Should teacher have been fired for blog?
June 17, 2010 by Claire KnightPosted in: Free Speech
Many teachers blog about their experiences in the classroom. But one teacher recently learned that might not be a good idea.
The Academy of Notre Dame de Namur, a private all-girls’ school in Pennsylvania, gave teacher Elizabeth Collins the axe, saying one of her blog posts “demonstrated a willingness to engage in inflammatory actions and made a problematic situation worse.”
Here’s the chain of events that led to Collins’ termination:
Collins handed out an English assignment: Each student had to give a speech that expressed their views. She told students “not to gloat (and) not to strike a hostile tone in their speeches.”
She pointed to Lincoln’s Second Inaugural speech as an example, explaining that Lincoln’s focus was to re-establish harmony between the north and the south rather than blaming Confederates.
After the presentations, Collins blogged about her reaction to one student’s speech. According to the post, the student did not adhere to the requirements of the assignment.
Without naming the student, Collins re-wrote the speech, keeping the same ideas while sticking to the tone guidelines in the assignment. “It is always useful to model precisely what you, as teacher, are asking students to do,” according to Collin’s blog.
Parents’ reaction …
The student’s parents complained to the school, calling the post “an attack on a child.”
Collins was suspended, and then later terminated by school officials, even though the school does not have specific blogging guidelines.
You be the judge: Read the post that started it all here, and tell us if Collins deserved to be fired. Chime in below.
Tags: blogging, First Amendment, Speech rights, teaching methods
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June 18th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Your too sympathetic to this teacher and tell only a small part of the story. When you hear the entire story you wonder why this teacher wasn’t fired before this incident.
June 18th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
There are more non-teachers influencing the tone, tenor and direction of education than teachers. It saddens me to think that education is the one profession in which people from all walks of life can direct without any formal training. The requirements for teachers are rigorous and continuous but parents, politicians, businessmen with no education background can walk into a classroom and tell a principal that the teacher is wrong.
In order to prove that my physician made a mistake, I need another physician to review his work, the same can be said of an accountant, a plumber or brick mason. Yet, any one of these people can complain that a state certified educator is incompetent based upon their say so.
In many areas there are teacher shortages, especially in science, reading and math, still people don’t get. No one wants to pay for an education, then pay for continuing education only to be criticized by those who haven’t paid at all. Better to hide behind a customer service job or better still, become a doctor or lawyer.
June 18th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
Since when does being a teacher take away your rights to free speech? If the teacher had named names and taken a hostile tone, maybe there was room for complaint. Otherwise, no. The complaining parents should have posted a comment to the teacher’s blog and had an honest discussion about the issues at stake, instead of going behind the teacher’s back to the administration. That’s the hostile act.
June 18th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
View this link,
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/95933539.html
and as Paul Harvey would say … “And now you know… the rest of the story.”
June 18th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
This is a complex issue. More and more, peoples views on issues are quite relativistic. Society seems to be moving away in general from a belief that there is such a thing as personal privacy until it affects them in a negative way directly. We inconsistently hold public officials accountable, and teachers seem to be continually over protected. They work very hard in very challenging conditions with diminishing resources available and often poor support from their administrators. Yet, teachers are not fired often enough for actions or inactions that would get other people in other industries fired. Regardless of what laws are or are not in place with the web, electronic communication, etc., there is a principle involved. No one should have their confidential information made public outside of legal actions. Any student who read that blog would have known which student was being refered to. If this were a doctor, nurse, lawyer, etc. we would not be having a discussion about the appropriateness of sharing client information on a blog. If the teacher had an issue with that student’s work, it should have been taken up within the boundries of the school’s teaching obligations. Teachers deserve our respect, they work hard to be educated and trained, they have a lot of power and autonomy. With all of those comes responibility as well. This teacher did not act responsibly with the public trust. Having too little money and too few resources with limited pbulic understanding is not an excuse for bad behavior. Nurses, police, firefighters, know this all too well.
June 18th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
Now upon reading this scenario, and being a teacher myself, I wonder: if someone disagrees with my response on this issue, am I next to get the axe for voicing an unpopular perspective?
I am fairly sure there is more to this story than one incident. If I were in that teacher’s shoes, however, I would probably have handled it differently. In my class, I ask students for permission to use their work as part of a lesson on editing and revising. I would not take the student’s work and rewrite it myself, even as a means of teaching the student how to improve it. Students do have a right to refuse to have their work highlighted, however, most of mine agree to it because they like the idea of having their work highlighted, to shed light on its strengths and weaknesses. The students usually respect each other’s opinions more than the teacher’s.
Working in a group, students can often be more observant of other’s errors than their own, and if the student is open to feedback, their peers can help improve and revise what they have written without insulting a student’s work.
I would probably refrain from blogging about situations where someone could identify the student involved, and perhaps mention it only in a non-public arena restricted to teachers, for the sake of developing effective classroom practices, not just to make any general social comment.
Aside from that, teachers are far from the only professionals to blame in the violating rights to confidentiality. When I was in the hospital last year, I overheard two nurses discussing another patient’s condition at the entry to my room. I asked them to please take their conversation to their station, and I hope that they would not be discussing my status in front of another patient’s door. I have heard attorneys in the hallway of court discussing their client’s case within earshot, mentioning names of witnesses and relatives. I am not a flagrant eavesdropper, but if someone speaks so loudly that one cannot drown out their conversation, that is going overboard.
It is a hard call on this case, not knowing the complete story, however, I still believe that teachers are hard-working members of their community. As such, they have the same rights as others to speak their mind on school, municipal, state, federal, economic, military, and civil rights issues without reprimand, as long as they do so in a diplomatic, respectful and befitting manner.
June 19th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Lincoln’s second inaugural address, the one the students were to model and which the teacher tried to demonstrate on her blog, clearly says, ” With malice toward none, with charity for all.” So it sounds like it was an epic fail all the way around as far as meeting the guidelines of the assignment.
The students should never, ever be able to guess the political or personal views of the teacher. A really skilled teacher should be able to play the Devil’s advocate against any side or position to always keep the students working on improving their skills and honing their perspectives.
Maybe Ms. Collins should stick with English Grammar – that seems innocuous enough.
July 16th, 2010 at 3:23 am
Elean, this was not a grammar class. You don’t even understand the assignment, which is apparently too complex for you to wrap your head around.
I was Ms. Collins’ student. She was the most challenging and most refreshingly honest and fair teacher I ever had.
August 26th, 2010 at 3:13 am
Mr. Deep Thoughts, I assume you know the whole story? How the teacher’s very life was threatened, repeatedly, in front of the principal, who said and did nothing? How the principal and president lied about this and threatened the other teachers and told them never to discuss it? How the parents (the Whites) kept harassing the school and its administrators, and probably spent tens of thousands to have their lawyer draft some creepy tome of papers that called for Ms. Collins’s firing? She was fired because they couldn’t take the pressure anymore. She was fired because two bullies demanded it and threatened everyone at the school. Now you know the whole story. If any other principal ever lets this happen to any other teacher, we can at least say “Let this be a warning.” As a fellow teacher, I call on all teachers not to go quietly, and not to put up with this sort of savagery.
October 5th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
There is indeed much more to this story. Where should we begin? How about with the fact that these parents specifically told their daughter to bait the teacher with inflammatory, repugnant extreme conservative comments in class, even though the teacher repeatedly said we shouldn’t go there and she didn’t want to engage in political discussions?
Next, consider that the parents went on an absolute rampage against this really kind and wonderful teacher. They assaulted her with words and continuously bothered the school leaders and board, relentlessly demanding that the school fire the teacher, even though everyone loves her.
The teacher was under so much stress it was crazy. Even now, we try to write to her and she tells us it’s too painful.
These people told Ms. Collins they hoped she would die and she almost did die from the stress.
Now who’s right and who is wrong? Who is “Christian” and who is actually zombie evil?
Instead of firing Ms. Collins, the school leaders, if they had either guts or morals, should have told this horrible family to GET LOST and get out of Notre Dame.
But it’s too late. The place is already ruined, thanks to them.
October 16th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
This kind of absurdity is still happening? Are you kidding me? Parents do this sort of thing to good teachers? I am appalled, both by the parents’ behavior (and by the fact that they are allowed to raise children, shudder the thought) and the Academy of Notre Dame. I have seen Collins’ blog. She got fired for that? Shaking my head this morning, sick to my stomach…
October 18th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
after reading the Philly article I believe the school was right to fire the teacher
“pick your battles” is the old saying that comes to my mind
also, even if the child was “baiting” the teacher, the teacher was wrong to take the bait, and stoop to the child’s level
referring to the student’s father as “Mr. Bratwurst” and the student as Miss Petunia Fluffyfeathers (or whatever from the article) wasn’t very smart of the teacher either
let sleeping dogs lie
October 19th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Witch-hunting a teacher based on her personal politics is disgusting and, or so I thought, un-American. Bet those people call themselves “patriots” too. Ripping on a teacher based on some vague and debatedly flimsy articles? Dumb. But what else should I expect of my fellow Americans? They’re too busy getting good teachers fired for silly or just plain nasty reasons. Do the people who demanded the teacher be fired also bemoan the state of the U.S. economy? Note the hypocrisy: wailing about the economy while forcing wonderful teachers into undeserved unemployment. I need an aspirin.
October 19th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
No one deserves to be fired unless they actually do something really and intentionally wrong and/or can’t perform their job. No one should be written about by strangers gloating over their undeserved firing. If you knew the facts, if you knew the whole story, if you were there, fine. Peanut gallery trainwreck audiences don’t deserve a say. Ed Tech News should ban such hateful commentary as Jed Marlin’s (and others).
October 20th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Mr. Be Reasonable, my comment is not “hateful”
you are the second person to object to my post
the first person to respond to my post called me a “nincompoop” and her post, as well as my response to it, was deleted by the people who run this website
I would not be surprised if your response to me is also removed
what is hateful in my post?
I feel sorry for the teacher, but it was a private, not public school, and it seems by the newspaper article, which admittedly is all I have to go on, that she singled out the daughter of a very influential family, and that family, by hook or by crook, got her fired
I only learned of all this because of an email, sent to me by this website, which gave a list of teachers and others associated with various school districts who were fired for facebook or other social media postings, which they had considered private
this site is for discussion, and the owners of the site decide what is and is not germaine to the topic
they have removed some posts, and allowed others to remain
this is their right
October 20th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
As a result of this story (not necessarily on this site, but yes, here and more than a dozen other places, too), there are countless educators who now recognize how unfair and irrresponsible it is for school administrators to “fire” a teacher based on a minor social networking gaffe. I wonder just how minor these incidents are going to get (will any social networking presence damn a teacher?) before the people involved realize they are sliding down a muddy slope and will all look dirty, in the end. Rather than fire the teacher, the principal should be fired for making a dumb choice and allowing this mess to go public. Had it been handled better, had the school stood up for the teacher, this never would have happened. This is also a great example of parental interference, and of people on mad, misguided so-called “religious” crusades. Read about the family involved. They have done this before, as others have noted. The principal was dense enough or worried about his own behind enough to take their threats seriously. I doubt that is a mistake he will ever make again, should he last that long in office. The more pieces like this that are out there in the online community, the less chance, hopefully, that this will happen again to a good teacher. We have teachers here who can’t even spell! Even they are online. Anyone who wonders where all the good teachers went should have to write a research paper on this subject. That is all. And this dog was never sleeping. This is an issue that still needs to be examined so that it does not happen again.
November 8th, 2010 at 7:41 am
Lincoln’s second inaugural address, the one the students were to model and which the teacher tried to demonstrate on her blog, clearly says, ” With malice toward none, with charity for all.” So it sounds like it was an epic fail all the way around as far as meeting the guidelines of the assignment.
The students should never, ever be able to guess the political or personal views of the teacher. A really skilled teacher should be able to play the Devil’s advocate against any side or position to always keep the students working on improving their skills and honing their perspectives.
Maybe Ms. Collins should stick with English Grammar – that seems innocuous enough.
November 9th, 2010 at 1:23 am
Collins was the most skilled and talented teacher my daughters ever had.
November 12th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
What that family did to the fabulous, angelic Ms. Collins was evil, pure and simple. Anyone who went along with them (principal, president) was like a German taking orders from the Nazis. Don’t buy their argument that they didn’t know what else to do. If you think for a second that this teacher “had it coming,” you need to get your head examined. I pray every day that nothing like this ever happens again to a great teacher who did not deserve it.
November 16th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
This whole thing happened because of donations, because of one pair of angry, difficult parents who have a regional and schoolwide reputation for attacking teachers. Notre Dame gave in to these folks because the head was concerned she might lose a few grand in regular donations. I am an alum, and just for that foolishness and cruelty, I will no longer give a dime to that school, not until the heads are removed and this good teacher is vindicated. My niece had her and only has glowing remarks. I wish I still had that same warm feeling about this school.
November 27th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
Wow! I think this teacher sounds wonderful. I envy her blog site. It is so creative. Come on–this is the age of technology, which provides an extension to the classroom in all of its aspects. Besides, we’ve got to get these kids ready for the real world where people are not namby-pamby always thinking about overly fragile self-esteems. I say this teacher should not have been fired.
November 30th, 2010 at 9:25 am
How refreshing to see so-called “professionals” pulling random reasons to fire a teacher out of thin air and somehow blaming her, after the fact, for what some parents said about her. Perhaps these parents need to understand the true definition of cyberbullying, as that is exactly what they did to the teacher! The act of hostility was by them and them alone. It is very sad that the school administrators went along with this. I wonder what got to them? I can only assume they were either greedy for money or just plain dumb. Either way, they do not deserve their jobs. They’re the ones who should be out. How does the rest of the school feel about this? It seems here that some people are very angry about what happened to this teacher. What about the kids? How did they feel to lose their teacher at a late point in the year? I am sure that didn’t help them with college preparation. Whose fault is that? The school’s.
December 3rd, 2010 at 7:05 pm
Sorry, after reviewing all of the facts (at least all those of which are available), I agree this woman should have been fired. My opinion: no teacher has the right to rip a student’s work on a blog when other students read the blog and know exactly who she is talking about. It’s unprofessional, plain and simple. Nevermind that her criticism was every bit as corrupted by politics as the student’s speech. I’m not a teacher, and I’m not an administrator…just an unbiased observer living in the real world. In any other job, this gets you fired.
December 4th, 2010 at 3:59 am
The teacher did not “rip on” any student’s work. She commented, in utterly vague terms, that she was dismayed that her painstakingly taught lesson did not, apparently, reach all in her class. Big difference. A teacher who tries to perfect her craft in community with other teachers around the world is nothing if not professional. To say that her criticism was corrupted by politics is to completely misunderstand the situation. Does the word “dismayed” convey criticism of right-wing blowhards? Hardly. Get your facts straight.
December 6th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Ha! Have you even read the blog? Any student in that situation would have been humiliated and mortified. But it’s okay, I forgive you…your use of the phrase “right wing blowhards” betrays a political bias in line with hers. You know, it’s funny, both right wing and left wing extremists are the most close-minded people alive, yet they both love to point fingers and accuse everyone else of being wrong.
December 7th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
I have in fact read the blog. It’s about teaching writing. It’s not about gossip. It’s about teaching effective lessons and revamping lesson plans when the point is missed (by some). It’s not about humiliation. You drank the KoolAid, brother. If anyone was embarrassed, it’s probably because they were couldn’t follow very simple directions. I am no left-wing extremist, by the way, just very tired of the vilification of a great teacher at the hands of right-wing extremists, no less. Go to the blog. It’s good stuff for teachers. http://prettyfreaky.blogspot.com I just stopped in, myself, yet again. Thanks for the reminder. Any smart English teacher would appreciate this blog.
December 7th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
I actually like the blog…follow it semi-regularly (I study literature). But I also read the post (missed it originally, no longer available, but re-posted for a short time later after the Inquirer did a piece on it), and it was most definitely humiliating to the student. Maybe the idea was there, but the tone was way off (ironically, much like the student’s speech). By the way, why focus on the teacher’s right to blog and ignore the private school’s right to employ whomever it chooses (i.e., excluding those who tick off wealthy benefactors)? If I recall correctly, she wasn’t fired for the blog, but rather because she didn’t stop after the school asked her to and continued to provoke the donors.
December 7th, 2010 at 11:33 pm
All I can say is “wrong again.” The school did NOT tell the teacher not to blog; the school supported the teacher until very suddenly, it didn’t. Behind the scenes, you have no idea what savagery was taking place. You know nothing. This teacher did not “provoke donors.” Rather, they attacked her most brutally and relentlessly. Wrong again, Artie.
December 10th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
You wouldn’t happen to be this teacher, now would you?
Because I seem to “know nothing” and you seem to “know everything.”
December 10th, 2010 at 10:42 pm
She is a relative of mine. I don’t appreciate the spreading of slander and mistruths. Imagine if you were her. Would you be happy to see people such as yourself chiming in with rumors that make her look bad, when in fact she did not deserve DEATH THREATS and to unfairly lose her job? No, I don’t think so. Follow the Golden Rule, perhaps. But anyway, karma can be a bitch.
December 12th, 2010 at 1:39 am
I think we can all agree that what happened here was a fantastic example of hyper-religious, bullying parents run amok, and educational administrators being predictably stupid. Most reasonable and open minded people can see that this teacher is both innocent and brilliant, especially as compared to those who did her true harm. I suggest that those who want to argue about this take it outside somewhere. I also suggest that we just learn from this and work to protect our teachers better. It is a terrible thing that this teacher had to martyr herself for others in her profession. The least the rest of us could do is honor her sacrifice by refusing to allow such attacks against teachers to happen again. Teachers in all schools need due process rights, which private school teachers do not currently enjoy. The powers that be love having teachers so vulnerable, but this is scandalous, from a political, economic, and moral standpoint.
December 14th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
Well, that explains the bias. An unfortunate byproduct of the polarization of politics is that one side tends to view its champion as a shining beacon of truth and light, whereas the other side represents only evil and darkness. People forget that the foundation of democracy is difference of opinion, without which viable democracy cannot exist. Intelligent people can look at the same issue and reach different conclusions, as I and some others on this page have. I ask only that all opinions be respected, even if not agreed upon.
December 15th, 2010 at 1:15 am
Interesting that you recognize this as being all about politics. We do indeed find the other side here to be “evil.” Getting a good teacher fired for the pettiest reason is simply cruel. Telling her you’ll laugh while she and her family die, starving and penniless in the street, is evil. When the other side is constantly crowing about their “holy” conservative Christianity, I think it’s fair to call them on it and call it what it is: dangerous, simple minded, even, possibly, in this case, evil. You may have your opinion about any and all of this, but I hope you recognize that it is not possible to have a fair opinion when you don’t know the whole truth. We see what we want to see, however. Do you not want to see the truth? Would you like to be forced out of a job because two parents screamed at you and threatened your life? I don’t think so. I would be you might call that incredibly nasty, maybe even evil.
December 17th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
My heart goes out to this teacher, having to put up with that abuse from parents who were so wrong. I see that they thought they were fighting for their kid, but enough is enough. There comes a time when you stop screaming, back off, and simply apologize. They don’t speak that language, it seems. They speak bully tongue. We can all see them for what they are, and it’s a bad word so I will refrain from using it. No teacher should have to deal with what this teacher did! Remember the days when no one would ever dream of threatening a teacher? I guess those days are long gone, which is so sad.
December 23rd, 2010 at 3:24 am
It seems that the Whites have taken “helicopter” parents up a notch. They are clearly “Blackhawks” intent on bombing and destroying anyone and anything that gets in their spawn’s way, even if accidentally. We see this on the university level, too, but it won’t last long. No institution that is worthwhile will put up with that sort of parental interference and viciousness. It’s a detriment to the very essence of education. Parents: take a lesson from this and Admin: don’t let you staff get attacked.
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:36 am
What happened to Ms. Collins happened in part because the principal was threatened by her brains. This teacher is the whole package of education, talent, personality and more, and he couldn’t handle the comparison, I guess. What the Whites did is typical behavior for them. Certainly does not make it right but no one expects them to be civil or reasonable. We do expect our school leaders to be sensible, though.
January 14th, 2011 at 4:58 pm
If you know the family behind the attack on this teacher then you know that they are the worst and no one should pay any attention to them, let alone do their bidding. How many times have they attacked others? They are scary and dangerous!
January 28th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
I get angry all every time I read about this story, sort of like Christians get angry every time they think about what happened to Jesus. Firing this teacher was so uncalled for, such a bad idea. When parents attack for insipid, out of control reasons, expel the family from the school. So much bad blood is there now. Whose fault is that? Principal’s. And the Board. Not the teacher’s. Now people all over the world know that the Academy of Notre Dame is not a safe place for teachers.
January 29th, 2011 at 8:49 pm
Does anyone, anyone, know why the principal hasn’t been fired for being directly involved in this mess? It positively defies reason. Height of idiocy is sitting right there in the principal’s office. Infuriating.
January 30th, 2011 at 1:02 pm
Firing any one at this school was the absolute wrong move. Notre Dame is not supposed to be that sort of place. Guess that has changed since the new guard came rolling in. Good move, Doctor D’Angelo! Real smart, Mrs. Harrington. I won’t even mention the parents responsible for this behind the scenes. My daughter is scared of them. Good for her (or not?), I do not feel the same.
February 13th, 2011 at 4:10 am
Mama mia, this teacher is one incredible lady! Wish I’d had a teacher like this. I might have actually learned something in school. No, she should not have been fired. What a stupid question.
March 4th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
Let’s say for argument’s sake that the what the teacher did was not right. Let’s suppose, for just a minute, that the student was embarrassed and the parents were justifiably angry. My concern is whether or not the punishment fits the crime. Firing seems like an awfully final solution to a problem that could have been rectified by other means. Fire teachers who don’t teach the curriculum, yes. Fire teachers who don’t like working with their students and who continually hinder their progress rather than aid it, yes. Fire teachers who abuse/hurt students, by all means yes. But to fire a teacher who, by all accounts available, is a quality instructor who errors in judgment? Certainly, other the school district personnel could have pursued other avenues of addressing the situation.
March 4th, 2011 at 7:11 pm
In reply to @Just wondering:
You raise a perfectly valid question. This was a private school, which everyone knows are oliarghies run by tyrants with money. One of those wealthy dictators was the father of the accidentally “embarrassed” student. He threw a hissy fit like you cannot imagine. He told the teacher he wanted her to die. So, yeah, the teacher should not have been fired. The parent should not have been allowed to threaten the teacher, either. To cover their ginormous mistakes, the admin fired the teacher…which was what the crazy parents demanded. Three wrongs don’t make a right, now do they? This entire situation could have been averted, certainly.
March 4th, 2011 at 7:11 pm
Sorry: “oligarchies.” Major typo.
March 7th, 2011 at 4:10 pm
Collins is such a spectacular teacher and this school lost so much when it lost (or got rid of) her. I am sure they are regretting it now! That is how the USA is working these days: Especially talented teachers are seen as too threatening to stodgy parents who fear their kids might become smarter than they are! Sort of antithetical to the American Dream, now isn’t it? That is how the Republican machine works, however. Keep the masses ignorant. Stifle dissent. Fire wonderful teachers.
June 25th, 2011 at 3:22 am
Collins is not only an amazing educator, she is sweet and saint-like, adorable, so funny she can make you cry on Back to School night, and refreshingly honest. I would take my girls out of school to follow her wherever she goes if my kids had not graduated already. Since I cannot do that, I will simply cease donating to the corrupt institution that took the word of some bad people over hers.
August 18th, 2011 at 11:43 am
I just saw Elizabeth Collins speak about teaching and let me just say she is impressive. Hence, I did a Google search and found this piece. (I would say that she is very impressive and that I was really amazed by her, but as she was speaking about lazy language issues, I would be lazy to do that!). Anyone who hears her speak or watches her teach would be bowled over. If only all teachers were like her. All eyes were glued to Collins, and besides her natural magnetism, she seems as if she is doing this out of the goodness of her heart, despite the abuse she unjustly suffered. We all left her talk feeling very positive about our profession if it can produce someone as magical as her.
November 29th, 2011 at 2:32 am
Miss Collins is a good person and a great teacher. We were privileged to have our daughters in her classes, and they learned so much, not just about English, but about how to think and be productive members of society, Miss Collins wrote a recommendation letter for my eldest daughter that was gorgeous and heartfelt. I am pleased to report that my girls went to some of the best colleges in the nation, and no doubt that Miss Collins had something to do with that. It broke my heart what happened, but it must be true that my daughters’ teacher is somehow going to be blessed because of this unjust persecution.