The Plight of Sydney Mcgee

It seems only right to put up a quick post about Sydney Mcgee, a Texas 5th grade teacher with 28 years of teaching experience who was fired after taking 89 students on a school approved field trip to the Dallas Museum of Art. She was accompanied by four other teachers, twelve parents, and a museum docent. The New York Times reports that "She later received a memorandum in which the principal, Nancy Lawson, wrote: 'During a study trip that you planned for fifth graders, students were exposed to nude statues and other nude art representations.' It cited additional complaints, which Ms. McGee has challenged.” (Link)

We've been around education long enough to know the tip of an iceberg when we see one, and it's clear that there are other issues involved in Mcgee's situation than the field trip. Indeed, a letter from the school district which was posted on Boing Boing stated " What is getting lost here is that this is not about a field trip, censorship, or a parent complaint. It is not about age, tenure or salary level as has also been suggested in the media. This is about a school administrator working to help an employee improve her job performance and to improve the educational experience of students." (Link. Note: scroll down to the bottom of the page for the letter exchange.)

If that's the case, it's just too bad that the principal felt compelled to use an excuse for non-reappointment that apparently didn't have anything to do with the real reasons she and the Board were not happy with Ms. McGee's work.

We feel obligated to include photos of the offending images from The Dallas Museum of Art. (Unlike some Dallas television stations, we are not blocking out the potentially offensive portions of the statues.)