[lg policy] Linguistic hygiene: No cussing in class for teachers, Arizona lawmaker says

[Harold Schiffman]

No cussing in class for teachers, Arizona lawmaker says

Published February 15, 2012

| Associated Press

PHOENIX –  A teacher's role may be to expand a student's vocabulary,
but one Arizona lawmaker wants to make sure that doesn't include
four-letter words. A state legislator has introduced a bill that would
punish public school teachers if they use words that violate the
obscenity and profanity guidelines set forth by the Federal
Communications Commission. State Sen. Lori Klein introduced the
measure because a parent in her district complained about a high
school teacher using foul language.

The words were "totally inappropriate," and teachers that don't keep
their language clean aren't setting a good example for students, she
said. "You're there to be educated," Klein said. "You're not there to
talk smack." Critics say the bill is unnecessary and any discipline
needed should be handled by schools and districts, not the
Legislature.

Klein, a Republican from Anthem, made national headlines last fall
when she pointed her gun at a reporter while demonstrating the
weapon's laser sight during an interview.

Klein's proposal may be constitutional, but "not necessarily wise,"
said James Weinstein, a Constitutional Law professor at Arizona State
University

Weinstein said the FCC has made exceptions for offensive language
based on context, and that could make things complicated.

"FCC standards aren't exactly black and white," said Anjali Abraham, a
lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union. The organization has
some concerns about the bill, Abraham said.

A spokeswoman for the National Conference of State Legislators said
the organization is not aware of any other state with a law similar to
the Arizona proposal.

If the bill becomes law, a teacher whose speech or conduct violates
FCC regulations would receive a warning, and after three incidents,
the teacher would face a week of suspension without pay. A teacher
would be fired after the fifth offense.

The proposal applies to K-12 teachers, and is limited to speech in a
classroom setting.

Klein told the Senate committee Wednesday that she wished the issue
could be left to school boards, but she didn't feel they were
protecting "young, impressionable kids" from offensive language.

Floyd Brown, the parent in Anthem who complained to Klein, knows
better than most what kind of impression words can make.

Brown is a longtime Republican strategist who produced the infamous
"Willie Horton" ad during the 1998 presidential campaign, which tied
Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis to the release of a convicted
murderer serving a life sentence.

Brown is also the founding chairman of Citizens United, the group
whose lawsuit led to a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that barred the
government from limiting corporation and labor union spending for
political purposes.

Last year, Brown's daughter Olivia came home from high school upset
that a teacher was using the F-word in class. Brown brought the issue
to school administrators, but they didn't take him seriously, he said.

Brown said he pulled his daughter, then a sophomore, out of the school
and she's now being homeschooled.

"I'm not going to subject my daughter to that kind of environment," Brown said
Brown said he took his complaint to Klein because he lives in her district.

A representative for the school district said the school received no
complaints about staff using inappropriate language, which would
violate the district's professional conduct policy.

Most districts adopt professional conduct policies barring the use of
profane language or actions by employees while at work, said Tracey
Benson, a spokeswoman for the Arizona School Boards Association, which
creates model policies for districts.

That policy should remain in the hands of school boards,
superintendents and principals, said state Sen. David Schapira, a
Tempe Democrat.

The state doesn't need to change the law just because there was one
incident that "may not have been handled the right way," he said.

"I don't remember this being a big problem when I taught high school,"
Schapira said.

A Senate committee advanced the measure Wednesday morning by a vote of
5-2 along party lines, with Republicans in favor. The bill must pass
through another committee before it goes before the full Senate.

Sen. Frank Antenori, a Republican from Tucson, voted in favor of the
bill and cited a recent report he had read that detailed a pattern of
abusive language being used by teachers and other staffers in some
Tucson schools. Antenori said some of the comments were "pretty darn
shocking" and he couldn't believe the employees didn't lose their
jobs.

Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, who voted against the bill, said
administrators and school boards should be the ones to punish
educators, not the Legislature.

"We're really holding a big hammer over teachers," Gallardo said.

Kelly Parrish, an English teacher at Desert Vista High School in
Phoenix, said she always keeps her conduct professional in the
classroom, but she feels the restrictions could cause trouble when the
curriculum is not "G-rated," she said. Words that the FCC would not
allow on television or radio can come up while discussing literature,
such as racial slurs in "To Kill a Mockingbird," she said.

"We're supposed to be preparing them for the next level," Parrish
said. "If we just put them in a bubble and protect them, I don't think
we're doing a good job at making them ready for real-life situations
by sugar-coating everything."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/15/no-cussing-in-class-for-teachers-arizona-lawmaker-says/#ixzz1mYft3Jcy


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