Almost Beyond Belief: Arizona Wants to Fire Teachers Who Say Bad Things

It's the nutty season as Arizona legislators fashion bills that pander to the small mindedness of their constituents. Bill 15-108 provides for firing any teacher who speaks or does anything that would be banned by the FCC from appearing on the broadcast networks. Herewith the details of the lunacy.

• 15-108. Public classrooms; compliance with federal standards for media broadcasts concerning obscenity, indecency and profanity; violations; definition

• A. If a person who provides classroom instruction in a public school engages in speech or conduct that would violate the standards adopted by the federal communications commission concerning obscenity, indecency and profanity if that speech or conduct were broadcast on television or radio:
  1. For the first occurrence, the school shall suspend the person, at a minimum, for one week of employment, and the person shall not receive any compensation for the duration of the suspension. This paragraph does not prohibit a school after the first occurrence from suspending the person for a longer duration or terminating the employment of that person.

  2. For the second occurrence, the school shall suspend the person, at a minimum, for two weeks of employment, and the person shall not receive any compensation for the duration of the suspension. This paragraph does not prohibit a school after the second occurrence from suspending the person for a longer duration or terminating the employment of that person.

  3. For the third occurrence, the school shall terminate the employment of the person. This paragraph does not prohibit a school after the first or second occurrence from terminating the employment of that person.
• B. For the purposes of this section, "public school" means a public preschool program, a public elementary school, a public junior high school, a public middle school, a public high school, a public vocational education program, a public community college or a public university in this state.

At the very least, such nonsense reveals the low opinion in which Arizona politicians hold education professionals. What's next? Legislatively mandated dress codes for teachers?

Gene V Glass
University of Colorado Boulder
Arizona State University