she is an HONORS English teacher, and she can only use expletive lased rants? This just shows how little of her subject she actually comprehends. In writing circles it is said that individuals who uses profanity to express their writing are either lazy, unintelligent or both. This person obviously chose the wrong career and I hope she never peruse peruses a career path in education again.

She said what needed saying. I applaud her. I have seen first hand (daughter is a teacher) what she is referring to. We are way too focused on “being nice” and “appropriate-ness” for our own good. Many of these kids in the ‘burbs are heading for a crash in the real world. It is NOT the teacher’s job to “inspire” kids. It is the kid’s responsibility, with their parents, to learn. It is for their own good. And, it is their own lives at stake. It is nobody’s “fault” but their own if they fail to take advantage of the opportunities in the ed system.

^Not she couldn’t, she was 8month pregnant. I agree that people need to be careful how they vent, especially when they work in a sensitive job like teaching. It is sad that there is “less accountability on students” while teachers are forced to explain everything they do.

What’s wrong with what Natalie Munroe did? The school system has gone to hell. Students NEED to be held accountable, schools and teachers should be able to say what is true, even if it offends someone. We send our children to school to learn, so how do you expect teachers to teach them if the teacher has tape over their mouth? Grow up people, our kids need to be held accountaable BEFORE we send them out into the work force by themselves. And to the school district she works for… Grow some balls and SUPPORT your teachers instead of throwing them to the lions. You should be ashamed of yourselves! Natalie sounds like a GOOD teacher to me. You NEED to have more teachers like her instead of SOME of the teachers out there that give good grades, just so they don’t have to deal with the kids again, if they don’t pass the class.

Even my granddaughter is disgusted with the ways the students behave in schoool- she comes home and tells me stories of the disrespect of the students, towards the teachers. How were these kids raised? I say if the shoe fits…I have seen my share of rat-like grooming and girls that look like street walkers, just waiting at school crossings. What a terrible disappointment for a person who has all her/his life wanted to be a teacher, only to find what they do in the public school system today? Don’t blame Natalie– parents, look to yourselves. Maybe subconsciously she wanted to be discovered, so that things could change. Parents, don’t accuse the accuser.

To answer your headline: Would I want her to say these things TO my kid? Never in a million years. Would I mind if she said these things ABOUT my kid and without identifying my kid? No problem at all.

Teenagers are kids, but they’re not innocent little babies. And a lot of them are jerks, especially to teachers.

I posted my comments on the other thread, but I’m glad she was fired. She completely deserved it and I can’t believe anyone is defending her.

Thank you Natalie for telling it like it is!! Somebody needed to light a fire under these bad a– kids and their lazy a– parents and let them know that America’s future is in their hands, and if they are not prepared educationally, China will own us one day. I applaud her for being bold. She is definitely on point. We need more teachers to speak out about this issue and stand behind Mrs. Munroe. This is not just in the inner cities, but in the ‘burbs too. I was raised in the segregated south in the ’60′s. Man, you didn’t even think about disrespecting a teacher. They’d jack you up, and when you got home, you got the double jack-up from your parents. Too many parents are trying to be their children’s best friend and fail to parent them. They are afraid to discipline their own kids. A few trips to the wood shed would do a lot of them some good. But that is against the law. But as soon as one of their little angels break the civil law, that same policeman that defended them will beat their heads in and lock them up. Natalie just want to give them a choice to have a better life. She got frustrated and vented. No harm in that. I pray that she is retained as a teacher, because if she leaves, the animals will be definitely running the zoo.

Here’s what you’re defending:

“If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say…
I’m being a renegade right now, living on the edge and, um, blogging AT work.

However, as I’m blogging about work stuff, I give myself a free pass of conscience.

I’m in the process of entering grades, and also need to enter comments for the grades. I used to take a lot of time with this procedure, choosing just the right comment(s) for my students. If I put a negative one, I’d also put a positive one to temper it. (When I was in school, I hated when I got the same 2 or 3 comments from my teachers. It felt so insincere.)

(For the record, my computer froze and had to be shut down at work; when I rebooted, I didn’t bother signing back on to finish this as other things to do came up. At present, then, I’m not being a renegade at all, as I’m writing this at my kitchen table.)

Anyway, as I was saying, when I was first teaching, I put a lot of time and effort into the comments because I felt it was a great way to communicate the students’ efforts. Then it got to be a complete pain in the ass, just one more thing standing between me and being done the report cards, and suddenly I realized why I’d always gotten the same comments from my teachers: they didn’t want to do them any more than I do. (I refuse to believe the alternative reason that I’ll explore momentarily.)

Also, as the kids get worse and worse, I find that the canned comments don’t accurately express my true sentiments about them. So now I pretty much choose “Cooperative in Class” for every kid (or, in some instances, will speak in other codes. For instance, if they talk a lot, I’ll put “is easily distracted” or “talks persistently”; if it’s a kid that has no personality, I’ll put “ability to work independently”). For some kids, though, my scornful feelings reach such fever pitch that I have a hard time even putting “cooperative in class” and have, sadly, had some kids for which none of the comments fit. (Again, this was NOT me. It couldn’t have been. I was a delight!!)

Thus, for this blog, I will list the comments I’d like to see added to the canned comment list, as an accurate reflection of what we really want to say to these parents. Here they are, in no particular order:

Concerned your kid is automaton, as she just sits there emotionless for an entire 90 minutes, staring into the abyss, never volunteering to speak or do anything.

Seems smarter than she actually is.

Has a massive chip on her shoulder.

Too smart for her own good and refuses to play the school ‘game’ such that she’ll never live up to her true potential here.

Has no business being in Honors.

A complete and utter jerk in all ways. Although academically ok, your child has no other redeeming qualities.

Lazy.

Shy isn’t cute in 11th grade; it’s annoying. Must learn to advocate for himself instead of having Mommy do it.

One of the few students I can abide this semester!

Two words come to mind: brown AND nose.

Dunderhead.

Complainer.

Gimme an A. I. R. H. E. A. D. What’s that spell? Your kid!

There is such a thing as too loud in oral presentations. We shouldn’t need earplugs.

Att-i-tude!

Nowhere near as good as her sibling. Are you sure they’re related?

I won’t even remember her name next semester if I see her in the hall.

Asked too many questions and took too long to ask them. The bell means it’s time to leave!

Has no business being in Academic.

Rat-like.

Lazy asshole.

Just as bad as his sibling. Don’t you know how to raise kids?

Sneaky, complaining, jerkoff.

Frightfully dim.

Dresses like a street walker.

Whiny, simpering grade-grubber with an unrealistically high perception of own ability level.

One of the most annoying students I’ve had the displeasure of being locked in a room with for an extended time.

Rude, beligerent, argumentative fuck.

Tactless.

Weirdest kid I’ve ever met.

Am concerned that your kid is going to come in one day and open fire on the school. (Wish I was kidding.)

I didn’t realize one person could have this many problems.

Your daughter is royalty. (The Queen of Drama)

Liar and cheater.

Unable to think for himself.

I hear the trash company is hiring…

Utterly loathsome in all imaginable ways.

I called out sick a couple of days just to avoid your son.

There’s no other way to say this: I hate your kid.

These comments, I think, would serve me well when filling out the cards. Only, I don’t think parents want to hear these truths.

Thus, the old addage… if you don’t have anything nice to say…

…say “cooperative in class.”

All below a header that says, “I don’t care if you lick windows, take the special bus, or occasionally pee on yourself… You hang in there, Sunshine. You’re friggin’ special.”