Teacher Mike Weston is running for school board.
He teaches math at Freedom High in Hillsborough County, Florida.
That is, he used to teach math at Freedom High.
He was fired by his principal.
Freedom High doesn’t think highly of Weston’s freedom of speech.
So he is now free to look for a job elsewhere.
Needless to say, he speaks out on education issues.
That’s what you do when you run for office.
His principal decided not to retain him.
The district upheld his decision.
Says the article, “Weston’s activism began more than a year ago, after a Newsome High School teacher challenged the Gates-funded evaluation system called Empowering Effective Teachers.
“Weston also was outspoken about problems in exceptional student education that were brought to light by the deaths of two students in 2012.
“A frequent speaker at board meetings, he also has complained about a lack of opportunities for students who are not on track to attend college.
“Given the high profile of Weston’s case, Stephanie Baxter-Jenkins, an attorney and executive director of the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association, took the unusual step of representing him.
“I certainly think we made a good case on Michael’s behalf, and I disagree with the outcome,” Baxter-Jenkins said.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is an amazing story that has yet to be told. Mike is a good guy. As a new teacher, he ran for union rep, won over a district connected teacher… that teacher sent an anonymous letter to the school board and they launched an investigation … Mike was cleared, but the a board member read the letter out loud at a meeting! All of this is public record…. Tampa, Hillsborough County, FL – the 8th largest district in the country is a police state where teachers are afraid to say a word…. and both papers are afraid to ruffle feathers… I will let others add to the story…
Teachers…”afraid to say a word”
I hear this is happening all over the country..
They then hire very young teachers that become puppets on a string…
More evidence that Mike is needed on this school board!!
Put teachers on the school board!
http://www.gopublicschool.com/put-teachers-on-your-school-board/
Agree!
There goes another school system I would not work in.
As I Hillsborough County teacher who has met Mr. Weston I can say that this is totally politically motivated. Smart, from the private sector and not indoctrinated into the education system, he was a breath of fresh air. The best and brightest come into education from the private sector with ideas that don’t fit the archaicness and get shot down, myself included. Political payback or stabbed in the back for his outspoken this, i see a legitimate lawsuit here. I just hope that he joined our union aka what I call the best 600 bucks a tampa teacher will ever spend.
Our county does not care about the regular students only AP and honors that drive schedules hmmmm I wonder… Teachers that do not teach quote, “the best and brightest” get labeled troublemakers when we expect certain behaviors or not in our classes.
Michael Weston’s only problem was he spoke out under the non-tenure system. I have it so they can only mess with me a bit. there is not much they can do but assign me a lead teacher to work on supposed classroom management problems. Rehire Mr. Weston or else national education revolt. I will speak out more for his voice that has been silenced. There is an army of us out there ready to spew and they just woke the dragon. Watch out.
” they just woke the dragon.” Well said! I can only hope you are right! Let’s make Mike Weston and Monica Ratliff household names!!!
Your best payback is to repeat the Monica Ratliff story and win a seat on the board of education. Then they will not know what to do and run on what they do like killing two students. They did the same in LAUSD to a student a friend helped with special education issues. This student had a heart transplant when born and needed a new one so they sent this student with a faulty heart to a school without a nurse and he died. I call it murder as this was knowing full well the situation. Premeditated.
By the way, … The School Board of Hillsborough County blocks Ms. Ravitch’s site, along with all of the wonderful exchange of ideas…
Well you know they collect more than our paychecks in a year for 9 meetings yet at least one in hillsborough has a GED and is on the board. Others are the old boy system or live out of the district they represent maybe one in the same. How about having a teacher on the board and a student who is voted in from the student government like they do on the USF Board? How can people represent the district without a current teacher, student and parent? I’m just saying. This would never fly in the private sector where businesss models rule. When a business isn’t buying your model you retool not keep doing the same old same old for 40 years.
Keep fighting. I can’t wait to hear the rest of the story. I hope he wins a seat. The local media is obviously worthless.
I’ve written letters of complaint to the principal, the school superintendent, the school board and the FL DOE Commissioner.
The Tampa article indicates students reported being belittled by Mr. Weston. If this is true good for the principal.
There is no evidence that Mike Weston bullied students. That was an allegation in an anonymous letter that was never substantiated by any adult or child. Would you like to be fired because someone said something bad about you in an anonymous letter. In any case, that was not the reason the principal fired him.
I’m guessing he didn’t have tenure, and no union?
New teacher = no rights…
I have a few questions here: Does Weston have tenure? His age would seem he does, unless he’s in a new, to him, district. Where’s his union if he does have tenure? And were his questions/comments obstructing the educational process? Kids, not adults, should come first in these considerations, and I have found seeking to get on a school board to effect change or for revenge rarely works.
Tenure is illegal in FL for teachers hired July 2011 and thereafter, but Hillsborough entered into some kind of deal merit pay with Gates, so they might have lost their tenure earlier than that.
The question of freedom of speech for teachers outside of the classroom has been litigated and there is substantial clase law. Cehck out a summary:http://mets2006.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/freedom-of-speech-outside-of-the-classroom-protected-and-unprotected-speech-how-do-the-courts-view-teacher-speech-on-internet-platforms-do-teachers-have-special-responsibilites-or-special-rights-re/