30 Day suspension for being photographed.

It's time for another Highly Ineffective Administration

Wow. Private, Legal, Personal. Not on School Time. No students or underage people of any kind. A bridal shower with a stripper but you're fully dressed. Posted on someone else's Facebook account.

There are so many things wrong with this suspension, I just don't know where to begin.

What is this district trying to accomplish here? Removal of a teacher by any means possible? Do they really think that this is worth the fight? I love the moonwalking: not allowing comments at the next school board meeting - which is illegal, since the public has a right to speak (calmly and appropriately) at a public meeting. The Board can hide behind the "confidentiality" shield but this will not go away easily.

Let's hope the Union will do its due diligence on this one.

Reposted below the fold since it will disappear from there.

Teacher Suspended Over Stripper Photo; No Comments Allowed
30 Days Out For Brownsville Teacher Photographed At Bridal Shower

The Brownsville Area School District issued the 30-day unpaid suspension after school administrators eventually saw the pictures. The teacher's name has not been publicly released.

"Something that was supposed to be fun and meant for a close-knit group of girlfriends turned into something that was blown way out of proportion," said Brianne Mitchell, who was invited but didn't go to the shower.

Mitchell told Channel 4 Action News reporter Ashlie Hardway that the stripper was hired as a "gift" at the shower.

"As a fun gesture, some of the people who were invited thought it would be fun to make the party a little bit more exciting," she said.

The teacher was fully clothed and was in the same frame when the pictures were taken, according to Mitchell, who called the suspension a sad situation.

"She was caught in the photograph. She was in the picture and that was it," Mitchell said. "She wasn't posing and she wasn't doing anything inappropriate. She was in the picture."

One school director, Stella Broadwater, said she thinks the suspension was appropriate because the photos were made public.

Another school director, Sandra Chan, said that the photos were posted by someone else and the teacher had no control over it, so she feels that the suspension is too harsh.

School district superintendent Dr. Philip Savini Jr. declined to comment Thursday.

"It's a personnel and contractual matter and can only be discussed by the board in executive session," Savini said.

The school district's attorney, Jeremy Davis, also declined to comment on the suspension and said he called all of the school directors and advised them not to comment any further.

Davis said public comment on the topic won't be allowed at Thursday night's school board meeting. He said he wants the issue to go away as quickly as possible.

Still, students and other members of the Brownsville community are talking about the suspended teacher.

"She can do what she wants," said one student.

"She's supposed to be a role model to all of her students, so she shouldn't be going out and doing things like that," said another student.

"Regardless whether they're fully dressed or not, they're supposed to be setting an example for the kids," said Toni Nicholas, an aunt of Brownsville students.

"If the picture had a man in it with a female dancer, would there really be this much speculation in regard to the photo?" Mitchell said.

"As a professional educator myself, I was a leery about the picture being posted online, since everything you see online is public, but it was posted on a personal Web site," Mitchell said.

The Pennsylvania State Education Association-Brownsville sector would not comment to Channel 4 Action News on Thursday.