Here's One Teacher Who Isn't Stumping for Obama

I had an earlier story on teacher's union openly supporting the Obamessiah for president by encouraging teachers to wear Dem blue or an Obama button to school, but this guy didn't get the memo:

A Marianna middle-school teacher has been suspended for 10 days without pay after he wrote a racially charged interpretation of a commonly used phrase in the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama.

While some parents and community activists were outraged by the actions of Greg Howard, Jackson County NAACP officials want to gather more facts before the group considers taking action. But some parents feel Howard should be fired.

Larry Moore, deputy superintendent for the Jackson County School District, said school officials determined Howard wrote an acronym with an explanation on a dry-erase board in his class Sept. 26 at Marianna Middle School.

It said, "C.H.A.N.G.E. — Come Help A (N-word) Get Elected."

Howard, who's been teaching in the district for 17 years, wrote the comment during his seventh-grade social-studies class that included 17 white students, six black students and one Asian.

Howard was suspended with pay Monday while the incident was investigated. The reprimand was elevated to a 10-day suspension without pay starting Thursday. Howard also must write a letter of apology to the students.

Howard will be reassigned to teach in the district's Adult Education Program.

"We feel like the punishment is sufficient," Moore said. "We did not feel he had to be fired."

Moore said Howard did not have any other disciplinary action prior to this incident.

But some parents are livid that the teacher would use the "N-word" in classroom.

"To me, it's hurtful," said Audrey Wad, a Marianna resident with nieces and nephews at the school. "The idea that he would impose his political opinion on the children is wrong to me. That's where he crossed the line."

I agree that this guy shouldn't be promoting his political views, especially with racially charged language, in the classroom. But if we're going to crack down on him, we should be equally willing to crack down on the pro-Obama teachers as well. If they have the right to express their political preferences in class, then you've got to let this guy express his.