Sub teacher banned after pledge
A Parkway spokeswoman told the Post-Dispatch on Thursday evening that the district would make a statement after officials had gathered more information about the incident. Kelly Educational Staffing, the agency that employs Furkin, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Furkin told the Post-Dispatch that in late October he was the substitute teacher for a freshman English class at Parkway South High when the school made its daily announcements over the PA system. After announcements, students are asked to stand up and say the Pledge of Allegiance.
“So I say, ‘All right, let’s go,’ and we recite the pledge,” he said. “There are always two or three who don’t stand up because it’s not required. So at the end of the pledge I said, ‘Thanks to all of you that participated in that. I’m sure that all of those families who lost loved ones so that we could enjoy the freedoms we have today would appreciate the effort.’”
Furkin said a student asked to go to the school counselor’s office, so Furkin wrote the student a pass to go. Later on, he said, a school administrator questioned Furkin about what happened and told him that a student had been “hurt” by what was said after the pledge.
“I said, ‘Oh, I didn’t mean it that way, that wasn’t my intent at all,’” Furkin said. “He said ‘We’ll get back to you,’ and then the next day after that, I’m no longer welcome in the building.”
Furkin said Kelly Educational Staffing, the agency the school district uses to book substitute teachers, told him that he wasn’t being allowed back to the school because he had “bullied” a student.
“To me personally, the flag represents freedom, and there’s a lot of price that’s been paid for the freedom we have today,” Furkin said. “That’s all I’m saying to the kids. ... Could somebody feel offended by that? I would hope not. But like I said at the (school board) meeting, when you say something, you don’t know how someone else is going to perceive it.”
After Furkin made his comments Wednesday night, Parkway School Board President Jeff Todd told Furkin that the board would communicate with him via a letter “in the near future.”
Furkin said he had been substitute teaching with Parkway for about 10 years, and for the last several years he had largely worked at Parkway South High . Teachers at the high school regularly requested him to substitute for their classes, he said.
“I worked every day,” Furkin said. “I had a really good presence in the building. I know all the teachers, and I had a pretty good relationship with the students. ... It was a wonderful place to work. I absolutely loved it.”
Furkin said that Kelly Educational Staffing representatives offered to set him up at another school but that, after this incident, he no longer wanted to work as a substitute teacher.
“If I’m being knocked out of the building, I’m just done,” he said. “’I don’t want to sub anymore, take me off your rolls. I quit. I’ve had it.’”
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Furkin told the Post-Dispatch that in late October he was the substitute teacher for a freshman English class at Parkway South High when the school made its daily announcements over the PA system. After announcements, students are asked to stand up and say the Pledge of Allegiance.
“So I say, ‘All right, let’s go,’ and we recite the pledge,” he said. “There are always two or three who don’t stand up because it’s not required. So at the end of the pledge I said, ‘Thanks to all of you that participated in that. I’m sure that all of those families who lost loved ones so that we could enjoy the freedoms we have today would appreciate the effort.’”
Furkin said a student asked to go to the school counselor’s office, so Furkin wrote the student a pass to go. Later on, he said, a school administrator questioned Furkin about what happened and told him that a student had been “hurt” by what was said after the pledge.
“I said, ‘Oh, I didn’t mean it that way, that wasn’t my intent at all,’” Furkin said. “He said ‘We’ll get back to you,’ and then the next day after that, I’m no longer welcome in the building.”
Furkin said Kelly Educational Staffing, the agency the school district uses to book substitute teachers, told him that he wasn’t being allowed back to the school because he had “bullied” a student.
“To me personally, the flag represents freedom, and there’s a lot of price that’s been paid for the freedom we have today,” Furkin said. “That’s all I’m saying to the kids. ... Could somebody feel offended by that? I would hope not. But like I said at the (school board) meeting, when you say something, you don’t know how someone else is going to perceive it.”
After Furkin made his comments Wednesday night, Parkway School Board President Jeff Todd told Furkin that the board would communicate with him via a letter “in the near future.”
Furkin said he had been substitute teaching with Parkway for about 10 years, and for the last several years he had largely worked at Parkway South High . Teachers at the high school regularly requested him to substitute for their classes, he said.
“I worked every day,” Furkin said. “I had a really good presence in the building. I know all the teachers, and I had a pretty good relationship with the students. ... It was a wonderful place to work. I absolutely loved it.”
Furkin said that Kelly Educational Staffing representatives offered to set him up at another school but that, after this incident, he no longer wanted to work as a substitute teacher.
“If I’m being knocked out of the building, I’m just done,” he said. “’I don’t want to sub anymore, take me off your rolls. I quit. I’ve had it.’”
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The offended student may be one of those activists that tapes their own mouth shut to pretend that they are not allowed to freely speak. Ironically, they always are.
https://youtu.be/2NAKH8jdgm8
I know the words in the Pledge of Allegiance do not work for everyone. Being an atheist, I know that for sure. But it is not hate speech, unless the meaning of “hate speech” has changed radically.
“Hate speech” does NOT mean, “speech which offends someone.”
Am I not patriotic, when in court I say 'no' to the religious oath and get stared down by others and the clerk of courts has to leave to find where they put the secular oath which actually indicates that one will be punished, while alive, for a lie rather than being punish by some supernatural non being.
[After 1892] “the pledge was begun with the right hand over the heart, and after reciting "to the Flag," the arm was extended toward the Flag, palm-down.
In World War II, the salute too much resembled the Nazi salute, so it was changed to keep the right hand over the heart throughout.”
http://www.ushistory.org/documents/pl...
And,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_...
I understand that the alternative of affirmation was brought in for religious people who thought that taking an oath in God's name was taking the Lord's name in vain.
Here is the current Wisconsin secular oath:
"Do you solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that the testimony you shall give in this matter shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth; and this you do under the pains and penalties of perjury".
When I said "no" to the religious oath the first time as a witness, I was a witness for a neighbor under the understanding from the defense attorney that I would get the secular oath. That did not happen, though the attorney was apologetic when I had to say "No" and tell the judge that I was to have had a secular oath. In the two times I said "no", the clerk of courts had to leave to find the secular oath. It appeared that the courts considered everyone religious or want to not rock the boat. I got the advise from a religious woman whom I worked for that I should have just said "yes" because the oath is just a tradition and has no meaning. As a juror, I heard about what I had done from from another juror who was in a bible discussion with another juror.
I wonder what happens to someone who refuses to take an oath?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...
However someone who decides to be offended and then think they have the right to complain and forcefully direct my employment I no longer would want to participate with that organization.
I love my country, but I am an individual, and I do not pledge my allegiance to anyone or any government, especially a government that pledges to protect the rights of individuals as written in the constitution and breaks that pledge every minute of its existence.
The pledge has only been a tool of government since 1942. Earlier governments did not require the People to pledge themselves as servants to government. I do not consent to be enslaved. Most people today assume that the pledge is a sign of their patriotism and love of country. That is not the case. It is no coincidence that such a pledge was not required until WW2 when the state became all powerful and started to repeatedly ignore the rights of the People.
Most people don't realize the pledge was written by a socialist. We have been conditioned for decades to consent in the pledge and most people don't even think about the real meaning of it.
The very words of the pledge violate the basics of liberty set out in the Declaration of Independence:
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
"when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
But, I'd sit quietly, understand the positive expression the teacher offered in respect for fallen defenders, and go on with the day's lessons.
If adults supposedly running a school let the tantrums of a little yapping child define classroom policy, it's not the teacher who should be driven out. It's the management and the little whelp.