The same should have been for an Obama shirt. It's hard enough to keep the attention of young adultsin the classroom without that sort of disruption. The parents should have been ashamed that they were interruption their child's education.

The teacher should be fired. Bullying a student like that is out-of-bounds and shows terrible judgment.

Unless there is a dress code that applies to politics, the teacher was wrong in all aspects.

One Romney =KKK ? Give me a break. Asking what political affiliations her parents are , was over board. And speaking out or lashing out like that in front of other students is UNcalled for. And the parents need not feel ashamed of what ? interrupting their child's education? Seems like the teacher did that.

Now I am not a Romney fan nor will I be voting for him , But I do believe in freedom of speech and only ONE teacher made an issue out of this.

I am with the girl on this.

FIRE that WITCH!!

A teacher who does not respect free speech should be fired. I don't care if it was Obama or Romney she should be fired AND it is not for the teacher to impart her political views especially in geometry class.

What was EXACTLY the words/message on the shirt? The article does not say that and it makes me very suspicious.

Max--the shirt is shown in the picture at the top of the page. It was a standard pink campaign shirt. There was nothing offensive written on it.

And who cares "EXACTLY" what was written on it? If it had truly been offensive, there would have been other teachers/staff at the school who would have taken issue to it, not just ONE overly-sensitive, rabidly liberal and intolerant geometry teacher. Are you looking for a reason to DEFEND this bullying teacher? If you are, it makes you just as bad...

The headline is misleading - it happened in Philadelphia, not in Pennsylvania.

No parent should be sending their child to school in any type of political T-Shirt.

Children are in school to concentrate on their studies. Not be part of some parents political statement.

.

I'm also looking at how her parents are dressed in that video, with matching logos of some sort. I wonder if they sent their daughter dressed up like that to school on purpose, as a way to create a controversy. School is no place for divisive political baiting.

You geography is lacking.

United States - really?

I have news for you. Teachers in our public schools make political statements ALL the time in their classrooms, ESPECIALLY the liberal ones. Many of them also routinely attempt to indoctrinate the students.

If students shouldn't be wearing such shirts into the classrooms, than every single teacher should also be on notice that if they make any kind of opinionated political statement in the classroom that they will be FIRED. It's a two way street.

Cheetah - Where do you think Philadelphia is located if not in Pennsylvania??

Strange how liberals are ALWAYS asking for tolerance - unless it disagrees with their thinking............

I second Night Hawks post, I'm sure not voting for Romney but this is the USA-individual free speech particularly political speech is the first right. This teacher should be suspended from work until they can recite the bill of rights from memory.

@ cheetah - "The headline is misleading. It happened in Philadelphia, not Pennsylvania."

Um, last time I checked, Philadelphia is a city IN PENNSYLVANIA. Sheesh. smh.

The headline is misleading - it happened in Philadelphia, not in Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia is in Pennsylvania.

Cheetah--In what state is Philadelphia located? And I bet you vote, don't you.

I was hoping Cheetah was being facetious.

Don Giacomo - A disruption? Really? It would be truly sad if our teachers and students are so volatile and delicate that just the name of a political candidate can disrupt the entire learning process.

Max 108 - Divisive political baiting? Come on....seriously? Perhaps we should ban anything and everything that states a preference or an opinion....and why just in schools....ban these things everywhere....thats what causes all the problems with this country....people and their opinions...... *ok, that was a little sarcasm there*

United States 1776 - Why do you assume the young lady is parroting her parents political beliefs ? At 16 years old she is certainly capable of forming her own thoughts and opinions.... they may not be as sophisticated as a more mature adults but she is entitled to them none the less....actually, given some of the statements I've seen on this board she might be more mature than a lot of the posters here.

The teacher was wrong...she should be suspended..... her actions are inexcusable.

The comment about "The headline is misleading - it happened in Philadelphia, not in Pennsylvania" is referring to the fact that Philadelphia tends to operate in it's own little fife-dome within Pennsylvania - They get all the benefits of Pennsylvania taxes and Federal Subsidies, but tend to thumb their noses at Pennsylvania state-wide laws and operate under their own set of rules.

As a Pennsylvania taxpayer, I demand that this teacher be fired. And yes, I would demand the same of someone doing the same to a child wearing an Obama t-shirt.

Apparently the teacher needs to spend a semester retaking the class on the US government. Specifically the one where they teach about the constitution, free speech, rights of individuals.

Maybe suspend her until she can pass that basic high school course.

I'm not supporting the teacher but I am trying to understand what actually happened and why. I did not and will not vote for Obama but I despise the fanatical political activists on both sides which have turned this country upside down.

Could the teacher belong to a union? And what does KKK have to do with it?

I'm not a Romney fan either, but the teacher is wrong.

This is just more liberal "valuing diversity" in action - it's all good, as long as it's THEIR diversity. YOUR diversity is not allowed.

I'll bet teach apologized once faced with loss of his/her job and the schools lawyer talking about pricey First Amendment lawsuits.

What interests me is the libs in here twisting the girls clothing into some kind of subversive plan to cause problems...the paranoia is amazing.

Max^108,

I agree with you, but I don't think that's the central issue here.

Since the topic is about a presidential candidate, the comments are likely going to skew political. The teacher's actions may have been politically motivated, but it's simply not about partisanship.

Whether you're a Democrat, Republican or neither, what this teacher did goes against everything we stand for as a nation. It's a question of personal freedom and expression. And before I get lambasted for mistaking Constitutional Rights with school rules: I understand that. But since this was a "dress-down" day, the teacher can't stand on school regulations regarding inappropriate dress.

If it was a joke, it was a very bad one. If it wasn't, it's far more serious.

We have enough trouble trying to motivate our youngsters to be passionate about our government...about supporting the candidate of their choice.

I don't see this action as helping that noble endeavor one bit.

If there was a dress code, end of debate. Our students are not allowed to wear political statements any more than they are allowed to wear cigarette/beer/pot attire. And all of the teachers have extra clothing in their classrooms for students to change into

Shartorius,

You very well know that students of that age have no idea what candidate they should be supporting and have not full formed the opinions that will be the basis of their political mindset. She was clearly just wearing the shirt either because A) her parents wanted to get a rise out of someone or B) she is just doing like her parents do. The teacher was stupid in how she handled it but I'll tell you this: if there was a political party advocating that my job (accountant) be diminished, that I was worthless and that I should take a large paycut, as the GOP is doing for teachers, I'd treat it like a KKK shirt too.

The longest seated Senator in history Robert Byrd, died during 2010 after serving 50+years. He filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Bill and he was briefly a member of the Ku Klux Klan . He later left the KKK and denounced racial intolerance.^[10]..

The KKK was founded by the Democrats to fight the northern Republicans after the Civil War. During 1915 to fight the Catholic Church and unions and had both Democrat & Republican membership. Activated again during the 1950s to fight the Civil Rights movement the membership was allied with POLICE departments and many southern governors' administrations, mainly Democrats...

IMO - TEACHER should be removed and sent back to school to study American history...

All these people saying school is no place for politics... what schools did you go to?? Didn't the Free Speech Movement start on a school campus???

To clarify - I'm an enthusiastic Obama supporter - But that women is a raging idiot. Just goes to show, Brainless twits know no particular political allegiance.

Interesting how there is no mention of the race of the teacher who is black. If this had been a white teacher telling a black student to take off the Obama Shirt, race would have become the central issue of the story and we would have protesters everywhere.

The shirt said "Romney, Believe In America." Obviously something that teacher didn't believe in!

Hey basedrum777,

Romney didn't say all teachers are worthless, just the worthless ones. There is a real world and you have to live in it even if you are a lib.

There really is no base for politics here. Those that think so are as narrow minded as this idiot teacher. Any school or church that can't put children first and ahead of any opinion, especially political opinions, should be boarded shut permanently if not burned to the ground.

Dress code?..offensive? it happened in Philadelphia, not in Pennsylvania? You can pick out the ones who can't read, understand photos or are just plain stupid. It was a dress down day, in other words no uniform, its was a very basic Romney/Ryan shirt that happened to be pink. The Freedom of Speech isn't something you ignore or walk over, you respect it. Otherwise we become fascist and to compare the shirt to the KKK is like comparing everyone in prison in the US to the victims of the holocaust...get a grip people....oh and thank you cheetah for being the "Dumba$$ of the day"

Cheetah, a typo is an easy mistake, not knowing where the city that our fore fathers signed the constitution is located, is just sad.

Ahh, there you have it. Another bright example of liberal tolerance.

Kids in high schools everywhere get asked to change out of rock band t-shirts, sports t-shirts and lots of other "message" t-shirts if the teacher or principal feels the shirt may be a source of disruption in the classroom. The fact that it was a Romney shirt has all you conservatives, who normally could care less about individual liberties, all up in arms. If it had been an Obama shirt that she was asked to change out of, then what would you say?

I personally think it's alarming that the Constitution goes out the window when a kid sets foot on school property, but given that we have allowed school officials and teachers that kind of power over our kids, you're going to continue to have these kinds of incidents. Today it was a Romney t-shirt, tomorrow it will be a kid wearing an Ohio State shirt in a Michigan classroom. If the teacher thinks it's disruptive or perhaps was meant to provoke comments from other students, the kid has to change shirts. WE have given them that authority, so stop your whining.

TYPICAL LIBERAL

Bad teacher. Inexcusable. Furthermore, the Constitution DOESN'T go out the window when a kid enters a school...

In Tinker, perhaps the best known of the Court's student speech cases, the Court found that the First Amendment protected the right of high school students to wear black armbands in a public high school, as a form of protest against the Viet Nam War. The Court ruled that this symbolic speech--"closely akin to pure speech"--could only be prohibited by school administrators if they could show that it would cause a substantial disruption of the school's educational mission.

This teacher was the one that caused the disturbance, NOT the t-shirt. Second, it's up to administrators to decide what clothing, et al constitutes an interruption in their educational mission.

And did you see that, "COULD SHOW". That means, they have to prove that this t-shirt would cause a disruption. Which they didn't.

This teacher should be canned. (Sorry It's Just an Observation)

And this coming from an Obama supporter.

basedrum 777: "if there was a political party advocating that my job (accountant) be diminished, that I was worthless and that I should take a large paycut, as the GOP is doing for teachers, I'd treat it like a KKK shirt too."

In response to the supposed treatment of the GOP to teachers, as an accounting major myself and banker, do you think that it is pretty similar to Lizzie Warren and bankers? How well has the democratic rhetoric been to us? Just a thought.

<blockquote>

I'm also looking at how her parents are dressed in that video, with matching logos of some sort. I wonder if they sent their daughter dressed up like that to school on purpose, as a way to create a controversy.</blockquote>

Max, the logo on the parents shirt is clearly some sort of martial arts school logo, and a small amout of research shows that Richard Pawlucy Sr (the father) is a martial arts instructor.

You obviously don't have teen age kids if you think that parents can in any way influence what a child wears to school at 16 years old.

ItsAboutTime--Just another form of being a bully, liberals do it all the time. It is like their calling card. Casual day and was not against the rules and she is berated because of the shirt and you say you agree and then put a but on the end of it. We all know what happens when you put a but at the end of your statement, you make an A of yourself. The teacher was wrong and it was not a joke, if it was we would not be here discussing it would we?

basedrum:

You very well know that students of that age have no idea what candidate they should be supporting and have not full formed the opinions that will be the basis of their political mindset.

The girl is 16, not 12. I started paying attention to politics when I was a sophomore in high school because I knew I would be eligible to vote at 18. You can't say for sure that this girl hasn't paid attention to this campaign or not.

She was clearly just wearing the shirt either because A) her parents wanted to get a rise out of someone or B) she is just doing like her parents do.

Not necessarily. The teacher asked her about her parents' political party, and she said, "I don't know." Maybe she is following their lead, or maybe she's thought about it and made the choice herself. I never knew my parents' political leanings, and in fact, I still don't. My mother always told me that I needed to make those decisions myself, and that she didn't want to sway me one way or the other. We've had political discussions, so I know how she feels on certain issues, but she's never once told me who she's voted for in any election.

This teacher was out of line, no matter what her political views were. If the shirt didn't break any dress codes, she had no right to demean the student for wearing it, whether she decided to wear it herself, or her parents provided it to her. It doesn't matter. The teacher was wrong.

You geography is lacking. Your grammar sucks.

Must be a graduate of Charles Carroll High School!

@basedrum777 Working with many students in the 13 - 16 year-old bracket I would not hesitate to admonish you that many are very astute politically. I know a great many that have very unique and distinct political views that they can verbalize and write about in very clear and succinct manner. Many are demonstrably proven to have clearly formed views that significantly differ from the views of their parents. Do I agree with all of them? No. Are some extreme? Yes. Despite these observations I take great pride in knowing that these "children" have matured enough to have developed these views and opinions. I know that, over time, they will continue to mature and modify their viewpoints as we all do.

I am reminded of Winston Churchill's admonition: "If you are under 30 and not a liberal you have no heart; if you are over 30 and not a conservative you have no brains." Of course the implied thought is that if you can find yourself in the center then you have both heart and brains so become a fully mature and worthwhile human-being.

To the posters reacting to "Philadelphia is not in Pennsylvania"...don't you know a joke when you hear/read one? Of course it's in Pennsylvania!!! Does it REALLY need to be explained to you? Philadelphia "is special." It's a hillarious comment!!!!!!!!!!!!

In Dog Day Afternoon, Al Pacino tells his partner in crime, "We can fly to anywhere in the world we want...where do you want to go outside of the country?" Answer, "Wisconsin."

azdad48

Kids in high schools everywhere get asked to change out of rock band t-shirts, sports t-shirts and lots of other "message" t-shirts if the teacher or principal feels the shirt may be a source of disruption in the classroom. The fact that it was a Romney shirt has all you conservatives, who normally could care less about individual liberties, all up in arms. If it had been an Obama shirt that she was asked to change out of, then what would you say?

I personally think it's alarming that the Constitution goes out the window when a kid sets foot on school property, but given that we have allowed school officials and teachers that kind of power over our kids, you're going to continue to have these kinds of incidents. Today it was a Romney t-shirt, tomorrow it will be a kid wearing an Ohio State shirt in a Michigan classroom. If the teacher thinks it's disruptive or perhaps was meant to provoke comments from other students, the kid has to change shirts. WE have given them that authority, so stop your whining.

azdad48: You have proven that no matter what the situation, as clear and simple as it may be, there is always somone who has to turn it into a racist act. You whine and wimper that if it was an Obama shirt no one would care...when in reality it would have been a bigger issue because he is african american. THIS IS NOT A RACIST ISSUE! This is partly why racism will never end because you have the ones who are actually racist, the ones who reverse racists who turn everything into a black/white issue, and the ones inbetween who are not recist but may not agree with everything but can not have an opinion because they will be viewed as racist. Kids everywhere are not allowed to call christmas break christmas break because its too religious, not allowed to dress up for a halloween pary at school because its sacreligious, and thats the point...where is our freedom of speech and free will going, Michelle Obama puts our nations schools on a forced diet that is not well planned out or thought through. I mean come wake up and realize that the issue of her wearing a pink romney shirt should not have been delt with the way it was.

Another 16 year old attention whore. She isn't too embarrassed to go nationally with the story...poor baby is soooo damaged now - she better sue the already broke school district.

Again, proof that the BIGGEST bullies, and perhaps where children learn bullying are our teachers! This teacher needs immediate termination from her job. Imagine if a student had made such a comment to a. another student or b. a teacher or staff member! they would have come down HARD and SWIFT on the student.

I bet in every adults life they have been or witnessed bullying by teachers in their education either to themselves or to others! Want to stop bullies? Start with the TEACHERS!

It took me longer than I had anticipated to find the "All you conservatives, blah blah blah" comment, but at last it was there.

BigJeff, Basedrum and others, I can assure you that if anyone compares anything to do with my kids to the "KKK" then that person has found themselves WAY out of LINE! For you to even attempt to file this away as a "dress code" issue, when knowing full well there was a reference to absolutely one the most racist organization to have ever existed, is a JOKE. It reveals exactly what others have said when mentioning how "liberals seem to want to choose what's offensive". You couldn't say much else to me or my family than to compare us in any way shape or form to the Klan.

The teacher needs to be permanently removed from the classroom. If there's a "non-student-contact" role she can fill, then by all means use that as an alternative, but in the year 2012, for a teacher to humiliate a child and liken her to a murderous, racist organization all simply because she supports a candidate other than her own, reveals there's, if nothing else, a rather huge potential for this problem to run much deeper than this one instance. How in the world can we as a society cry to the mountaintops about "bullying" and decry all it's ills, and then allow this person to remain in a position of great influence?

I don't care if President Obama is your twin brother. There is NO place for this in the school system and it's time we treat such an offense with a deserving punishment. Schools are to educate, not an open arena for teacher's "opinions" and by no means, their prejudices.

Transferred?????? This teacher should be fired! Where does it end? Humiliating a teen in front of her class? Who's supposed to be setting the example? Student sounds far more more mature than teacher. ( Maybe set teacher in hallway all day with a "Dunce" cap on her head???????) I'd be outraged if my son came home from school with this information. The "but(t) was standing at the front of the classroom.

Another 16 year old attention whore.

You're cool. You just called a 16 year old child a whore, in an anonymous, completely safe way, where there's no actual threat to you.

Do you feel better?

#1.14 I have news for you. Teachers in our public schools make political statements ALL the time in their classrooms, ESPECIALLY the liberal ones. Many of them also routinely attempt to indoctrinate the students. If students shouldn't be wearing such shirts into the classrooms, than every single teacher should also be on notice that if they make any kind of opinionated political statement in the classroom that they will be FIRED. It's a two way street.

This is so true! Two extremely liberal teachers in a town near where I grew up are teaching and preaching Communism to their students; the school board had a meeting over the matter last year, I’m not sure what came of it but someone should do a story on it. Becker, MN

Thank you Sarcasticus! These people have had their sense of humor removed! :)

We have the student's name. Why isn't the teacher's name given? I'd love for someone to have the guts to provide the superintendant and school district's names so that all of America can send email and snail mail and let them know what we think of this teacher remaining employed by their district.

Let's call this what it is: BULLYING! A teacher humiliating a student for their political T-shirt is nothing short of bullying. The teacher needs to have diversity training (she probably teaches it at this school!) so she understands that students have the freedom in this country to have their own views on politics, religion, sexuality, etc. Diversity and tolerance isn't just about conservatives being tolerant of liberal views, but also vice versa.

Imagine if a teacher had told a student to take off a "gay pride" t-shirt and then tried to back out of it by saying it was a joke. No one would be buying it, and we would probably be reading about applying hate crime laws to the situation!

There are a couple of things I didn't catch in the story, but the main one being if there was a dress code prohibiting political (or any other) messages on clothing. Many schools have added dress codes that ONLY allow for messages supporting the school (and sometimes local colleges).

If this was the case, then the teacher would have been correct in asking the student to find another shirt (even if other teachers did NOT say anything). However, the teacher was INCORRECT in the "KKK" comment or in trying to humiliate the student. If the student had refused, send her to the office and let them deal with it.

If there was NO dress code in place that addresses this issue, then the teacher was in the wrong period. As long as the shirt conformed to dress code, then the statement belongs to the student.

Either way, I don't believe it's a firing offense, especially if this was an otherwise good teacher, but it is certainly something the teacher should be sternly reprimanded for AND if something similar happens again, perhaps then firing or suspension is in order.

So, Basedrum777, if she's wearing a Romney shirt, she must be parroting her parents. In your opinion, no young person could EVER choose Romney based on their own values and beliefs..? Is that because they are too young to see through the public-sector union stranglehold on public education in this country? Looks like one got through your curtain of lies, too bad for you.

Today Wisconsin breathes the air of freedom, thanks to a courageous Scott Walker. Let's hope the rest of the USA learns from that victory.

Free speech isn't free in the socialism schools Obama was prompting last night.

Dollars to doughnuts the teacher is parroting the union to which she belongs.

This story reminds me of the first election, when my sister was called a racist bigot by her classmate in her high school history class because she didn't support Obama (she still doesn't). The teacher just played it off as a joke. Talk about love and toleration for all beliefs.

Democrats only insist on tolerance when it agrees with their views.

Beth,

It's not as simple as dress code or no dress code. To limit freedom of expression, EVEN IN A SCHOOL DRESS CODE, the administration of the school has to show that, the speech being limited, causes a serious disruption in their educational agenda.

It seems to me that the only disruption was caused by the teacher, herself.

This is not uncommon. I see more professors everyday discuss with their students about who to vote for on high school and college campuses. The most outspoken are the LIBERAL ONES and if you speak out in class, against them, some of them do grade you more harshly than if you had not. So for this reason, a lot of students remain silent.

How else are all these teachers going to get their money? Most are part of labor unions so of course they are democrat.

And for the record, I think perhaps the girl wore the shirt because it was pink and not necessarily for political reasons.

@ patches, you are the scum of the earth for post 1.58. You just proved you are some kind of freaky a$$ clown

@ everyone defending what this teacher did. What if the student had been black with an Obama shirt on, and the teacher had said that wearing that makes you look like a worthless "insert racial slur here". You would have that teacher crucified. Get flipping real here. This teacher called this child out in a Philly classroom as a racist, how great do you think her next few days are going to be.

Dress code isn't the issue here, which she appears to not have broken. The issue is a teacher that is enforcing her political beliefs on her students by bullying them. ZERO tolerance for bullies, that includes the teachers, they are supposed to be the adults there.

Just more proof of how twisted LIBERALS can be, had it been a Obama shirt nothing would have been said by the liberal, socialist, communist teacher, these people should not be mistaken for Democrats, they are a class of their own and they hide in the ranks of the democrats, they do not represent anything good and it was a terrible excuse for a joke, that person is not mentallystable enough to be teaching. this is the sort of person we need to weed out from the teaching profession. teachers should be required to teach only what they were hired to teach and keep there opinions to themselves. Its my opinion that the teacher is making up the part about it being a joke and that adds lying to the list, she is a bad egg get rid of her if the Union will let you. if the union defends her then get rid of the union as well. we need to get our schools back from the liberal socialist/communist. their agenda is damaging to the American way of life and the long term success of America. back in the 50's and 60's we didn't have teachers with such strong opinions, and if they had they would have been dismissed.

with the spelling, lack of basic geography and a $*^^poor reason to not vote for a candidate. i can only hope you are not old enough to vote or just too stupid to find your way to the polling booth.

"You obviously don't have teen age kids if you think that parents can in any way influence what a child wears to school at 16 years old."

Not necessarily true. If U R a control-freak parent (like I had) & your kids R not allowed 2 work 4 their own money, then your kids will only wear what U buy 4 them.

"In Dog Day Afternoon, Al Pacino"

2 all politicians I like 2 use another Al quote from this film: "Kiss me. I like 2 B kissed when I'm being f*****."

"She isn't too embarrassed to go nationally with the story"

I can't say that I disagree with this, except 2 say that it should B national not nationally.

BigJeff: Our students are not allowed to wear political statements any more than they are allowed to wear cigarette/beer/pot attire.

Why? Are politics bad for kids' health? LOL I'm pretty sure that expressing your opinion about politics is a Constitutional right, even is school.

I have 2 kids in elementary school. The both came home last week asking who were were voting for because "their teachers wanted to know". My youngest one is in the 2nd grade so I found this strange. She told me her teacher is voting for Obama again because "he likes teachers". If teachers are going to engage students on politics, then students should be allowed to wear politically-related clothing as long as it's appropriate.

Azzhat - The difference is if the shirt had been an Obama shirt the teacher would be looking at hate crime charges from the Justice Department.

If the military cannot ask you if you are gay, a teacher should not be able to ask you what your political affiliation is.

And if President Obama had a sister, she would look like this teacher. After all, anybody that supports a white candidate by wearing a T-shirt must be a KKK member. Mr Obama has really brought the country together and united us. Wow!

Where is the ACLU/Anthony Romero???? Oh wait--- I know--- it has abandoned the realm of valid civil liberties issues and is in the process of diverting its precious resources to illegitimate non-civil libertarian pursuits!

This case presents true is 1st Amendment- Freedom of Expression issues! See Tinker v. Des Moines, 393 U.S. 504 (1969): The Court held (7 to 2) that the First Amendment applied to public schools, and that administrators would have to demonstrate constitutionally valid reasons for any specific regulation of speech in the classroom. Writing for the majority, Justice Abe Fortas observed, "It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." The Court held that the speech regulation at issue in Tinker was "based upon an urgent wish to avoid the controversy which might result from the expression, even by the silent symbol of armbands, of opposition to this Nation's part in the conflagration in Vietnam."

Where does this teacher get off making these statements????? Likening wearing this shirt to the KKK??? THe liberal anti-Romney ,anti-repub hate, predjuidice etc.. is astonishing!!!!!! Then she makes a scene over this shirt in front of the entire class???? Should have been suspended not just transferred to another class!!! If it had been an Obama shirt there would have been absolutely no problem here. Send this teacher back to school to brush up on the Constitution, the bill of rights etc.. etc. THe only person in this school that was distracted by this shirt was this racist, bigot of a teacher!!!!! The nthis article tries to spin the girl wearing the shirt as a joke?? Can't wait until this damned election is over!!!!

ROMNEY/RYAN 2012.

Just remember kids, Obama`s thugs are out and about.

@workharder

I have 2 kids in elementary school. The both came home last week asking who were were voting for because "their teachers wanted to know". My youngest one is in the 2nd grade so I found this strange. She told me her teacher is voting for Obama again because "he likes teachers". If teachers are going to engage students on politics, then students should be allowed to wear politically-related clothing as long as it's appropriate.

Our district just suspended two teacher without pay for this same behavior. This is equal to bullying for votes. I don't care who the teacher votes for, my kids shouldn't know who the teacher is voting for.

azdad48

@1.57 & 1.80 -- Wow, that was way out of left field. Why did you bring up racism? Hate crime charges from the Justice Department?

Because in using the KKK example, the teacher made this a racial issue and a hate crime issue. It isn't a stretch, it is fact.

@Max^108 Comment collapsed by the community

What was EXACTLY the words/message on the shirt? The article does not say that and it makes me very suspicious.

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume the exact message was exatly what was on the t-shirt the girl was holding in the picture.

bscol

Democrats only insist on tolerance when it agrees with their views.

You know that door swings both ways?

@WinWin4All Comment collapsed by the community

I agree with DrRiverSong, but I don't think the teacher should be suspended or fired. An apology is enough. Everyone makes mistakes, has a lapse of judgement. The girl was embarrassed, but with a sincere apology, all should be well. No one harmed. It could be a "teachable moment" for the school.

How often does a sincere apology start out with "I was just joking"?

It's not as simple as dress code or no dress code. To limit freedom of expression, EVEN IN A SCHOOL DRESS CODE, the administration of the school has to show that, the speech being limited, causes a serious disruption in their educational agenda.

Sarah, I disagree. I believe the school board can set any dress code it desires. The board does not have to show that a particular speech is "disruptive". The key is, it must be enforced equally. As I posted earlier, the article didn't address the issue of a dress code, so we don't know.

It seems to me that the only disruption was caused by the teacher, herself.

Did you read all my post or just the part you disagreed with? Please re-read it, as I have no great desire to repost it.

Fire the Teacher and move on .

@Max^108, they are wearing a karate school uniform in the interview. It's pretty obvious with the silhouette of the person in a karate stance and the fact that they are wearing karate belts. Those aren't political shirts her parents are wearing.

AZDad,

I'm sorry, you're wrong. Dress codes don't supercede the 1st Amendment, and the Tinker case, is still law in good standing...

In Tinker, perhaps the best known of the Court's student speech cases, the Court found that the First Amendment protected the right of high school students to wear black armbands in a public high school, as a form of protest against the Viet Nam War. The Court ruled that this symbolic speech--"closely akin to pure speech"--could only be prohibited by school administrators if they could show that it would cause a substantial disruption of the school's educational mission.

You have to look, at what the content of the message on the t-shirt is. This is political speech...

Speaking out in school: The First Amendment protects the right of citizens to express themselves in a variety of ways. Public school students, as young citizens, may engage in many modes of expression — from the words they speak to the ideas they write and even the clothes they wear.

Students can engage in political speech, which is considered the type of speech at the core of the First Amendment. The Founding Fathers considered such speech essential to the development of a constitutional democracy. The U.S. Supreme Court spelled out those rights in a case concerning public school students who spoke out on a major political issue of their time — the Vietnam War.

In the 1969 case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the high court ruled 7-2 that school officials violated the First Amendment rights of three Iowa students by suspending them for wearing black armbands to school. Even though the students were not technically speaking, the high court determined that the wearing of the armbands to protest the war was a form of symbolic speech “akin to pure speech.” The court referred to the wearing of the armbands as a “nondisruptive, passive expression of a political viewpoint.”

The Supreme Court established a protective standard for student expression in Tinker, which says that school officials cannot censor student expression unless they can reasonably forecast that the expression will cause a substantial disruption of school activities or will invade the rights others.

The school HAS NOT done this.

Either this teacher is a complete moron liberal (most likely scenario) or a total genius republican (which would be very interesting). But either way, to the people saying 'typical liberal', I haven't seen many, if any, liberals defending her in this thread. As a liberal, I think she is getting off light. But the again, I think that if the child wanted to wear a '@!$%# off Bush' T-shirt, that would have been ok as well.

Samantha was so embarrassed by the public criticism in front of her classmates that she told her parents she didn't want to return to school.

I smell big Multi Million USDs Lawsuit.

A Philadelphia high schooler says she was humiliated after her teacher told her to remove a Mitt Romney T-shirt she was wearing, comparing it to "wearing a KKK shirt."

And Hate Crime Charges.

Hypocrisy,

Team Liberal, here. Also, Team This Teacher had NO Right to do This. One of my biggest pet peeves, is when sane conservatives, don't call out the crazy ones.

Let the record show, I'm a sane liberal, calling out this moronic one. Ms. Teacher, if you do call yourself a liberal, you give us a bad name.

DISCLAIMER: Some may debate my sanity. Particularly, ex-boyfriends.

A private apology is not the equivalent of a public humiliation...the teacher should have apologized to Samantha in front of the entire school.!

The actions of this geometry teacher are proof that liberals will take advantage of any angle just to go off on a political tangent.

Wow D-buck I didn't realize the job you picked dictates whether you have the right of free speech or not. "they didn't have strong opinions". GTFO. People have always had strong opinions. Don't you remember the "opinions" that led to the japanese internment camps way back in WW2?

To someone's question to me above I believe that there is a large difference between claiming that bankers who average well over $100k a year are being greedy and providing little value to the American way of life and arguing that teachers (who average in American less than $60k a year) and are teaching our future are providing little to no value. I work in the corporate accounting world everyday and can vouch for the overall laziness of those in corporate America who on the whole are just looking to go home early. The free market dictating salaries cannot be used when the results of those employees cannot be quantitatively measured and the results have no bearing on those making the financial decisions.

When WI governor Walker was fighting the teachers union the teachers all wore red. Was that disruptive? Was that political? Gang colors aren't allowed in school yet the WEAC gang colors were allowed. Politics were played out in the class room with teachers discussing (teaching) their view points to our children. In some cases encouraging to walk out of classrooms in protest. It appears that its only acceptable to express your views on one side of the aisle.

It should not matter what one's opinions of the candidates are, which one someone would prefer (as if either of them is really that great of a choice vs the other one anyhow), or what have you. What this teacher did was wrong, and the KKK statements, joke or otherwise, says more about the teacher and where the teacher's mind is, then the students...

This is no better then when I was in college and we had an opinion paper to do for mid-terms. The papers weren't graded by our own teacher, but instead by other teachers in the English department. The teacher for my class had us go over each other's papers with them, to help them improve for the finals that would be comming, where there would be a portfolio of major writting assignments to be turned in all at once that would count for 50% of the semester grade.

The paper I was to go over with, for another class mate, how I was supposed to even help him, I have no idea. There was no grading on grammer, punctuation, spelling, or his English in any way. There was one note on the thing that said:

[QUOTE]Your opinions are wrong, so I give you an F. Human beings are not animals, and I reject the idea of evolution. You fail.[/QUOTE]

About the only other things i saw on the paper, for markings, suggested she was a creationist, or "intelligent design" proponent or something. I took the paper to my own English teacher, bawlked, and was like

[QUOTE]How can I help this person improve their grade, or help them with their English assignment in any way? There is not one constructive comment, not one objective thing she has pointed out in any way I can go over, with this student on. She's grading entirely based on the opinions of this student's opinions, and what's worse I can tell exactly where he's comming from. I'll tell you what. I'm also taking classes in biology, and I could get written statements from several biology professors in this university itself, collaborating what this class mate was saying. This paper was not a research paper, but it would not have been difficult for him to go to the library and find sources to site what he was saying in his opinion essay. Perhaps this other English teacher was not aware of them, but as someone who is also taking biology, I am...[/QUOTE]

Good grief... Some teachers :o

This pretty much borders on a sue-able offense due to the emotional distress and humiliation this teacher caused this student. I personally wouldn't go for money, except maybe to cover my own court costs, but definately a public apology by this teacher as well as her losing her licence to teach.

I know the political system is discussed in schools, and that the class this student was in, is not a class that discusses politics, but, it seems to me that this teacher needs a refresher course on the subject of politics, and that every person has a right to choose which party, and the person from that party, that they want to vote for. It's not up to ANY teacher to pick which party or person that student needs to follow when they are of the age to vote. This teacher needs to be suspended without pay, until the teacher learns the lesson, that it is not up to them to take the students right of choice away in matter such as this. It's not only stepping over the bounds of teaching, it's damn right dictatorial on the part of the teacher.

"but definately a public apology by this teacher as well as her losing her licence to teach."

I agree. The problem I see in this, is that the teacher is trying to substitute the students right of choice, with the teachers own mindset, and that is not a standard part of being a teacher. The teacher needs to go back to college, and relearn how to be a teacher, and how to not force their own opinion on any student.

I got kicked out of a class one time when I was in High School for wearing a Malcolm X T-shirt. Of course, I knew it would piss the teacher off and that was the whole plan. I seriously doubt this young girl was "shaken-up" over this as her parents claim. If she's smart enough to wear a Mitt Romney T-shirt to school, then she should be smart enough to know she might get some guff. Either way though, the teacher was wrong for kicking the kid out of class.

And we wonder why kids aren't getting an education, when a teacher is more interested in political censoring and verbally abusing young students, than she is teaching geometry. Maybe she can get a job at NBC in the cutting and pasteing videotapes for broadcast..

Damn LA RAZA!

Sarah, I have seen many comments from you in the
past, mostly well thought out (including all of your thoughts here) and I agree
with you that conservatives should “out” the righty idiots as you have done with
this teacher being a self-described Liberal yourself. Are you sure you’re not leaning more
Libertarian these days ;)

The teacher should be fired and her teaching credentials revoked. She should be made to take a years' worth of courses on American history and the Constitution.

Teacher in Philadephia. Obama supporter. Aggressive. Makes KKK remark.

Anybody else putting 2+2 together? At least the Huff post was honest enough to include a pertinent factoid about the teacher that MSN has quietly omitted...

I am with the girl on this.

You should only be if what she says is true and proved. I went to a catholic school and we were not permitted to wear anything that promoted anything including a big mac shirt. This girl was satrved for attention I suppose and got back at one of her teachers. funny how this attention getter is so similar to other right wing tricks....

@Sarah-3043284

Team Liberal, here. Also, Team This Teacher had NO Right to do This. One of my biggest pet peeves, is when sane conservatives, don't call out the crazy ones.

Let the record show, I'm a sane liberal, calling out this moronic one. Ms. Teacher, if you do call yourself a liberal, you give us a bad name.

DISCLAIMER: Some may debate my sanity. Particularly, ex-boyfriends

I think your post was pretty convincing proof of your sanity.

Giantego:

I also went to Catholic school... not only were we not permitted to were clothing that could be offensive to someone… we had uniforms… gross uniforms

If church is not allowed in school neither should politics. Unless it's for school only, president and stuff but USA government politics should NOT be allowed in school. I am all for this teacher telling her to get out but it was a joke, the girl was at fault for wearing that shirt in the first place. She knew it would cause a huge outburst. Them kind of shirts should not be allowed in school just like i was not allowed to wear a shirt i had when i was in high school that said @!$%# racism but @!$%# was spelled f**k so it was not a swear word as f**k could be anything and who ever read it put the word @!$%# in it like the teacher in my school did. The Shirt she had on and the shirt i wore in 1991 are the same exact thing and should not be allowed in schools. Separate church and politics from school.

What is this teachers name and why wasnt she fired???? Why is msn and other media outlets protecting this teacher, if it was the other way around do you honestly think that they wouldnt have mentioned his/her name in the story? This is media bias. PERIOD.

Hello people this is what the lack of paying attention to politics gets us. The teacher was making a political statement, guess that the teacher is wanting to run for office. There is a great one, going from no pension because of the idiots in washington to having your pay rate for the rest of your life.

Under the parameters of all racial crimes of this century that are exposed and prosecuted in our society and most of all, the media, this is a racial issue(crime). This teacher just called a 16 year old girl a scumbag, rotten trash, crackwhore, piece of pooo when she referred to the KKK towards the girl. Dispicable^1000000

agreed...public apology at the least-suspension or firing..feel sorry for the girl.. SOOOO out of line..

first off ....this is America, the land of free speech. second I believe firing the teacher isn't exactly punishment fits the crime...perhaps a week off with out pay would be more suiting. and thirdly...if romo and lyin' get control of the white house ,all teachers will be expendable , as they want Morlocks (see the Time Machine, by HG Wells)to serve them and education for the masses will be a deterrent to their plans.

Teachers should not discuss politics in class (unless, of course it is a political class). Just like churches should not discuss politics during service.

Unbelievable! The teacher was a tenured democratic liberal and should be FIRED for bullying a student!

Funny how the libs preach tolerance, unless they don't agree with you!

Why didn't they add that the teacher was black to this article??? MSNBC is so liberal I'm suprised they ran this article except they knew it would draw clicks and comments!!! They didn't add that the teacher was black which I had guessed because who else would try to connect Romney to KKK? Why is it that liberals believe anything they hear from another liberal??? Do you really think Republicans are racist??? Could it be that they know you will vote for them if they said something like that??? Yes, and they do! We are no more racist than you are! I don't like or not like people based on there color, religion or sexual ornientation any more than you do! There are a few that do and those are the people they play up to make the point. They group everyone because of a few just like not all black people have been drug dealers! We have to see with our own eyes, the democarats have done more to cause racial devide than any republican ever could have!!! Open your eyes! I don't care if you don't vote for Romney just have a brain of your own and don't think everything they say is true about everyone!

Something just does not smell right about this whole article. this is just too pat perfect and feels like a set up. If this turns out to be true, I would agree the teacher needs to be removed becuase the teacher is dumber than a box of rocks. If it turns out to be a non corroborated story that only the girl says happened, whoever is the person that set her up to play this little drama needs to be revealed. The story just doesn't add up........

I'm glad to see liberals finally FIGHTING BACK at these conservative CRETINS!!

The fact is the Republican party still SUPPORTS the KKK(albeit behind CLOSED doors).

Perhaps the republicans/conservatives should APOLOGIZE for all the civil rights ATROCITIES(Bombings, MURDEDRS) they committed back in the 60's.

Typical liberal BS! I am sure that this is not the only occasion that this kind of thing is going on. During the last election, my then 9 year old daughter was asked who she would vote for. My daughter and another girl, whose father was in Iraq, said that they would vote for McCain. The teacher tried to change their minds with a few leftist "mind-tricks" and when both girls would not bend, the teacher let it go. A few weeks later, after the election, the teacher had a class party complete with cake, ice cream, and punch. Amazingly, she made my daughter and her friend leave the classroom because of their political leanings! My daughter was in tears and it took my wife all of her feminine wiles to keep me from going to the school and giving that idiot, liberal teacher a new A$$hole! I guess being liberal means never having to respect the beliefs of anyone who doesn't believe the same way as they do!

Oh hey Scooter, the KKK was started by.....wait for it...Southern Democrats. Looks like both you and that teacher need to read up on some American history before making yourself look so much stupider than you do at this moment.

And Scooter the voting rights acts in the 60's were backed by more Republicans than Democrats! Put that in your racist pipe and smoke it!

Maybe I missed it but why didn't the article say whether the teacher was black or white? My guess is the teacher was black. If that is the case it only shows how far civil rights haven't advanced very far at all.

Shows how far Obama has divided blacks and whites. Will we ever get along. Falls in line with the speech Obama gave to the all black ministers in Va. back in 2005. Looks like reversed discrimination to me.

What a mess. I could understand various dress code restrictions to avoid bringing politics into the classroom. However, handling it in this way was very bad. If there was an actual dress code to prevent such things it should have been handled far more discretely by explaining to the teenager privately how such shirts can be disruptive and create conflict in the classroom.

"not knowing where the city that our fore fathers signed the constitution is located, is just sad."

Not being aware of the political landscape is profoundly ignorant. Collapsing a post as a sign of intolerance has to be the most serious crime you can commit in a discussion.

Boy have things changed for the worse. I remember when I was in high school in 1980. The election was a big event around the school. The school sanctioned it. Just about everybody was wearing buttons for candidates. There were t-shirts as well. The halls were plastered with campaign signs, some from the official parties and some home made ones. We even had a mock convention. It was Carter vs. Reagan. The same happened in 1976 when I was a little younger. It was a lot of fun and regarded as educational. I sure would hate school now. I remember that at our mock convention, the Democrats rode in on a live donkey. Even the official Democrats never tried that one.

It's incredible that regardless of the affront or crime, some people will always blame the victim. Always. As a Pennsylvanian, I really don't think Philly thinks of itself as it's own little fiefdom, they think of themselves as the only place that matters in Pennsylvania. They think they own the state and in most cases they do. The rest of the state gets to pay for them.

Transferring this teacher to another class is no better than transferring a pedophile priest to another parish.

The school administration probably has no choice because she is protected by the Teachers Union. Won't back down...we need to get rid of these thugs and goons.

The teacher had no rights, It is called FREE speech or does the teacher know what that means?

If the student had a picture of Mr. Obama and underneath the picture said "NObama", the teacher would probably have missed the "NObama" and nothing would have been done about it.

Hey, that is an idea.....ALL students wear a "NObama" shirt to school.

Reading all the tolerance comments from the liberals about this is the biggest joke I've read in a long time. Liberal tolerance went out the window a decade ago. Had it been a white teacher telling a student to take off an Obama shirt while making a racial comment you all would have been screaming for them to be prosecuted for a hate crime. Now that I think about it I believe this teacher may need to be investigated by the DOJ for a possible hate crime. Haha that possibility is an even better joke than liberal tolerance.

A much more clever way of resolving the practice of children making political statments on behalf of their parents ..... the teacher could have got the student to come up in front of the class and explain Roamey's Tax "Policy" or his Health "Policy" (Roamey can't explain them maybe a 16 yr old can make sense of it) or why she supports Roamey, "political debate is healthy dear and since you chose to bring it to the classroom let's have the disscussion". I doubt she would have had much of an answer and I am sure there would have been other students in the class prepared to debate the subject.....and I suspect it would be the last time the shirt was worn. Free Speech respected and problem solved....kids you gotta out think 'em.

The teacher was wrong should be admonished and moved even more so she was dumb as she allowed herself to be goaded in to an incident of the type the Repubs pray for.

The teacher was wrong to expel the student from the classroom unless the rule applied equally to all political t-shirts or all tees with messages.

I'm not a fan of Romney/Ryan but the rule must be enforced equally or not at all.

This is a classic example of pseudo-liberalism.

Sarah-3043284

Another 16 year old attention whore.

You're cool. You just called a 16 year old child a whore, in an anonymous, completely safe way, where there's no actual threat to you.

Do you feel better?

Sarah; so in your one dimensional world - a whore is a whore is a whore? If you really think I was calling her some back alley whore - then it is your mind that is warped...how is life in extremeville?

I would love to say what I said to her face - I have a few opinions I'd like to share with her parents too - since they most likely put the idea in her head to wear such a shirt.

If it was my kid - I'd ask him; well, did you learn what you should and shouldn't wear to school. See, in my house there are consequences for your actions...accountability is a self ownership issue - not something you throw at others and expect the reaction you want.

sarah; look at all the arguments you get in here...do you ever just post your own opinion and leave it at that? TROLL

Fire the B!tch. No suspension, no apology, just fire her. I am a Democrat, but this is going way over any conduct that should ever be allowed by any teacher in the system. When I was in high school we had teachers that occasionally made a statement about their political opinions,a few were perty strong. None whent this far. It was for the most part considered part of the learning process. That we, each of us, has the right to an individual opinion, is one of the most basic freedoms we share. That was, and should remain part of the educational process. Teachers and students alike should be allowed to wear political buttons, clothing, have bumper stickers, as they wish. Freedom of expression must be a part of the educational experience. Obiviously we can not alow anyone to be singled out or ostrasized, nor can we alow a teacher to espouse only a single view. But again the right to political freedom must be taught in our schools, not smothered out.

I know the gramer police will be all over this but PLEASE, the spell checker is not working due to the overload.

@Sarah; Generally I disagree with everything that you say on Newsvine. Today I find myself in the refreshing position of agreeing with everything you have said. Who says that liberals and conservatives can't agree? I also have to agree with Tyler; there is some pretty solid discussion going on here. Another refreshing change. Carry on folks!

J P patchespal; I'm afraid you are one of the few trolls on here today. Please refrain from calling a 16 year old girl a whore because you disagree with her. That's as bad as what the teacher did to her, imo. I don't know about you, but when I was in school political expression was encouraged; it was part of my government and history classes. You know....learning an' all.

Patches,

In my world, a bully, is a bully, is a bully. And any adult, who calls a child, any name like "whore", regardless of whatever meaning the name caller wants to put behind it, is a bully.

You can disagree and teach a child, without degrading them.

Does calling kids names, make you feel tough?

Mike,

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut, every now and then. Congratulations!

Just kidding, sarcasm ;)

Sarah,

Jo up there called me and my ilk the biggest bullies of all (teachers). Considering I just got home quite late and made my wife late for work because I had a student break down at the very end of the day and needed to console the student and then drive him home since he missed his bus and has no one to pick him up, I can tell you, yes, it hurts.

In an issue like this, I think people are remiss if they don't acknowledge that the venom spewed from both sides is what is making events like these commonplace in our current culture. Liberals have no tolerance for conservatives, and vice versa. All this means is that every four years half of this country is going to go stand in the corner and cry and complain while the other half tries to defend their dear leader in the White House.

For shame on all of us.

Oh, and though I am not a Romney or Republican supporter (nope, not a Dem either), when I have students come to my class and ask me who I am going to vote for, I tell them it is none of their business. When they say, "If Romney wins, he's going to send all the Latinos back to their home countries," I enlighten them by telling them more illegal immigrants have been sent home during the Obama administration than during the Bush administration, so they should check their assumptions with actual facts.

It's interesting how I've been working in classrooms for 10 years, and the mentality I described above is the one I see MOST OFTEN from my colleagues.

Yet, people who have no insight into classrooms other than what they hear from their major mainstream news media outfits which exist only to make people's irrational, emotional opinions about matters seem like the truth, somehow have such knowledge of classrooms that they can generalize the entire education system as one that liberally indoctrinates the youth.

Ignorance peddled as insight and wisdom is a plague on this country.

Disgusted,

Thank you for being one of the good guys! When you get disheartened, I think Jon Stewart said it the best. Kind of long, but totally worth the read...

“I can’t control what people think this was. I can only tell you my intentions. This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith or people of activism or to look down our noses at the heartland or passionate argument or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear. They are and we do. But we live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus and not be enemies.

But unfortunately one of our main tools in delineating the two broke. The country’s 24 hour political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying up to our problems bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected dangerous flaming ant epidemic.

If we amplify everything we hear nothing. There are terrorists and racists and Stalinists and theocrats but those are titles that must be earned. You must have the resume. Not being able to distinguish between real racists and Tea Partiers or real bigots and Juan Williams and Rick Sanchez is an insult, not only to those people but to the racists themselves who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate--just as the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe not more. The press is our immune system. If we overreact to everything we actually get sicker--and perhaps eczema.

And yet, with that being said, I feel good—strangely, calmly good. Because the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false. It is us through a fun house mirror, and not the good kind that makes you look slim in the waist and maybe taller, but the kind where you have a giant forehead and an ass shaped like a month old pumpkin and one eyeball.

So, why would we work together? Why would you reach across the aisle to a pumpkin assed forehead eyeball monster? If the picture of us were true, of course, our inability to solve problems would actually be quite sane and reasonable. Why would you work with Marxists actively subverting our Constitution or racists and homophobes who see no one’s humanity but their own? We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is—on the brink of catastrophe—torn by polarizing hate and how it’s a shame that we can’t work together to get things done, but the truth is we do. We work together to get things done every damn day!

The only place we don’t is here or on cable TV. But Americans don’t live here or on cable TV. Where we live our values and principles form the foundations that sustains us while we get things done, not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done. Most Americans don’t live their lives solely as Democrats, Republicans, liberals or conservatives. Americans live their lives more as people that are just a little bit late for something they have to do—often something that they do not want to do—but they do it--impossible things every day that are only made possible by the little reasonable compromises that we all make.

Look on the screen. This is where we are. This is who we are. (points to the Jumbotron screen which show traffic merging into a tunnel). These cars—that’s a schoolteacher who probably thinks his taxes are too high. He’s going to work. There’s another car-a woman with two small kids who can’t really think about anything else right now. There’s another car, (referring to the Jumbotron blowing in the wind) swinging, I don’t even know if you can see it—the lady’s in the NRA and she loves Oprah. There’s another car—an investment banker, gay, also likes Oprah. Another car’s a Latino carpenter. Another car a fundamentalist vacuum salesman. Atheist obstetrician. Mormon Jay-Z fan. But this is us. Every one of the cars that you see is filled with individuals of strong belief and principles they hold dear—often principles and beliefs in direct opposition to their fellow travelers.

And yet these millions of cars must somehow find a way to squeeze one by one into a mile long 30 foot wide tunnel carved underneath a mighty river. Carved, by the way, by people who I’m sure had their differences. And they do it. Concession by conscession. You go. Then I’ll go. You go. Then I’ll go. You go then I’ll go. Oh my God, is that an NRA sticker on your car? Is that an Obama sticker on your car? Well, that’s okay—you go and then I’ll go.

And sure, at some point there will be a selfish jerk who zips up the shoulder and cuts in at the last minute, but that individual is rare and he is scorned and not hired as an analyst.

Because we know instinctively as a people that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light we have to work together. And the truth is, there will always be darkness. And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the promised land. Sometimes it’s just New Jersey. But we do it anyway, together.

If you want to know why I’m here and want I want from you, I can only assure you this: you have already given it to me. Your presence was what I wanted.

Sanity will always be and has always been in the eye of the beholder. To see you here today and the kind of people that you are has restored mine. Thank you."

The only part of this story I don't agree with is the teacher's statement that Romney=KKK.....That is not true...I lived in Massachusetts during his "reign" as governor, and I can HONESTLY say that Romney=$$$. It's all he cares about, and he will trample over his own mother and wives to get to it....He's a lowlife polygamist....Other than that, he's a good guy.

grilledcheesesandwich and ozzy1957--it is not just liberal instructors who bring up their political views in front of students, conservative instructors do it also. If you never noticed it, it's because you already agree with the views of the conservative instructors and think that they are just expressing the "facts."

Being a moderate, I tend to get it both from the conservative students and from the liberal students--everyone thinks that their own view is "correct," and everyone tends to notice only the "political statements" of the other side.

The teacher was joking. She probably thought that she had a good relationship with this particular student, that the student knew perfectly well that she was joking (and the student probably did), and that it was all just friendly banter of the type one might have at work. The teacher shouldn't have done this and probably does either need to be transferred or quietly allowed to leave and get a job elsewhere.

Unfortunately, one cannot have a good relationship with students any more. They are all out for their 15 minutes of Internet fame. This child has achieved hers. Frankly, I think that we need to just shut down the classrooms, put the children into cubicles with a computer, and let them work on their own. Or, let them work from home. It is virtually impossible to have a healthy classroom any more with all the students continuously waiting for someone to say something "hurtful" so that they can file suit. If this teacher hasn't yet learned what vicious little backstabbers 16-year-olds can be, she just learned it. I hope she will just leave teaching if she can't figure this one out.

It is ridiculous to sit around talking about this poor pitiful little student--there's nothing wrong with her. The conservative students do this all the time, their intention is to wait until something like this is said, and then they come down with a case of the weepies. It is a modus operandi of the far right that they have their children at the forefront (when they don't have pretty young women with impressive bra-sizes) of the discussion. Then, when anyone says anything (even as a joke), they suddenly get all weepy.

Yes, they picked up this trick from the far left, which has gotten poor little children and pretty young people to get up and weep for years. This doesn't make it right, though.

If you look at the t-shirt closely, there is this repeated R-R-R kind of pattern to it, which does sort of look like the old KKK logo, though it's not all that similar. I can see where the impression came in, though.

Conservative parents (and liberal parents) love it when these things happen because they can traipse the child out, have him/her cry, and get a lot of attention for themselves and their child and their cause. They also like to get money. It happens all the time.

The best thing for school systems is to have a school uniform and to simply forbid students from any sort of jewelry, button, or display that is unrelated to classroom studies. If the little lefties and righties spent more time actually learning stuff and less time turning the classroom into a political and social drama, I think we would all be better off.

By the by, the children of conservatives do tend to perform far worse on standardized tests than the children of moderates and liberals. Just sayin.

This is child blatant abuse, not by the school but by the parents. How unbelievably depraved and malevolent can parents be?? How DARE they send an innocent 16 year old girl to school who has no idea what adult politics are about with a political advertisement. The school is the LAST place for partisan political campaigning. What? The parents believe that she is going to influence how other students vote??? NO! It's all about ramming their partisan political opinion into the faces and down the throats of the faculty and using their innocent girl to do it for them. The parents should be tried, convicted and thrown into prison for egregious child abuse and the girl taken from them and put into some kind of care that will protect her from this kind of evil abuse. There is something really wrong when parents plumb the depths of their depravity by using their children to further their own partisan political polemic and wars.

Sarah; you made over 25 posts on this thread - who is the bully who won't let it go until she has put everybody in their place? You call others names , but are so involved in your own self righteousness that you don't even see it.

Correction; Sarah made at least 23 posts on October 4th and over 50 posts on October 5th - BULLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Uh oh! Now it's 26.

And you're still the bully.

My first thought too. Fire the teacher!!

As education was part of the debate topic last evening and both candidates agreed that we need good teachers in the classroom...I wonder where each would stand on this teachers ignorance and insensitivity?

There is no way the teachers remarks were a joke and why would the teacher ask the student about the kids parents politics?

Unless the student was violating school dress codes this teacher violated her rights as a citizen and not only should be fired byt the parents should file a lawsuit against her, second, it is none of the teachers business as to what this girls political party is. I would be willing to bet that had it been a obama shirt nothing would have been said by this teacher. Hopefully when Romney gets elected this type of person who's only job is to teach children education will be replaced.

Yeah Jerry, sue the school. Then she won't have to borrow money from her parents to go to college.

She should go back to class with a shirt that reads, "My geometry is a square"

Proudamericanveteran -

I think your characterization "these are the idiots teaching our kids" is way too generalized. This women is clearly an idiot, but to imply that all teachers are idiots is, well, idiotic.

tactical45, you sound like a communist. Are you seriously bashing our right to free speech? Go live in North Korea for a year and we'll talk then, you will hate who you are now.

You are right, only if it was an Obama shirt should it have made national news and overshadowed the debate last night. Believe me the conservatives have a LOOOOONNNNGG way to go to catch up to the liberals on blowing things way out of proportion. Libs are the masters, conservatives only the pupils in making news out of nothing.

This teacher should be fired. She has no business bringing her political views into the classroom. I do not buy her backpedalling story that this was meant as some kind of joke, I think she was dead serious. A sixteen year old can certainly tell the difference in the tone of someone's voice when they are kidding around and when they are serious, not that it would even be appropriate for this teacher to even joke around about something like this. There are far too many competent teachers who are out of work to put up with having someone like this in the classroom. What this teacher did is completely inexcusable!!! If the parents should give the school district the choice of either firing the teacher or facing a lawsuit to have her removed and for damages for what she did to their child.

Max^108

"I'm not supporting the teacher but I am trying to understand what actually happened and why. I did not and will not vote for Obama but I despise the fanatical political activists on both sides which have turned this country upside down."

Left wing Loonies. Right wing Loonies. Sports fan Loonies. Heaven help us! Oh! That just reminded me. Religion Loonies.

Teachers need to learn to leave politics out of their classrooms. I don't think an apology is enough for the humiliation a 16 year old must have felt to be singled out in her classroom. Maybe the teacher should have to volunteer at a Romney campaign office for 48 hours..kinda like community service!

Samantha was so embarrassed by the public criticism in front of her classmates that she told her parents she didn't want to return to school.

I smell big Multi Million USDs Lawsuit.

A Philadelphia high schooler says she was humiliated after her teacher told her to remove a Mitt Romney T-shirt she was wearing, comparing it to "wearing a KKK shirt."

And Hate Crime Charges.

If this were Southern California and someone wore a Mexican Flag Shirt and was told to take it off, they would have to build a new school. All the School would have been FIRED (No Severance Pay). The Lawyers of La Raza would have Filed Lawsuits against the State, City, School Board, School Administrators, Teacher, and Won. They don't have money, tough their personal property is auctioned. That teacher would have to be placed in protective custody, and after that forever looking over their shoulder.

I totally support the student and her parents! The teacher had no right whatsoever to admonish the 16 year old in front of the class; if she had an objection to the t-shirt she could have taken the girl aside and asked her not to wear the shirt again; but to embarass her in front of the entire class was not right. And what difference does it make what political party her parents belong to? And yes I would be just as upset if the girl had had on an Obama t-shirt. Teenagers have enough peer pressure without being embarrased in front if their entire class. Whatever happened to freedom of speech? It's not like it was a neon yellow with blinking lights on it, it was a pale pink (from what I can see from the picture) with white printing on it.

Seems to me like teachers need to go back to school and learn to mentor students and stick to teaching the subject matter.

Autumn of 1980. My social studies teacher had a Carter/Mondale poster in her classroom. To me THAT is inappropriate.

The tag-line of the poster was: "A proven and trustworthy team." I will never forget that.

Students should not be bullied by other students or teachers for their political views, attire, sexual orientation, religious beliefs (or lack thereof)... PERIOD. This teacher was clearly wrong and needs some "re-education". Her behavior was completely inappropriate and showed a lack of understanding regarding the acceptance of diverse opinions.

It's so unfair that people are saying that this is not news and the girl is blowing it out of proportion when we all know that if this was a Obama shirt and the same thing happened it would be like a bomb hit Philadelphia. We would have Al and Jesse up there and the media would be runnning around with their heads cut off. You all know I'm right. Fair is fair!!! Treat everyone the same. So all you Dems that want to sweep this under the rug need to stop. This is a big deal. It's her civil rights!!!

Imagine a white teacher telling a black girl that her Obama T-shirt was like wearing an "Al Quida" T-shirt.... do you think the liberal media's article might be slightly different? Do you think they would have screamed "racism" interviewed Sharpton and payed some "outraged supporters" to demand the teachers career immediately be ended?

Surely not, liberals are never so ugly and hateful... liberals are nice and caring and not small-minded at all, just as the liberal teacher showed. (sarcasm)

Liberal , left wing teachers are screwing the education system. Students in California can't dress a tee shirt with the American flag in 5 de mayo because is offensive to Mexicans. But 5 de mayo happened during the war Mexico-France. But they have no problem with kids wearing tee shirts with, Mao or Che Guevara

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/south_bay&id=7426088

Sandygo1969........ Do you truly believe our country has sunk that low that someone should be afraid to express their 1st amendment right? Or do you believe that because the ones that want to keep stirring the honeypot keep telling you that? If that is truly the case then there is no better reason to reprimand and punish this teacher for her ignorance on the law of the land and her mental abuse assault on this young lady as soon as possible.

@"Z": The fact that the teacher had to apologize is enough

Really? The teacher should have had to apologize to her in front of the classroom and then EXPLAIN why the apology was necessary - what a great lesson to teach students about the right to free speech!!!

Hmm, a math teacher that thinks (2+2)x2=44 (Obama) Just another union protected incompetent teacher towing the union line. That she's in the union explains why she was transferred instead of fired. Now, with the national attention, even the union won't be able to protect her. Fortunately the girl wasn't black and the teacher wasn't white (or latino) because Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would be busing in loads of protesters and inciting riots, to demand everybody from the Superintendent down to the janitor be investigated by the FBI for instigating Hate Crimes. Obama would chime in but his campaign manager has him on a short leash this month. Fire the dumb a55 teacher and move on.

I am a staunch Demorcat and will say that it was wrong wrong wrong!!! For all you repubs howling that this is typical liberal behavior, you are also wrong and diminish the story.

Agreed. Instead, the ACLU will probably end up demanding an apology from the student to the teacher, and some federal judge will make the parents pay all the teacher's legal costs....

not a surprise. if you dont like the way we think we will use the union strong arm. lets face it libs are just mean people when they dont get their way. i never thought like this till i started reading comments on these sites!

The girl should prevail in any complaint, the teacher should be removed from the classroom. Someone above called it what it is--Bullying. And it is in NO way infrequent. My 4th grader was taught an Obama anthem, until I got wind of it, as part of a musical performance. An Obama ANTHEM? Dear Leader songs? What are we, North Korea? Zimbabwe? The teacher thought there was absolutely nothing wrong with this.

My oldest son was sent, three times, to the HS principal's office because he, according to the teacher, disputed the teacher's claim in the class that Republicans want to destroy the environment. My youngest son, just three-plus weeks ago, was treated to a 9/11 lesson plan that centered on the movie "Loose Change", a piece of leftist truther agitprop if ever there was one.

So I called the teacher. He OPENLY hates the USA, or, rather, openly hates all things not liberal in the USA. Lucky for us all (sarcasm) that he is just a HS US Government teacher. His claim to me was there is no evidence of any kind which contradicts or disproves the theme of "Loose Change", and when I challeneged him on this (Popular Mechanics, Fahrenhype 9/11, 9/11 Comission Report) he screamed to me that I just wanted my kids to remain ignorant and biased. Now that teacher has his lesson plans monitored (fox guarding henhouse?), has a complaint in his file, and at the next school board meeting will be outed by me for the political bully he is. Oh, and I did pull my son from that class that day, telling the school that we would be in court if they tried to keep him in that teacher's room.

The left, which runs most public schools, has NO desire to teach kids how to think. They much prefer to teach kids what to think.

This teacher should be fired. She has no business bringing her political views into the classroom. I do not buy her backpedalling story that this was meant as some kind of joke

That's quite a bold statement, JS, considering that none of us were actually there to make that judgement for ourselves. We didn't hear any of the other student's opinions either. Did they think it was a joke? Maybe we all need to quit passing sweeping judgements based on what little information nbc feeds us.

"It was a only a joke." "You misunderstood." Both are common excuses used by verbal abusers. In an attempt to take the focus off the mistake they made, they'll turn it around and the victim becomes the problem. Classic.

Americans have the right to vote for whomever they decide. People who are too young to vote are allowed their opinions as well. There is no "wrong" or "right" party in our system. They're different, but neither one is superior to the other. Comparing either party to the Ku Klux Klan is contemptible.

I'm thinking the poor student didn't know that most teachers are members of the teachers' union and most unions support the democratic party. And as most people have probably noticed these days, freedom of speech is allowed for the most part only if it is considered to be politically correct.

If this is the stuff that schools are letting teachers teach and say in school then this quote from Nikita Krushchev is really becoming true. No teacher should ever be allowed to push any of their own political or religious views on their students.

This quote from Nikita Krushchev should make us all take a deep look at where our great Republic is heading:

"You Americans are so gullible. No, you won't accept communism outright. But we'll keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you finally wake up and find you already have communism. We won't have to fight you; we'll so weaken your economy until you fall like overripe fruit into our hands."

As much as I'm not a supporter of Mitt Romney (didn't support him when he was Governor here either) or Paul Ryan, this teacher really crossed the line. That behavior is unacceptable and I hope the school district will react accordingly.

I remember a story a few months ago where a young man was wearing a t-shirt that said Jesus is not a homophobe shirt to school and was asked to remove it. The parents and student fought that and he was allowed to wear the shirt. It made national headlines and there were so many people who were super supportive of that boy and his first amendment right.

I don't understand why so many people are not being understanding of this girl and her right to wear a shirt that shares her view. If I'm understanding right, the shirt did not have any inflammatory comments on it like, You're an idiot if you don't vote for Romney. It simply had the Romney/Ryan logo. And for those people who are saying she couldn't possibly have an opinion on this election, I would disagree. When I was 16, our History teacher had us pay close attention to that year's election. We watched the debates, read news articles, and then wrote a paper about who we would vote for and why. I never knew who the teacher was voting for, he never shared that info, but he told us that it was important for us to start understanding what our politions stood for and what we wanted them to stand for. She could very well have an opinion on who she would vote for if she were 18.

Plus, if this was an Obama shirt, the teacher would have probably complemented her. This was not a joke. The teacher stepped out of bounds and is now trying to cover her mistake by saying it was a joke. This whole situation ticks me off in many ways.

These are the kind of crappy a@@ teachers that are being protected by their union. The teacher should be fired.

Our country has become so divided under the current administration that math teachers think it's okay to question high school students on their family political affiliations.

this is a similar tactic used by hitlers brown shirts.

Yep, if it were an Obama Shirt this would have been on National TV for sure. That was really smart of the parents. Got their 15 minutes of fame ...

Hi Jeff,

As a conservative I thank you for your condemnation of the teacher's actions here. But I have to wonder...you do realize you are a minority within your ideology, yes? Not in public, I mean most all liberals in public would agree with you. But when not in public (though it may soon become public) these events are all one-sided: Liberals going after non-liberals. I could be wrong, but have you ever heard a story of a conservative teacher publicly going after his or her pupil over political affiliation?

I'm sure it's happened, but the fact we never hear about it probably indicates it is so infrequent, or so tepid, that it really has no effect.

if wearing a Romney shirt is like saying your KKK then an Obama shirt must like saying your a far left socialist that masks racist feelings in the name of change and reform

This is really very simple, and here is what should be done to the teacher (and anyone who says "it was a joke")

Explain the joke.

Explain any joke that links someone with the KKK. Simple, just explain what you thought was funny about it.

Then you can fire them.

the first amendment is already under attack with a bill that's in the senate(senate bill 3369." It has"disclosure"provisions that require org. to turn membership and donor lists over to gov.The DISCLOSE ACT biggest impact would the ability of the American people to join together to make their voices heard on myriad issues.This administration wants to change the constitution and the country into a socialist state so that we turn into a third world country.

For those of you who think that t-shirts like this should not be allowed in class are in my opinion completely wrong. A good school/teacher/educational system would encourage the youth of our country to get involved and help them learn how to discuss/debate these incredibly important rights and responsibilities. So many people seem to have not the slightest clue how to do so without the crap like what the teacher said coming into play. By banning anything of this nature, all we are doing is teaching them to shut their mouths and minds, and that their opinions are unimportant to the process and that they should not worry about these things, when we should be teaching exactly the opposite. After all it is ultimately their future more so than ours that we are talking about.
This teacher should be ashamed of herself for doing this to this young lady. She too is in need of learning how to debate these issues/politics without stooping to the level of those who would stifle your right to free speech just because your opinion is counter to theirs.
Just another great example of why the founding forefathers wrote that wonderful and beautiful document that we call the Constitution of the United States of America.
Just remember folks that all it takes is for us to keep our mouths shut and we will lose everything to those who would subjugate us. How would you like that teacher to be the one deciding what you could say and not say?
Just sayin.

RepubliKlan!

Very poor judgement by the teacher.

Hi spdockery,

That might be very simple, but it is also very brilliant. Which is why there is no chance, ever, the teacher will be asked to explain the joke, or her defenders will be asked to explain as surrogates.

They didn't say it in the article or the news coverage, but I would bet you dollars to donuts this was a black teacher and a black janitor, and they were literally calling this girl KKK.. OMG, IF this is the fact? This teacher or any black person better not protest a caucasion racially slurring a black person again. UNLESS, this teacher is fired immediately!!!!

Really, this is news?

Just another example of Liberals in our school system pushing their ideology above all else!

Also, if this teacher AND Janitor are both of color, and a not FIRED immediatey for their racial slur to this child. Then all is fair game, civil rights of colored folks are in the trash. Fair game now, no more hiding, time to own up to your mistakes!

This "teacher" should be fired immediately for trampling on the students constitutional right to free speech.

Bart Conner, you have the freedom to read or not to read this article, and then you have the freedom to speak about it. No this isn't news(sarcasm)... The parenthises were put there just in case Bart didnt get the news, that I am using my freedom of speech, to say he is a useless socialist liberal!!!

Damn LA RAZA mind control!

more phony outrage from the phony outrage-aholics.

cry us a river commies

Stupid LA RAZA brainwashed teachers still blame white America for slavery when 95% of slaves from Africa went to Latin America and were brought there by HISPANICS!

Get that teacher REALLY pissed off.

Vote for Romney!

Whats the problem? The teacher gave the girl several choices - if she wanted to stay in the class room.

I've seen kids argue that is they wrote something offensive on their clothes - but printed it backwards, it wasn't really the same as writing it in the first place.

I have no doubt the girl was not as innocent as she pretends to be. Just as she is adamant about her right to wear the Romney shirt ... I feel the teacher has rights to ask her to remove it or obscure it (turn it inside out, perhaps). The teacher, as far as I am concerned has the right to run her class room pretty much as she wants to.

Some kid comes into your home and uses curse words - you politely ask them not to use that kind of language in your home, but they tell you its OK, the are allowed to do that at home. Then send them home - they can curse as loud and as long as they want to. But, your house - your rules. The teachers class room is their office as well as the place they teach... I see that as meaning they have discreation as to what is done in their place of work. Whats next, little Susy wants to text, listen to music, fart ... just do what ever she wants?

UnitedStates1776 No parent should be sending their child to school in any type of political T-Shirt.

Children are in school to concentrate on their studies. Not be part of some parents political statement.

When I was in school, we studied politics. We were encouraged to investigate the candidates and make a choice, then we held a mock election. I won’t disclose the year – but Nixon fared better with the adults than the kids! If they don’t still do that in school – they need to go back to it. That could explain why our young adults don’t take voting seriously.

The teacher was out of line. If the student had worn an obama/biden shirt and the teacher related it to gangs – would that have been joking? Most of you wouldn't have thought so.

If you can not have campaign signs in or around public grade schools (depending on the State) then you can't have a shirt, it's the same thing. The teacher just had poor delivery. Also, kids in general are too sheltered. Everyone gets a trophy!! This child needs to take it as a learning experience, parents need to talk to her about it and then move on.

Hopefully they don't get sue happy like everyone else. Such a shame how people take no responsibility for their own actions, and think there is always someone else to blame. As if to say you are owed something when something doesn't go your way. God forbid someone stub their toe, must be the sidewalks fault.

Fire the teacher!!! Nothing will probably happen to this woman...she will get to keep her job with no consequences for her "bullying"...This is why we need to abolish public unions!!!!

This is precisely why many dress codes do not allow any (read ANY) graphics on t-shirts. One must question the political statement this student was making when she was unable to answer a question about party affiliation. Depending on the dress code - the teacher may have been correct in telling this student to change the shirt. After seeing this candidate voice his true opinion, the teacher was not far off in comparing support for this candidate to support for the KKK. Did this remark lead to a time of direct instruction on the political process, the historical context of disenfranchisement informally enforced by the KKK, or some other legitimate educational experience? And by the way, if this student is "old enough" to make a political statement like this, then she better have the heart to face a dissenting opinion. Was the teacher's remark followed by a discussion of appropriate ways to voice a disagreement? (Modeling is a proven method of instruction) Those of you calling for this teacher to be fired are really not aware of the history of the tenure system! (Which predates labor unions by about a century) You are also unaware of the events leading up to and following this "event". For those of you who want to talk about this child's right to free speech, if the child is unable to defend a position it might be better for the child to not speak. Besides that argument, can't drink alcohol legally, can't smoke legally under the age of 18, can't vote, can't serve in the military, can't enter a legally binding agreement. . . what rights does she actually have?

I share the teachers disdain for Romney but she had no right to judge a students politics. As a liberal, I defend this child's right to her own view even though i don't agree. And as a liberal I shun this teacher. What the teacher did is just wrong.

The teacher was in the wrong for telling the student that she could not wear that t-shirt in class but she is correct that supporting Mitt is like supporting the KKK.

spdockery,

Explain any joke that links someone with the KKK. Simple, just explain what you thought was funny about it.

Doesn't get any simpler than that!!!

I love common sense!

Let's remove the "K" from all keyboards!

I am an Obama supporter! However, the teacher is 100% wrong and Samantha is 100% right, This is America and she has every right to support her candidate and wear that shirt.

or the school administrator could have explained to the parents if the teacher was right.

The only way she could possibly be right is if the school placed a ban on all clothing relating to politics.

she is correct that supporting Mitt is like supporting the KKK.

That is complete bulls***.

If church is not allowed in school as every kid in public schools are not allowed to wear a shirt with the name Jesus or a cross on the shirt then a politic shirt should also be banned. REMOVE CHURCH AND YOU SHOULD ALSO REMOVE POLITICS DEALING WITH THE USA GOVERNMENT. The only government allowed in school is if you want jane doe or john doe to be class president. Any other politics need to stay the h*ll out of schools including shirts, pants, wristbands, and jewelry.

They need to hold a student meeting in the school auditorium and everyone needs to attend. The teacher needs to address the assembly and explain why she was wrong, apologize to the student in question for her inappropriate behavior, as well as the school itself for bringing this to national attention. She needs to go to someplace where she can get proper training on how to conduct herself in the classroom and learn toleration along with what her actual job requires and to stick to her subject nothing more, nothing less. Although I think they should fire her lest any of the other union lapdogs working there feel they can get away with this as well. Unfortunately they won't. Who knows what the other students have said to her or if she's going to be bullied in school or cyber bullied, but if she is then her parents should sue the school system and insist they pay for her to go to private school.

I like what the Liberals are doing here! Discourage the liberal kids from learning to be civicly minded and attentive to politics and their rights to speakout, and have a choice they support. Because I can tell you this, the Conservative moral supporters will not go for this, as they encourage their children to be civicly minded. And research and follow their hearts, on their choice of the leader of this country THEY LIVE IN! And support freedom and the ability to excercise their freedoms. Honestly I think the truth of this election is not about Republican or Democrat, or Liberal and Conservative. Its about which direction you wish this country to go!... Do you want big government and a debt that our great grand children will be stuck paying for and federal government regulation in every aspect of our lives. Or do you want the free market and less goverment and a balanced budget that starts paying down the debt we made, and less government regulation that costs jobs for those that want to work, and less tax so that money stays in the pocket of Industrious people and middle class that create jobs and not a bureaucatic government that creates HUGE debt and invests in failing venture after failing venture. So you people that think this teacher did nothing wrong an more regulations on freedom of speech of young adults in school is the solution. vote obama, and you live with the consequences you and your children will suffer. I am voteing my heart and concious and voting romney, because I dont want teachers like this to ever take away another persons freedom of speech.

Something just does not smell right about this whole article. this is just too pat perfect and feels like a set up. If this turns out to be true, I would agree the teacher needs to be removed becuase the teacher is dumber than a box of rocks. If it turns out to be a non corroborated story that only the girl says happened, whoever is the person that set her up to play this little drama needs to be revealed. The story just doesn't add up........

frenchconnection, I guess whenever there are stories that do not fit the "liberal template" it must be a set up! There is no way that such caring liberal-minded individuals could ever do anything so disgusting. The republicans must be trolling through the schools to make this kind of situation happen!

I do guarantee that if there was a story with a conservative-minded teacher telling some student to remove their gay/ transgender t-shirt you would be the first to scream your bilge on these posts!

Transferring this teacher to another class is no better than transferring a pedophile priest to another parish.

The school administration probably has no choice because she is protected by the Teachers Union. Won't back down...we need to get rid of these thugs and goons.

frenchconnection

If the story doesn't add up then why did the teacher apoligize and say it was ment as a joke. I think you are trying to twist this story to meet your ideas or the unions. Give it up, the teacher was wrong wrong wrong.

Teacher needs a civil rights lesson, and perhaps learn something about the KKK and its effects on society, and learn something about the Republican Party history while she's at it. Fortunately, she's a geometry teacher, and not a history one.

(Anybody else see that part of "Glee," where the soon-to-be-quickly-retired history teacher had the map of the world in red, covered with swastikas: "And that's how we Nazi's won the Second World War!")

I would think that when she went to school she would have to had to take History classes. No excuse for this behaviour.

and perhaps learn something about the KKK and its effects on society, and learn something about the Republican Party

Like how the Klu Klux klan was a arm of the democratic party,formed in response to republican efforts to support equally between all Americans?

The 1924 Democratic National Convention, also called the Klanbake,^[1] held at the Madison Square Garden in New York City from June 24 to July 9, took a record 103 ballots to nominate a presidential candidate. It was the longest continuously running convention in United States political history. It was the first major party national convention that saw the name of a woman, Lena Springs, placed in nomination for the office of Vice President.

It was also known for the strong influence of the Ku Klux Klan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1924_Democratic_National_Convention

That's intellectually dishonest. Yesterday's Democrats, are today's Republicans

What members of the Klan left the Republican party, and joined the democratic party ? Robert Byrd

What member of of the Klan left the democratic party, and joined the republican party?

I await your answer (LOL)

That's intellectually dishonest

(ps) I'm a life long Democrat who knows history.

KP,

So you're claiming that ideological shift didn't happen? Yes, or no? That the civil rights act and voting rights act, weren't passed by Democrats? Yes, or no?

Of course, there are singular exceptions to the rule, i.e. Robert Byrd, but are you honestly making the claim that those more in line with the values of the Klan, are mostly Democrats?

Southern Democrats are members of the U.S. Democratic Party who reside in the American South. In the 19th century, they were the definitive pro-slavery wing of the party, opposed to both the anti-slavery Republicans (GOP) and the more liberal Northern Democrats.

Eventually "Redemption" was finalized in the Compromise of 1877 and the Redeemers gained control throughout the South. As the New Deal began to move Democrats as a whole to the left (at least economically), Southern Democrats largely stayed as conservative as they had always been, with some even breaking off to form farther right-wing splinters like the Dixiecrats. After the Civil Rights Movement successfully challenged the Jim Crow laws and other forms of institutionalized racism, and after the Democrats as a whole came to symbolize the mainstream left of the United States, the form, if not the content, of Southern Democratic politics began to change.

After World War II, during the civil rights movement, Democrats in the South initially still voted loyally with their party. After the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, white voters who became tolerant of diversity began voting against Democratic incumbents for GOP candidates. The Republicans carried many Southern states for the first time since before the Great Depression. Rising educational levels and rising prosperity in the South, combined with shifts to the left by the national Democratic Party on a variety of socio-economic issues, led to widespread abandonment of the Democratic Party by white voters and Republican dominance in many Southern states by the 1990s and 2000s.

When Richard Nixon courted voters with his Southern Strategy, many Democrats became Republicans and the South became fertile ground for the GOP, which conversely was becoming more conservative as the Democrats were becoming more liberal. However, Democratic incumbents still held sway over voters in many states, especially those of the Deep South. In fact, until 2002, Democrats still had much control over Southern politics. It wasn't until the 1990s that Democratic control gradually collapsed, starting with the elections of 1994, in which Republicans gained control of both houses of Congress, through the rest of the decade. Southern Democrats of today who vote for the Democratic ticket are mostly urban liberals.

Apparently, you don't know history, all that well.

KPR37 -- I don't know where you learned your history, but Senator Robert C. Byrd was a lifelong Democrat who matured enough to recognize his racial views were wrong. As for your second question, the Klan left the Democratic Party and joined the Republican Party, causing people like me to abandon the party of Lincoln for the Democrats. The KKK was not formed by Democrats, it was formed by Southern, Confederate veterans who happened to be Democrats, and specifically the portion of the Democratic Party that split from the Northern Democrats in 1860.

Apparently, you don't know history, all that well.

Well yes I do, I as wrong about Robert Byrd however and admit it.

He was never a republican, he was a life long Democrat. I did not look it up, I just posted it off the top of my head. I looked this up, and know this information is correct.

October 3, 1924
Republicans denounce three-time Democrat presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan for defending the Ku Klux Klan at 1924 Democratic National Convention

June 12, 1929
First Lady Lou Hoover invites wife of U.S. Rep. Oscar De Priest (R-IL), an African-American, to tea at the White House, sparking protests by Democrats across the country

August 17, 1937
Republicans organize opposition to former Ku Klux Klansman and Democrat U.S. Senator Hugo Black, appointed to U.S. Supreme Court by FDR; his Klan background was hidden until after confirmation

June 24, 1940
Republican Party platform calls for integration of the armed forces; for the balance of his terms in office, FDR refuses to order it

August 8, 1945
Republicans condemn Harry Truman’s surprise use of the atomic bomb in Japan. The whining and criticism goes on for years. It begins two days after the Hiroshima bombing, when former Republican President Herbert Hoover writes to a friend that “The use of the atomic bomb, with its indiscriminate killing of women and children, revolts my soul.”

September 30, 1953
Earl Warren, California’s three-term Republican Governor and 1948 Republican vice presidential nominee, nominated to be Chief Justice; wrote landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education

November 25, 1955
Eisenhower administration bans racial segregation of interstate bus travel

March 12, 1956
Ninety-seven Democrats in Congress condemn Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, and pledge to continue segregation

June 5, 1956
Republican federal judge Frank Johnson rules in favor of Rosa Parks in decision striking down “blacks in the back of the bus” law

November 6, 1956
African-American civil rights leaders Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy vote for Republican Dwight Eisenhower for President

September 9, 1957
President Dwight Eisenhower signs Republican Party’s 1957 Civil Rights Act

September 24, 1957
Sparking criticism from Democrats such as Senators John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, President Dwight Eisenhower deploys the 82nd Airborne Division to Little Rock, AR to force Democrat Governor Orval Faubus to integrate public schools

May 6, 1960
President Dwight Eisenhower signs Republicans’ Civil Rights Act of 1960, overcoming 125-hour, around-the-clock filibuster by 18 Senate Democrats

May 2, 1963
Republicans condemn Democrat sheriff of Birmingham, AL for arresting over 2,000 African-American schoolchildren marching for their civil rights

September 29, 1963
Gov. George Wallace (D-AL) defies order by U.S. District Judge Frank Johnson, appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower, to integrate Tuskegee High School

June 9, 1964
Republicans condemn 14-hour filibuster against 1964 Civil Rights Act by U.S. Senator and former Ku Klux Klansman Robert Byrd (D-WV), who still serves in the Senate

June 10, 1964
Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) criticizes Democrat filibuster against 1964 Civil Rights Act, calls on Democrats to stop opposing racial equality. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was introduced and approved by a staggering majority of Republicans in the Senate. The Act was opposed by most southern Democrat senators, several of whom were proud segregationists—one of them being Al Gore Sr. Democrat President Lyndon B. Johnson relied on Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen, the Republican leader from Illinois, to get the Act passed.

August 4, 1965
Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) overcomes Democrat attempts to block 1965 Voting Rights Act; 94% of Senate Republicans vote for landmark civil right legislation, while 27% of Democrats oppose. Voting Rights Act of 1965, abolishing literacy tests and other measures devised by Democrats to prevent African-Americans from voting, signed into law; higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats vote in favor

http://www.black-and-right.com/the-democrat-race-lie/

KP,

Voting Rights Act of 1965, abolishing literacy tests and other measures devised by Democrats to prevent African-Americans from voting, signed into law; higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats vote in favor

Right, because those democrats, were dixiecrats, who are now, republicans, because republicans voted in favor of this, and over and over, until the parties flipped. Everyone of your examples, shows this to be true. You're proving OUR point.

Yes/No... Did the ideologies of the parties, flip and develop over the years? Are minorities consistently voting for Dems? Is the GOP, predominately white, christian, and southern?

Sarah, in the true form of a liberal you attempt to spin the facts to support "your" version of history. Too bad that anyone who actually did learn history sees your bs for exactly what it is. You can try and spin it all you want, but as much as you try you cannot and will not change history.

Really, how did I spin facts?

Yes or No...

Did the ideologies of the parties, flip and develop over the years? Are minorities consistently voting for Dems? Is the GOP, predominately white, christian, and southern? Would Klan members vote for the Dem party today? Were there two different factions of the Dem party, northern/southern, in the '60's? Did the northern ones pass the civil and voting rights acts? Did the southern ones support them in that?

Again...

Southern Democrats are members of the U.S. Democratic Party who reside in the American South. In the 19th century, they were the definitive pro-slavery wing of the party, opposed to both the anti-slavery Republicans (GOP) and the more liberal Northern Democrats.

Eventually "Redemption" was finalized in the Compromise of 1877 and the Redeemers gained control throughout the South. As the New Deal began to move Democrats as a whole to the left (at least economically), Southern Democrats largely stayed as conservative as they had always been, with some even breaking off to form farther right-wing splinters like the Dixiecrats. After the Civil Rights Movement successfully challenged the Jim Crow laws and other forms of institutionalized racism, and after the Democrats as a whole came to symbolize the mainstream left of the United States, the form, if not the content, of Southern Democratic politics began to change.

After World War II, during the civil rights movement, Democrats in the South initially still voted loyally with their party. After the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, white voters who became tolerant of diversity began voting against Democratic incumbents for GOP candidates. The Republicans carried many Southern states for the first time since before the Great Depression. Rising educational levels and rising prosperity in the South, combined with shifts to the left by the national Democratic Party on a variety of socio-economic issues, led to widespread abandonment of the Democratic Party by white voters and Republican dominance in many Southern states by the 1990s and 2000s.

When Richard Nixon courted voters with his Southern Strategy, many Democrats became Republicans and the South became fertile ground for the GOP, which conversely was becoming more conservative as the Democrats were becoming more liberal. However, Democratic incumbents still held sway over voters in many states, especially those of the Deep South. In fact, until 2002, Democrats still had much control over Southern politics. It wasn't until the 1990s that Democratic control gradually collapsed, starting with the elections of 1994, in which Republicans gained control of both houses of Congress, through the rest of the decade. Southern Democrats of today who vote for the Democratic ticket are mostly urban liberals.

How is the above information, not true?

"She said that's like her wearing a KKK shirt.""

And the teacher said that such a statement was a 'joke'? You can't say something like that, and then claim it's a 'joke'. Not in this hyper-PC day and age.

Well this is not a impartial way nor very tolerant...to teach but why would I take that shirt to class??? Im going to study...not to make political opinions...especially if Im a minor and Can't vote...

On the other hand...the bill comes due on DEC 31st half a trillion, what is Rommney going to do? talk again??? or better yet discuss abortion and contraceptive on women??? or maybe ilegal hispanics inmigrants here?...or gay marriage??? THE BILL WILL BE DUE! what is he pretend to do about it???

That would be my first question...who cares about her shirt or the teacher coments...??? SOLUTIONS PEOPLE solutions...concentrate on reality...

okie joe-3728210 - The KKK was not formed by Democrats, it was formed by Southern, Confederate veterans who happened to be Democrats, and specifically the portion of the Democratic Party that split from the Northern Democrats in 1860.

Trying to rewrite History okie joe-3728210 the KKK were formed by the States Rights Party, the later Founders of the Democratic Party. Democratic Party KKK to catch Run Away Slaves even before the start of the Civil War.

The Northern Democrats were a almost non existent Party in the North, as the New Industrialization benefited the Federalist Party (aka the Republic of America Party, the Founders of the Republican Party). Even the Socialist Party was bigger and more Popular than the Northern Democrats. While the Democratic Party relied on the Labor Intensive Agricultural Economy of the South. This is where the States Rights Democracy became the Main Issue of the Democratic Party, while the Northern Federalist Party later made Slavery the Main Issue as a diversion from the Main Issue of the Centralized Federalist Government of the Republic of America.

The Civil War was actually a War between two Economies (Northern Industrialized and Southern Agricultural) and States Rights (the States Democracies versus a Centralized Representative Government of the Republic of America, aka the Union). The Democratic Party did not want a Republic of America Party (Centralized Government) running their Lives, to the extent that each of the Democratic Party States were printing their own money, had their own State's Constitutions, etc..

Go read the previous History Books before they were rewritten as Politically Correct.

Sarah-3043284,

You never lived in the Southern US did you. They are proud that they Founded the current Democratic Party. That after the Civil War became the Dixiecrats (Dixie Democrats). Go look at a map indicating what the "Southern States" were versus the "Northern States" just prior to the Civil War.

David,

The point here, is that those Dixiecrats, are not today's democrats. They may be proud of their heritage, of being founded by Dixiecrats, that doesn't make them aligned with the Democratic party today.

Yes, or no...

Did the ideologies of the parties, flip and develop over the years? Are minorities consistently voting for Dems? Is the GOP, predominately white, christian, and southern? Would Klan members vote for the Dem party today? Were there two different factions of the Dem party, northern/southern, in the '60's? Did the northern ones pass the civil and voting rights acts? Did the southern ones support them in that?

I mean, my God, it's common sense. Look at the party platforms today.

So much for Freedom of Speech in that Geometry class. Perhaps the teacher likes symbols that match the teacher's political point of view, like a Swastika.

I don't like it, You can't do it...where did I hear that before? oh yeah Socialism.

I wrote an essay for my final project in a first year college English class. The topic was, "Politics In The Classroom". There is a lot on the internet about teachers who preach their political bias to the students and some got fired for that. look it up. I got a "C" for that essay.Maybe it was because I used the google search phrase, "Politics in the Classroom", as the title of my essay, It must have been too much for my english teacher to understand, I did it to point out what she was doing...

There are a lot of teachers who deserve to be fired, and this is one of them. There should be a no tolerence policy for teachers.

You ask a 15 year young girl to take her clothes off once...just once..!

Sarah-3043284- The point here, is that those Dixiecrats, are not today's democrats. They may be proud of their heritage, of being founded by Dixiecrats, that doesn't make them aligned with the Democratic party today.

Oh, yes, they are. That is ingrained into them just like trying to get a Islamic Believer to become a Christian.

Later on, the Democratic Party Flip Flopped as a means to continue to get Elected by finding ways to get the African Americans to Vote for them by hook and crook (now a days called Propaganda after their Illegal Methods Failed, Literacy Laws, Poll Taxes, KKK intimations similar to what US Labor Unions do to "scabs", etc..). This Propaganda continues today, as to the removal of the Oath of all Citizens to the Representative Constitutional Republic of America (except as required for new Legal Immigrants becoming US Citizens).

Sarah-3043284 - Did the northern ones pass the civil and voting rights acts?

Nope. The Repugnants did that. See kpr37 post#3.9.

During the 1960s the Northern Democrats adopted the Communist Party and Socialist Party Ideologies, and the staunch anti Communist and anti Socialist Southern Democrats (Protestant Work Ethic) could not abide by those Northern Democrat Ideologies; especially after President Truman (D) his allowing the Anti Socialist, Anti Communist "witch hunts", and President Truman's stated "Communist Threat" after WWII.

Oh by the way the Repugnants don't get off scott free, as prior to the Civil War they had their own Slaves, Indentured Servants (new immigrants as Slaves), and the start of the "Sweat Shops" of the Industrialized Northern States.

Bullies can be the teachers too.

Sarah, all the dixiecrats are dead, sen. byrd was the last of them. Without the support of republicans the civil rights act of 1965 would not have happened.

Do libs use all forms of racisim to their advantage? Scare tactics to mask their true intentions? I believe yes and it works extremely well, I believe the KKK and the Black Panther Party both vote for Dems, I mean they both hate what America stands for and what better way to keep the hatred going than confusing the masses.

You cant tell me a man who wrote a thesis on how he hates white America and had a pastor for 20 years preach hate suddenly woke up and said by golly I was wrong white ppl are awesome.... Its amazing how spin doctors work to confuse people....

No, the parties did NOT just "switch". The democratic south was wrong about slavery, but you are talking about a culture in the south that is socially and economically conservative. Once Civil Rights were fought for and won by republicans and that issue was settled. Those in the south gradually realized they shared conservative ideas with republicans and you began to see a migration to that party. The south is mostly rural with fewer large cities. Every single rural part of America is conservative and republican. The parties did not switch. That is revisionist history at its best. Democrats win the big cities with their social saftey net ideas. Republicans win everywhere else with personal freedom and personal responsibility ideas. Republicans are not racist. They just want folks to be responsible for themselves. The theory that the parties just swithed is ridiculous. BTW - I am not from the south, but have family there....great, hardworking people.

As for the article, not sure the teacher should be fired, but her ignorance in regard to freedom would sure make want to have her performance scrutinized. Most teachers are liberal....it is the culture of those environments, but most teachers do a competent to good job. I just wish the unions wouldn't protect the bad ones. Everyone would be better off. If I were a teacher I would be embarrassed that some of my co-workers were incompetent and everyone knew it (which they do) and did nothing about it (which they don't). Some of my best friends are teachers. They know the system doesn't work well, but they live with it and just make sure their kids are taught by the competent ones.

I was on the teachers side until she insulted the the KKK shirt by comparing it to Romney. Dumb ass yankee.

Talking about the KKK is just as offencive as Talking in Glowing terms about Auschwitz. Our American Holocaust, lasted longer and was much more public than the the Jewish Holocaust. Its a sign of immaturity to ask educated people to look at it as merely a difference of opinion or a political discussion.

Many young Jews have allowed themselves to become complacent, assume a kinship with the sons and daughters of those who constructed the ovens and drove the trains.

It wasn't a anomalous aberration of history. Neither were the Killing Fields of Cambodia. It happened and the seeds are still in the ground - all it takes is felicitous climate and a little cultivation... or change the classification from a weed to a Flower. Then - quick as a bunny the fields will bloom again.

Sarah-3043284,

Do you know why I say this: "We are handed two steaming piles of sh!t, and told to choose. And the American Citizens are too ignorant to even figure out that they really don't have a choice".

Well, I guess he was refused his rights to free speech! Geesh, soon all of our rights that our forefathers fought for will be abolished and we will no longer be the "land of the free".

People are crazy,

Yours is probably one of the better summations of the differences between the Democrats and Republicans...

The current Democrats are adopting the policies of the modern Communist & northern Democrats of the 1960s. Unfortunatelythe results of the Communist 'Cultural Revolution'and the southern Democrats (anti Unions/integration) will still haunt them. Plus the Communist polices have resulted in FAILED societies & economies around the world...

david-475776,

You are correct, but if you do not vote, then you become part of the problem also...

Maybe Obama should invite the teacher and the student to the White House to talk it out and have a root beer or two!

Sarah...Good cut and paste from Wikipedia...shouldn't you have given the credit when you cite them as a source?

TXMOM,

That's why I put them in quotations. Sorry I forgot the link. You know, we don't all apply "methodology" to our personal experiences. I'm STILL chuckling over that one.

By the way...

So this admitted wetback,

This ignorant wetback expected

This bold and cheeky wetback does not wish to name the company that he works for because they hire illegals.

Note to wetback who likes to gamble

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/13/13843734-undocumented-immigrant-says-co-worker-stole-lottery-winnings?commentId=69961748#c69961748

How's it going being a racist? Glad to see you posting without dropping a slur. Did you ever ask your pastor what Jesus would think of that term?

Probably. But it would be smart for the school to have a policy prohibiting political campaigning on school property. For any candidate or party, political slogans on clothing could be disruptive for education. The schools that are requiring uniforms are doing it right. Eliminate gang colors, half-staff trousers, suggestive/obscene phrases or images, political slogans, drug slogans, lime-green hair, etc. Let the students think about school while they are in class or on school grounds.

Kids can dress for self-expression during their own time, away from school.

mailman - than that also needs to apply to teachers. Many teachers routinely make political statements in the classroom, especially the liberal ones, and make it clear to the students that conservative points of view are not appreciated. And the older the kids, the freer the teachers feel to indoctrinate them into liberal think.

Any teacher who does this should be fired, no matter what side of the political aisle they are on. They are there to teach, not indoctrinate.

The article said it was "dress down day" which I took to mean a day of relaxing the dress code.

Mailman 8

You may have missed the part of the article that said

she wore a pink Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan T-shirt last Friday during the school's dress-down day.

I remember in school we had a class titled Problems in Democracy and they encouraged us to wear the political party of our choice in political buttons, hats etc. In the democratic process of politics, that is what it is all about - a civics lesson needs to be instilled in that geometry teacher - I do believe Euclid, the father of geometry was from the cradle of democracy - Greece.

Mailman, should we also not allow civics to be taught in school? How about American Government? I really think the Government teacher I had, who taught us all about the political process and emphasized to us how important it is for us all to be informed and vote in every election and even went so far as to hold a registration drive so we could all register to vote, should have been fired. How dare her want to teach us the importance of our political process </sarcasm>. Get real, this is part of our country kids should be allowed to openly support whoever they want and not be belittled by a teacher because of it.

No offense, mailman but that's one of the worst suggestions I think I've ever read. If the US was run by a dictatorship or monarchy, I may agree, but considering that our lives are often directly affected by policies instituted by the people we elect to office, we should be encouraging our young people to be knowledable about politics, candidates and the processes whether they are of age to vote or not. I also have to say I've never heard of wearing a political shirt as "campaigning" before.

The teacher was out of line, especially considering it was a geometry class, but if she felt compelled to discuss it that badly it would have been far better to open up a civil dialogue on the different candidates, public perceptions, and what values they may hold. Her job was not to condemn a 16 year old student for not agreeing with her political choice.

Mailman8 gets his political opinions and his ideology from the mail carriers union. The socialists just can't think for themselves and prefer to be told what they can think or say or wear.........

dont schools wear kakhi pants or skirts with white t-shirts? then why should she be allowed wearing a pink political t-shirt? In my days we wore uniforms and we were catholic school.

THINK of school and education, leave politics for your spare time.

I'm no fan of "Mitt" Romney's either but, unless the school has a strict dress code or requires uniforms, this, to me, seems "a little over the top." It was just a statement, not a pornographic picture, for chrissake. Leave the kid alone. Last time I looked, this was still America, the land of "free speech." Tell that teacher to keep his politics (and his religion) to himself.

Sam, freedom of speech means absolutely nothing to the liberal, educational establishment! They only want the students to parrot their agendas! It reminds me of how teachers in Soviet Russia used to use their students as spies against their own parents. Yes, I do know of what I speak... My in-laws are former high-level Soviet Communist party officials. They are also the most anti-Obama individuals I have ever met and they love their new country unconditionally! Freedom is for everyone, not just the liberal intelligensia!

Tracy- "Teachers need to keep politics out of the classroom"? It was the student who wore the political shirt. Also, for those who feel the student was just exercising free speech; is free spleech only for certain people? The teacher was entitled to free speech also. Don't do "in your face" statements if you can't handle the comments you are going to get. Political buttons and clothing are definitely "in your face" stetements.

No Twerpsy, a stupid union-protected idiot of a teacher on only one side. How would you react if the student were your daughter wearing an Obama shirt (I am taking a leap in that assumption)?

I am sure nothing would have been said if she was wearing an Obama shirt....conservative republicans no longer have free speech in the socialist nation we are becoming. If we speak against the democratic party or Obama, we are branded as racist

dont schools wear kakhi pants or skirts with white t-shirts? then why should she be allowed wearing a pink political t-shirt? In my days we wore uniforms and we were catholic school.

THINK of school and education, leave politics for your spare time.

omg if the teacher was white and student had obama tshirt? wow al sharpton jesse jackson naacp alcu

would be all over it

really ? over sensitive

The parents were stupid to send her to school in that shirt; the teacher was foolish to make a BFD out of it.

Twerpsy... Agreed.

Yes Joe, over sensitive. Everybody, these days, has their knickers in a knot over some percieved "slight." Everybody take a deep breath. I guess that "E Pluribus Unum" thing working out too well for some of you.

Good Morning Scooter

Seems that geometry teacher would fit right in with Rahm and the Chicago School of Philosophy ala Saul Alinsky. However, Philadelphia is probably a close second!

Jack

Hey Cheetah, what is the capitol of Philadelphia?

guess she was black, hispanic muslim or Native American? Only a non white wouldve said something like that.

Seewhat I mean188 - Wow, what a disgusting lie, I hope if u need help from a non white dr or cop or firefighter, they walk away and leave you there.

Seewhat I mean thinks there are no white muslims or Hispanics, lol! How ignorant.

fired and flogged and maybe stoned.

She's still teaching and will continue to because the unions protect the overpaid underperforming morons that masquerade as teachers these days.

Short of committing a crime and being incarcerated you can't get them out, and even then they can probably come back when they get out. The schools are abysmal and the unions and the pandering politicians are to blame.

If the Union had not won there would still be lots of KKK. Political staements prior to elections are excepted worldwide in real demockracies.

Nothing in the article even remotely indicates that she "doesn't even know who Romney is", where are you getting that from? As for the parents, maybe her parents are independents or undecided, or maybe they are moderates who don't follow a particular party line in every election. The worst part of this is a teacher publicly shaming and attempting to suppress a constitutionally protected form of free speech that doesn't conform to her personal political views (which is not acceptable in her position of authority, even as "a joke"). This has nothing to do with your assumptions about the familiarity of the student with the party reflected in her speech or her parents' political affiliations.

back in the 70's it was rock an roll concert shirts, very few of us really cared about Politics. These are school age children who havent been exposed to the Political garbage as of yet..dont really know much beyond what Politician has to offer or what it will affect. they havent lived on their own to see what Policies affect them personally. If this Girl wants to wear a romney or a Obama shirt then that should be allowed without a teacher's personal Political hatreds..then slamming this girl in front of class about it and bringing up the KKK? wtf..

@regan4000, you need a reading comprehension class.

Nowhere did is say she did not know, who Romney was, understand what his views are, or know what the meaning of the shirt was. As anyone else wearing a political shirt, I would only assume that she supports him for whatever reason, and nothing more.

As far as not knowing her parents' political preferences, I guess that depends on the family. Some might not talk about politics as much. I know my parents were staunch Democrats, but I have voted Republican in every election since I turned 18.

WTH It was a t-shirt...what kids are responsible about what T-Shirts say...I have seen some pretty disgusting t-shirts worn to school. What business is it of the teacher what political party her family belongs to? This teacher was way out of line.

Regan4000 - What ? Are you insane? What business is it of yours, the teachers, the students or anyone on this blog site what political party her parents belong to. Its thinking like yours that is really scary. You need to examine where your comments are coming from and really take a step back. This is America get it, freedom of speech is paramount.

Regan

please quit blaming the victim.

Shes 16 and can't vote. Who cares

Regan, you ultra fail. Take a reading comprehension class then come talk to us. Being bullied is ZERO tolerance!

those are not Romney shirts the Parents are wearing. If you look closely in the video, its Tae-kwon-do self defense class shirts

There are a lot of people who register for a political party just because that is the party their parents belong to, and may never actually vote for major candidates in that party. My parents have been registered Republicans for at least as long as I have been paying attention (they voted for Ford) but they have voted Democratic in the last 4 presidential elections. So it is quite possible this girl has no clue what party her parents belong to. They may even be apolitical, but support their daughter's decision to become politically aware at an early age.

Dragon-Lady-42: So what's your point? The child has every right to where the t-shirt. What the heck do you or anyone else care about the political party she may or may not endorse. Its her choice, the teacher is a buffoon and should be fired. The teacher broke the number one rule and should have known better, our teacher should be educated enough to respect freedom of speech, there is something really wrong with a person that would rail on a student like that in front of other students.

It's also possible that she knows politics is a hot button with a lot of people, and her parents may have made it clear that they prefer not to announce their personal preferences. If he owns a business, it could drive away a lot of customers. I've worked in places where if you were the lone dem or republican and it was discovered, your life was made hell by co-workers who voted otherwise. Bottom line, it's no one's business who the parents support.

Hmmm! Can we say freedom of speech? It is a very sad day when a teacher tries to BULLY their own personal beliefs onto children instead of teaching them TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES! This teacher should be put on leave for trying to bully a student and make this into a racial issue when it clearly wasn't. Did you know every school/teacher has a course in anti-bullying now. This teacher can’t say she didn’t know she was bullying a child. She knew exactly what she was doing! It has become such a huge issue in schools now that it is policy for these teachers to know how to handle bullying. So, here this teacher calling this child out just because of her own personal beliefs. How dare her! I smell lawsuit. Bottom line, it doesn’t matter what your political beliefs are you shouldn’t act horrible toward another person if their beliefs are different from own.

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” -Martin Luther King Jr.

These words from Martin Luther King Jr. seem fitting don't they? This teacher should learn from this quote and remember in the future to do the right thing and lead by example no matter how much they should have to bite their tongue.

this is a geometry teacher, with no logic & god given gift of wisdom. orientations are ineffective to this teacher naturally born with zero common sense, a hopeless case to the max. this is just the beginning of her gaffe, not the last of her bad judgment call. she should just stick on teaching geometry, once she open her mouth expected will be an uproar

"all in all... just another brick in the wall...." I thought that was an excellent post regarding music/education and freedom.

gives her a chance to spread the hate...er....word.......and your right the girl would have been thrown out for even uttering that "joke" as the teacher called it.

I absolutely have to agree,

Most of us liberals think this teacher should be fired. Freedom of speech people. It may be limited in schools, but needs to be applied equitably. Political speech in schools is not supposed to be limited.

I'm a liberal Democrat & this teacher's actions were wrong on a number of levels. Attacking a student for political reasons (or any reason for that matter) constitutes intimidation & abuse (bullying) questioning the young woman about her parents political party of choice is none of the teacher's business and the fact that the teacher tried to turn this into a 'joke' (no one is amused) tells me she knew when she did it she was in the wrong.

Economy: I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to my death your right to say it. This is America. Besides, if we all agreed on everything it would be a deadly boring world. I welcome different perspectives on many different topics & frequently learn valuable & interesting things........

This is the very reason why I think schools should go back to TEACHING the basics! History, Civics, Math, Spelling, Reading etc. How many students or parents this day can name the three divisions of the government? Hmmmmmm Judicial, Legislative and Executive.....I've heard some people on the radio that have no idea who the current Vice President is......

Aww, you liberals are so nice and thoughtful... It would almost make me all misty-eyed if it weren't for the fact that if a white teacher told a black girl that her Obama T-shirt was like wearing an "Al Quida" T-shirt you same people would be here screaming "racism" and acting like it was the end of the world and making inflammatory demands for protests, lawsuits, marchs, fines, hate crime charges, etc....

You know it's true, so excuse us if your simple "oh, she was wrong" comments fall on less-than-impressed ears. When you become as outraged at the obvious ugliness of your own side as you do at perceived ugliness from your opposition then you might appear less hypocritical.

I agree, how quick the racism card would be drawn!!! It's very sad that somebody our children should be able to look up to and model behavior from would call her out in front of her classmates and humiliate her. The teacher should be fired for crossing a line that should have never been crossed. Everyone does have the right to vote for who they want, that's why we ARE in America. However, shame on that teacher for bringing her political views into the classroom.

killer...you are right. the teacher was way out of line. if nothing else only for asking her about her parents political view. fire her? not sure....but absolutely make her apologize to the entire class rather than privately. had this been a obama shirt with a right wing teacher it would be all over the television and the teacher would have to move out of state. pjam is also 100% correct. im praying we dont have to endure 4 more years of one sided rule and the support that is spread over the media. in my opinion thios all started when we allowed women to vote...the beginning of the end....(and yes i expect whats coming now is gona be fun reading...LMFAO)

Wow I agree if this is a black teacher who told this to a white girl how in the H#%L is this not grounds for dismissal??? Everyone knows for a fact if a white teacher told a black student to remove that Obama shirt because its the same as "Al-Qada or NBPP" this would be getting NATIONAL ATTENTION on MSNBC/CNN/etc and everyone black would be SCREAMING that this "Racist scumbag" get fired immediately. Amazing that it only seems to flow one direction. Joke my ass...Well guess what the punchline is "You're Fired!". Anything less is crap and you know it.... Doing that in front of the entire class shows NO class.....

You're only getting the girl's story here. It is inappropriate to wear controversial statements on your clothing to school. Most schools today have policies against writing on shirts unless it is school spirit type of writing. It sounds like this girl might have been trying to get a rise out of people with her political statement. Do we want the whole school wearing their political feelings and getting into arguments in the halls? What about shirts declaring that certain religions are wrong or certain type of people should be shunned? Have you ever noticed that people in business never wear political shirts or buttons on the job? They do not want to offend anyone with their political beliefs. It is bad for business. Why offend your teacher especially when you know that Romney is wanting to get rid of teachers?

Damn, Ports, do you have the ability to have a rational thought process, or are you just that stupid? LMAO.

We can only hope.

Kids here are not allowed to wear shirts with ANY writing on them since that can cause problems among the students. She should have not been allowed to wear this type "in your face" clothing to school. By wearing it, she was looking for some controversy and she got it. The school might have had a policy like this and she broke it. A lot of schools are doing this and it is wise.

dont schools wear kakhi pants or skirts with white t-shirts? then why should she be allowed wearing a pink political t-shirt? In my days we wore uniforms and we were catholic school.

THINK of school and education, leave politics for your spare time.

Fire the teacher. The teacher had no right to make a comment like that to the student.

Really comparing a candidate to the KKK. I guess anything obama would represent the Black Panthers and the Nazi Party too.

Remember the kids in California that were sent home and later suspended for wear t-hirts with just the American Flag on them.

Your lame excuse is a sad testament to your bias.

Wrong. The teacher does not have the right to humiliate a student infront of the classroom.

You are incorrect. Please see Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (). .

"It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." For a school to prevent speech, they "must be able to show that [their] action was caused by something more than a mere desire to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always accompany an unpopular viewpoint" but instead that that the speech being blocked would "materially and substantially interfere with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school."

While some private schools have dress code uniforms that a person must follow, this is clearly not the case here, as this is a public school with a specific article of clothing singled out solely based on use as speech for a particular political party. Even if this was a private school with such a uniform code, that would not excuse the blatant public shaming the teacher enacted by comparing her to supporting the KKK.

First off when does it become the business of a teacher what political party her students parents belong to?

Secondly humilating a student in front of the classroom is just wrong.

And since when does a teacher know a student well enough they can accuse a student of supporting the KKK?