Meaghan M. McDermott
Dedicated. Magnet. Compassionate. A remarkable educator who always put her students first and went the extra mile to keep her students engaged, interested and learning.
These are some of the words parents and students are using about Sharon Duffy, a former American Sign Language teacher at Olympia Greek High School, who resigned earlier this week after a Facebook photo of her in front of a whiteboard with an obscene phrase written on top has gone viral. .
For some in the community, this image raised serious questions about whether teachers should use vulgar language in their classrooms. For others, his departure has raised important fairness questions about whether it is appropriate to file a complaint against a teacher on social media before trying to resolve the issue with the school district and what the expectations that teachers should have, if any, regarding the confidentiality of what is said. and done in their classrooms.
“Ms. Duffy was more than an educator, she was an inspiration,” said student and 2010 Olympia graduate Kaley Stiteler. As a medical assisting student, Stiteler said she uses ASL daily and that she will always be grateful to her former teacher for encouraging her to learn. “She always had a positive, happy attitude and truly enjoyed teaching her students.”
When Lisa DiStefano’s daughter was having difficulty learning ASL, Duffy tutored her during her free time at the student’s home so she wouldn’t fall behind.
“I’m absolutely sick about this,” said DiStefano, among more than 130 people who joined a private Facebook group organized this week to show support for Duffy. “The school probably lost one of the best teachers it will ever have to an over-the-top witch hunt.”
The facts of the case are somewhat murky, as Greece Central School District officials will not elaborate and Duffy has not spoken publicly about the matter. She did not respond to phone or Facebook messages Thursday.
This much we know: Late last week, a photo of Duffy taken by a student during an ASL class this school year surfaced in a Facebook post.
In the photo, Duffy stands in front of the board, marker in hand, with three words written in the white space to his right, “Florida,” “toast” and “c–k s—-r” .
The student’s mother, Mary Jo Norgaard, said she posted it on Facebook last Wednesday so family and friends could see it and make a recording of it, not expecting it to goes viral overnight before calling the district to set up a meeting. THURSDAY.
Norgaard said her daughter, a senior, showed her the photo to explain why she first tried to opt out of the ASL class and then simply stopped attending. She said her daughter told her the photo was taken during a dirty game of “charades” Duffy was playing with his students.
“I couldn’t believe how disgusting it was,” Norgaard said. “And I can’t imagine that any sane adult would imagine that that was appropriate or tolerable.”
But other parents of students there the day the photo was taken — in the fall — said the phrase came up during part of class when Duffy let her older students shout words that they wanted to learn to sign and who weren’t. in their textbooks.
District officials confirmed that the class Duffy was teaching at the time the photo was taken included 11th and 12th grade students. District policy prohibits cell phone use in classrooms unless authorized by the teacher or principal. It’s unclear what rules might have been in effect on the day the photo was taken.
From Facebook, the photo was picked up by local news, then became a hot topic on local radio. On Tuesday, Duffy, who had already been reassigned to out-of-class work by the school district pending an investigation, resigned. She had worked in the district since 2002.
Norgaard, who said she knew she would be heavily criticized for making the photo public, said she did not ask for Duffy’s resignation.
“I just wanted answers,” she said. “You know, everyone says how she is so decent and wonderful… I just wanted her to apologize and make things right. I still have questions that I never answered, but I didn’t want her career to end, I just wanted her to stop.”
Timothy Lamay has an 8th grade daughter who was learning ASL in Duffy’s class. He said his classes never included discussion of inappropriate words outside of the textbook, but he wouldn’t have been upset if they had.
“I don’t believe students should only learn the ‘comfortable’ parts of a subject,” he said. “If you’re really interested in something, do it 100 percent.”
Jess Mallett, now a student at State University College at Oswego, said she was inspired to pursue a teaching career by her time in Duffy’s ASL classes. “Duffy taught me so much more than sign language. She taught me how to be part of an amazing community, how to be a great teacher, and how to be an amazing person. Without her, I wouldn’t be who I am am today.”
Author Sameer Hinduja, a professor at Florida Atlantic University’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center, said the incident also raises troubling concerns about classroom privacy and the need for policies clear and well applied to govern. use of digital recording devices inside classes.
“I believe there is a right to privacy in your classrooms and when I work with educators, I emphasize that and tell them that they need to have a strict rule regarding digital recordings,” he said. he declares. “It would shock my conscience if a student recorded my lectures without my permission and would violate my expectations of privacy and my sense of intimacy within the classroom.”
Carl Korn, a spokesman for New York State United Teachers, declined to comment directly on the Duffy case, but said that with the proliferation of smartphones, teachers “need to be on guard about what they say in class. about lessons or statements taken out of context, whether inadvertently or deliberately.
Meanwhile, a substitute teacher has been assigned to take over Duffy’s ASL classes and district officials are screening candidates to fill the long-term vacancy.
Many students and parents in Duffy’s classes are planning various public expressions of support, as well as a benefit concert.
MCDERMOT@DemocratandChronicle.com
