Melissa Hussain, the teacher who got in trouble over comments on her Facebook page, has been moved out of the classroom and into the Wake County school system's central office.
As noted in today's article, Hussain was reassigned late last month to be the district's coordinating teacher for middle school science. The reassignment comes after Hussain had been suspended with pay for more than a month while the school district investigated complaints from parents.
Hussain had been an eighth-grade science teacher at West Lake Middle School until February. Parents had complained about comments such as her calling it a "hate crime" that students had left a Bible on her desk and that she wouldn't let the incident "go unpunished."
Hussain will no longer interact directly with students.
In her new role, Hussain will support the development and delivery of curriculum, according to Michael Evans, Wake's chief communications officer. Evans said Hussain will work on among other things, developing instructional strategies including learning and teaching guides for classroom teachers and Blue Diamond assessments.
Whether the move is a promotion or a lateral step is in the eye of the beholder. Evans said Hussain will get the same salary of $32,640 that she had at West Lake.
Comments
It is a Promotion!!!
Thu, 04/08/2010 - 22:01 — RetiredMathTeacherYou said, “Whether the move is a promotion or a lateral step is in the eye of the beholder.” As a retired teacher, I think I can speak for most teachers and this beholder thinks Ms. Hussain has been given a promotion. She will be in a position of leadership with no papers to grade, no parent conferences, and no lesson plans or deadlines. Where is the job description? Is she qualified? When did she become a licensed teacher? Your April 8 article stated that she was a lateral-entry teacher in 2006. Therefore, we know she did not want to be a teacher when she went to college. Where is the passion for teaching? How can she possibly have the experience to be helping Wake’s middle school science teachers? Did Wake County post this Middle School Science Coordinator position? Did anyone else apply? Maybe we can get one of the excellent Wake County Middle School science teachers to tell us who their departmental representatives suggested for this position. They do meet once a month. Will Ms. Hussain be directing these meetings? Maybe other teachers should join Facebook and get a promotion.
This is a position at
Fri, 04/09/2010 - 08:37 — willynillyThis is a position at Central Office. I interviewed for it (when it was being newly formed) around 5 or 6 years ago. LOL With a Masters Degree, National Boards and about 8 years of expereince I was passed over. The teacher that got the job was female (I am male) and she did not have a Masters or National Boards based on what I was told. Now here we are, 5 years later, and this same spot was open? Hmmmmmmm And fully agree, this job was a promotion. But as I said, that's what they do with principals that flub up, too.
PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
Fri, 04/09/2010 - 14:11 — misterprecedentMs. Hussain has personal knowledge of and experience with the difficulties that can occur when teaching middle school students about scientific theories that may conflict with what they are learning at home. Seems to me that that would be very helpful in assisting other science teachers with their lesson plans. And it's not likely something you can get with a Master's Degree or National Boards.
I agree that Melissa Hussain
Thu, 04/08/2010 - 09:43 — woodstockI agree that Melissa Hussain should have been given a second chance, especially if this is a first-time situation for her and she is generally a good teacher.
However, I do thinks she owes some folks an apology and should have to attend a course on tolerance. Perhaps she should also attend a refresher course on child development so she better understands that young folks who do not always behave as we wish they did and it is her job to deal with it in a positive way.
TOLERANCE FOR WHAT?
Fri, 04/09/2010 - 14:27 — misterprecedentHave you READ any of the articles about this?
Ms. Hussain was HARASSED by disruptive students while doing her job. She REPORTED the incidents to the authorities, as required. She informed her friends about what was happening to her, WITHOUT identifying any minors. (Her Facebook was likely private until Facebook implemented a NEW privacy policy in December, which RESET EVERYONE'S pages to PUBLIC.) She ACKNOWLEDGED on her FB page that it is not uncommon for middle
school students to behave badly. The administration allowed her to have a heart-to-heart-talk with the students who had harassed her. She posted that the students were "OPEN" and "HONEST" and that the talk was "BEAUTIFUL". SHE did not make any offensive comments.
For/of WHAT are you suggesting she should apologize or be more tolerant? Should she have allowed middle schoolers to disrupt the classroom? Should she have allowed them to freely attack others' religious beliefs? Should she not have referred to her students as "open" and "honest" and "beautiful"?
Reasonable Outcome
Thu, 04/08/2010 - 09:30 — Bob_SconceHer classroom situation this year had obviously deteriorated to the point that she couldn't be effective in class. Maybe next year or the year after, after all this has blown over, she will be moved back into a classroom, hopefully a bit wiser.
I just hope that her new job was actually one that needed to be done and wasn't just created for her.
Another fine mess in the
Thu, 04/08/2010 - 08:40 — willynillyAnother fine mess in the WCPSS. Be it known, the only story you will hear from this will be the version the WCPSS wants the public to hear. The fact is that any student can do no wrong in the WCPSS (and based on what I have found in recent years this is true of many school systems).
I do not know this teacher, we have never met. However, I can guess at the "juggling" the WCPSS will do to make themselves look good in all of this. Is it proper for this teacher to put stuff like this on Facebook? Well, I have my own opinions of this and as a teacher I would absolutely never put anything like that out there in the "public domain." Is that 13 years of classroom experience talking or the fact that I am "over 50 years old?" Who knows?
I am only guessing here, but I bet these students made comments as to something this teacher said during class. I teach 8th grade science and IF a student brings up questions concerning evolution vs creation I am fully within the scope of my job to discuss this. Even the NC Attorney General sent out a flyer in 1999 that said this very thing. Actually, it is almost skirting the law to NOT talk about it if a student brings this up. Now for students to "inflict" their views on a teacher because they feel she/he is not Christian may well be seen as inappropriate. Did this teacher say that creation could not have happened? Well, that may have been the teacher inflicting their views on the students.
It's nice to see though that teachers have arrived at a better level. Usually when teachers (are seen to have) screwed up they get suspsended and an investigation occurs for the WCPSS to find ANYTHING and EVERYTHING they can. Even if a principal lies (AND in writing) the teacher is in the wrong. At least this teacher has been treated as if she were a principal.....screw up and get a nice job at central office. So is this because her political ideations were as those of the central office elite?
In my case I have a letter from the principal (from a school in the Holly Springs/Apex area) that I have sent to central office that proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the man was a liar. When I had these things entered into my personnel file DEL BURNS had them removed so as not to make the WCPSS look good (yes, I have a certified letter from HIM). This included emails from teachers that proved this principal lied. All of this was removed from my personnel file. Oh, that principal? Yeah, HE got promoted to a HIGH SCHOOL. He was never called on the carpet for what he did. I spent three years trying to get the WCPSS to investigate and was turned down every time. After those years I finally got a rersponse other than NO. LOL They told me that too much time had passed to address the issue.