'Browbeating' Teacher Still Employed

From OneNewsNow
By Peter Chagnon

School officials in Fayetteville, North Carolina, have completed their investigation of a teacher following a classroom incident captured on film.

The Independent Women's Forum says the video shows an elementary school teacher browbeating a student for her support of John McCain in the school's mock presidential election. (See previous article)

"What do you all know about that war in Iraq? Talk to me because your daddy's in the military; talk. It's a senseless war," the teacher says on the video. "And by the way, Kathy, the person that you are picking for president said that our troops could stay in Iraq for another hundred years if they need to, so that means that your daddy could stay in the military for another hundred years."

Following outcry and media coverage of the incident, Cumberland County School Superintendent William Harrison launched an investigation. School officials refused to give OneNewsNow any details of the investigation results, citing a law that protects teachers in cases like this. But officials did say that the teacher, Diantha Harris, is still employed as a teacher in the Cumberland County School district.

According to media reports, the school district has received hundreds of phone calls about the incident, and the teacher involved has also received dozens of phone calls at home concerning the video. The Associated Press reported that Harris has said she regrets making the comments and that the student involved, along with her parents, has expressed support for the teacher.