Would You Fire This Teacher ?

[lizbud]

Teacher Allegedly Beats Rabbits To Death In Front Of Kids

POSTED: 6:40 a.m. EST March 25, 2004

PLANT CITY, Fla. -- Authorities in Plant City said a high school science teacher killed a sickly pair of baby rabbits with a shovel in front of her stunned class. She then asked the students to help bury the day-old animals.

Teacher Jane Bender won't face criminal charges, but she is facing two civil counts of animal cruelty that carry fines of $620.

One Animal Services investigator said Bender has to be held accountable, because her actions are "just not what we want to teach people to do with injured or sick animals."

The rabbits were not likely to survive on their own.

A sheriff's spokesman said Bender told investigators she asked a student to dig a hole, but the class refused to help in burying the rabbits.

[2kitties]

um, wow. YES.

[aly]

UHHHHHHHHHHHH - what in the world?

Um, if that happened to me while I was in class, I would have been so traumatized, I would have had to switch schools or something!

[Corinna]

YES!!!!!!!! what age group did this idiot teach? What are parent reactions?

[Uabassoon]

I can't believe the fine is only $620!

[Karen]

Where did the rabbits come from? Were they wild rabbits? How did she get them? It seems like half a story. She should apologize to the students, get some tact lessons, and should not have expected them to help her bury them.

[RICHARD]

The rabbits were born to a rabbit that was kept as part of the Ag program on campus....Mom refused to feed them and pushed them out of the 'nest'.

[mugsy]

I would want the entire story, but, OMG....what a moron. While my heart says she should be fired, I don't know what grounds they would use and if there was a strong enough union in her district, they would get her her job back.

Why do they allow these people to exist in a "civilized" world? I hope she doesn't have kids (ie...they allowed her to breed).

[ramanth]

*is very stunned*

[CathyBogart]

Killing them with a shovel certainly wouldn't have been my recourse, and any euthanasia in front of a class of students is a bad idea...someone is going to freak out.

Fired? I don't think so...educated and given the number of the nearest veterinary hospital for next time? Yeah, definitely.

[lizbud]

The news account that I quoted was from a local ABC news
website. Here's a more detailed one from another ABC site,

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/Living/bunnies_killed_040319.html

I believe she should be suspended AND charged with animal
abuse. What was this woman thinking?:mad:

[carole]

FIRE her for sure, I would protest as a parent, and make sure she got the boot, disgusting, fancy showing our younger generation such an act, my daughter would be very traumitised by something as awful as that, GET THE SQUAD AND FIRE HER.:mad:

[Denyce]

SHE TOLD THEM TO BURY THEM ALIVE!!!!!!:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

OMG!!!

yes absolutely this woman should be fired! And a much greater fine than she received. If I was a parent I would be livid at such a total disregard for life! How absolutely horrible! What is wrong with some people.

Denyce

[DJFyrewolf36]

Um ewww?

Personally I would have went to an er um VET concidering they are trained to handle this sort of thing...I mean come on...even if the rabbits werent going to live, they should have been given the best possible chance. Ugh...stupid people...:mad: :mad:

[G.P.girl]

Students said they had offered to take care of the bunnies, but Bender said she did not want to bottle-feed the newborns. She ordered the students to bury them alive, and when the students refused, she killed them herself, they said.

OMG! at first i would have said don't fire her, butnow...i think she sould definatly be fired! and have to pay alot more than $1240!! if i wre in her class i would have thrown myself on top of the whole to save them

[DJFyrewolf36]

I would have smacked her with the shovel
*SMACK* How does it feel now?!
Urrrggggg:mad: :mad: :mad:

[guster girl]

I agree that the teacher could have explained to the kids that the bunnies would need to be put down because they wouldn't survive in captivity without their mother. But, I completely disagree with the way she handled it. That is just disturbing. Even if she had taken them elsewhere to kill them, or done it when the kids weren't in the classroom, like at the end of the day or something. Wow, I can't imagine how I'd have reacted to a teacher doing such a thing. :(

[green_chameleon_girl]

:mad: :( :mad: :( :mad: :(

Yep, I would definatly fire her! Okay, if the school has the money to supply the baby bunnies, or if she caught them or anything they are still there responsibility! If you have them and they get sick you take them to the vet! Poor things probably dident know what was going on then all of a sudden *BANG!* ugh...!! And to bury them ALIVE!? GROSS!! I would have buried her alive!:( Those poor things! I wish she would be fined more then $620!




R.I.P lil bunnies! I hope your life is filled with love, joy and happiness at the RB

[moosmom]

Uh, YUP, her sorry a$$ would have been in the unemployment line for sure! Reason for termination: BEING STUPID!!!!

[catnapper]

Wow. What can I say about this... where's the shovel so I can give her a taste of her own medicine

[Twisterdog]

The best choice for her to have made would have been to let the students try bottle feeding the rabbits, perhaps. That would have been very educational and fun ... if it would have worked. Very tramatic and heartbreaking if they would have died ... which they probably would have. And some parent would have probably screamed about it, then.

Killing the rabbits in front of the students was VERY bad judgement. Never should have happened. Stupid. If she was going to kill them, she should have done it privately.

And while I personally could never kill a baby rabbit with a shovel ... there are a lot of people in the world that would not think this is cruel means of death. Not us ... pet owners who are very attached to their pets. But lots of people ... farmers, scientists, etc. might find this a quick, acceptable way to kill a baby animal. I don't know.

I wouldn't necessarily fire her. I'd reprimand her, and see what her reaction to it all was.

[G.P.girl]

i would agreee with you Twisterdog, IF she had only wanted to kill them, then it would only be about her choice to do it in front of the students. but she wanted thestudents to bury the rabbits alive. i think there's something alittle deeper there than just knocking them with a shovel.

[Twisterdog]

Originally posted by G.P.girl
i would agreee with you Twisterdog, IF she had only wanted to kill them, then it would only be about her choice to do it in front of the students. but she wanted thestudents to bury the rabbits alive. i think there's something alittle deeper there than just knocking them with a shovel.

That's true ... good point. Yeah, I don't think burying something alive follows anyone's definition of "normal". :(

[dukedogsmom]

Obviously this witch has some screws loose and surely shouldn't be teaching kids. I think she should be fined and fired. We don't need sickos like this in the school system. And if she did want to kill them, how about just smothering them? Would have been a heck of a lot more humane.

[mugsy]

Originally posted by moosmom
Uh, YUP, her sorry a$$ would have been in the unemployment line for sure! Reason for termination: BEING STUPID!!!!

Unfortunately, that's not a sufficient reason to fire a teacher. I know that if the Union is strong enough down there and she is a member, if they try to fire her it won't work....unless she broke some severe law.

She deserves to lose her job. I will say that if enough parents complain then the union may not be able to work (I hope so in this case).

[lizbud]

Originally posted by mugsy
Unfortunately, that's not a sufficient reason to fire a teacher. I know that if the Union is strong enough down there and she is a member, if they try to fire her it won't work....unless she broke some severe law.




Molly, I'm sure you don't mean it this way, but don't you think
that animal abuse qualifies as a severe infraction of law? That's
what's wrong with society's mindset now, too many people do
not take animal abuse as a SERIOUS crime.

From the article: "Her only comment was that she had made a bad decision," said Animal Services investigator Dennis McCullough. "I definitely felt that the teacher needed to be held accountable."

The veteran teacher is also facing questions from the school board, which plans to review the case.

"We haven't talked to the teacher yet," schools spokesman Mark Hart said, "but we believe that she was trying to explain to them that, sometimes in the course of farming, it is necessary to put animals down."

I believe the "Teacher" in her should have encouraged kindness
& compassion & let the students try to save the bunnies. Even
if she felt they wouldn't live, she still would be encouraging them
in the right direction don't you think.She made a very bad choice
& I think she knows it now.:(

[guster girl]

Personally, I think she should have been honest with them in that there would be no way they could save the bunnies themselves. She could have taken them to a vet's or a rehab center or something. I don't think she was wrong in not leading the kids on about the chances of the bunnies living. The bunnies would have died in the care of a bunch of kids, and, I think it would have been devastating for them to put effort into saving them and having them die anyway. And, from one person's comments, I don't see how suffocation is any less traumatic than being hit with a shovel. I mean, if you're going to put an animal down in such a fashion, I would think something like that would be faster and less traumatic on the animal than suffocation. Either way, her biggest crime, in my opinion, was doing the deed in front of the kids. I, personally, would never be able to kill an animal that way, but, that's why I would never have survived on a farm or ranch. I have heard of people stepping on mice stuck in traps and such. and, although it may be more humane, I'm incapable of doing it. Anyway, that's just my thoughts.

[G.P.girl]

i htink it would have been less traumtic if they would have tried to save the bunnies and failed,rather than seeing the teacher kill them

[Tonya]

What a freak! I would do more then fire her!

[guster girl]

Originally posted by G.P.girl
i htink it would have been less traumtic if they would have tried to save the bunnies and failed,rather than seeing the teacher kill them

Definitely. That's why I was thinking her best route would have been to either take the bunnies to experts or somewhere to have them put down or at least do what she did privately.

[dukedogsmom]

I totally agree. I mean, that is a sad fact of life. But if I had seen something like that when I was young, I'd probably be scarred for life. There's no telling how much emotional damage she's done. And, for the record, I couldn't kill an animal at all. That's why I haven't ever pursued being a vet or working at one because I couldn't bear to see them PTS. I was just trying to think of a less violent way for those poor bunnies. I think she needs a psychological evaluation.

[carole]

Personally I find no excuses acceptable, and If this happened in my daughter's school I would be outraged, and get off my butt and do something about it, animal cruelty it is in my opinion, there were more humane ways of disposing of these poor defenceless babies, yes life down on the farm can be cruel, and that is exactly what it is at times CRUEL, and as a farmer's daughter I still think there is no excuse for it, farming does not have to be cruel.

[IttyBittyKitty]

Uh ... yes! What was she thinking?