A Tennessee elementary teacher who posted racy photos of herself on her MySpace site may be charged with “unprofessional conduct,” reports the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
One photograph shows (Melinda) England shirtless, her left hand covering her right breast and her left breast is in the crook of her left elbow.
Another picture shows her lying on her stomach, face down, wearing black panties. Her bare back is visible.
A letter sent to parents states there are no allegations of inappropriate classroom conduct by England. However, the 28-year-old divorced teacher could face anything from a “verbal reprimand all the way through initiating termination proceedings,†if the superintendent thinks she acted in an unprofessional manner.
“There’s racier stuff than this in The Ladies Home Journal,” opines Instapundit.
This brings to mind rules for teachers circa 1972 and 1915, but they’re probably bogus, says Snopes.
Sorry about this, Prof, but nobody’s hiring Ladies’ Home Journal models to teach school.
There’s a difference, or there ought to be.
Yeah, I agree with Richard. You need a little “professional distance” if you teach.
When I was in grad school, there was this one prof. He was kind of a train-wreck. You know it’s never good when an undergrad student tells you, “Yeah, Dr. X. is cool. He’s the only professor I know who goes out and gets drunk with students.”
I’m accused of being TOO distant, but I think it’s better to err on the side of caution.
After she appears nearly naked in publically accessible photos under her own name will the principal be responsible for maintaining a nonhostile work environment and/or will she be threatening a sex harassment lawsuit because the students and fellow workers, parents, or even students are making lewd comments?
Notice the school letterhead has an apple, symbolic of Eden where everyone went nekid, while the ruler is an well known instument of comparison. Obviously they drove the poor girl to it.
Well, it strikes me as pretty dumb for anyone to have similar photos of themselves on Myspace especially in an apparently publicly viewable profile. (Personally, I think it’s somewhat ridiculous for anyone other than a profession model to have similar pictures at all. Why would a normal woman want cheesecake pictures of herself? Or maybe it’s just me.) And 28 seems old and experienced enough to know better, rather than a fresh-out-of-college-didn’t-really-realize-who-was-reading-bimbo-myspace-kind-of- mistake.
On the other hand, I think teachers ought to be entitled to private lives (whether MySpace is “private” is questionable) beyond the scope of their employers’ reach in which if their behavior isn’t illegal or expressly forbidden by the contract they signed, they ought to be free to do as they please, as long as the behavior isn’t a reflection on the BOE or BOE policy.
I don’t think anyone is obligated to be “professional” 24-7, teacher or not, and I think sometimes people’s expectations are out of line.
(For example, I’ve worked in a district where it was considered bad for teachers to be seen in public drinking alcohol. Well, I agree that teachers shouldn’t be seen in public drinking to excess, but because I don’t think there’s anything immoral about drinking alcohol and as far as I know every teacher is above the legal drinking age, I don’t think there’s a thing wrong with a teacher having a drink in public. Think about being out having a nice dinner, rather than a dive bar. And yet, the community expectations were different than what seemed reasonable to me.)
I’m not trying to say having bimbo pictures on your myspace is the same as drinking or that it’s not outsides the bounds, but I think there has to be a really clear line drawn about exactly what the expectations are for teacher behavior off the clock. Some people would set the being-a-good-role-model bar at eligible-for-canonization.
Now that I look at the photos, it’s hard to see how “cheesecake” even applies, unless bored and vaguely despondent is what you find sexy.
While I’d never take or post anything similar, it’s hardly something I think she should get fired for especially if she takes them down now.
And it probably goes without saying that if her pupils are properly supervised on the internet at home and school, they’d never have access to them anyway.
Does anyone let their elementary school kid play on MySpace or randomly search internet images? If you do, these photos are probably the least of your worries.
Nothing productive to add to the discussion – just wanted to note that this seems like it was ripped from a Simpsons script. Totally in character for Edna Krabappel.
I have a Myspace.
I tell about the troubled, violent life I led before I became a teacher at myspace.com/meanoldteacher.
Video clips from that period are at http://mydulllife.com/school/ninja3.mov
I’m listed as having about 100 friend. Most of them are students.