Carol Thebarge has been a substitute teacher in New Hampshire for 35 years.
However, Stevens High School decided to teach her a lesson.
I think the lesson was “rules are rules.”
Some might decide that it was actually “schools are fools.”
As WMUR-TV reports, Thebarge has taught at Stevens High for 11 years.
The school reinforced rules on its staff.
They could no longer be Facebook friends with their students.
The rule had been around for some time.
However, Thebarge had begun to unfriend students then,as the Union Leader reports, changed her mind.
It’s an understandable rule.
However, Thebarge is 79 years old.
Should it really apply to her too?
The school decided it did.
It gave her the choice of complying or, technically, resigning.
The latter was the result.
That means we’re not going to call her anymore."
Some might think that feels like a firing.
“Where do we draw the line?”
McGoodwin countered to WMUR: “She has generations of friends.
Is McGoodwin truly defending safety?
Schools can take on draconian airs at times.
Thebarge’s Facebook pagehas enjoyed countless messages of sympathy.
She wrote an open letter there to the superintendent and the administrators.
She claimed that McGoodwin had been on her side at first.
Some might wonder, though, whether teachers ever truly need to be Facebook friends with their students.
It’s not as if it’s the only method of communication.
She says she used Facebook to publicly post various life lessons for all to see.
At heart, a teacher is gone – by all accounts, a popular teacher.
Was it worth it over this?
