CHILDREN ON DRUGS: ARE PARENTS "PUSHERS"?

I suspect that too many parents 'can't handle the truth' and/or are in denial.......

Which are you?

Oldcatman
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****Teacher loses job over bumper sticker!

Be it “No Nukes” or “The day they outlaw handguns is the day I’ll become an outlaw,” a bumper sticker gives a car owner a mobile platform in which to support his or her political causes. Yet, a question arises: is displaying a bumper sticker worth losing one’s job over?

Consider the case of Tarah Ausburn, a teacher in Surprise, Ariz.

Ausburn drives a Toyota Prius (of course), which happens to be festooned with no fewer than 61 bumper stickers (NASCAR, eat your heart out.) The stickers promote causes ranging from feminism to the environment.

Apparently, no one had a problem with 60 of the stickers on Ausburn’s hybrid. Alas, it was the 61st sticker that landed Ausburn in hot water. Namely, a bumper sticker posing the question, “Have you drugged your kid today?”

Ausburn says the bumper sticker is taking as stand against those who tend to overmedicate hyperactive children.

“It’s kind of a criticism of us tending to overmedicate hyperactive kids who might not need those medications," the English teacher told the local CBS News affiliate.

Apparently, the sticker offended some people and school officials told her to remove it. She refused. Ausburn was then told she could keep the sticker as long as she agreed to park her Prius off campus for the remainder of the school year.

Ausburn, pointing to the First Amendment, said no dice. She also noted she never discussed her personal opinions on overmedication in class.

Feeling they had little choice, school officials sacked Ausburn. Now she wants her job back, claiming her constitutional rights were violated. (Perhaps she should rail against the injustice done to her in print by custom-making Bumper Sticker #62: “Was fired for bumper sticker above.”)

It’s a curious case indeed. Personally, I don’t find Ausburn’s message offensive and even if I did, I wouldn’t demand her termination over her taking such a position. Even so, although I’m a free speech advocate, surely there was another way to handle this – for example, perhaps Ausburn could’ve covered up the offending sticker whenever parked on school property? (Which would actually serve as a bumper sticker protesting censorship.)

Now the whole kerfuffle is likely headed to a courtroom all because those in the education system couldn’t find a way to strike a compromise.

Perhaps they should all go back to school?

Associated Press
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