The creative writing assignment was given to all students in Katrina Guarascio’s class at Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho. The students were supposed to re-write a fairy tale or legend in a modern setting. Naturally, a student chose to make Jesus the main character of their story. In the story, Jesus hands out medical marijuana to the sick.
But upon trading stories with their fellow classmates for review, a religious student decided to complain and used the situation in an attempt to get her teacher fired. She ran to her mommy and daddy, who then created a firestorm by whining to school officials. Guarascio was put on administrative leave pending an investigation, as if she had absolute control about what her students would choose as their topic in creative writing.
“I don’t take any personal offense, Guarascio told KOAT-TV. “It’s not written for me, it’s written for them. It’s how they can express themselves.”
Guarascio also claims “the student who complained actually boasted to her classmates about how she was ‘going to get her teacher fired.'”
Nevertheless, school communications director Kim Vesely accused the 8 year veteran teacher of not being “professional” in the classroom, even though the two women had never met or been in the same room together. Rather than spend all her time fighting the school because of the religious temper tantrum of a snotty little teenage brat, Guarascio resigned. Guarascio says she felt harassed and targeted but hopes this doesn’t stem the creativity of students at the school.
“If they have something to say, say it,” she said. “Not everyone’s going to agree with you, but that doesn’t make your point invalid or worthless. Tell your story.”
Here’s the video via YouTube.
This is a clear case of what an assault on freedom of speech looks like when the assault is initiated by “Christian” extremists. It’s not like the teacher was telling her students that Jesus supports marijuana. A student followed the assignment and wrote a creative story about Jesus, who probably would hand out medical marijuana to help sick patients to alleviate their pain and suffering from diseases like cancer.
The religious student clearly had a vendetta against her teacher and was just waiting for an opportunity to cry to her parents about something that didn’t really even involve her. If she objected to the story, all she had to do is simply decline to review it. But apparently, this girl hasn’t learned about turning the other cheek. This school district owes Guarascio a public apology and the vengeful little religious brat needs to be punished in some way for causing an unnecessary school disruption.
Is this what we can expect now from “Christian” fundamentalist kids across the country? Their answer for seeing or reading something they don’t like is to whine about it until their parents complain and the teacher loses their job? Will science teachers now have to fear for their jobs since it’s pretty obvious that “Christian” students won’t like learning about evolution and basic reproductive biology?
This is why schools are having a harder time finding and keeping great teachers.
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