200+ Students Opt Out of Blogging Teacher's Classes :cyberbullying

Published Online: August 24, 2011

200+ Students Opt Out of Blogging Teacher's Classes

More than 200 Central Bucks High School East students have requested to be kept out of the classes of a teacher suspended for a time over her blog comments, a district spokeswoman said Tuesday.

By Bill Reed, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Pa. (MCT)

That is more than double the 90 or so students who have been assigned to Natalie Munroe's two 11th-grade classes in honors English and in academic English and a debate class. Spokeswoman Carol Counihan could not say how many students were still assigned to Munroe, because the number keeps changing and probably would continue to do so until school starts next week.

Munroe—whose blog posts calling students "frightfully dim," "whiny," and "utterly loathsome" prompted her suspension in February—will return to the Dolyestown school Monday.

Tuesday is the first day for the entire student body of about 1,640—including 547 students in 11th grade.

Students' schedules were made available Thursday, and those who opted out of Munroe's classes were being reassigned to the other 11 English teachers, Counihan said.

Principal Abe Lucabaugh has said that all requests to opt out of Munroe's classes would be honored—a policy reserved for "when egregious or unique factors are in play." He called her blog posts about students, coworkers, and administrators "unprofessional, disrespectful, and disturbing, particularly coming from the heart of an educator."Munroe could not be reached for comment Tuesday but has said she "will teach in an empty classroom if I have to."

Superintendent N. Robert Laws has said the district has "backup plans" if Munroe does not have enough students to conduct classes, though he declined to elaborate.

Munroe has maintained that she posted her comments on a private blog read by her husband and seven friends and that she did not identify students, the school, or the district.

She was suspended with pay within a day of students' finding the blog and spreading its contents on Facebook. Two weeks later, she went on unpaid maternity leave.