It was reported yesterday, November 6, 2008, that an Asheville NC school teacher, Diantha Harris, was using improper political propaganda in a classroom. Today it was learned that the teacher is employed by the Fayetteville NC, Cumberland County, school system. Superintendent Dr. William Harrison has put an official response on the school system’s website. Here is the official response:

“CCS Headline News  – Superintendent’s Response to YouTubeI was shocked when I saw the clip of an interaction between a Cumberland County Schools teacher and her students as posted on YouTube. While neutral discussion of the political process is appropriate, at no time, particularly with elementary students, should a teacher infuse his/her political views into the discussion.  Most disconcerting was the military slant that made its way into this discussion.  We are a military community, serving over 15,000 military students and their families.  We value the sacrifices, not only of the military parents but also those of their families.

We believe that military children are our children, military spouses are many of our employees, and military service men and women are our heroes.  We proudly serve our military children and have received national awards for our support of military families.

I was particularly disturbed to see the uncomfortable position in which our children were placed due to the inappropriate actions of one of our teachers. Please be assured that the actions exhibited in this video are not consistent with the vision of the CCS.  Moreover, the actions of one teacher do not represent the 7000 employees in our organization.

Once the video was brought to my attention, I immediately launched an investigation.  Personnel laws prevent me from releasing information regarding individual employees and personnel action taken.  I can assure you that upon completion of the investigation, I will take appropriate action.

Dr. William Harrison
CCS’ Superintendent”

Cumberland County School system website:

http://www.ccs.k12.nc.us/

Here is the controversial video:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDEAYgm0Dv8]