First Grade Teacher Jennifer Schmid O'Brien Fighting to Keep Tenured Job After Removal for Facebook Post Saying She was a "Warden for Future Criminals"

Jennifer Schmid-O'Brien, first grade teacher at School No. 21 in Paterson, NJ, fighting to keep tenured job after writing on Facebook page she was a "warden for future criminals."

THE WARDEN: Jennifer Schmid-O'Brien, a first grade teacher at School No. 21 in Paterson, N.J. school, was removed from her job for writing on her Facebook page that she was a "warden for future criminals." She defended her actions at a administrative hearing on Wednesday that she wrote the post out of exasperation because six or seven unruly first-graders kept disrupting her class, one even hitting her. Well, judging from the city, it's safe to say those kids are either black or Hispanic. Ms. O'Brien posted the remark to her 333 friends on Facebook, according to The Alternative Press. Nancy Oxfeld, O'Brien's lawyer, said her client isn't a racist, as she has been called since the remark was forwarded, it was just a mistake. Jennifer O'Brien will learn whether or not she gets to keep her tenured job sometime in November.

I have written a few posts concerning the social media policy in school districts for teachers and students alike. I wrote about a Forsyth County, Ga., principal, Debbie Napier Smith, who posed for a picture with a gun in her hand. I called the school board and they kept telling me she was a good principal. Had that been a student, would the reaction have been the same? There has to be a uniform policy for school administrators, teachers and students. You can't make up the rules as you go along. We all know that some of the kids teachers have to deal with are brats, plain and simple. Is it the teacher's job to raise these kids or is it the parents' job?