Central Bucks School District Fires English Teacher Who Blogged About Students
By Todd Quinones
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (CBS) - The Central Bucks East High School English teacher who made national news with her blog is now out of a job.
In her blog, Natalie Munroe called students "lazy whiners" among other things. When it was discovered by students online in early 2011, it garnered national attention.
At Tuesday night's Central Bucks School District board meeting, Munroe was fired. She is now suing the district claiming they violated her 1st amendment rights to free speech.
However, the school board president contends Munroe's termination was not related to her blog, but rather her performance in the classroom.
"Ms. Munroe's lawsuit against the district asserts that she was an excellent teacher and given excellent ratings. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ms. Munroe was, at best, a satisfactory teacher and was experiencing performance difficulties well before her blog became an issue," School Board President Paul Faulkner said.
Munroe's lawyer, Steven Rovner, claims otherwise. "[The termination] is a result of what she said in her blog which is protected speech," he said. "[The District] spent the whole year setting her up to fail," Rovner said.
Neither Munroe nor her attorney were at Tuesday night's school board meeting.
Her termination takes effect immediately.
