For the second day in a row, school officials in the General McLane School District confirmed that a high school teacher who posted a controversial social media comment on a news story over the weekend is out of the classroom.

The post, made on our Erie News Now facebook page, expressed strong views over a worker in Allegheny County who said he would rather lose his job than get vaccinated. 

The GM faculty member suggested that the man was hiding behind religious exemptions, and that he and his ilk deserve to lose jobs, get sick and perhaps die from the virus for putting others around them in danger.

The person posting also posed the question--why doesn't the GOP take the guns they profess to love...and just start shooting all of their constituents who think this way?

Erie News Now has seen mixed reaction to our reporting on the story, with some calling for zero tolerance for the teacher who made the post and others saying the teacher, who voluntarily removed the post, should not lose her career over it.

The General McLane School Board will hold its regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday at 6:30 PM.  On the agenda, they will be swearing in two new school board members.  The board is also expected to enter executive session to discuss the matter of the faculty member's post.

As we reported Monday, the school district has the following policy, adopted in 2011, on Freedom of Speech in Non-school Settings:

 

Freedom of Speech in Non-school Settings

The Board acknowledges the right of administrative, professional and noninstructional employees as citizens in a democratic society to speak out on issues of public concern. When those issues are related to the school district and its programs, however, the employee's freedom of expression must be balanced against the interests of this district.

The Board adopts this policy to clarify situations in which an employee's expression could conflict with the district's interests. 

In situations in which a district employee is not engaged in the performance of assigned duties, s/he shall:

  1. Refrain from comments that would interfere with the maintenance of student discipline.
     
  2. Refrain from making public statements about the district known to be false or made without regard for truth or accuracy.
     
  3. Refrain from making threats against co-workers, supervisors or district officials.