Artifact Number Two Case Scenario 1

Artifact Number Two Case Scenario

Sha Heilman

College of Southern Nevada

 Artifact Number Two Case Scenario 2

Freddie Watts, who is the Principal of a school, and Jimmy brothers who is the Assistant

Principal ran into a legal battle when a tenured teacher Ann Griffin gave them reason to have her

removed from her position. For context of the story both Principal and Assistant Principal are

African American for a predominately African American School. While Griffin, who is white,

engaged in a conversation with Principal and Assistant Principal that got her aggravated and she

said she “hated all black folk.” This got around the school and had both black and white

collogues very upset with her words. From her statement the principal thought it was best for her

to be dismissed because she would be unable to treat students and faculty fairly with that view.

While this may seem like an easy case because Ann’s choice of words, she is a tenured

teacher which gives the principal a tough battle to win. According to Brown (2012) there was a

case in Fairfax Public Schools County attempting to dismiss a teacher of tenure purely based that

the Principal had it out for teacher Nichols. Nichols was accused of not keeping students

engaged, letting them finish work early and not have anything to do in class, letting her email fill

up, and being stuck in older models of teaching. She had missed her last evaluation for tenure but

prior had received nothing but very high praise. So, in turn she was removed from her classroom

and was made to wait until a choice was made. She was still paid while not being in the

classroom but was eventually let go. She was secretly given a deal to be released and has not

returned. This was a string of tenured teachers being let go and this could be what Ann Griffin

went through. Of course, her collogues would not want to work with her after hearing her racist

slurs. Unfortunately, it was only the two men that heard so possibly they had it out for her and

knew this would for sure end up with her being dismissed.
 Artifact Number Two Case Scenario 3

In case Jon Everhart v. Prince George’s County teacher Jon Everhart was awarded

$350,000 when in a lawsuit it was proven the Principal of the school Simpson-Marcus treated

him unfairly Wiggins (2014). Simpson-Marcus was not always Principal but once she was put

into that position is when Everhart began to be criticized of his teachings. Simpson-Marcus was

accused of telling teachers and students rumors of how terrible of a teacher he was and that he

would soon be fired. Even though Everhart had only ever received praise on any evaluation

prior. Upon winning the case it was found that there was no evidence to support his dismissal or

the unjust treatment from Principal Simpson-Marcus. This could be the same situation for Griffin

if it the Principal’s having it out for her and wanting her out of her position there would be no

better way than to spread a rumor around that she may or may not have said.

In Tucson Unified School District, Acosta, an ethnic studies teacher won a battle against

his program being dropped Shenoy (2017). Now this case to me shows why Griffin would in fact

be fired from her tenure for saying the racist comment that she did. In Tucson a Union School

organizer was quoted saying “Republicans hate Latinos” when teacher Acosta was shown in a

photo with her that is where his trouble and fight started. The school board superintendent Tom

Horne thought these actions were rude and his retaliation are what made the case in favor of

Acosta. While Acosta was not the one who said the phrase, it was his program and others like it

that "promoted resentment toward a race or class", “ethnic solidarity” that had their funding cut

Shenoy (2017) This part of the case is what took it ten years to be won. The statement was not

like Griffins, where she directly said she “hated all black folk.” This was a case where if it is

proven to be racist it will win. Acosta proved that without funding for these programs there was a

lack of knowledge that was there before, but the superintendent defunded it to make a
 Artifact Number Two Case Scenario 4

community less aware of their rights. Griffin was racist and that would lead to her termination

because it was hate towards the primary group of students she was teaching.

In the case of Garcetti v. Caballos it was ruled that while an employee is at work, they are

not protected under the first amendment. This would be the main reason that Griffin would not

be able to keep her tenured position. She was speaking at work about the population she works

with and made an extremely racist comment. She would not be protected because she is

specifically speaking of the people she is working with. It has nothing to with the outside

community and it would affect her ability to teach. She cannot just speak about her personal

beliefs when she is at work.

In the end it would most likely be proven that Griffin would not be able to keep her

tenured position. From the case with Nichols who was tenured and unable to keep it based on

false ground Griffin has words and witnesses against her. Furthermore, she would be unable to

prove that the principals were doing this because of some form of retaliation. She would be

shown guilty of not being able to teach her students properly because of the massive bias she has

against them. She would also be found guilty of sharing her personal beliefs while at work and

that would more than likely result in her termination regardless of her tenure. Tenure does not

mean a guaranteed job if they are proven to not be doing their teaching position properly and

also having a racial bias against the majority of the population the teacher provides education to.
 Artifact Number Two Case Scenario 5

Works Cited

Brown, E. (2012, June 03). Teacher tenure: A Fairfax schools firing case. Retrieved from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/teacher-tenure-a-fairfax-schools-firing-
case/2012/06/02/gJQAVt4l9U_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.eeafd04a9606

Garcetti v. Ceballos. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved February 3, 2019, from

https://www.oyez.org/cases/2005/04-473

Shenoy, R. (2017, August 25). After a 10-year saga, Tucson teachers are validated when a judge
calls state law racist. Retrieved from https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-08-25/after-10-year-saga-
tucson-teachers-are-validated-when-judge-calls-state-law

Wiggins, O. (2014, August 08). White teacher wins $350,000 in Prince George's schools bias
lawsuit. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/jury-awards-former-
prince-georges-county-teacher-350000-over-retaliation-claim/2014/08/08/6e2d50f6-1e73-11e4-
82f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.html?utm_term=.091676e8d9a8