Another teacher gets lost on Facebook: Viki Knox
By ALFRED P. DOBLIN 
GET THE HELL off Facebook. Somebody should put that in teachers’ orientation packets. There is nothing private about social media. But just like politicians who continue to electronically transmit their private parts, public teachers continue to vent on Facebook.A Union Township teacher, Viki Knox, is in the hot seat for allegedly writing disparaging comments about a Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender History Month school display in Union High School. Her comments were made on her Facebook page. Knox did not use privacy settings that would have kept those comments from public view. So what she wrote is now out of the proverbial closet.
Garden State Equality, a New Jersey-based gay rights organization, sent me an e-mail early Thursday, condemning the comments. The e-mail also had a link to the very long thread of back-and-forth postings between Knox and some members of the Facebook community.
Here’s a sample: “Homosexuality is a perverted spirit that has existed from the beginning of creation,” Knox allegedly posts.
She was upset about the school display, not because she hates gay people – she continually asserts that she does not hate gay people – but rather because homosexuality is a sin.
The school display features pictures of prominent members of the LGBT community, from Harvey Milk to Chaz Bono. It would seem to be no big deal in 2011 in a state that just enacted the toughest anti-bullying law in the United States. And in a state where the Supreme Court ruled that gay and lesbian couples are entitled to all the same rights as heterosexual couples. Whether being gay is more sinful than being straight isn’t a question for public schools to answer. Sin is not in the public school curriculum.
Public school teachers do not check their identities at the classroom door, but they do have to check their personal religious beliefs. Facebook is a gray legal area, a no-fly zone, if you will, for free speech.
Can a schoolteacher espouse opinions in a public forum that could compromise their ability to do their public job and face no consequences at work? Garden State Equality flatly says: No. Knox should be fired.
The Star-Ledger has reported that school officials are investigating Knox’s alleged Facebook thread. The thread is a rambling mess of salient and irrelevant commentary. It is proof positive that many Internet users are in desperate need of a common-sense GPS. At no point does it appear that Knox is concerned about any legal ramifications over her opinions. It appears she is well aware that she is broadcasting to the world.
Knox must not have heard about Jennifer O’Brien, the Paterson elementary school teacher who also went on Facebook. She described her students as “future criminals.” O’Brien claimed she was just venting out of frustration. Paterson parents and school officials were not sympathetic and now O’Brien is fighting to keep her job.
We all have private lives. We all say stupid and injudicious things. But depending on what we say and where we say it, we could end up unemployed.
Garden State Equality’s Chairman Steven Goldstein said in a statement: “To be sure, the state’s new anti-bullying law is written very carefully to protect free speech where it does not substantially interfere with a particular student’s education. This situation, at least as it stands now, does not present a violation of that law. But this situation also calls for the school to look at the big picture as to the appropriateness of having Ms. Knox – if she did write these posts – teach our youth. The posts even say, ‘…That’s what I teach and preach.’ ”
That is a huge problem. If Knox wants to preach to students, she should be teaching in a religious school. Equally problematic for school officials looking into the Facebook thread is whether Knox’s comments have compromised her ability to teach and also enforce the state’s anti-bullying law in school. What gay student would feel comfortable attending a school that employs a teacher who refers to homosexuality as a “perverted spirit”?
Ed Barocas, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said, “Although we do not agree with the sentiments expressed on Ms. Knox’s personal Facebook page, her beliefs and comments are protected by the First Amendment. But because her postings raise questions about her conduct within school, the school district can and should investigate whether she is performing her job in accordance with school policies and the state’s Law Against Discrimination.”
Free speech is a powerful tool and a powerful tool used carelessly causes injury. Whether the intent was to be hateful or not, the result of Knox’s alleged public comments on the inappropriateness of an LGBT display in Union High School compromises her effectiveness as a leader in that school.
She allegedly posted: “Why parade your unnatural immoral behaviors before the rest of us?”
Many would ask Knox, “Why parade your personal religious views before the rest of us?”
School officials should conduct a sober investigation, not a witch hunt. Nothing is gained by hysteria, but civil liberties are lost with inaction. These comments on Facebook have landed smack dab in the middle of the public square. They cannot be ignored. The speech is free; the consequences, not so much. Our Constitution guarantees the right to espouse opinions freely; it is mum on the subject of whether those opinions are intelligent.
Goldstein may have said it best in a phone interview late Thursday: “You’re an idiot if you say it on Facebook.”
Alfred P. Doblin is the editorial page editor of The Record. Contact him at doblin@northjersey.com. Follow AlfredPDoblin on Twitter.
Here’s a sample: “Homosexuality is a perverted spirit that has existed from the beginning of creation,” Knox allegedly posts.
She was upset about the school display, not because she hates gay people – she continually asserts that she does not hate gay people – but rather because homosexuality is a sin.
The school display features pictures of prominent members of the LGBT community, from Harvey Milk to Chaz Bono. It would seem to be no big deal in 2011 in a state that just enacted the toughest anti-bullying law in the United States. And in a state where the Supreme Court ruled that gay and lesbian couples are entitled to all the same rights as heterosexual couples. Whether being gay is more sinful than being straight isn’t a question for public schools to answer. Sin is not in the public school curriculum.
Public school teachers do not check their identities at the classroom door, but they do have to check their personal religious beliefs. Facebook is a gray legal area, a no-fly zone, if you will, for free speech.
Can a schoolteacher espouse opinions in a public forum that could compromise their ability to do their public job and face no consequences at work? Garden State Equality flatly says: No. Knox should be fired.
The Star-Ledger has reported that school officials are investigating Knox’s alleged Facebook thread. The thread is a rambling mess of salient and irrelevant commentary. It is proof positive that many Internet users are in desperate need of a common-sense GPS. At no point does it appear that Knox is concerned about any legal ramifications over her opinions. It appears she is well aware that she is broadcasting to the world.
Knox must not have heard about Jennifer O’Brien, the Paterson elementary school teacher who also went on Facebook. She described her students as “future criminals.” O’Brien claimed she was just venting out of frustration. Paterson parents and school officials were not sympathetic and now O’Brien is fighting to keep her job.
We all have private lives. We all say stupid and injudicious things. But depending on what we say and where we say it, we could end up unemployed.
Garden State Equality’s Chairman Steven Goldstein said in a statement: “To be sure, the state’s new anti-bullying law is written very carefully to protect free speech where it does not substantially interfere with a particular student’s education. This situation, at least as it stands now, does not present a violation of that law. But this situation also calls for the school to look at the big picture as to the appropriateness of having Ms. Knox – if she did write these posts – teach our youth. The posts even say, ‘…That’s what I teach and preach.’ ”
That is a huge problem. If Knox wants to preach to students, she should be teaching in a religious school. Equally problematic for school officials looking into the Facebook thread is whether Knox’s comments have compromised her ability to teach and also enforce the state’s anti-bullying law in school. What gay student would feel comfortable attending a school that employs a teacher who refers to homosexuality as a “perverted spirit”?
Ed Barocas, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said, “Although we do not agree with the sentiments expressed on Ms. Knox’s personal Facebook page, her beliefs and comments are protected by the First Amendment. But because her postings raise questions about her conduct within school, the school district can and should investigate whether she is performing her job in accordance with school policies and the state’s Law Against Discrimination.”
Free speech is a powerful tool and a powerful tool used carelessly causes injury. Whether the intent was to be hateful or not, the result of Knox’s alleged public comments on the inappropriateness of an LGBT display in Union High School compromises her effectiveness as a leader in that school.
She allegedly posted: “Why parade your unnatural immoral behaviors before the rest of us?”
Many would ask Knox, “Why parade your personal religious views before the rest of us?”
School officials should conduct a sober investigation, not a witch hunt. Nothing is gained by hysteria, but civil liberties are lost with inaction. These comments on Facebook have landed smack dab in the middle of the public square. They cannot be ignored. The speech is free; the consequences, not so much. Our Constitution guarantees the right to espouse opinions freely; it is mum on the subject of whether those opinions are intelligent.
Goldstein may have said it best in a phone interview late Thursday: “You’re an idiot if you say it on Facebook.”
Alfred P. Doblin is the editorial page editor of The Record. Contact him at doblin@northjersey.com. Follow AlfredPDoblin on Twitter.
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