Teacher gets in trouble ... for wearing Obama T-shirt

Boy, just when you think that school principals have more important things to do, you come across some micromanaging freak like Elizabeth Kennedy of the Bak Middle School of the Arts in West Palm Beach.

She reprimanded popular American history teacher Dennis Yuzenas for wearing an iconic Obama T-shirt to school shortly after the election. Yuzenas, shown at right in the "offending" garment, cops to being "very liberal," but he said he was going to use the shirt as an example of the importance of art.

Kennedy saw Yuzenas on the school's TV news show on the Friday after the election. While wearing an Obama T-shirt, Yuzenas said, "It's a good day to be an American," or words to that effect.

A few days later, Kennedy asked him to sign a memo for his file.

"Last Friday, November 7, you wore a T-shirt that clearly showed which candidate you supported during the recent Presidential Election and appeared with students on the in-school news broadcast sharing your positive view regarding the outcome of the election," the memo read.

"As per the Code of Ethics and the above state School Board policy, students may not know your political view," it continued. "This could be construed as using your position to influence others. It is my expectation, that in the future as you teach students to clarify and express their own political views, you will remain neutral."

Yuzenas was flabbergasted. He said he did his best to remain apolitical during the campaign.

"I am very liberal, I admit that, but I was trying to be ultra, ultra fair," he said. "My car has a "Republicans for Obama" bumper sticker and peace sign on it, so I parked it in a place where the kids couldn't see it."

His remark on the news, he said, was one of patriotism in support of the new president-elect. Another teacher had jokingly referred to the school as the "Barack Middle School of the Arts" on the same broadcast.

As for the T-shirt, Yuzenas said it was part of his lesson plan that day.

"I was talking about the role of art in society," he said, "and tying in this T-shirt to Picasso's Guernica."

[...]

"It's making education relevant to kids," Yuzenas said. "How much more relevant can you get in an arts school than talking about the role of an artist in an election?"

But here's the real kicker: Kennedy said that had Yuzenas worn, say, a shirt with the current president's image on it, that might have bolstered his claim of patriotism:

Kennedy, in her third year at Bak, said that the popularity of Yuzenas, one of the founding teachers of the arts magnet school, makes it even more important for him to keep his political views to himself.

"The kids could go home and say, 'We know who Mr. Y voted for,' " she said.

Kennedy said she thought it would be OK for a teacher to wear a T-shirt showing the sitting president, but not the president-elect right after an election where the Florida vote was relatively close.

"We're not here to offend anyone," she said. "We're here to educate. Forty-nine percent of the people voted the other way in the election."

Nice going, Principal Kennedy. You've just shown your true colors, too: RED. Tell me, what exactly is the difference between wearing a T-shirt with Drunky McStagger's picture on it and one -- after the election -- with Obama's picture on it? Are you suggesting that a picture of Drunky wouldn't "offend anyone?" About half of Americans voted "the other way" in 2004 and 2000 (okay, more than half there), you know, and more than 70% think he sucks today. Oh, and it's really 46%, not 49%, in 2008, by the way. Some educator you are -- setting up strawmen and getting your facts wrong in the bargain.

Yuzenas has refused to sign the memo, on the grounds that he hasn't violated School Board policy in that his presentations have been "essentially balanced and fair." Good for him. Kennedy's actions are nothing more than sour grapes in an election where her guy got demolished electorally. (Yeah, I'm making an assumption here -- that she supported Huggy Bear -- but what do you think?) She's turned a teachable moment into a profound lapse of good judgment ... and she deserves all the bad press she's getting.

Heckuva job, Lizzie ...