The Jay Mathews column does not appear anywhere in today's Washington Post site, at least not the version I'm getting. I did see the LA Times article and I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry. The Royal Nonesuch strikes again.... On Fri, 2015-06-19 at 12:39 -0700, Shelley Fisher Fishkin wrote: > Joyce Cohen and Hal Holbrook just encouraged me to share this with the = > Twain Forum: > > In a column appearing today on Jay Matthews's blog in the Washington = > Post, Matthews urges people to email protests to L.A. schools = > spokeswoman Ellen Morgan, at [log in to unmask], with a copy to = > Matthews at [log in to unmask] > > Jay Matthews blog post follows along with links to other articles about = > Rafe Esquith's removal from his classroom. > > > I consider Rafe Esquith of the Hobart Boulevard Elementary School in = > Los Angeles to be the best classroom teacher in the country. So when I = > learned that he has been barred from teaching since March for telling a = > joke about nudity in Mark Twain=92s =93The Adventures of Huckleberry = > Finn,=94 I wondered if the education world had finally, inalterably, = > gone crazy. > > I have written many columns about Esquith. There are several = > chapters about him in my book =93Work Hard. Be Nice.=94 He teaches fifth = > graders from mostly Hispanic and Korean families in a low-income part of = > the city. No where else have I seen such depth or imagination in a = > public school classroom.=20 > > Every year his students produce and perform a Shakespeare play. = > His students love him. Their parents love him. Teachers from around the = > country visit room 56 to see him and his kids in action. He has won many = > awards. He has published four very good books, and is a superstar in = > China where teaching is taken much more seriously than we do here.=20 > > Yet the Los Angeles Unified School District is still = > investigating him for what they apparently consider possibly = > inappropriate words in his classroom, even though the accusations have = > already been found without merit by the California Commission on Teacher = > Credentials. His attorney says he is just one of hundreds of teachers = > who have been send off to a district administrative office, known widely = > as the teacher jail, without any formal charges, to wait for results of = > investigations that often have no merit and are very hard to understand. > > Esquith told me in March there was trouble. Like many other fans = > of the annual Hobart Shakespeareans dramatic production, I reached a = > notice then that this year=92s performance had been canceled. When I = > emailed him, he told me it was a serious situation and he could not tell = > me more. He asked me to hold off writing anything until he could speak = > freely.=20 > > The Los Angeles Times published an account today (Friday) of his = > removal from class, which apparently was first reported by KCBS = > television. I have spoken to Ben Meiselas, an attorney from Mark = > Geragos=92 firm which is representing Esquith. He has given details not = > in the L.A. Times account, including the fact that the incident started = > with a joke and that the teacher who reported it to the school=92s = > principal now says even she wants Esquith back in the classroom. > > According to Meiselas, Esquith was rehearsing his students for = > this year=92s play and reading from a section of Huckleberry Fink about = > the duke and the king, merry actors who provide some of the book=92s = > comedy. They were practicing Shakespeare, not Twain, but Esquith thought = > the passage was relevant. In one performance, Esquith read, =93the king = > came prancing out on all fours, naked. He was painted in rings and = > stripes all over in all sorts of colors and looked as splendid as a = > rainbow.=94 > > Meiselas said Esquith said if the school district couldn=92t = > provide enough support for the annual play, he guessed the class would = > have to similarly perform naked. > > Esquith was joking. He does that a lot, as anyone who knows him = > has long been aware of. But a teacher who was in the room reported this = > to the principal and the principal reported it in turn to the district. = > =46rom there on, Meiselas said, the district has been handling the = > matter =93as basically a sex crime,=94 even though no one in authority = > has said that it is, and the teacher who made the first report has said = > the investigation should end.=20 > > Esquith=92s lawyers have told the district to publicly = > apologize and let him return to work or be sued. Meiselas said district = > officials pulled some of Esquith=92s students out of class and = > questioned them intensely about what Esquith had said and anything he = > might have done to them, without first seeking the permission of their = > parents. Meiselas said the students were extremely upset, as were the = > parents.=20 > > Esquith was send to the teacher=92s jail for two months, and = > then allowed to await the end of the investigation at home. The district = > has indicated there may be no conclusion until August. > > The questions being asked and the letters Esquith has received = > indicate the district is now intent on killing off some of the programs = > and trips that make his classroom so good. A district official wrote to = > tell him his students=92 annual summer trip to Oregon for the = > Shakespearean Theatrical Festival must be cancelled. He was told to = > report his students=92 contact addresses so their parents can be = > informed that =93the trip is not authorized or sponsored by the = > District.=94 > > This is the way they treat one of the most famous and = > conscientious teachers in the country, who has worked 12 hour days for = > several decades, usually keeping his classroom open during summer, = > holidays and on some weekends. Hundreds of former students come to = > visit. Many of them he advises on how to get into the best high schools = > and how to prepare for college.=20 > > There are no suggestions that he has harmed any children. But as = > all of the great teachers I have written about over the years have told = > me, if you work hard and show administrators how much better our schools = > could be if they took their responsibilities seriously, you are going to = > become a target for abuse.=20 > > If you have something to say about this, please send your = > thoughts to L.A. schools spokeswoman Ellen Morgan, at = > [log in to unmask], with a copy to me. I have witnessed many = > outrages by school administrators, but this may be the worst yet. > > > = > http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-esquith-investigation-20150617= > -story.html > = > http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2015/06/renowned_teacher_raf= > e_esquith_removed_from_classroom_in_la.html > = > http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/06/18/award-winning-teacher-removed-fr= > om-classroom-gives-lausd-an-ultimatum/=