Teacher Fired For Refusing To Unfriend Students On Facebook
Carol Thebarge, a 79-year-old substitute teacher, was given an ultimatum, to either unfriend her students or lose her job, and she refused to unfreind.
Thebarge, who was a teacher for nine years at Stevens High School in Claremont, N. H., had over 250 student friends on her Facebook page…
Stevens High School administrators told Thebarge to “unfriend” the students, but she refused and lost her job.
“Facebook is a wonderful communication tool among friends,” said Superintendent Dr. Middleton McGoodwin. “But teachers are not students’ friends. She’s a wonderful lady and she’s loved by many but that doesn’t give you allowance to ignore a protocol designed to protect all.”
However, Thebarge tells a different version of her meeting with Dr. McGoodwin on her Facebook page:
You sat in your office with me last Wednesday and were perplexed as to “why the deletion was requested of me.” After all, you stated, “You are in the privacy of your own home, with your own computer.. I see nothing wrong with this.”
You said you would investigate it and get back to me. You never did. Yet in an interview that you gave to the press, you stated, “I sat with her and asked her to reconsider.” This never happened. This is a dishonest statement.
