Teacher fired by district

Guilty till proven innocent.

Amazing! In this country a person is innocent until proven guilty. The school district is rushing to judgment and is acting like a sanctimonious bunch of old nuns over this. This kind of thing happens all the time. Teachers should not be held to a higher standard. It is tough enough being a single mom. The school district could have acted with more dignity and made this a learning experience for many people. Instead, they destroy a life with sketchy evidence. This is why I have no respect for academia in this country - they simply do not earn respect!

Teachers SHOULD be held to a higher standard. We put our childrens lives and educations in their hands every single day with the assumption they are putting our childrens best interest fore front. Whether or not Ms Hoffman knew the kids were going to throw a party or not, how did she not hear them, wake up and call their parents to come and get their children? Obviously if these kids knew it would be "cool" to do this in her home, either they had done it before , or she had given them the go ahead. Kids today aren't stupid, they knew where they can go to have a good time and get away with it. She got exactly what she deserved. She needs parenting classes, not to be teaching children.

hmmm1: When are we going to start holding parents to a higher standard? After all, parents are suppose to have the best interest of their children in mind at all times. We do not hear of negligent parents as often, or as frequently, as we hear about negligent teachers. I would argue that parents are neglegent far more often than teachers!

hmmm1 wrote:

Teachers SHOULD be held to a higher standard. We put our childrens lives and educations in their hands every single day with the assumption they are putting our childrens best interest fore front. Whether or not Ms Hoffman knew the kids were going to throw a party or not, how did she not hear them, wake up and call their parents to come and get their children? Obviously if these kids knew it would be "cool" to do this in her home, either they had done it before , or she had given them the go ahead. Kids today aren't stupid, they knew where they can go to have a good time and get away with it. She got exactly what she deserved. She needs parenting classes, not to be teaching children.

Teachers being held to higher standards than parents? That may very well be the majority of what is wrong with the school systems today. Teachers are being expected to correct what parents don't do, and somehow when students "underperform" when filling in bubbles the schools/teachers are held responsible.
Do you know what it is like to teach children who do not eat well, do not sleep adequately, have inadequate medical/dental care, who are told at home how terrible teachers are, who are spanked or threatened into listening to authority, who have no place or expectation to do homework, who are shown that the way to react to school concerns is to threaten & bully the school, and live with such dysfunction (abuse, substance abuse, parental drama, baby-daddy-whose-now-with-moth er-of-his-children#4, divorce drama) that they can't focus at school ....

AOK wrote:

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Teachers being held to higher standards than parents? That may very well be the majority of what is wrong with the school systems today. Teachers are being expected to correct what parents don't do, and somehow when students "underperform" when filling in bubbles the schools/teachers are held responsible.
Do you know what it is like to teach children who do not eat well, do not sleep adequately, have inadequate medical/dental care, who are told at home how terrible teachers are, who are spanked or threatened into listening to authority, who have no place or expectation to do homework, who are shown that the way to react to school concerns is to threaten & bully the school, and live with such dysfunction (abuse, substance abuse, parental drama, baby-daddy-whose-now-with-moth er-of-his-children#4, divorce drama) that they can't focus at school ....

As both a parent and a teacher, I could not agree with you more. Well put.

hmmm1 wrote:

Teachers SHOULD be held to a higher standard. We put our childrens lives and educations in their hands every single day with the assumption they are putting our childrens best interest fore front. Whether or not Ms Hoffman knew the kids were going to throw a party or not, how did she not hear them, wake up and call their parents to come and get their children? Obviously if these kids knew it would be "cool" to do this in her home, either they had done it before , or she had given them the go ahead. Kids today aren't stupid, they knew where they can go to have a good time and get away with it. She got exactly what she deserved. She needs parenting classes, not to be teaching children.

You obviously don't have teenagers...they are stupid and only care about themselves, for the most. They are teenagers! They don't think about the choices they make will reflect upon their parents or someone else's parents..

AOK wrote:

<quoted text>
Teachers being held to higher standards than parents? That may very well be the majority of what is wrong with the school systems today. Teachers are being expected to correct what parents don't do, and somehow when students "underperform" when filling in bubbles the schools/teachers are held responsible.
Do you know what it is like to teach children who do not eat well, do not sleep adequately, have inadequate medical/dental care, who are told at home how terrible teachers are, who are spanked or threatened into listening to authority, who have no place or expectation to do homework, who are shown that the way to react to school concerns is to threaten & bully the school, and live with such dysfunction (abuse, substance abuse, parental drama, baby-daddy-whose-now-with-moth er-of-his-children#4, divorce drama) that they can't focus at school ....

Nicely worded!

Lets say for a moment that Hoffman truly was unaware of what was going on that night.Do you think the parents of these teenagers are going to let them come forward on behalf of the teacher? I for one don't think so, They will set back and let Hoffman take the fall for this and now her life as a teacher is over. what a shame.

I see a lot of perfect people throwing stones here. What a shame that you cannot be more honest.

AOK wrote:

<quoted text>
Teachers being held to higher standards than parents? That may very well be the majority of what is wrong with the school systems today. Teachers are being expected to correct what parents don't do, and somehow when students "underperform" when filling in bubbles the schools/teachers are held responsible.
Do you know what it is like to teach children who do not eat well, do not sleep adequately, have inadequate medical/dental care, who are told at home how terrible teachers are, who are spanked or threatened into listening to authority, who have no place or expectation to do homework, who are shown that the way to react to school concerns is to threaten & bully the school, and live with such dysfunction (abuse, substance abuse, parental drama, baby-daddy-whose-now-with-moth er-of-his-children#4, divorce drama) that they can't focus at school ....

Thank you for your post, You have hit the nail on the head so to speak and I have to totally agree with you. Parents should be held accountable for their children actions. then maybe you will see parents doing their jobs raising their children. Teachers are there to teach OUR children reading writing and arithmetic, Parents are suppose to be teaching their children about life and respect ect. Teachers are not raising our children we are. and I think some people put too much on our teachers...

Whether convicted or not, proven guilty..etc...I'm pretty comfortable with the board's decision. The events reported by the police DID INDEED happen in Ms Hoffman's own home, while she was on the premisis.

This pretty much falls in to MY catagory of conduct unbecoming of an adult, let alone a teacher!

Funny you all jump to the conclusion I'm against teachers... I AM a teacher and have been for over 20 years..I also have 6 children.... 10,12,15,17,19,20.. So I do have some experience. As a parent and a teacher, I still think teachers should be held to a higher standard as far as acceptable conduct in their own home with teenagers who do not belong to her. I also agree totally with AOK. Parents are now finally being held accountable for partying in their own home with teens involved, and if those parents also worked in a school involving children ,, yes they should be fired, as they are exhibiting extremely poor judgement around children. I don't believe for one minute Ms. Hoffman was unaware of the goings on in her own home, unless she was passed out or has a huge mansion with sound proof walls.
Sorry if the truth hurts......

School boards don't fire teachers without overwhelming evidence. Unions, lawsuits, etc make that very problematic. Despite what Shocked thinks, the testimony from some of the students will come out and I bet it isn't that the teacher was taking a nap.

I am sure the evidence Mr Sweetman presented to the board for consideration was above and beyond this one incident. The school board would not set themselves up for a law suit unless they already had other evidence. The lawyer is just trying the case in the media. Now that hse has been fired (as she should have been a month ago) the story will fade away and if convicted, her sentence will be minor and unmentioned in any media except maybe a police blotter in Rutland.

I'm glad she was fired. Parent's can now feel better that their children are not around someone with a "BAD JUDGMENT". Now as long as most parents are doing their job, they will make sure they are keeping them from other people with BAD JUDGMENTS.
Teachers should be looked upon,my reasoning for saying this is when children are in a school longer than they are at home(M-F), they should be held Responsible.Excuses will fly,the truth will be bent,and things will be swept under the rug. Do you really believe with being a TEACHER and going to court she is going to stand up and say Yeah I knew about it? She knows she's being looked upon. As far as the kids they aren't going to say anything because when they want to party once things "Cool Down" they know where to go.
Parents and Teachers are classified as the same the only difference is one is paid and the other isn't,and it's in the matter of how they are teaching.

"Teachers should be looked upon,my reasoning for saying this is when children are in a school longer than they are at home(M-F), they should be held Responsible" (its Amazing)

where did you come up with this?...so now you're saying that teachers should be responsible for raising YOUR children...I think not! If the child has behavior issues that all on you! If you are not raising your child right, it's not the teachers fault. Guess you don't teach or have children!

Native VTer wrote:

"Teachers should be looked upon,my reasoning for saying this is when children are in a school longer than they are at home(M-F), they should be held Responsible" (its Amazing)
where did you come up with this?...so now you're saying that teachers should be responsible for raising YOUR children...I think not! If the child has behavior issues that all on you! If you are not raising your child right, it's not the teachers fault. Guess you don't teach or have children!

If you understood what I was saying was that they are in school M-F they need to be looked upon unless you want your children be taught how to drink in school.

Its Amazing wrote:

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If you understood what I was saying was that they are in school M-F they need to be looked upon unless you want your children be taught how to drink in school.

By the looks of things you need to go back to school.

Bottom line is this:
You should be held responsible for what you allow to happen in your home. Teacher or no teacher....this person went to bed, leaving behind unsupervised teens. Just because she was (supposedly) sleeping, it doesn't automatically make her innocent of a crime.
Teenagers dont just dump Cocaine on a coffee table and party! Think about it folks! We were all teenagers once.....If these kids were "sneaking" around trying to drink & do drugs...They wouldnt have been so comfortable!( especially in the home of a teacher!) They would have all been locked in a bedroom, down in the cellar, in the garage, etc.
They knew that everything was "cool".....and this wasnt the first time there had been a party at this home. Im sure that they had heard from their friends that this teachers home was a safe place to party!
As far as teachers raising our children for us.....Sadly, most kids these days come from single parent homes where mom/dad has to work a full time job.....or even children with the luxury of having two parents in the home, in most cases both have to work just to keep them fed!
With after school programs & daycare.....how much time are we really spending with our kids?
In many ways teachers & daycare centers ARE raising our children.....and perhaps saddest of all? We're LETTING them!