Should teacher Jay Bennish be fired for comments he made about President Bush ?
Top News Mar 3, 2006 6:13 am US/Mountain
Bennish Plans Federal Lawsuit To Go Back To Work
Poll: Should teacher Jay Bennish be fired for comments he made about President Bush?
Katherine Blake Reporting
(CBS4) AURORA, Colo. The high school geography teacher placed on paid leave for comments he made during a class lecture about President Bush plans to file a lawsuit Friday to get back to work. Jay Bennish's comments were recorded by a student who said he tapes lectures to help with notes.
"Now I'm not saying that Bush and Hitler are exactly the same, obviously they're not, OK," Jay Bennish was heard saying on a recording of his class lecture on the day after Bush's State of the Union Address. "But there are eerie similarities to the tones that they use."
Bennish's lawyer said the teacher's goal is to provoke students to think for themselves. The attorney said Bennish sees himself as a patriotic American and just wants to get back to teaching.
"He's terribly upset about the fact that he can't teach right now," David Lane, Bennish's attorney said Thursday night. "He's so upset that I am now his lawyer and we are going to Federal court tomorrow."
Lane argued that the Cherry Creek School District has no right to place Bennish on paid administrative leave from Overland High School
"No action should be taken against someone who is exercising their rights under the First Amendment," Lane said.
Sean Allen, the student who recorded the lecture, brought Bennish's comments to the attention of an online columnist and radio talk show hosts.
"He is not teacher geography," Allen said during a radio talk show on Wednesday evening. "About 80 percent of the time, he's teaching his biased political opinions and giving them to our class as a fact."
Allen didn't attend class Thursday after getting negative feedback to his actions from fellow students. At the school Thursday, dozens of students walked out in support of Bennish. Other students said they thought Allen did the right thing and that Bennish should "teach, not preach."
The Cherry Creek School District has said it is investigating Bennish's comments and hoped to have a final decision by late next week.
source: http://cbs4denver.com/topstories/local_story_062081133.html
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as it relates to the above story
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Note from Steve: Here's an interesting link that was sent to me regarding the above post
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