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Somebody think of the children
Post #876 • September 26, 2006, 11:34 PM • 23 Comments
What the hell is wrong with Texas school adminstrators? This past June, in Austin, they went after a respected art teacher, Tamara Hoover, over a Flickr photoset that depicted her artfully, but occasionally bare-chested. How did that work out? In late August, they forked over 15 grand in a settlement and she's going to grad school. Frisco school officials, apparently impervious to learning, recently refused to renew the contract of Sydney McGee, described as a "an award-winning Texas art teacher," for taking a group of students to the Dallas Museum of Art and putting them in the pernicious presence of depicted nudity. Frisco school officials declined to comment on their priggishness.
Via Supergirl, and Tyler has picked it up already.
Update: The Frisco Board e-mail address is Leadership@FriscoISD.org.
Update 2: Dallas Morning News.
2.
September 27, 2006, 9:29 AM
I'm pretty sure I did. The contact page is here. Push comes to shove, you could fax them.
3.
September 27, 2006, 9:30 AM
This is bullshit on so many levels. One of which is 'technical':
The teacher took her students on an approved field trip to a Dallas museum, and now some parents are upset.
In other words, she did something that was specifically ALLOWED, and because some parents subsequently didn't like it she was sacked. Insane.
4.
September 27, 2006, 9:57 AM
Well, I sometimes get blocked because I use Gmail. If it's not that, then I don't know what. I didn't use any bad language.
I did get through to the Mayor of Frisco though.
How bad does it suck to be Frisco ISD's Communications Director right now??
5.
September 27, 2006, 10:05 AM
I'm on GMail too, and my letter said, in part, "Texas, I might add, had the highest rate of illiteracy in the country in 2003. This to me is far more obscene than any depictions of penises, vaginas, or breasts I've ever seen in a museum, and the termination of a lauded teacher over such depictions is morally disgusting in the extreme." But I sent it last night and maybe they bumped up filter levels this morning.
Anyone else wanting to contact Mike Simpson, Mayor of Frisco, can find him here.
6.
September 27, 2006, 10:15 AM
What do you expect, in a country founded by Puritans?
7.
September 27, 2006, 10:36 AM
Meanwhile, back in Canada, the Conservative government just announced sweeping budget cuts, including $4.6 million cut from Museum assistance programs.
But, what do you expect, from a country founded by... hey, who founded Canada, again?
8.
September 27, 2006, 10:40 AM
Wasn't it Wayne Gretzky?
9.
September 27, 2006, 11:11 AM
Frisco is a fast-growing outlying suburb north of Dallas with its roots solidly in the conservative bible belt. It is not clear to me that they will pay much heed to outraged blue state intellectuals.
10.
September 27, 2006, 12:00 PM
re #9 opie
It is not clear to me that they will pay much heed to outraged blue state intellectuals.
So todays color is BLUE ?
11.
September 27, 2006, 12:19 PM
I guess so. Here's a start
http://homepage3.nifty.com/kenkitagawa2/YvesKlein-BlueVenus.jpg
Not my favorite, but really blue, for sure.
12.
September 27, 2006, 12:21 PM
And, of course:
http://www.huntington.org/ArtDiv/BlueBoyPict.html
14.
September 27, 2006, 1:46 PM
Rothko.
And Mona Lisa is looking a little sad lately ... does that count?
15.
September 27, 2006, 3:17 PM
I didn't think Canada was founded by anyone.
It was inhabited by the .....Algonkin Arapaho Assiniboin Atsina Bellabella Bellacoola Beothuk Family Chilliwack Chippewa Cowichan Cree Crow Dakota Eskimo Etchaottine Etchareottine Etheneldeli Haida Hidatsa Huron Iroquois Kawchodinne Kitksan Kutchin Kutenai Kwakiutl Lillooet Malecite Micmac Montagnais Moravians Munsee Nahane Nakotchokutchin Nanaimo Neutral Nooksak Nootka Ntlakyapamuk Okanagon Onondaga Ottawa Passamaquoddy Puntlatsh Seechelt Sekani Senijextee Shuswap Siksika Songish Squawmish Tahltan Tatlitkutchin Tatsanottine Thlingchadinne Tionontati Tsattine Tschantoga Tsilkotin Tsimshian Tukkuthkutchin Tutchonekutchin ......Indian Nations.
It was then raped by the French and some white hillbillies.
16.
September 27, 2006, 10:13 PM
How dare you call Gretzky a Hillbilly!
Speaking of blue...
I've got the competition beat on size, at least.
17.
September 29, 2006, 12:47 AM
my favorite Blue.........:)
18.
September 29, 2006, 7:34 AM
Thanks, Elizabeth, you're my biggest fan (or, a fan of my biggest, at least).
19.
September 29, 2006, 9:03 AM
Back to Franklin's original topic:
Is it art? Teacher strips in class...
20.
September 29, 2006, 8:34 PM
Yup Marc ...I am and that one rocks....its just pure genius......sometimes a piece just 'does it' and that one does....E.
21.
September 30, 2006, 5:21 PM
http://www.friscoisd.org/schools/fisher.htm
Write to Principal Nancy Lawson.
22.
September 30, 2006, 5:21 PM
http://www.friscoisd.org/schools/fisher.htm
Write to Principal Nancy Lawson.
1.
J.T. Kirkland
September 27, 2006, 9:25 AM
Apparently the Frisco Board has their spam protection on HIGH. My email got rejected. Anyone else get through?