Teacher's Aide Files Lawsuit For Losing Job
After Denying School District Access To Facebook

From the Huffington Post:

A parent who was Facebook friends with Hester, and thus could see her posts, notified the school about the image. A few days later, Lewis Cass ISD Superintendent Robert Colby asked her repeatedly for access to her Facebook. Each time, Hester refused.

In response, the district's special education director wrote to her that "…in the absence of you voluntarily granting Lewis Cass ISD administration access to you[r] Facebook page, we will assume the worst and act accordingly," according to WSBT-TV.

Hester went on paid administrative leave, to collect workers' compensation, before she was suspended. She is now on unpaid leave and is scheduled for arbitration in May.

“I stand by it,” Hester said in a statement. “I did nothing wrong. And I would not, still to this day, let them in my Facebook. And I don’t think it’s OK for an employer to ask you.”

More here.

I posted about this very issue a week ago, in terms of how Libertarians, in spite of their patriotic sounding moniker, won't save you from this shit when private business is doing it to you--some champions of liberty Libertarians are; indeed, Libertarians think it's just fine when private business bends you over the rail. But that's last week's post. This week is about the government doing this shit, which, I assume, the Libertarians hate, at least if they're true to their principles.

Granted, this woman suing is an employee of the government, as are all public school teachers, but that doesn't really alter the government/citizen dynamic: indeed, if the legal rationale which keeps most government employees from having to take drug tests unless the government can provide a really fucking compelling reason to violate personal privacy rights is in play here, she's probably going to win her suit. And that makes me happy. I mean, because who the fuck do these people think they are? Demanding access to your private online communications is fucking bullshit. Obviously.

But what makes me really happy about this story is that this woman has exactly the attitude I didn't have when I was a public school teacher. That is, I felt like I compromised my personal principles at least once a day, and often much more than that, for my entire six year tenure in the classroom. I backed down again and again, censored myself again and again, tried to be a team player, tried to do the indoctrinating disciplinary work they most valued. I never told my employers "no." And I often had good cause. Really good cause.

There is a very good chance that I will one day go back to teaching high school now that I've seen just how fucked up it is to pursue those fabulous tenure track positions at the university level, how fucked up it is to be an insecure no-benefit "associate professor" or "assistant instructor" or "lecturer." I'll be going back, if I finally choose to do so, for the benefits, health insurance, vacation time, and retirement money.

But I will never again be a tool, a pussy, a sniveling team player. There's no real reward for that anyway because no matter how hard you try, they just keep pushing you and humiliating you. When I go back, I will say "no." Often. And they can try to fire me, if they dare. Really, this woman is an inspiration.

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