Teacher sacked for blue hair

[CptSternn]

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/...WS04/712280325

Watch out Cookie Monster. Being blue isn't cool in Vivian.

Ask Jennifer Harmon. The 39-year-old mother of one recently was told her blue hair was unacceptable after nearly a week of substitute teaching at Vivian Elementary/Middle School.

But Harmon, whose appearance has remained the same since early 2006 and was evident during her substitute application process, doesn't think it was her hair color or an accompanying nose piercing that got her in trouble. Rather, it was religion.

The same early December day a fellow substitute teacher asked if she was Wiccan, Harmon found herself in Principal Jamie (Rene) Tolbert's office answering questions about her appearance and whether she had discussed religion with students.

"Not only was I extremely confused and upset because I was never made aware of any policy prohibiting teachers from having blue hair and nose piercings, but when (Tolbert) asked me about religion I started to panic," said Harmon, who said she is not Wiccan and does not subscribe to any particular religious faith. "Of course, I never spoke to the children about religion. I would never do such a thing."

Wicca is a pagan faith centered on veneration of the Earth. It emphasizes peace, not harming living things and observance of ancient religious traditions. The religion is often misunderstood and some view it as anti-Christian.

Mary Nash Robinson, Caddo schools' assistant superintendent of human resources, said Tolbert addressed Harmon's appearance after receiving a parental complaint. Tolbert, who did not return this newspaper's calls for this story, initially didn't think there would be a problem, Robinson said.

"It became an issue with a number of parents at that time," Robinson said of the meeting Dec. 6 between Tolbert and Harmon. "The principal made (Harmon) aware of her concerns as soon as the concerns were made known to her."

Religion only was discussed because Tolbert also was told by a teacher at the school that Harmon had talked about faith with students. That teacher was made aware of the situation by another teacher, who had been told by a parent, Robinson said.

Robinson could not specify how many complaints Tolbert received about Harmon's appearance.

She also did not know whether complaints about Tolbert's appearance and allegations of talking about religion in the classroom were from the same or separate sources.

But Robinson said asking Harmon about her religious affiliation was inappropriate. Federal employment law forbids discrimination based on age, disability, national origin, race, religion or sex.

"An adult should know better than to ask those kinds of questions on a school campus," Robinson said.

While school district policy addresses the appearance of students, dress and grooming of teachers and other workers is at the discretion of each school's principal.

General guidelines require staff members to be professional in their dress and state that attire and personal grooming should not be a distraction to students, Robinson said.

"There are some schools (where staffers) can't wear jeans at all and some you can wear jeans on spirit days," Robinson said. "It kind of depends on the culture of the program."

Harmon said she hasn't received any notice from the school district that she is ineligible to substitute. However, she has not been asked to work since the meeting with Tolbert.

Follow-up calls to Robinson to confirm Harmon's status were not immediately returned.

Harmon said she is confused and hurt. She had taken care to always dress professionally, and school staff members and parents had commended her on her work, she said.

Harmon also can't figure out why someone would think she is Wiccan.

"I felt like I had been hit with a brick," said Harmon, who volunteers at the school and started substitute teaching in late November. "I felt betrayed by (Tolbert), who knew who I was and what I looked like and had given me every indication that I was liked, accepted and appreciated. It was a very bad moment."

Since the meeting, Harmon said, teachers and parents have rallied to support her.

"Her hair and her nose piercing are not a distraction to the children. And she has always dressed very modestly around all of the students she has taught," parent and friend Jessika Perkins says in an e-mail to The Times. "What has happened to her was discrimination. Anyone who takes the time to look past what they see will agree with me that she is one of the most giving and best people you will ever meet."

Harmon said she would like to continue teaching but should not have to alter her appearance.

"I did a great job. I am so proud of the work I did that week. It was wonderful."


You have to love a school system that is now falling behind those of even third world countries, not to mention severely understaffed, going ahead and firing quality employees because they don't like their hair colour.

[Sir Canvas Corpsey]

People are too clingy with tradition ( i assume if this was a parent it was closely related to "tradition" or being "respectful" and from their related to it defying their religion) , yes it should be respected but why should we all conform to what you want and remove everything that may offend us when you are not willing to budge at all yourself.

A controversial example is when certain Muslim or other religious groups ( i say Muslim because it happened recently with a group near me) demand nativity scenes torn down along with all they deem disrespectful or disgusting or however they wish to describe it, but then when another group wishes for their beliefs to be respected and ask this group to remove something of theirs that they do not believe should be on display, they are refused by the group.

Why is it the narrow minded people that seem to always be the ones in control and always end up getting their way?

Probably because they are so unwillingly to move that we have no other choice but to conform to their wishes to end the feud.

/endramble

[Bete Noire]

"Why is it the narrow minded people that seem to always be the ones in control and always end up getting their way?"

Because open-minded people give them a chance.

[HumanePain]

It is sad that "Educators" are the most in need of enlightenment and education.

I hope she sues.

[Bete Noire]

"I hope she sues."


Indeed.

[lostintranslation]

My german and spanish teacher in middle school had purple hair, a nose peircing, and some interesting ear peircings. She was in her 40's or 50's and is one of the coolest women I have ever met. She was always very professional, and no one ever had a complaint about her. She had been teaching at the school for many years, and had gotten cancer and lost all her hair. When her hair grew back after she recovered, she decided to have fun with it, and dyed it purple. I think that even with peircings and crazy hair colors and what not, people can still look professional, and what happened to this woman was inappropriate. She was probably a fine substitute, and no one has the right to fire someone based on appearance.

[CptSternn]

Originally Posted by Sir Canvas Corpsey

A controversial example is when certain Muslim or other religious groups ( i say Muslim because it happened recently with a group near me) demand nativity scenes torn down along with all they deem disrespectful or disgusting or however they wish to describe it, but then when another group wishes for their beliefs to be respected and ask this group to remove something of theirs that they do not believe should be on display, they are refused by the group.

Heh - that is a funny, and ironic point. Maybe a group of goths should fly a plane into a building - that way they won't fire us for showing our gawth colours and we will no longer be discriminated against because of our 'traditional' dress in the work place. Of course we will be subject to many more full body cavity (aka: bend over and phear the rubber glove) searches when going on holidays...

It's a give and take idea sure!

[maggot]

Just dress like a mundane on the plane :"D

[Lapin]

You know, kids don't really get freaked out over weird hair. My hair is also blue, but the worst comment I ever got from a kid, back when my hair was a very cotton-candyish shade of pink, was a little girl asking if I was a fairy.

It's more the parents. I bet I can guess what happened here. One of the kids came home and said something along the lines of "My substitute teacher has blue hair and a nose piercing!", then, with no other thoughts on it, went out to play. The parents, probably well-meaning but conservative, immediately jumped to conclusions based on perpetrations by the media, talked to other parents, everyone got excited and frightened, and called in complaints that were more than likely based on fears instead of facts.

This might have played to prejudices the principal already had and couldn't express or they could have just been looking to avoid trouble from the parents instead of handling the situation by mediating between the two parties, perhaps by having a parent-teacher conference for concerned parents.

In any case, this was handled poorly, and it looks like she was fired on less than legal standing.

[Dark Clarissa]

Originally Posted by CptSternn

Heh - that is a funny, and ironic point. Maybe a group of goths should fly a plane into a building - that way they won't fire us for showing our gawth colours and we will no longer be discriminated against because of our 'traditional' dress in the work place. Of course we will be subject to many more full body cavity (aka: bend over and phear the rubber glove) searches when going on holidays...

It's a give and take idea sure!

**Snort** lmao!!!

I've been asked to remove piercings in a couple of jobs, but I always ended up leaving of my own accord because it was usually a really boring job! The ironic thing is that most kids take more notice of what they consider to be a "cool" teacher, because they feel more understood, like the teacher is more on their wavelength.

I never ceased to be amazed at the extent of the narrow minded biggotry of such a large portion of humankind. This is one of the reasons I moved back to London because at least there is such a diversity of people that there is a higher level of tolerance towards them.

[AngelikDemonik]

People need to stop getting so fucking offended over everything.

[KontanKarite]

Their reason for firing her was rather lame.

What is the real heartbreaker here is that most EVERYONE you may run across is so easily manipulated by how you look. Hell, you can pretty much play people like a fiddle so long as you have the right threads on. It's fucking sad and pathetic.

[Delkaetre]

I get much better responses from the middle aged and older lecturers when I wear a long skirt, corset, nice shirt and tailored jacket than when I wear jeans and a t-shirt. I'm not sure whether they like the fact that I'm more formally dressed than the scruffy students, the fact that I have better posture, or the fact that my attire is simply a refreshing change from everyone else's gear.
Sometimes being alternative but soberly dressed gets you much better kinds of attention than being normal and dressed as is usual for your profession and age group.

[KontanKarite]

I do that all the damned time. People accuse me of having a hot fashion sense.

Sometimes, I bust out the steampunk, just to do it for the reason of showing that you can be alternative as hell and still look even more professional than your regular monkey suit guy.

What I normally see from people is baggy college sport team sweatshirts and blue jeans. So I usually beat most people by default when it comes to that stuff.

[Delkaetre]

Speaking of accepted Steampunk- my goggles got me compliments on the coach journey from England to Northern Ireland. They kept out the light and made it easier for me to sleep. People admired my ingenuinty and practicality.
My usual attire at uni is clean black tight jeans in polished black boots, with black shirt, waistcoat and jacket (optional tie, cravat or jabot). Funereal it may be, but it looks sharp and a hell of a lot more professional than the others.

Hmm. This whole 'goth' thing, it seems to go down pretty well with staff in tertiary eduction.

[gothicusmaximus]

Dyed Hair = Wiccan = Evil. Everyone knows that, guys.

[Sir Canvas Corpsey]

Anything other than a lobe piercing = wiccan = evil

Male Drama teacher = gay/wiccan = evil

[Shadows_Jukebox]

Well you can always do what I do and claim that the pink stuff growing on your head is a rare hair condition that changes color every few mounths or so....

[RavensAngel]

That sucks. The world will be a better place if we just be ourselves regardless of our appearance but sadly it doesn't work too well. Luckily, as a teacher, I pretty much get away with almost anything clothing wise as long as I look professional. They also have no problem if I had blue streaks in my black hair. It's helpful to have a staff that is much open minded to such things and will support you if something happens.

[Kellatrix the Strange]

Originally Posted by Shadows_Jukebox

Well you can always do what I do and claim that the pink stuff growing on your head is a rare hair condition that changes color every few mounths or so....

Oh, you've done that too? XD j/k

Seriously, I think that the faculty don't like it if teachers dress unconventionally because they think it'll teach the students that it's okay to dress like that. Which, of course, they'd rather get hit by a bus than do.

[TopHaggardDoll]

That poor woman.

It is a shame, society needs a kick up the arse.