SkydiveStMarys 0 #1 October 5, 2006 Apperently she was fired because there were nudes scattered about the museum and a child was offended. Of course the school board syas there is more to it then just the field trip incident. Here is the story. FRISCO, Tex., Sept. 28 — “Keep the ‘Art’ in ‘Smart’ and ‘Heart,’ ” Sydney McGee had posted on her Web site at Wilma Fisher Elementary School in this moneyed boomtown that is gobbling up the farm fields north of Dallas. But Ms. McGee, 51, a popular art teacher with 28 years in the classroom, is out of a job after leading her fifth-grade classes last April through the Dallas Museum of Art. One of her students saw nude art in the museum, and after the child’s parent complained, the teacher was suspended. Although the tour had been approved by the principal, and the 89 students were accompanied by 4 other teachers, at least 12 parents and a museum docent, Ms. McGee said, she was called to the principal the next day and “bashed.” She later received a memorandum in which the principal, Nancy Lawson, wrote: “During a study trip that you planned for fifth graders, students were exposed to nude statues and other nude art representations.” It cited additional complaints, which Ms. McGee has challenged. The school board suspended her with pay on Sept. 22. In a newsletter e-mailed to parents this week, the principal and Rick Reedy, superintendent of the Frisco Independent School District, said that Ms. McGee had been denied transfer to another school in the district, that her annual contract would not be renewed and that a replacement had been interviewed. The episode has dumbfounded and exasperated many in and out of this mushrooming exurb, where nearly two dozen new schools have been built in the last decade and computers outnumber students three to one. A representative of the Texas State Teachers Association, which has sprung to Ms. McGee’s defense, calls it “the first ‘nudity-in-a-museum case’ we have seen.” “Teachers get in trouble for a variety of reasons,” said the association’s general counsel, Kevin Lungwitz, “but I’ve never heard of a teacher getting in trouble for taking her kiddoes on an approved trip to an art museum.” John R. Lane, director of the museum, said he had no information on why Ms. McGee had been disciplined. “I think you can walk into the Dallas Museum of Art and see nothing that would cause concern,” Mr. Lane said. Over the past decade, more than half a million students, including about a thousand from other Frisco schools, have toured the museum’s collection of 26,000 works spanning 5,000 years, he said, “without a single complaint.” One school recently did cancel a scheduled visit, he said. He did not have its name. The uproar has swamped Frisco school switchboards and prompted some Dallas-area television stations to broadcast images of statues from the museum with areas of the anatomy blacked out. Ms. Lawson and Mr. Reedy did not return calls. A spokeswoman for the school district referred questions to the school board’s lawyer, Randy Gibbs. Mr. Gibbs said, “there was a parent who complained, relating the complaint of a child,” but he said he did not know details. In the May 18 memorandum to Ms. McGee, Ms. Lawson faulted her for not displaying enough student art and for “wearing flip-flops” to work; Ms. McGee said she was wearing Via Spiga brand sandals. In citing the students’ exposure to nude art, Ms. Lawson also said “time was not used wisely for learning during the trip,” adding that parents and teachers had complained and that Ms. McGee should have toured the route by herself first. But Ms. McGee said she did exactly that. In the latest of several statements, the district contended that the trip had been poorly planned. But Mr. Gibbs, the district’s lawyer, acknowledged that Ms. Lawson had approved it. “This is not about a field trip to a museum,” the principal and superintendent told parents in their e-mail message Wednesday, citing “performance concerns” and other criticisms of Ms. McGee’s work, which she disputes. “The timing of circumstances has allowed the teacher to wave that banner and it has played well in the media,” they wrote. They took issue with Ms. McGee’s planning of the outing. “No teacher’s job status, however, would be jeopardized based on students’ incidental viewing of nude art,” they wrote. Ms. McGee and her lawyer, Rogge Dunn, who are exploring legal action, say that her past job evaluations had been consistently superior until the museum trip and only turned negative afterward. They have copies of evaluations that bear out the assertion. Retracing her route this week through the museum’s European and contemporary galleries, Ms. McGee passed the marble torso of a Greek youth from a funerary relief, circa 330 B.C.; its label reads, “his nude body has the radiant purity of an athlete in his prime.” She passed sculptor Auguste Rodin’s tormented “Shade;” Aristide Maillol’s “Flora,” with her clingy sheer garment; and Jean Arp’s “Star in a Dream.” None, Ms. McGee said, seemed offensive. “This is very painful and getting more so,” she said, her eyes moistening. “I’m so into art. I look at it for its value, what each civilization has left behind.” School officials have not named the child who complained or any particular artwork at issue, although Ms. McGee said her puzzlement was compounded when Ms. Lawson referred at times to “an abstract nude sculpture.” Ms. McGee, a fifth-generation Texan who has a grown daughter, won a monthly teacher award in 2004 from a local newspaper. She said the loss of her $57,600-a-year job could jeopardize her mortgage and compound her health problems, including a heart ailment. Some parents have come to Ms. McGee’s defense. Joan Grande said her 11-year-old daughter, Olivia, attended the museum tour. “She enjoyed the day very much,” Ms. Grande said. “She did mention some nude art but she didn’t make a big deal of it and neither did I.” She said that if Ms. McGee’s job ratings were high before the incident, “something isn’t right” about the suspension. Another parent, Maijken Kozcara, said Ms. McGee had taught her children effectively. “I thought she was the greatest,” Ms. Kozcara said. But “knowing Texas, the way things work here” she said of the teacher’s suspension, “I wasn’t really amazed. I was like, ‘Yeah, right.’ ” BobbiA miracle is not defined by an event. A miracle is defined by gratitude. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
piisfish 140 #2 October 5, 2006 ok, the poll is new.... but.... REPOSTscissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveStMarys 0 #3 October 5, 2006 Thanks...poll away people!! BobbiA miracle is not defined by an event. A miracle is defined by gratitude. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jakee 1,564 #4 October 5, 2006 Post the article in the other thread though, its well worth reading.Do you want to have an ideagasm? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
idrankwhat 0 #5 October 5, 2006 I didn't realize that you could actually have a dark age and an information age at the same time. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Squeak 17 #6 October 5, 2006 USA always good for a laughYou are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky) My Life ROCKS! How's yours doing? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazon 7 #7 October 5, 2006 WOW 24 to ZERO at this point....time for her to move on to another more tolerant school district.. so the old one can wallow in their conservative values. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rehmwa 2 #8 October 5, 2006 Quote“This is very painful and getting more so,” she said, her eyes moistening. “I’m so into art. I look at it for its value, what each civilization has left behind.” She shouldn't be fired for taking the kids on an approved field trip. I suspect she even has permission slips signed for each kid. But for her eyes "moistening", maybe a slap on the wrist and take away her tandem rating. ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DaVinci 0 #9 October 6, 2006 It should be easy to show if she was performing well by looking at her reviews. If she was fired for the trip.....Oh good god, what a bunch of idiots. They signed permission slips, and the trip was approved. I hope she gets justice. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jenfly00 0 #10 October 6, 2006 QuoteWOW 24 to ZERO at this point....time for her to move on to another more tolerant school district.. so the old one can wallow in their conservative values. Getting certification in another state can be a PITA. ----------------------- "O brave new world that has such people in it". Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ROK 0 #11 October 6, 2006 QuoteIt should be easy to show if she was performing well by looking at her reviews. If she was fired for the trip.....Oh good god, what a bunch of idiots. They signed permission slips, and the trip was approved. I hope she gets justice. How many of the parents that signed the slips have actually ever been in a museum, we are talking about Texas here Here's the irony, the same people complaining probably have given their child an X-Box and a hand full of games where you can pretend to slash and hack your friends. (I know, I know) Personally, I wish all art involved nudity, because nudity can certainly be art... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
popsjumper 2 #12 October 6, 2006 The sad part is that this shit happens all over the country and not just in any one state. There's way too many others like Ms Lawson who just go ape-shit mad with having "power".My reality and yours are quite different. I think we're all Bozos on this bus. Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ROK 0 #13 October 6, 2006 When I was in High School, we had a Sociology teacher named Mr. P. He would take us on field trips, and once brought in two street hookers to talk to us. We got to ask them questions and they told us of their lifestyle, the risks, diseases, etc... Not once did the class turn immature (Fk-ing miracle). Because of what I learned from those two ladies, I never ever have come close to paying a hooker. He was reprimanded and almost fired. Now, I do beleive that if this teacher toured the museum first, she should have informed the parents in writing that the museum contains some nudes. She should have been smart enough to give the parents the choice. After all the kids are 10, or 11, or ah maybe 15 if you live in the South... Should she be fired? No way... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zenister 0 #14 October 6, 2006 apparently preparing students for ACTUAL LIFE... is no longer part of the educational process in many states and school districts. Teachers who attempt to circumvent the political process that elects school boards by prematurely exposing student to Real Life will be terminated....____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nightingale 0 #15 October 6, 2006 It's so sad that people have become so phobic of human anatomy. ...currently searching for sticker of Michelangelo's David to stick up in my car window... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
micro 0 #16 October 6, 2006 QuoteIt's so sad that people have become so phobic of human anatomy. ...currently searching for sticker of Michelangelo's David to stick up in my car window... LOL!!! That's awesome!! I miss Lee. And JP. And Chris. And... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nightingale 0 #17 October 6, 2006 If I can find one, I'll let you know. One of the art students here was wearing a t-shirt of David with a big "CENSORED" stamp across the sculpture's penis. If I see him again, I'm going to ask where he got it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
micro 0 #18 October 6, 2006 QuoteWOW 24 to ZERO at this point....time for her to move on to another more tolerant school district.. so the old one can wallow in their conservative values. c'mon jeanne... doesn't this has more to do w/ cowardice than "conservative" values? Ever been to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Downtown Nashville? I miss Lee. And JP. And Chris. And... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Squeak 17 #19 October 7, 2006 QuoteIt's so sad that people have become so phobic of human anatomy. ...currently searching for sticker of Michelangelo's David to stick up in my car window... Then drive through the Bible belt and see what types of responses you get You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky) My Life ROCKS! How's yours doing? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
efs4ever 3 #20 October 8, 2006 Clicky Russell M. Webb D 7014 Attorney at Law 713 385 5676 https://www.tdcparole.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 2,107 #21 October 8, 2006 Quote Clicky Wow, wearing flip-flops to work. I'm stunned!... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hungarianchick 0 #22 October 9, 2006 QuoteQuote Clicky Wow, wearing flip-flops to work. I'm stunned! Jeez, they were really struggling to come up with excuses to fire her, weren't they? What a bunch of bullshit! "I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkyDekker 1,465 #23 October 10, 2006 Interesting....depending on what year his paintings were from, that journalist either got his name right, or wrong...or maybe even both... Bonus points for anybody understanding what I am talking about Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
unformed 0 #24 October 10, 2006 what can i cash in the bonus points for?This ad space for sale. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkyDekker 1,465 #25 October 10, 2006 Quotewhat can i cash in the bonus points for? free ad space Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
