How Intimidation works when you are a Teacher.....

Smiles, greetings - how dare she?

A teacher's complaints about another might make you laugh. Not superintendent Wilcox.

By Thomas C. Tobin
Published March 26, 2007
AND this doesn't even really INCLUDE what they do to children every day. Ask your child. Find out. Watch these people. There are no heroes jockying for TRUE HERO. There are a FEW heroes among an increasingly wretched crowd. Elia is importing all the teachers from her home state. And other places. Try to get a job as a teacher with the wrong last name and Tampa as your home-town. Ask any of a dozen of my friends. And, administration at every school I've walked into is a science in intimidation. Each classroom designed to bully any child who doesn't FIT exactly. If this isn't happening to your child well, good for you --- apparently you married well. Although that's not really saying much in Tampa. My boyfriend thinks all my old friends are gangsters. What should he expect?? I grew up in Tampa. Where all the mob kids become teachers or cops or firemen or auxiliary sheriffs or sheriffs .... I KNOW most of them. I know everyone in Elia's office.

Fuck a bunch of illiterates teaching your kids. Ask for MORE. You won't get it but at least you won't appear stupid. Lee DeCesare always sticks up for teachers which makes me very proud --- but there are not as many real teachers as there used to be. Look around. We are being jacked by a bunch of thuggish posers. I've never seen so many wackjobs in schools in my life.

Oh and yes, this lady is being intimidated. If this other bitch posing as a teacher can get rid of the decent one then another of the posers can have access to your child's mind. A person doesn't have to shove you down to intimidate you. Some of them just climb in their big shiny red vehicles and drive around you repeatedly and some put on pencil skirts and shake their ta-tas at your kid all day. Seriously, you can PICK out the teachers in Hillsborough Cty schools by the slutty way they dress these days. NOT all of them. But the ones who don't dress like sluts know exactly what I am talking about. Yeah. It's a school house. Go work for Joe if you've a yen. Our kids might find you eventually. Meantime, keep your boobs to yourself and cover your asses.

OH and please note how quickly the intimidater was able to convince the Dept. of Professional Standards that she had done nothing wrong. Decent teachers are OUT NUMBERED. When decent teachers speak out they are called on Elia's carpet (here in Hillsborough Cty.) and FORCED to defend their rights to free speech and/or they are defamed publicly and privately. THIS is the first thing that a decent teacher pointed out to me about a certain local blogger's outspokenness. The decent teacher could not understand why the decent teacher had been called to the carpet and why said local blogger seemed to rail away with no problem. yeah ... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

LARGO - A day after the terrible event, a letter arrived in the front office at Walsingham Elementary School.

"Dear Bill ..."

Bill Nordmark is the principal.

"On Monday, 9-18-06, while I was doing my daily morning bus duty by the media center, I was assaulted by Jan Owen! I was standing still, monitoring the students as they were going to breakfast. I complimented the students on their good behavior. ... Then as Jan Owen came walking by me - she hit me with a large brown envelope striking the right side of my face, neck and top of my shoulder.

"I was appalled by her attack and unprofessional behavior! Immediately I said, 'Excuse me?' Jan just stared blankly at me - saying nothing. Then I said, 'Don't ever touch my body.'

"This was a deliberate, physically hostile attack on me."

The letter was signed by Diane Murphy, one of Owen's fellow teachers at Walsingham. That day, she complained to the school district's Office of Professional Standards, which investigates employee misbehavior.

In OPS case 31967, there's no gripe left behind.

- - -

The professional standards office entered two offenses on Owen's record: "Problem with Colleagues" and "Harassment/Non-Student."

It turned out that three teachers had witnessed the episode between Murphy and Owen, both veteran educators in their mid 50s.

One said Owen "gently brushed" an envelope across Murphy's shoulder as she said "Good morning." Another said Owen "lightly touched" Murphy. "Very harmless," she said.

The third witness said Murphy and Owen both seemed startled by what happened.

The OPS told the principal to tell Owen to write an apology to Murphy. Case closed.

- - -

Well.

Instead of apologizing, Owen wrote a letter saying she was upset that such a small matter had generated a disciplinary file.

She explained that she had merely raised her hand to say "Good morning" and touched Murphy with the envelope. She recalled saying she was sorry. It had been an accident.

Murphy said that the harassment continued. In a letter to the principal in October, she chronicled five weeks of outrages:

- Five times when Owen parked in her space or parked too close to her car.

- A time when "Jan Owen's shirt sleeve brushed across me as I was standing against my doorway."

- A morning when Owen walked toward her in the hallway, "staring at me with a huge smile on her face. I just ignored her and went into my room."

- Owen displaying a bumper sticker on her car so Murphy would see it. It quoted the French philosopher Voltaire: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

Later, Owen would say the bumper sticker had been on her car for years. It was her comment on a different war.

The one in Iraq.

- - -

By February - five months after the envelope incident - Owen had convinced the professional standards office that she hadn't harassed anybody. But she was still upset that the offense, problem with colleagues, remained on file.

She complained to the School Board, which forwarded the matter to superintendent Clayton Wilcox, who asked his staff attorney to look into it. Last week, the attorney gave Wilcox a four-page summary with 11 pages of background material.

Wilcox wondered why an envelope attack in September would be on his desk in March - why it would be on his desk at all. "No private firm would put up with this kind of stuff," he said testily.

The superintendent often talks about urgency, and about "Nero fiddling while Rome burns."

The way he sees it, Walsingham Elementary is Rome, and it's on fire. The school has an A grade from the state. But about half the children are from poor families. Sixty percent of Walsingham's large population of Hispanic students tested below grade level in reading.

The district recently surveyed the Walsingham staff about the school's climate. Teachers groused about favoritism and inconsistency from management, about cliques and negative e-mails. They talked about having to "fight for everything."

One anonymous person had a helpful suggestion. It's what they always tell the kids: "Everyone needs to be nice to each other."

Thomas C. Tobin can be reached at 727 893-8923 and tobin@sptimes.com.



Suggest an Encounter

Encounters is dedicated to small but meaningful stories. Sometimes they will play out far from the tumult of the daily news; sometimes they may be part of the news. To comment or suggest an idea for a story, please contact editor Mike Wilson at mike@sptimes.com or (727)892-2924.



[Last modified March 26, 2007, 07:52:55]

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Comments on this article
by Anne 04/08/07 09:55 AM
ps do not post previously sent email sent on Sunday My father will be very mad at me
by Anne 04/08/07 09:39 AM
I am a child of a former employee at Walsingham, I also went there myself. I am intimate with the atmosphere at that school and I can tell you that from an outsiders view these accusations will seem trite. However, Jan Owens uses intimidation tactics
by gnusomethingwouldhappen 04/05/07 10:58 PM
Unfortunately this article has done nothing to remedy the deplorable situation at Walsigham. If anything, it has gotten worse. It's like World War III. The area supt. came in and didn't address the problems. Wilcox, where are you??????????????????
by gnusomethingwouldhappen 04/05/07 10:54 PM
Having worked at Walsingham for many years I knew something would happen. The administration pits staff against one another to keep discord going in the school. We work in a climate of fear bred by incompetence in the main office. HELP!!!
by M.W. 03/30/07 07:46 AM
This situation is out of hand! Teachers are there for the students. They should be the number one priority.Shame on all of you!
by Nancy 03/29/07 06:58 PM
I teach at Walsingham, and this is not a true representation of our school Please do not judge us on the actions of others.
by mike 03/29/07 01:28 PM
simple solution more new rules which seems to be what we do in the U S now. 1. No envelope swinging 2. no smiling 3. No speaking 4. No bumper stickers there you go all fixed.
by mikey 03/29/07 09:41 AM
To an outsider, its clear that ineffective management allowed this to fester. Shame on you, Pricipal!!
by Diane 03/29/07 08:07 AM
I nthink Murphy needs some hormones. She's obviously an unbalanced person. Not the best example for kids-making such a big deal out of nothing. She has also created an unnecessary blot on another teacher's record. See a doctor!
by Jim 03/29/07 07:27 AM
I find it very interesting that people involved in local stories often post comments. Sometimes using their real names and sometimes not, all readers of these comments should realize that.
by -Sad Parent 03/29/07 07:21 AM
These are the kind of immature employees that make me think I now know what is wrong with Florida's schools.
by Sal 03/29/07 07:17 AM
I blame their parents, clearly these ladies were not raised right.
by Robert 03/29/07 06:33 AM
Very unprofessional, on the petty actions of the teachers and on the slow reaction by the school board. All parties should be ashamed by their actions and lack of action.
by S 03/28/07 08:03 PM
It's symptomatic of MANY problems that have been brewing at Walsingahm for years. The administration sets the tone. Enough said!
by S 03/27/07 12:55 PM
Sounds like 2 3rd graders. You want to be treated like a professional, then act like a professional!
by Jan 03/27/07 09:52 AM
When I gave Mr. Tobin my OPS file, I was not interested in judging a teacher, a principal, or the superintendent. People are not the problem. Written guidelines should have been made when OPS originated. Hopefully written bylaws will now be made.
by MacK 03/27/07 09:41 AM
sad that this had to be taken to a level that requires that OPS step in. The principal should have called both into conference. The principal failed to do his job. Go back in your office Bill... throw away the candy dish. Do your job.
by Wayne 03/26/07 06:49 PM
Why is this in the paper? I thought personnel matters were supposed to remain confidential. Even if not, it sounds like this person needs psychiatric counseling, not public ridicule. And mental illness is caused by teacher tenure????
by cogitator 03/26/07 06:12 PM
Why would Murphy think the Voltaire quote applied to her, unless she was trying to make people believe absurdities? Maybe Murphy needs to write, "I will not sweat the small stuff" a thousand times. Why couldn't the principal handle this? Pitiful.
by dan 03/26/07 04:00 PM
Neither teacher sounds very professional. Do they give grades for teachers? THIS is the product of a tenure system gone bad; the rotten fruit spoils the whole bushel!!
by Paul 03/26/07 03:05 PM
Since the teachers are now acting like little school children maybe they shoud meet in the playground after school to settle this once and for all. Does Murphy realize how idiotic she sounds? Just more fodder for Leno from the Fla. school system. :)
by G 03/26/07 03:02 PM
If Murphy has more than those complaints then I could dtake those seriously as passive aggressive behavior, but w/o some reason otherwise...how can you? Either way the thinking in PCS is CYA all the way. It's sad and explains a lot of burn out.
by Laurien 03/26/07 02:48 PM
I worked with these two ladies a long time ago. I bet the truth is somewhere in the middle. Most likely, neither is completely without fault. Both are smart educators who are better than this.
by L 03/26/07 02:28 PM
My daughter works in Pinellas Countyschool syatem, with all the good energy these teachers need to give the children, this incident is ridiculous, really!
by Debbie 03/26/07 02:13 PM
DIANE MURPHY,grow up or ship out,maybe u should take lessons from your students about being a tattle tale
by Butch 03/26/07 10:03 AM
Sounds like Diane Murphy is an idiot and shouldn't be around impressionable school age children. Maybe its time to retire.
by concernedparent 03/26/07 10:02 AM
Diane Murphy needs to get a life! Florida public schools already have enough challenges without adding this ridiculous paranoid behavior to the list!!!
by Jason A. 03/26/07 09:43 AM
Sounds like Murphy needs to grow up and quite making a mountain out of a mole hill! She needs to stick to teaching kids instead of acting like one.
by Cindy 03/26/07 09:34 AM
If this is the way teachers are behaving, how can we expect students to do any better! Teachers should set the standard, not lower it!!
by Darren 03/26/07 07:56 AM
These folks are "teaching " our kids...thats scary!



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