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A Parkway substitute teacher who said he was fired in an allegation involving an oath of allegiance had "reprehensible behavior," the district superintendent said Friday.
Jim Furkin on Wednesday asked the Parkway School Board to review his departure from his longtime substitute position at Parkway South High School. He added that he was accused of brutalizing a student who refused to recite the oath of allegiance at the beginning of the freshman course last month.
"All I have done, is thank this class for saying the oath of allegiance and now I am told not to come back into the building", did he declared on the board.
In a lengthy statement Friday afternoon, Parkway superintendent Keith Marty said other complaints had been made about Furkin.
"We are always trying to protect the privacy of everyone involved in this business," said Marty. "However, there has been an omission of important facts in this case. The truth is that we recommended that this replacement product not be returned because of reprehensible behavior. "
The statement, which did not mention Furkin by name, indicated that he had already been prevented by another high school in Parkway from recording a student video without their permission in class and that he had violated the appropriate interactions between teachers by sharing his personal contacts. information with South High students.
"Based on the concerns expressed previously by staff and students, the director of South High addressed these issues with the substitute teacher," said Marty. "The substitute has been coached and reminded of his professional obligations."
The statement goes on to state that Furkin "has not maintained the high standards we expect from adults who work with our children".
Marty said that in the incident involving the oath of allegiance to South High, Furkin's comments disrupted the class.
"By praising some students for standing, the students who made the decision not to stay were humiliated and teased," said Marty. "The classroom environment has not cultivated an atmosphere of learning and acceptance of the views and values of others."
Furkin said: "The district has thrown me under the bus and it is predictable, (but) I will defend myself … there has been no disturbance, no. "
Furkin stated that he had never filmed any students, but that another teacher had asked him to take a picture of the students so that the teacher could identify students who were not participating in a homework assignment. Furkin admitted that taking the picture was a "big mistake" that had banished him from Parkway Central High School several years ago.
Furkin also stated that he shared his personal Twitter account with his students after they had asked about books he had written. On his Twitter page, students found "inappropriate images", which Furkin claimed to be there because he had been hacked.
"Over 10 years, six to eight hours a day, will something happen? Absolutely. Each submarine has something to say … I think for all of my work for 10 years, I probably reached 99.9%. "
Kelly Educational Staffing, an agency that provides substitute teachers to Parkway and employs Furkin, issued this statement Friday: "Kelly Educational Staffing does not publicly discuss specific employee information. We are working with the district on this situation. "
Two legal experts stated that court decisions generally gave school districts wide latitude to intervene in cases such as Parkway.
Gregory Magarian, a law professor at the University of Washington, said Parkway was about "two levels of freedom of expression." It highlights the rights of the First Amendment of a student who does not wish to participate in a patriotic act for religious or political reasons. And it also demonstrates the limited freedom of an employee of a government agency, such as a public school district, he said.
"The district has a lot of latitude to orient its teacher on what to say and how to implement a curriculum," said Magarian. "Certainly, what this guy said was really in the context of the school day and the direction of the class."
One of the most famous and frequently cited cases in the First Amendment is the West Virginia Board of Education against Barnette. The decision of the Supreme Court of 1943 prevents students from being forced to salute the American flag or to take the oath of allegiance, which puts an end to "a nation under God, indivisible with freedom and justice for all". It was a victory for Jehovah's Witnesses. Religion forbids members of the denomination to greet or engage in favor of political symbols.
Jehovah's Witnesses interpret these symbols as "clipped images" that the Old Testament condemns, said Magarian.
Furkin said that the way his comments were interpreted by the student was not his intention. But it does not always matter in court cases.
"I think the school has the prerogative to draw a conclusion about what the child said that happened and how he reacted," Magarian said. "Comments can be different from intentions, and that's what's tricky in a situation like this. It is important to know how the student took the statement. "
Tony Rothert, legal director of the Missouri ACLU, concurred, noting that court cases based on cases such as this one tended to favor government agencies such as school districts.
"The government is a teacher of a public school and in the class, it speaks on behalf of the government," Rothert said.
If school district officials consider that this speech is detrimental to a student, the teacher may be punished, he said.
What is unknown in Parkway is how Furkin presented his comments, Rothert said. This can make a huge difference in the way they are received.
"Background, tone and body image," said Rothert. "It makes a difference and it's up to the district to understand."
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