Last week, despite being a legal requirement since late summer, a Nashville elementary school teacher posted a video on the social media outlet TikTok her intent to ignore Tennessee state law. She told viewers, “We were finally told that we must log all of our books into a system, so that, I guess, parents, or the public, or whoever can view it, um, to make complaints.”
In her eyes, she explained, the request is stupid – and asking teachers to do it is degrading. She tells her audience she’s not going to comply.
“I don’t need someone from the state or the district, or whoever to micromanage me in my classroom. And if it’s coming to that point, I’m almost like, maybe this isn’t for me now, and maybe I should get out,” she said.
This teacher at @WestmeadeElem says that she is not going to comply with Tennessee law, which requires teachers to log which books are in their classrooms. pic.twitter.com/Z3xkcmUS7h
— Idoctrination Exposed (@EITC_Official) February 8, 2023
At issue is a recently-enacted Tennessee law requiring educators to catalog all the books in their classroom libraries.
The Westmeade Elementary School teacher justified her stance, telling viewers, “I mean, I went to school for this, I attend ongoing PDS, I’m certified, I’m more than competent to make decisions for my students in my classroom.”
She added, “When you take away teacher autonomy and teacher trust, why would we want to work in a profession that I have to be micromanaged in?”
It’s an argument that leaves some parents puzzled.
“Every profession has rules,” parent Robin Steenman said in a phone interview with The Tennessee Star, “I mean, if you look past the ideology argument, you are still left with the fact that every job has expectations and requirements. There are rules that employees are required to follow. I wish her luck in finding another job where she is allowed to freely act without any input from management.”
The Star reached out to Metro Nashville Public School (MNPS) spokesman Sean Braisted for confirmation that the woman in the video is, indeed, employed by the district and how MNPS feels about her threats.
Braisted replied:
We understand the frustration many teachers across Tennessee have expressed regarding this law. However, like all other districts in the state, we are required to comply with the law and our expectation is that all schools will be in compliance by the end of the school year.
Metro Schools, through our partnership with Nashville Public Libraries, has one of the best school library systems in the state with an online catalog open to parents, students, and community members alike. Therefore, we were already in compliance with the new law as it applies to school libraries.
The state’s last-minute interpretation of the law as applying to classroom teachers as the school year began was unexpected and has resulted in an additional burden to Tennessee’s teachers who rightfully want to be focused on instruction and student support.
Initially, districts were under the impression that the law would only apply to school libraries. A memo issued in September by the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) broadened the scope, much to educators’ surprise.
“We don’t think that was the legislative intent,” Dale Lynch told ChalkbeatTN in response to the memo. Lynch, who leads the state’s superintendent’s organization, conceded, “It obviously means a whole lot of work for teachers.”
The memo left it up to districts in determining how to comply with the law. At that time, MNPS’s Sean Braisted told ChalkbeatTN, “We will seek to do so in such a way that minimizes any burden placed on teachers who are rightfully focused on providing the academic instruction and support to their students.” He further indicated that the district was exploring various alternative means to assist teachers in meeting the requirements of the law.
Six months later, Braisted is maintaining that the district is meeting its obligation. He told The Star, “Metro Schools developed and provided guidance and support to teachers and school administrators to assist in cataloging these classroom materials in an effort to lessen the burden placed on teachers by this law and will continue to do so going forward.”
In regard to this specific teacher, the Metro Nashville Schools spokesman said, “The teacher involved has been counseled by the principal on appropriate social media usage and why we must follow the law. The school administration has also offered staff support to assist in cataloging these materials for their teachers with the expectation that the school will be compliant with the law.”
Whether this case is an outlier or an indicator of widespread dissatisfaction is hard to measure. A recently released survey conducted by the TDOE doesn’t ask specifically about the new law but indicates that over 50 percent of the state’s educators feel that they are treated with respect.
In an email exchange with The Star, Professional Educators of Tennessee (PET) Executive Director JC Bowman wrote, “Like many pieces of legislation, it is the law of unintended consequences. Anecdotal evidence based on teacher comments demonstrates the implementation was rolled out too quickly, and not clearly defined, and little guidance was given seemed to contradict legislative intent.
Subsequently, he said he believes “The Tennessee General Assembly may need to revisit this issue just to better give clarification, and it may be easier addressed at the local level. The Textbook Commission lacks necessary resources.”
– – –
TC Weber is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. He also writes the blog Dad Gone Wild. Follow TC on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected]. He’s the proud parent of two public school children and the spouse of a public school teacher.
Andy Ogles continues to ignore a financial disclosure form that he is required to file by federal law. Suppose he should be “fired” for it, or is that different?
It’s difficult to understand how making a list of the classroom materials used by the teacher can be considered burdensome or an unwarrented intrusion on “academic freedom” or whatever this teacher want to call it. IMHO, it’s far more likely that she is using materials that she knows parents wouldn’t approve of, and she is trying to hide behind a smokescreen.
If you are unable or unwilling to fulfill the requirements of the job, we will accept your resignation.
Note that we will not be giving you a letter of recommendation.
This isn’t hard —-FIRE HER!!
This entitled brat is too immature to be responsible without children. I think she has chose the wrong career. Everyone has supervision unless they own the company. Maybe she missed the class explaining she works for the taxpayers. We pay her salary. We make the rules. MOVE ON Young Lady. Let’s see how you do in the private sector. You haven’t learned anything. Try signing up for free clollege courses offered online through Hillsdale College on The US Constitution & the Federalist Papers. When you learn that, you might be ready for this cruel world.
More and more parents are either home-schooling or sending their children to private schools because they are afraid their children will be taught the crazy woke stuff that has been poluting our society —– hate America and our constitution, accept as normal that families can have two dads or two moms or that homosexuality/lesbianism is normal and and an acceptable life style, etc. The vast majority of our country does not believe in these perversions but it is common knowledge that it has been forced into many of our nation’s schools although not in TN as much as in states like NY and CA. Yes, parents have the right to know what our teachers are putting in our kid’s minds.
Fire her. Then prosecute her for violating state law.
There is something very seriously wrong with our educational system when the teachers want to keepthe teaching of the pu[pils secret.For all we know they could be teaching them to overthrow the nation. ALL school books used even in college should be avaiable for the public to view.
All classrooms should have video cameras to monitor what’s going on and make sure individuals like this teacher aren’t indoctrinating her students into a degenerate and extremist political ideology. These people have no business being around children.
No, you cannot do whatever your highly “educated” (ie: indoctrinated, woke, offended, entitled, college-brainwashed) self wants. And that CLASSROOM you call yours belongs to the PEOPLE that paid for it. A MUCH BETTER teacher can replace you in a heartbeat. All it takes in Tennessee is a God-fearing grandma with a high school education to qualify as your substitute until the end of the school year. Do you intend to indoctrinate our children? Is that what you are hiding by your non-compliance with law? Or is it just laziness? Matthew 18:6-14, Mark 4:22-23
And yes, you are correct: Not “maybe”, but DEFINITELY, you “should get out” if you cannot comply with TENNESSEE LAW. This happens to be a law that the majority of the PEOPLE of Tennessee agree with. Transparency is required at every level of government. And face it, you are a government worker, ultimately accountable to the PEOPLE.
McDonalds is hiring, maybe you should inquire.
Because curriculum and teachers’ intent towards school children have been a matter of public concern for the last year and a half, even if a few teachers have been guilty of overstepping their intent to influence children in ways that concern parents; all are suspect until proven innocent. It’s that’s way in any society, and the ones to blame are the ones, be they teachers, corporate leaders or government officials who caused public concern. Therefore, for the rest of the teachers who love teaching, and respect the responsibility they have for the limited stewardship they have for other people’s children while they are at school, their attitude should be one of full disclosure, and compliance to state law so that parents can take a breath and begin to trust the system again. A teacher’s attitude at this time in our national history should be that they have nothing to prove or hide and they are showing up to do their job, as outlined by school policy and state law. They do this, realizing there are many sectors of society who are having to take the same attitude due to the overreach of government, groups, and individuals who clearly have an agenda that imposes unnecessary pressure on the personal beliefs and freedoms of others. People are free to be who and what they want to be on their own time and with like minded people. When they step into a job and particularly one that involves public influence, they are there to their job within the boundaries of policy and law, be themselves without infringing on the freedom of others, and even make their mark on society in a way that respects others. This is not hard or oppressive. It’s a boundary that makes sense unless one has intent to overstep or is being coerced or paid to do so.
Not only should the books be logged in, but classroom cameras should be installed so that parents can monitor classroom activity.
The school board clearly and has always had authority and responsibility to oversee to monitor the learning materials used by teachers. They are elected by, and like the teachers are paid by, tax dollars collected from the public. The teaching material list is a public record and is available to the parents, the public and the administrators. All have the right to know what is being taught, how it is being taught and why it is being taught. The reasons are many. Consistency is needed between classes and schools. Further, there are bizarre, albeit numbered instances , of teachers using their students to ride out their own fetish thoughts such as the one where the teacher inserted her own homosexual life style into the class. The teacher in this article probably needs to look for another line of work, she seems insecure that others might be monitoring her work.. While true, she is a certified professional, so too are those reviewing her work.
ignore the law and get fired. simple as that