While kids across the country engaged in politically charged walkouts this past Wednesday — spurred on and supported by left-wing politicos both elected and otherwise — one of their teachers was actually placed on administrative leave.
Why? Because she engaged some students in a discussion of the protest’s larger political implications the week before.
Julianne Benzel, a history teacher at Rocklin High School near Sacramento, California, was “aghast” when she got the call, a Sacramento CBS affiliate reported this week.
Benzel had a dialogue with her students about the protest last Thursday and Friday, a few days ahead of Wednesday’s walkout, The Hill reported.
She said she did not discourage student participation in the walkout. Rather, she highlighted a glaring double standard that comes into play when public school administrations sanction political protests on school days. The point she made, by asking her students to ponder a question, was that if schools permit students to walk out to protest topic A, should they then permit students to walk out to protest topic B as well.
Fair is fair. Right?
But if that straightforward and logical observation wasn’t enough to irritate the liberal parents in the area, she went the extra step of providing — gasp! — a hypothetical example.
And what was it? Her example was about a potential abortion-related protest. But oh, no no no — that was over-the-top.
According to the school, Benzel’s classroom discussion generated “several complaints from parents and students involving the teacher’s communications regarding [the day’s] student-led civic engagement activities,” according to The Hill. As a result of those complaints, the school administration placed Benzel on paid leave.
“I just kind of used the example — which I know it’s really controversial, but I know it was the best example I thought of at the time: [What if a] group of students nationwide, or even locally, decided, ‘I want to walk out of school for 17 minutes and go in the quad area and protest abortion — would that be allowed by our administration?'” Benzel told CBS.
Related: After the School Walkouts, America Has a Newly Minted Batch of Victims
The obvious answer to that question is “no.” There is not a snowball’s chance in Hades that would happen in a public school.
And it shouldn’t. It is not the role of the public school to serve as a crucible for political protest. Schools cannot function and children can’t learn if students are permitted to walk out of classrooms at their leisure, without penalty, for political protests or anything else.
Benzel has retained legal counsel, CBS reports, and she will be meeting with her school administration on Friday morning.
Brave woman – who ran into the tolerant, life loving leftist organizers of the gun control event and the… https://t.co/h19qJu9cvI
— Kathryn B Trainor (@KathrynBTrainor) March 16, 2018
Im so proud of my teacher for standing up against our liberal school district. You can read about why she was wrongfully placed on administrativeleave here: https://t.co/TOLYQgjWKX
— Brandon Gillespie (@bgillie13) March 15, 2018
This Teacher is so very right.
Rocklin is so very WRONG on so many levels. @RocklinHigh @seanhannity https://t.co/5HqlIHPkDq— All Colors United (@JimmyTeton) March 15, 2018
So that march for guns that was supposed to start a dialogue apparently only works if you are in agreement. What a load of BS. #LiberalLogichttps://t.co/vMQMnb2PoO
— Boycott Hollywood (@michael_drawing) March 15, 2018
What happens when you introduce a little truth that conflicts with the leftist agenda in the People’s Republic of California https://t.co/178oMHhtuH
— MJK (@mikekellogg) March 15, 2018
California high school teacher placed on administrative leave for pointing out the double standard of the walkout. https://t.co/AdSU46lIrY
— NFA (@NevadaFamily) March 15, 2018
Michele Blood is a Flemington, New Jersey-based freelance writer and regular contributor to LifeZette.
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