Teacher in Wisconsin Sues District for $9 Million

[Chef Dave]

A teacher in Wisconsin filed a civil rights lawsuit after he was fired for using a district computer to view pornography.

The teacher alleges that he was only seeing if district filters would prohbit this action. He was only on-line for 67 seconds. He stumbled across a pornographic website after using the word "blond" in a googles image search.

His attorney says that his client has looked for several teaching jobs but has not been hired because of this incident. The attorney alleges that the district "overreacted," that his client's civil rights were violated, and that his client deserves $9 million in punative and compensatory damages.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=740464

What do you think? It seems to me that if this person was looking for porn, he would have been on-line for a lot longer than 67 seconds. As far as I know, no jpeg files were downloaded or e-mailed as attachments. Nothing was printed out.

The initial search was also quite innocent i.e. "blonds" as opposed to "naked babes" or "naughty nurses" etc.

[Oak Tree]

I think he should be awarded the full nine but have to split it with me. I also think he should be given a lifetime subscription to Hustler.

[upnorthteacher]

I'm not sure what to think about this case. There have been conflicting stories in the news. The teacher and others in the district say that the firing was largely motivated by the school board's desire to intimidate their teachers' union. This teacher had been president of the district's union and butted heads with administration and the board over negotiation issues. If he really was only onine for 67 seconds, it seems pretty clear that his explanation is truthful and valid.

Another interesting note in the case:
After he was suspended he and the district entered arbitration over whether or not he should be allowed to keep his job. The arbitrator ruled that he should be reprimanded, but not fired. The district appealed the ruling, and the judge overturned the arbitrator's decision. Now the case is going to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. At issue is whether or not a judge can overturn an arbitration decision. In Wisconsin, we have binding arbitration that governs our contracts. The decision that the arbitrator has given has always been the final decision. This keeps the courts from being tied up with these labor issues, and allows decisions to be made more quickly. Many people would like to see the Supreme Court decide that the arbitrator's decision is final, otherwise what is the point of "binding arbitration"?

[Boxcar]

Good point.

[Chef Dave]

Wow! Thanks for the additional background. That wasn't included in the story I read and it really throws a different light on the topic.

Don't you just hate it when a district allows internal politics to sidetrack it from it's primary mission i.e. the teaching of children?