Kearny student moves to sue district

[rusty charly]

A Kearny teenager who made national headlines when he taped a teacher preaching religious beliefs in class said yesterday he will sue the school district for allegedly penalizing him for speaking out, then failing to protect him from the harassment of angry classmates.

http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-6/1171949907140890.xml&coll=1

Last fall, Kearny High School junior Matthew LaClair secretly recorded his teacher telling his U.S. history class that those who don't believe Jesus died for their sins "belong in hell." The veteran teacher, David Paszkiewicz, also dismissed evolution and the "Big Bang" theory and told students dinosaurs were on Noah's Ark, LaClair said.

The popular teacher, a devout Baptist, often brought up his religious beliefs during lessons, LaClair said. The honors student took his recordings to school officials and later the press, appearing on "Good Morning America," National Public Radio and in stories in newspapers around the nation.

Since then, LaClair said he has been repeatedly harassed and ostracized by fellow students and received a death threat on his MySpace Web page from one classmate.

[NJCher]

1. I'm glad he's suing

I'm sorry he had to endure this from his classmates. I'm actually kind of surprised because I know that area (Kearny) and it's not exactly a hotbed of Christian conservatism. I once did a special program in the schools there, but it was quite a long time ago. I noticed nothing unusual at the school at that time.

The television report said the teacher denied proselytizing. Come on already: he's on tape. Why does he think he can lie about it when he was caught umm, shall we say, "in the act?"

People like LaClair and his family, who is backing him on the suit, are important because they are taking their time, effort, resources and in some cases, money, to fight back this tide of Christian fundamentalists. Also, doing something like this requires courage, something not everyone has.



Cher

[FogerRox]

2. 200 fundies show up at the BOE meeting to support the teacher

Great diary by Nick Lento on the BOE meeting, with many great links.

http://www.bluejersey.net/showDiary.do?diaryId=4074

[latebloomer]

3. My husband grew up in Kearny

and he knew it as a fairly conservative, narrow-minded place. He's not overly shocked at the reaction of the town.

Hi, Cher!

:hi: