For those that don’t know, eighth grade science teacher Melissa Hussain was suspended with pay while school officials look into complaints made by the parents of some of her students about comments posted to her public Facebook page.

The first story I read on the matter said not much more than the above. It said Hussain had made a threatening remark about punishing her students in response to a Bible being left on her desk, an action she viewed as a hate crime.

Knowing nothing but that, my initial feelings were that the school administration had acted appropriately. While there’s obviously more to it than that, simply leaving a Bible on a desk doesn’t strike me as a hate crime. Or harassment. Could it be? Sure it could but from the original story, it sounds like an overreaction. (Which I can understand, 12 to 14-year-olds in large groups can be very stressful). Still, regardless of how she interpreted the act of leaving a Bible on her desk, publicly threatening your students is not something teachers should do so from the initial article, I agreed with putting her on paid suspension while the investigators find out what really happened.

A bit later, an article with much more detail was brought to my attention. You can read it here.

[url]http://www.newsobserver.com/news/counties/wake_county/story/341361.html[/url]

In this article we get a bit more detail into what was said and why. According to this article, both Hussain and the parents seem to agree that at some point, a student or students placed a Bible on her desk with a Christmas card that had the “Christ” of “Christmas” underlined and bolded (it’s unclear if the Christmas card was mentioned on Hussain’s Facebook, by the parents, or both).

According to this article, Hussain said the following on her public Facebook page:

-Leaving the Bible was a “hate crime”
-She “was able to shame her kids” over the incident (I assume “kids” means her students)
-Students were spreading rumors that she was a Jesus hater
-Her students were wearing Jesus T-shirts
-Her students were singing “Jesus Loves Me”
-Her students were reading the Bible instead of doing their schoolwork
-The Bible incident would not “go unpunished”

And according to the students’ parents:

-Before the Bible incident, a student put a Jesus postcard on Hussain’s desk which she threw in the trash
-Hussain “sent to the office students who, during a lesson about evolution, asked about the role of God in creation.”
-Students have a right to wear Jesus T-shirts and sing “Jesus Loves Me”
-Students were reading the Bible during free time in class

So, what do we have here? Well, without really knowing what happened and not having Hussain’s direct Facebook quotes, it’s hard to say. On its face, leaving a Bible on her desk (even with a Christmas card with “Christ” underlined and bolded) doesn’t sound like a hate crime to me. Could it technically be considered one? Depending on the intent behind it, sure. Still, that’s no excuse to publicly threaten your students if that is indeed what happened. It’s hard to say without knowing the context surrounding “go unpunished.” After all, according to the article, the most caustic comments were not made by Hussain but by the folks commenting on her Facebook.

Were students spreading rumors? Don’t know. Maybe, maybe not. I do know that as long as there’s nothing in the dress code against it, there’s nothing wrong with wearing a Jesus T-shirt. Likewise, there’s nothing wrong with singing “Jesus Loves me” as long as it’s not during class or on Hussain’s front lawn. And, of course, there’s nothing wrong with reading the Bible during free time as long as that’s what was actually happening.

The one that gets me though is this: “Parents also said Hussain sent to the office students who, during a lesson about evolution, asked about the role of God in creation.” Again, on its face (which is all I had to go by at this point) that’s pretty crap. There’s nothing wrong with asking that question just as there’s nothing wrong with the teacher refusing to answer it but sending the kids to the office isn’t the way to go. Of course, it’s possible the kids were asking over and over again after the teacher had already addressed the question and that’s when she sent them to the office. But that’s just speculation. There’s nothing in the article to support that.

So, again, from the information I had at my disposal, I still agreed that putting the teacher on paid suspension while the school looks into what actually happened is a fine move.

That said, from the same information, the sense I get is that Hussain may be a bit of a religious intolerant. Why? Calling a Bible anonymously left on her desk (with Xmas card with “Christ” underlined and bolded) a hate crime strikes me as a bit of a stretch anyway but it’s certainly no excuse to publicly threaten your students (again, if that’s what happened). Complaining about T-shirts is silly and according to the parents, the kids were reading the Bible during free time (may not be true but nothing in the article contradicts this). Also, sending students to the office for asking a question is wrong (as always, only if it’s as simple as that which is what the article makes it out to be).

Please note I’m not saying Hussain is a religious intolerant and overreacted while venting about her perfect, faultless little angels of an eighth grade class. It’s entirely possible that the students are spreading rumors and disrupting class with Bible reading, hymns and repeated questions about God. It’s possible the kids are day in, day out mocking her with religious T-shirts and pranking her with “gifts” left on her desk. In which case, I don’t blame her from venting on her Facebook (although, she really should have kept it private. Simple mistake though, nothing to fire her over I don’t think). But if that’s true, this woman has no control over her class. One wonders what proper steps she took to shut down the little monsters. Unfortunately, the article says nothing about this so while it’s in the realm of possibility, it’s not supported by this article. Although, this guy seems certain that something like that is what really happened:

[url]http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/02/melissa_hussain_committed_thou.php[/url]

So, again, from the information in this article, I think the suspension with pay while the officials figure out what happened is an appropriate response. While I get the sense (from the info in this article) that Hussain may be a bit of a religious intolerant based on her (in my opinion) overreaction to the Bible incident plus some other things she complained about, I don’t get the sense she’s a bad person or that she should be fired. Just someone who really should have set her Facebook page to private before ripping on her students. Frankly, if she said anything like “I’m going to kill those little ****s” I’m sure there would have been more damning quotes in the article.

But wait! Look, it’s Hussain’s actual Facebook comments!

[url]http://www.newsobserver.com/content/media/2010/2/15/Facebook.pdf[/url]

Ah, much better when things are taken in context, aren’t they? My read on her now is that she’s just a stressed out teacher letting off some steam with her Facebook friends. I see nothing threatening in her messages and according to her, the students were being deliberately disruptive. Not only that, but it appears she handled it pretty well. Her only mistake was not setting her Facebook page to private. With the info I have now, I think the board should talk to her about her public posting habits and call it a day. I’d say the kids need a talking to but apparently that already happened. I leave you with Hussain’s own words below.

[QUOTE]Melissa Hussain is soooooooooo happy that admin agreed to let her have a heart-to-heart talk with all of her students about all the rumors and horrible things her students were doing/saying about her. They were so open and honest it was beautiful.

I was able to shame the kids who were responsible for leaving the bible on my desk without calling them out (never did figure out who did it) and that seemed to be way more powerful to the other students because they realized how much it hurt and offended me and respected me all the more to hear that I didn’t want to know because I would never want to know who was okay with doing something so malicious and hurtful.[/QUOTE]

Andrew Eisen