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#1
11-09-2010, 06:09 PM
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What About Bob? (tell me what to make of this story)
A man (we'll call him Bob) who has been working for years as a high school drama teacher is out of work, so he moves out of town and brings along his wife and adult children (they are all very close.) They end up at a high school in the deep South, where he secures another position as a teacher and drama coach. His daughter also finds employment there. He bonds very quickly with the kids, who feel they can come to him for support with personal issues. He assumes the role of counselor and mentor to the kids.
Bob and his family are deeply religious but also deeply liberal, and they wish to confront entrenched issues of racism and heterosexism at the school. They try to do this by preaching love, tolerance and acceptance (their words, not mine) to the kids. The kids are incredibly receptive to this and express loyalty and affection and enthusiasm for the work he has done. Bob is interviewed for a magazine to discuss the work he has done to promote tolerance at the school. He specifically mentions some of the black students who struggled to find a place until they became involved in the drama program. The school feels that they were unfairly portrayed as racist; Bob claims his words were taken out of context. Tensions arise between him and the administration. A month later, disturbed by the recent spate of anti-gay bullying, Bob decides that he wants to show a YouTube video to his classroom that has an anti-bullying message. He has not watched the video before; it was sent to him by a friend who plays a role in the film. It depicts a man tied up being interrogated by a bully about his homosexuality. The language becomes very graphic with explicit references to homosexual acts, and it becomes clear that it is not appropriate material for school. 22 seconds into the film, Bob stops it and apologizes to the high school class for the inappropriate language. Bob is suspended without pay and forbidden to have any contact whatsoever with his students until a future hearing on his conduct. There is widespread outrage over this and general unrest in the student body, with a lot of protests. Bob keeps a very public record of these happenings on Facebook, where he urges the kids not to be negative or attack the superintendent but rather to express their views respectfully. His children also post publicly about the incident, also refusing to hear any negativity or hostility expressed by the children. They defend any and all attacks on the school staff responsible for his suspension, insisting that the school administration is probably doing what they feel is best for the students. The kids are urged to get their parents to write respectful letters of support for Bob if they feel so inclined. A hearing is held, which lasts 9 hours as scores of people come in to both support and condemn Bob's work as a teacher. Bob has been charged with a host of infractions including ''promoting the homosexual lifestyle'' and he is terminated from his job. Bob is distressed by the news and posts on his private livejournal account about his frustrations, and also comments on his worsening mental health. Someone privy to the account apparently leaks the post. Bob is informed that due to ''veiled threats'' in his Livejournal account, the administration will pursue a restraining order against him and will henceforth be pushing for the revocation of his teaching certificate. Now... full disclosure. I sorta know Bob, in the loosest sense of the word (occasional personal interactions as a teen and somewhat in-depth online interactions years ago) and I've only heard the story from his side of the family as portrayed in their very public account on Facebook. I like him and his family very much, though there is no doubt they are off the beaten path who can easily rub others the wrong way: highly creative, theatric hyperreligious hippies with Savior complexes a mile wide each of them. In general, I admire this family's commitment to social justice, particularly in unpopular arenas, but I respect they may lack judgment as to appropriate time and place. I am probably biased because I think it's awesome that they are virulently anti-discrimination and yet incredibly devout Christians. This gives me hope for the future of Christianity in America. I watched the video in question. It was pretty bad for a teaching situation. The bully kept repeating, ''Do you like to suck cocks?'' or somesuch thing. It seems to me that this guy, while very well-meaning, certainly made an error in judgment, though I would consider his immediate termination of the video as evidence that he knew inappropriate when he heard it. I've also read the magazine article supposedly maligning the school as racist. I personally feel the administration must be high as balls to find this offensive. There was nothing inflammatory at all in that article, just, ''black kids are a minority so they sometimes struggle to fit in, yay drama!'' As the story is presented, I can understand disciplinary action and maybe even termination at the school, but having his teacher's certificate revoked? A restraining order? It makes no sense. Especially because this guy and his family are like the freakin' Waltons. I've never heard Bob or anyone in his family utter an unkind word to anyone, and they spend their free time using Bible quotes as a basis for philosophical discussion. His students are always falling all over themselves with adoration and I'm just not seeing the outrage. I know nothing of the legalities involved in this or even how school policy works, I just don't really know what to make of it. I don't even know if they can terminate a certificate for something like that. I just think it's sad this guy's career is going to be ruined because he got a little overzealous in his desire to teach high school kids not to be assholes to each other. So far no media attention has come to this and I am actually quite surprised. It seems ripe for commentary of some sort. Thus I submit it as fodder for conversation. And before anyone lectures me about privacy, I assure you there's nothing in here that wasn't publicly aired via other social media outlets by Bob himself. He and his family feel persecuted and they want this story disseminated widely on the off-chance it will help him keep his job. Thanks, Christy 
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#2
11-09-2010, 06:20 PM
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Despite his religious views, I feel empathy towards Bob. Certainly not for the always-fearful administrators. An apology from Bob should have sufficed
I suppose this is why people like me aren't usually in positions of power, because if I knew the story as it was presented, I would have told the parents to get over it as it was only 22 seconds. My main concern are these: Will Bob do this again? Has he learned why people may be upset about it? Is he a good teacher? As long as the answers are yes, I'd tell him to get back to work in the classroom
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#3
11-09-2010, 06:32 PM
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Bob was an idiot, and deserved to be fired.
You never, ever, for any reason, show any damn video to a class that you have not personally watched all the way through. I'd want to hear the other side of the story before commenting on his teaching certificate. If he's tied together mental illness, anger, and any hint of violence....he may be in deep shit. I can see where that may be cause for concern. Or it may be a massive overreaction.
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#4
11-09-2010, 06:36 PM
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ETA: His mental illness, by the way, is moderate depression. The only comment I've seen him make about his depression is that he was going to up his medication because things had been tough lately. Last edited by olivesmarch4th; 11-09-2010 at 06:38 PM.
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#5
11-09-2010, 07:24 PM
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Bob suffers from "iconoclas-ism" (I just invented the word). By one definition he is a "person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions".
He may do it gently, and with christian love in his heart, but he's doing it just the same. Bottom line - he's a weirdo and the powers that be get nervous when weirdos are around. So, out he goes!
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#6
11-10-2010, 07:43 AM
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This is getting some amount of press, btw, at least here in Georgia. I'm not sure if you want me to post the articles though due to privacy issues, so I'll refrain unless someone asks. The last one I read was dated from Friday, so I did not hear about the results of the hearing until the OP.
I think maybe it's not getting national press because showing the video was a dumb thing to do *and* he does have previous complaints with the school for apparently bringing in a script of a play with other vulgar language, so it's his second infraction with exposing students to "inappropriate material." I can understand his firing in this case, although I do not think revoking his teacher's certificate is just. I do commend his work with gay teens though - that is a very conservative part of Georgia and I'm sure they need the support.
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#7
11-10-2010, 07:57 AM
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Oh good grief. I'm sure that the kids have not only heard worse than "suck cocks" but have USED worse language than that.
Bob made a mistake by not watching the video before presenting it to the class. I understand that the video being referred by a friend was likely the reason but a mistake on his part nonetheless. The kids watched 22 fricken seconds. 22 SECONDS. Are their widdle pwecious minds tainted for the rest of their lives? I think not. Part of the learning process of our kids is to learn how to extricate themselves from an uncomfortable situation. It sounds to me that Bob taught them a very valuable lesson in how to gracefully stop the video without mega-drama. Lastly, school boards are full of righteous do-gooders that have more time than sense. I can't imagine how firing the man who has a history of doing such good things for the students can be justified.
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#8
11-10-2010, 08:04 AM
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 Is it time to rebrand Christianity as just Ianity?
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#9
11-10-2010, 08:45 AM
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I don't know Bob and I'm reading this information third hand so my opinion means almost nothing. And I admit that the "deeply religious" part make me uncomfortable. It is not relevant unless Bob brings it up at school, which would be inappropriate. But ....... Bob sounds like a loose cannon and one of those people who always gets their way via passive-aggressive drama.
His whole family (with adult children) moved because he got a teaching position? Are they all dependent on him financially? Why did Bob lose his last job? He can't take a few minutes to review a random video he is going to show to a class? His whole conflict with the school is laid out on Facebook and Livejournal? Doesn't that seem inflammatory? His heart may be in the right place and the school may not be doing all it can to stop bullying and racism but that doesn't mean that everybody else should have to put up with Bob's ham-fisted attempts to right things. I suspect there is more going on here than the noble reformer battling the forces of homophobia. In any case, Bob has the drama he wants.
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#10
11-10-2010, 09:10 AM
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I feel like I'm missing some backstory about the video. It sounds like showing it was really stupid. But then, otoh, when I was young we sometimes used to watch broadcast television on special occasions, iirc, just on the understanding that mid-afternoon BBC wouldn't be innappropriate.
But based on what you described: he did something not really well thought out which did absolutely no harm whatsoever. He should have been told not to do it again. Everything else is an insane travesty!
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#11
11-10-2010, 09:38 AM
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From up-post, the video incident, sounds like the second infraction. Two strikes, your out. This isn't baseball.
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#12
11-10-2010, 11:46 AM
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Obviously the red flag is showing a video he didn't watch yet. Basically what Oakminster said.
Frankly, you should run ANY video by at least two others if you're showing it to a group of students that's not completely benign (like a chemistry video or a video about math and only math). He should have known to be on his tippy toes because of the magazine article. There are lots of people who would like his salary. No sympathy.
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#13
11-10-2010, 12:05 PM
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#14
11-10-2010, 01:00 PM
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If you get suspended without pay from a public school, it's a colossally bad idea to keep a very public record of the proceedings online. This is especially true if the administration has already shown themselves to be hyper sensitive to criticism. He may not have shot himself in the foot, but he gave the admins a pistol, stuck his foot in front of it, and dared them to fire.
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#16
11-10-2010, 02:15 PM
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I am not 100% sure his whole family moved to the same town. I know his daughter did. They have always been close and share a passion for theater. He lost his job the same reason everyone else did: because the economy tanked. He was employed for decades in the same area where I grew up. Quote:
I don't know about any past offenses, he hasn't mentioned any. Quote:
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I do appreciate differing perspectives on this. It's just sort of bizarre. I do feel bad for his family though. Last edited by olivesmarch4th; 11-10-2010 at 02:17 PM.
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#17
11-10-2010, 02:21 PM
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Poor, poor, judgment and mainly with this:
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Just like some people in the deep south have their fundy views, Bob, ought not have sought to change them. And I'm an activist at my heart of hearts, but I do get where to draw the line.
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#18
11-10-2010, 02:30 PM
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Phlosphr, I guess that's a lesson he's having to learn the hard way.
 In the magazine he said he was initially attracted to gay advocacy when he lost many friends to AIDS in the 90s. I guess what's also weird about this is that when I interacted with him online we would get into some pretty deep conversation, but this is the first I've heard from him about social justice. I wonder if the the sudden visibility of his views is a recent turn of events. Sometimes when people explore new aspects of their identity they get a little carried away. Not that I can relate or anything...
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#19
11-10-2010, 02:41 PM
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And you certainly don't do that in the deep south. However, as an educated man, he may have gotten carried away - but it took a lot of forethought to move his entire family down there, including his adult children. Momentary lapse in sanity? I doubt it; man with a big heart, lots of good ideas and some courage...sure.
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#20
11-10-2010, 02:49 PM
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To be fair, I don't think he went there with that intention. He went there to work. I think he fell in love with the kids and the sort of special challenges they faced, and wanted to do something about it. I don't think it was premeditated activism in that sense.
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#21
11-10-2010, 02:54 PM
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#22
11-10-2010, 03:11 PM
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I won't even let my kids watch shows on the Disney Channel unless I screen them first.
The fact that Bob made such an egregious mistake likely means that he makes a lot of similar mistakes. You don't go along doing everything right and then suddenly fuck up so thoroughly - Bob has probably fucked up a whole lot of times. He's not going to tell anyone that, of course. He's probably not even aware of it.
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#23
11-10-2010, 03:16 PM
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Of course, this all raises the issue of how completely repressed parents are about children's sexuality and whether or not the video was anything to get upset about in the first place. That's more of an ethical question than a common-sense one, as we all know schools are hypersensitive as shit about what teachers show the precious children.
I think a link may be helpful. I know he wants publicity on this so don't feel particularly guilty outing his identity. I honestly can't find any coverage on this that's not obviously biased, but [url="http:// www. queerty.com/georgia-drama-teacher-dave-dixon-fired-for-showing-students-a-film-on-gay-persecution-20101109/"]here's the best I could get[url]: I'd be interested in a more balanced perspective, maybe on incorporating voices other than Bob's. ETA: It says he's been teaching in Georgia for four years, which means he would have lost his job prior to the economy collapsing in Michigan. But I know that he lost his job in Michigan through no obvious fault of his own. The controversy generating around this is enormous, and I don't even mean on the ''gay activism'' side. There are some former students at that school seriously pissed at him, and I think threats of violence have been made. Last edited by samclem; 11-10-2010 at 05:22 PM. Reason: broke link
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#24
11-10-2010, 03:21 PM
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There is some not-safe-for-work content on the page you linked.
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#25
11-10-2010, 03:22 PM
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Missed the edit window. Actually, four years ago would be just about right for the economic collapse in Michigan. Has it been that long? Jeez.
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#26
11-10-2010, 03:47 PM
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Last edited by Omar Little; 11-10-2010 at 03:52 PM.
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#28
11-10-2010, 03:54 PM
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#29
11-10-2010, 04:01 PM
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#30
11-10-2010, 04:06 PM
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"Bob is distressed by the news and posts on his private livejournal account about his frustrations, and also comments on his worsening mental health. Someone privy to the account apparently leaks the post.
Bob is informed that due to ''veiled threats'' in his Livejournal account, the administration will pursue a restraining order against him and will henceforth be pushing for the revocation of his teaching certificate." They were supposedly willing to just let him walk until this happened. I suspect that journal entry would give a lot of insight into who Id be willing to side with. Otara
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#31
11-10-2010, 04:20 PM
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In the linked article Bob himself says that he didn't follow protocol for the showing of the video. That combined with his asking to start the anti-bullying group and being turned down by the principal could have been perceived as him having an attitude that he's going to do whatever he wants no matter what everyone else says.
Who knows what small ways he's been making a negative impression on the school administration every day. I've known teachers who quietly make their opinions known to students without being so heavy handed. I would actually question whether or not he was intentionally trying to create all this drama. I'm not saying he was wrong to try to stir things up but if you work for a public school and want to keep your job you have to play by their rules. It's better to get your own agenda across in a way that is accepted by the community.
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#32
11-10-2010, 04:21 PM
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He did screw up showing a video that he had not viewed. I'd be pretty pissed if my kids were subjected to that in the classroom. However, firing - I'm not convinced that's appropriate.
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#33
11-10-2010, 04:31 PM
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My WAG is that someone took that in the context of his discussion of depression and decided it means he's dangerous, which just goes to show bigotry against the mentally ill is alive and well (not that I didn't already know that.) I'm of two minds of this, you see, and I think it's my own ideological underpinnings that make this such a conflict for me. I think showing the movie without screening it was dumb, particularly after already pissing everyone off with that interview. Not resigning in peace when asked was dumber still, and plastering everything all over his Facebook was dumbest of all. On the other hand, the administration clearly just wants an excuse to fire him because he is effectively changing the social values of these kids, and now I'm feeling particularly like his mental illness is being used against him which pisses me right the fuck off. If they are successful I think it bodes very badly for any teacher with mental health issues being declared ''dangerous'' for having normal human emotions. We're not even talking schizophrenia or bipolar** here, we're talking DEPRESSION. For which he is actively medicated. And who the fuck wouldn't be depressed after losing their job in such a spectacularly dramatic fashion? **Which aren't inherently violent either, by the way So I believe he has made a series of poor choices and that termination is not unreasonable, but I also feel like the administration is full of bigoted assholes, and I think their need to revoke his teaching certificate is beyond bizarre. It's like they're trying to punish him for not resigning. It's gone from a simple disciplinary action to all-out hatred. Last edited by olivesmarch4th; 11-10-2010 at 04:32 PM.
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#34
11-10-2010, 05:20 PM
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If your assessment is accurate the restraining order talk does sound like an overreaction unless other information is present as well - eg some kind of action involving scissors. I would hope that means theres no real chance of the order succeeding or his certificate being revoked.
"Not resigning in peace when asked was dumber still, and plastering everything all over his Facebook was dumbest of all." I guess at some point I wonder if its only 'dumb' and whether there might be information you dont know about Or it could just be facesaving where the administration trying to make it look like something it isnt. Or it could be a bit of both. I can understand the cause he's fighting for, but Im not convinced he's choosing the best ground to fight it on. Without more information I find it hard to really decide either way as an outsider, but it sounds like an unpleasant situation that is spiralling out of control. The bigger it gets, the more someone has to 'lose' so I hope something gets resolved soon. Otara
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#35
11-10-2010, 05:37 PM
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Well, from the bare facts, maybe he's a raging jerk who's spent his whole time trying to be a martyr by forcing the administration to fire him, but then again maybe the school board is a bunch of people who deep down just hate intellectuals, Jews, fags and anyone who doesn't agree that the board is automatically superior to niggers.
There may be a combination of both, but frankly my bet is with olivesmarch. Quote:
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