Remember

June 19, 2002 10:30 PM

Remember this? Rita Wilson's thong check in April? She was demoted, and will resume teaching students on monday... "I'm very disappointed and deeply saddened," Wilson, 47, said as she wiped away tears and hugged supporters. Talk about a school board that's out of touch, she now gets to spend even more time with children...
posted by jkaczor (14 comments total)

< sarcasm>I haven't nothing to say about this other than "What a stupid bitch". Tom Hanks needs to reel the girl in. < /sarcasm>
posted by McBain at 10:54 PM on June 19, 2002

Tom Hanks' wife is a teacher?

I kid, I kid.
posted by artifex at 1:00 AM on June 20, 2002

She doesn't seem to realize that she did anything wrong.
posted by RylandDotNet at 3:38 AM on June 20, 2002

Maybe she was concerned that they would get sweaty.
posted by johnny novak at 5:01 AM on June 20, 2002

As a teacher, I believe that we're going to have severe problems in our educational system as long as people see moving from assistant principal to classroom teacher as a "demotion." Much has been said about how hard it is to attract the best minds into the profession when teachers' salaries are so low. But less has been said about another problem - that all of the paths for those who are ambitious or who would like to earn more money lead out of the classroom.

I really have no interest in becoming a principal - lots more paperwork, lots more dealing with difficult parents and difficult kids, and a lot less in the way of meaningful contact with kids. I love being in the classroom and intend to stay there - but I know I'm going to earn considerably less money by making that choice.
posted by Chanther at 5:16 AM on June 20, 2002

Chanther, it's a demotion in as much as she loses all of her administrative authority, and probably takes a pay cut as well. In reality, it really is a promotion; she now has even more interaction with kids, and that's a shame, and is even more "authority" simply because of that.

Of course, in this case, I think that this woman shouldn't be in education at all, and if her antics had been carried out anywhere other than a school, she'd be up on assault charges. It's frightening that the school district thinks that this is an approrpriate reaction to her sick acts at the dance.
posted by Dreama at 5:24 AM on June 20, 2002

what happened to the lawsuit some parents were threatening?
posted by quarsan at 7:19 AM on June 20, 2002

I think that she ought to be serving lunch to these kids now... and now that I think about it that's still not fair to the lunch-servers that I've known.

Has anyone else seen Donnie Darko? She's reminding me of the gym teacher in that film.
posted by n9 at 7:36 AM on June 20, 2002

Of course, in this case, I think that this woman shouldn't be in education at all, and if her antics had been carried out anywhere other than a school, she'd be up on assault charges. It's frightening that the school district thinks that this is an approrpriate reaction to her sick acts at the dance.

It's impossible to tell from an article like this. Is she "sick" in the sense of being some kind of sexual predator and a danger to kids? Was she lifting the skirts for voyeristic reasons? Or is she telling the truth and she was just going way overboard and having poor judgement about trying to enforce her ideas of decency?
posted by straight at 8:04 AM on June 20, 2002

all I have to say is if she were male, it would be a jail sentence rather than a demotion.
posted by themikeb at 9:19 AM on June 20, 2002

Mike makes a very good point. Mind you, one would hope that most guys people would have the common sense to not do it in the first place.
posted by Dark Messiah at 5:53 PM on June 20, 2002

Let's face it, some people are just too stupid to realize the difference between right and wrong. Sadly, one of those dorks is now put in a position where she will be teaching children. And we wonder why the country seems to be going downhill fast...
posted by clevershark at 8:59 PM on June 20, 2002

In best Helen Lovejoy voice:

Won't someone please think of the children?!?
posted by mark13 at 9:16 PM on June 20, 2002

The gym teacher in Donnie Darko is hilarious.
posted by McBain at 9:42 PM on June 20, 2002