Troubling issues in schools

Saturday, Jan. 2, 2010 | 2:04 a.m.

Clark County School District officials have suspended a high school physical education teacher for allegedly telling students the Nazis didn’t have the technical ability to kill millions of Jews during the Holocaust. The teacher was leading a mentoring class at the time, and she has since been suspended with pay pending an investigation.

As Emily Richmond reported last week, the remarks have caused a wave of concern and controversy in the district. It is outrageous to even think that a teacher would be spewing this type of garbage. The historic facts of the Holocaust are patently clear — more than 6 million Jews and others were systematically killed during World War II by the Nazis. Teachers are supposed to teach impressionable students and help them sort out the facts — not fill them with lies.

Those who deny the Holocaust try to gloss over one of the worst atrocities of humankind. There can be no tolerance for this type of behavior in a classroom.

The district’s curriculum calls for Holocaust education, but it is obvious that more work needs to be done. Irv Madnikoff, one of the teacher’s colleagues, created an award-winning Holocaust studies course in Miami. When he came to Las Vegas four years ago, he offered to create something similar for Clark County, but he was politely refused. He plans to bring up the issue again, suggesting he create a course to educate teachers. We hope administrators take him up on the offer this time.

Not only is it troubling to think that a teacher — who should know better — would deny the Holocaust, but it is also disturbing that the School District will have difficulty disciplining the teacher if the allegations are true. A state law passed in 1967 prohibits firing a teacher for unprofessional conduct without a documented prior offense.

Bill Hoffman, the School District’s attorney, says, “Everyone gets one bite at the apple. The law is very protective of teachers. They must be given a chance to correct their behavior.”

Keith Rheault, the state’s superintendent for public instruction, said other states have similar laws. In Nevada, however, a teacher who corrects his conduct can have a prior offense removed from his record after three years of good behavior.

The result, Rheault says, is it is “incredibly difficult to fire a teacher outright for almost anything less than a felony.”

It shouldn’t be that way. Teachers, like everyone else, should be held accountable for their actions. We appreciate that the law provides teachers a chance to correct their behavior, but it shouldn’t allow teachers who display egregious or unprofessional conduct to return to the classroom. It is one thing to make a mistake. It is completely another to deviate from the approved curriculum and “teach” utter falsehoods.

As we have noted, we don’t know yet what really happened in this situation. The School District is investigating this allegation, and as it does, it should be noted that the teacher has the right of due process and a fair hearing.

It is clear that the state law provides too much latitude for bad behavior in the classroom. That is dangerous and does not do justice to the state’s students. The Legislature should change the law to make sure that school administrators have the ability to remove poor and unsuitable teachers from the classroom without having to wait years to do so.