N.J. district probes teacher’s Facebook remarks on gays
UNION TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Officials in a New Jersey school district are investigating claims that a high school teacher who advises a prayer group posted remarks on her Facebook page that described homosexuality as “perverted” and said it “breeds like cancer.”
Attorney John Paragano saw posts by teacher Viki Knox before they were removed and alerted the Union Township school district, he told The Star-Ledger of Newark.
Paragano, who argued the teacher should be dismissed, told the newspaper that Knox objected to a school display celebrating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History Month. Union Chief School Administrator Patrick Martin told the Associated Press yesterday that the district was investigating.
“We’re taking it very seriously and taking all appropriate action,” he said. Martin declined to comment on Knox’s employment status, citing personnel privacy rules.
A message left yesterday for Knox at the main office of Union High School, where she is a teacher, was not returned in time for this story.
Paragano said he gave school officials a copy of Knox’s Facebook page after he’d been contacted by a parent.
The page was not accessible yesterday. But Knox is alleged, in the copy of the page cited by the Star-Ledger, to have called homosexuality “a perverted spirit that has existed from the beginning of creation” and a “sin” that “breeds like cancer.”
Officials from gay-rights groups said that although Knox’s alleged anti-gay views are protected by the First Amendment, she has a responsibility as a teacher to be a role model for students.
“Educators have a responsibility to nurture their students as they develop into young adults — and that includes making sure they feel supported and know that there is nothing wrong with being LGBT,” Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said in a prepared statement. “Her alleged public rant is irresponsible and sends a dangerous message to her students.”
Garden State Equality issued a statement questioning Knox’s ability as a teacher to enforce the state’s new anti-bullying law. The law was signed in January and is considered among the toughest in the country for its requirement that schools have anti-bullying policies.
The law was adopted after the suicide last year of Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers University freshman whose roommate is accused of using a webcam to spy on his intimate encounter with another man.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey defended Knox’s First Amendment right to make the comments but said the school system also has the right to investigate whether she is performing her job in accordance with school policies and anti-bias laws.
Tags: Associated Press, Facebook, homosexuality, public employee speech, social media, teacher speech
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Ken Paulson is president and chief executive officer/First Amendment Center. Previously, Paulson served as editor and senior vice president/news of USA Today and USATODAY.com.
Gene Policinski, senior vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center, is a veteran journalist whose career has included work in newspapers, radio, television and online.
John Seigenthaler founded the First Amendment Center in 1991 with the mission of creating national discussion, dialogue and debate about First Amendment rights and values.
Dr. Charles C. Haynes is director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum. He writes and speaks extensively on religious liberty and religion in American public life.
David L. Hudson Jr. is a scholar at the First Amendment Center. Hudson writes for firstamendmentcenter.org and for other publications devoted to First Amendment issues.
Tiffany Villager is director/First Amendment studies at the First Amendment Center, which she joined in 1993. She also served as the center’s research manager and research coordinator, and developed the center’s library.
