Teacher fired for giving zeros wins appeal

[oneh2obabe]

A provincial appeal board that looks into the firing of teachers has found the Edmonton Public School Board "did not act fairly" when they suspended and then fired Lynden Dorval, who broke school policy by giving zeros to his students.

"Sometimes standing up for something has an effect. It actually works," Dorval said Friday. "It was just something that was the right thing to do."

Dorval, a physics teacher at Ross Sheppard High School, was suspended in May 2012 for awarding zeros for work that wasn’t handed in or tests not taken, which went against the school’s policy.

Four months later, Dorval received a notice that he had been fired. He appealed the dismissal to the Board of Reference, which found earlier this month that he "was treated unfairly in his dismissal."

"This board finds no evidence of deliberate misconduct by the teacher, and certainly no evidence of deliberate repeated misconduct," the decision states.

The board ordered a full repayment of pay from the date of dismissal as well as a top-up of his pension.

Dorval is now retired, so the board did not order that he be reinstated.

The board also found Dorval’s original suspension in May was not justified and that he "was not permitted full opportunity" to respond to the allegations.

"The basis for the suspension appeared to be that the principal viewed any form of dissent as insubordination which was not to be tolerated, despite repeated efforts by teachers to explain why the directive interfered with their professional judgment and could result in illegitimate outcomes," the decision reads.

Edmonton Public School Board spokeswoman Lisa Austin said the ruling was disappointing and that the board would appeal.

She says the board made the decision after getting an opinion from outside legal counsel.

"They informed us that there was several grounds upon which we could appeal the decision," she said.

The school board has 30 days to file the appeal.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ ... -1.2751007

[westbankkid]

The teacher did the right thing. More teachers should follow that lead and give 0s to students who don't turn in work or fail to show up for exams.
The Edmonton school board are completely out of line in their way this was handled. It's their thinking that makes a lot of students complacent as to how their education is earned.

[Smurf]

I agree 100% with the decision and with what the teacher did. This is a very important time in life when children are learning to transfer into the real world. They are preparing to leave the protected world of their parents and childhood. The real world will not accept someone not completing, in many cases not even doing things that are assigned to them. Children have to learn this and a large part of that is learning to complete their assignments at school. This dismissal was rediculous right from the start.

[Bsuds]

The Edmonton School Board should be fired en-mass for not allowing 0 grades for work not performed!

No wonder there are so many useless workers out there.

[zzontar]

I wonder how many idiots at the school board would also pay a contractor they hired who never showed up to get the job done?

[Glacier]

It's good to see common sense prevail.

[fvkasm2x]

The Edmonton School Board should be fired en-mass for not allowing 0 grades for work not performed!

No wonder there are so many useless workers out there.

This is actually policy in a lot of places. Multiple countries, states and provinces.

Moving forward with that concept of of giving everyone an award or ribbon just for showing up and not keeping score... because it creates self esteem issues.

[Bsuds]

Moving forward with that concept of of giving everyone an award or ribbon just for showing up and not keeping score... because it creates self esteem issues.

That will work quite well for collecting their welfare cheque every month.

[wanderingman]

Quote:because it creates self esteem issues.

Funny for how many years that was never an issue and now its more important for some dummy to have self esteem
but cant read,spell or add figures correctly

[fvkasm2x]

Yes, it is a sad world we live in and it's only going to get worse.

We truly are living in an idiocracy.

[KL3-Something]

Does anyone know what, by "policy", he was supposed to give as a mark for these kids who didn't write these tests or complete these assignments? I'm kind of at a loss as to come up with anything else that would make sense.

[Smurf]

That's because there is nothing else that makes sense. It scares me when I sit back for a moment and think of all the similar things today that do not make sense. In my mind, one of those is political correctness. In many cases you can't even speak the truth because it isn't politically correct.

[mexi cali]

I think it's ludicrous that the board can appeal the decision. They made their choice, they sullied the man and now they have been told what everybody but them seemed to know all along, that their actions were unjust.

It seems reasonable to me that the findings in part state that the Principle viewed the act as insubordination which was not to be tolerated. Power monger.

And no kidding that their lawyers say that they have several grounds on which to appeal. They get paid for appealing so why not? It isn't their money.

Ridiculous.

[oneh2obabe]

Does anyone know what, by "policy", he was supposed to give as a mark for these kids who didn't write these tests or complete these assignments? I'm kind of at a loss as to come up with anything else that would make sense.

http://news.epsb.ca/2012/05/why-do-we-g ... way-we-do/

[KL3-Something]

Does anyone know what, by "policy", he was supposed to give as a mark for these kids who didn't write these tests or complete these assignments? I'm kind of at a loss as to come up with anything else that would make sense.

http://news.epsb.ca/2012/05/why-do-we-grade-students-the-way-we-do/

Thank you

That's a great example of how we are creating a nanny society full of people who won't be able to look after themselves or their own interests.