Duct-Taped Students: Facebook Pic Gets Teacher In Trouble

Most of us know that Facebook–or any other social media site–is not the best place to post pictures that could potentially get us into trouble (although there are some exceptions). But eve...
Duct-Taped Students: Facebook Pic Gets Teacher In Trouble
Written by Amanda Crum
  • Most of us know that Facebook–or any other social media site–is not the best place to post pictures that could potentially get us into trouble (although there are some exceptions). But every now and then, even someone with seemingly good judgement will post incriminating evidence on Facebook and make us all shake our heads.

    Melissa Cairns, a middle-school math teacher at Buchtel Community Learning Center in Ohio, faces some harsh consequences after posting a photo of several of her students with duct tape over their mouths bearing the caption, “Finally found a way to get them to be quiet!” A colleague of Cairns’ saw the photo and notified the school board, which urged her to take it down after parents were notified.

    The school is currently participating in an investigation regarding the photo and will vote this week on whether Cairns should be fired. Cairns’ LinkedIn profile boasts a mission statement for the organization On My Own Two Feet, which promotes domestic violence awareness and which she helped found–something some find unnerving in light of the photo.

    “If we want to change the world, we have to start in our own homes. As a survivor of domestic abuse, this became my cause, my focus, my inspiration. This mission of this organization is to empower survivors of abuse and to heal them physically, mentally and spiritually.”

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