Mercedes Schneider on the Outrageous Treatment of Vermillion Parish Teacher who Was Arrested and Cuffed for Speaking

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1. carolmalaysia says:

   January 10, 2018 at 6:03 am

   Oh, my God. That treatment is horrible and an outrage. What is this country coming to when people can’t protest injustices? Is this an extension of the horrors, bigotry and hatred perpetrated and now openly encouraged by our Great Leader?

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   • Yvonne Siu-Runyan says:

     January 10, 2018 at 9:03 am

     Outrageous!

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   • ciedie aech says:

     January 10, 2018 at 1:30 pm

     Alarmingly we got to this place because of policies growing not just under Trump but under his “progressive” predecessor: the go-to treatment of ANYONE who has an outspoken opinion might now be manhandle and publicly handcuff

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2. retired teacher says:

   January 10, 2018 at 9:15 am

   I was happy to see that this disgusting, aggressive silencing and arrest were on NBC’s Nightly News last night. A wider audience is aware of this despicable treatment.

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   • carolmalaysia says:

     January 10, 2018 at 9:37 am

     A video of this was also on the NYT this morning. It definitely is getting wide coverage. Hope this helps those who are attacked to be able to stand up for themselves.
     ………

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3. Firstgrademonkey says:

   January 10, 2018 at 9:16 am

   We had an incident in Utah in which a nurse was arrested for refusing to do a police requested blood draw on an unconscious victim from an automobile accident. The driver was hit by another vehicle that was at fault in the accident. She sued and won half a million dollars. It might be time for victims of this lunacy to pursue legal means in order to protect our right of free speech.

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4. Kas Winters says:

   January 10, 2018 at 10:24 am

   Horrifying! That is so very WRONG!

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5. Máté Wierdl says:

   January 10, 2018 at 10:50 am

   These meetings are terrible. They have very strict guidelines how and when one can speak, questions often need to be written down in advance, and there is no possibility for discussion. In the version of the video here

   https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/louisiana-teacher-handcuffed-arrested-bringing-school-board-meeting-n836231

   you here repeated reference to the agenda, and at 1m 10s in the video, the superintendent says “My door is open, but there are rules and regulations”. These rules and regulations are extremely effective in shutting people up.

   What’s the solution? Can somehow 1st amendment be brought up?

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   • Laura H. Chapman says:

     January 10, 2018 at 12:57 pm

     I don’t know the answer.
     My local school board meetings allow three minute presentations, same as City Council. You sign up and are called to the microphone. The meetings are held in an auditorium with a video booth. The video recordings are broadcast several times on a local “community calendar” channel. The agenda for meetings is not always published in advance, nor are some of the matters that should be public arena always handled in a public aren,, e.g., whether a charter school should be approved. City Council will accept written statements from citizens who also speak, an advantage not routinely available for school board meetings.

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     • Máté Wierdl says:

       January 10, 2018 at 5:32 pm

       My question was a generic one: how do you get around the (intentionally) rigid format of these board and town hall meetings. Either you present something, which then just goes without response, or you ask a single question to which you get a canned answer, but you don’t have the opportunity to press for a real answer. These meetings are supposed to be channels for the people’s voice, but they are not.

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   • Roy Turrentine says:

     January 11, 2018 at 6:15 am

     You have raised some important questions. Free and open meetings are an impossibility if anyone can come in and say anything they want. Some meetings would turn into pissing contests over trivial incidents both real and imagined. Still, if no one can bring up ideas, you get an agenda that can be manipulated in the ole boy management network.

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6. Joe says:

   January 10, 2018 at 1:35 pm

   The treatment of this woman is an outrageous travesty. She was physically roughed up and treated like a dangerous felon!!! She will probably suffer PTSD from this traumatic experience. She certainly has a case to sue the district and/or the police officer. There was no need for the fascistic thuggery. She was taken to the police station and there is now a mug shot of her and possibly an arrest record (not sure if there will be an arrest record since the school board decided not to file charges against her).
   She may have to sue the district if only to clear her name. The Young Turks covered this story and also showed the salary schedule for this district. The salaries are pathetic; it appears that the most that can be earned is about $52, no matter how many years of service or degrees held.

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   • Joe says:

     January 10, 2018 at 5:18 pm

     Whoops, meant to say $52K or $52,000, the top of the salary ladder.

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     • Máté Wierdl says:

       January 10, 2018 at 5:48 pm

       The superintendent makes three times as much as a teacher in that parish.

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   • Máté Wierdl says:

     January 10, 2018 at 5:39 pm

     In one of the vids, the commentator tried to find an excuse for the superintendent: his salary of $110K was lower than the average superintendents’ in LA, plus he a did a good job hence they increased his salary to $148K.

     They use these tricks all the time in education: when you point out the high salaries of admins, they reply: their salaries are dictated by the market. Then everybody goes quiet as if God has spoken.

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7. flos56 says:

   January 10, 2018 at 1:50 pm

   A few years ago, something similar happened at a school board meeting of the Buffalo Public Schools but the gentleman escorted out was a BTF Union Rep (a teacher) who a certain member of the board thought had spoken out enough for one meeting, signaling security for his removal.

   So much for public discourse!

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8. GregB says:

   January 10, 2018 at 3:50 pm

   “She’s the one who made the choices that got her arrested.” — Vermillion School Board President Anthony Fontana

   Kind of reminds me of what Bull Connor might have said in private: “The protesters made the choices to get in front of our dogs and get mauled.”

   https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/teacher-arrest-pay-aclu_us_5a5610d3e4b0d614e48b5266?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

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   • Máté Wierdl says:

     January 10, 2018 at 5:43 pm

     “She’s the one who made the choices that got her arrested.”

     She had no choice: these meetings are designed so that if you follow the rules, your voice is not heard at all. So you need to speak up. I think this is what people should start doing: speak up, regardless of the rigid rules. Otherwise they will get no answers to their questions.

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   • Abigail Shure says:

     January 11, 2018 at 11:06 am

     Thanks for the link!

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9. Susan Lee Schwartz says:

   January 10, 2018 at 11:40 pm

   also at Common Dreams
   https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/01/09/outrageous-demanding-pay-raises-educators-over-superintendent-teacher-pushed-ground?utm_term=%27Outrageous%27%3A%20Demanding%20Pay%20Raises%20for%20Educators%20Over%20Superintendent%2C%20Teacher%20Pushed%20to%20Ground%20and%20Arrested&utm_campaign=News%20%2526%20Views%20%7C%20%27Outrageous%27%3A%20Teacher%20Arrested%20for%20Demanding%20Raises%20for%20Overworked%20Colleagues&utm_content=email&utm_source=Act-On+Software&utm_medium=email&cm_mmc=Act-On%20Software--email--News%20%2526%20Views%20%7C%20%27Outrageous%27%3A%20Teacher%20Arrested%20for%20Demanding%20Raises%20for%20Overworked%20Colleagues-_-%27Outrageous%27%3A%20Demanding%20Pay%20Raises%20for%20Educators%20Over%20Superintendent%2C%20Teacher%20Pushed%20to%20Ground%20and%20Arrested

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10. retiredbutmissthekids says:

    January 11, 2018 at 3:43 am

    As I wrote in the earlier post, ABC News w/David Muir had it on 2 nights in a row–more of the story & clips on the second night (Wednesday). Great that the story received national coverage (which it most certainly should, such as the first S.O.S. March on Washington, DC should have).

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