Current Events > Portland school board stops firing of teacher due to racism fears

(+) Yeah! (+)

Can't read the article

The board voted 4-3 to block Superintendent Guadalupe Guerreros move to fire the teacher, who said he was out sick when he was in fact doing paid work elsewhere during school hours.

Can't read the article, so I don't know what's going on

relevant part of the article

sorry, but that is definitely deserving of termination.

There's more to the story. Apparently, this wasn't an issue in the past and this teacher is VERY highly regarded amongst the student body

There's more to the story. Apparently, this wasn't an issue in the past and this teacher is VERY highly regarded amongst the student body

Huh?

By this spring, after Kellers tug-of-war with Rierson over his request for leave that she denied, Guerrero concurred with Rierson that it was time for Keller to go.

And hes apparently been a problem for quite some time

But he has also been dogged by disciplinary issues in the past seven years, including write-ups for physical misconduct involving students and neglect of duty. In 2021, the state Teacher Standards and Practices Commission put him on a two-year probation.

Thats when he asked Rierson, the principal, for permission to hire a sub to cover his class for Wednesday afternoons in January and February so he could help lead workshops for a private dance company where he is the dance director that was offering classes at a Portland elementary school. Keller had made the same request of previous Ockley Green administrators, who he said had readily agreed.

March of 2016, he was reprimanded after another teacher said he pushed a student to the floor after a dodgeball game; Keller said it was an involuntary physical reaction after the student hit him in the chest when he was expecting a high-five.

In 2018, Keller was alleged to have thrown shoes at students to get their attention and cursed at and disparaged students who were changing their menstrual supplies while trying to get them to class

While still on probation, in spring 2022, Keller left his classroom to talk with a student who was not in crisis,investigators found. His 31 other students were left unattended and a fight broke out. One of the students was seriously injured;

shrug. i can't comment further as I only saw the article linked in the OP. but every single job I've ever had would fire me without question if I called in sick and was caught doing something besides being at home sick.

After being told his contract wouldn't permit him to take Wednesdays off to teach private lessons, Keller rang in sick on the day multiple times.

He's also accused of ringing in sick after his request for unpaid leave so he could judge a dance contest in North Carolina was turned down. Keller ended up attending that contest and judging.

Hardly infractions to get angry about for him not being fired over. Sounds like he was struggling financially so was trying to use his paid days off to teach private lessons to make more money on Wednesdays, as he's a dance teacher. They apparently refused so he started calling out anyway.

Refusal of allowing people to use their sick/vacation time regardless of circumstance is another issue in itself.

And you don't have a problem with that? Using PTO regardless of whether or not it is labeled "sick days" or not should not factor into what you do on those days.

And you don't have a problem with that? Using PTO regardless of whether or not it is labeled "sick days" or not should not factor into what you do on those days.

no, because every job I've had has separated "vacation" and "sick days", which are much more plentiful. if I used a "vacation" day and worked a side gig, no problem. but lying about being sick is deserving of termination IMO.

no, because every job I've had has separated "vacation" and "sick days", which are much more plentiful. if I used a "vacation" day and worked a side gig, no problem. but lying about being sick is deserving of termination IMO.

There are plenty of more damning pieces of evidence in this topic then just him calling in sick to do a side gig he wasn't given approval to do. Hyper focusing on that is really just a distraction.

Like, the guy was on a 2-year probation for misconduct involving physical altercations with students when he left his room unattended and a serious injury occurred. Are people arguing that isn't a fireable offense either?

Alright. We'll just have to disagree then. In my opinion PTO should not be designated. You should be alloted an amount of days off and be allowed to use them for whatever you want. It isn't the companies business what I do on my time, even if that time is paid.

The you get what I dealt with throughout covid and have employees never calling in when they're actually sick because they want to use their days off for when they feel good.

Sick days are sick days. There are so many reasons why this is the way it is besides some line about corporations being stinky.

I disagree. I've dealt with the same shit in supervisor positions. I suppose the difference is I've never expected an employee to put the company before their lives.