[David Paszkiewicz should be fired]

Hey kids, let's keep it clean. Your specious intellectual jabs at each other simply denigrate the discussion.

[David Paszkiewicz should be fired]

I'm interested to hear what the board thinks on these issues:

1. Should a teacher at a public school be restricted, in any manner, from straying from an approved curriculum? Are there any subjects (e.g. religion) that should be especially avoided or controlled?

2. If a student explicitly asks a question that concerns a restricted topic (as you have judged in question #1), how should the teacher respond?

[David Paszkiewicz should be fired]

No surprise, when your only other alternative is to support your claims.

Anybody else find it interesting that he's willing to accuse Paskiewicz of lying but refuses to provide specifics?

Cite me lying, and prove the statement is a lie; I dare you. Put up or shut up.

Heh. Carry on, coward.

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Bryan, be careful when you lump quotes together. I do not speak for Strife, and Strife does not speak for me.

It strikes me as a cowardly maneuver.

[David Paszkiewicz should be fired]

I don't think you think you were being a coward, so the translation was very probably required.

As though not using a pseudonym somehow makes it impossible for you to be free of cowardice?

The issue is there for all to see (so long as they're Internet-connected):  You made an accusation and you haven't backed it up (cowardice).

Yes, the accusation is crystal clear, just like if I accuse you of literally being Osama bin Laden.

But is there evidence in support of the accusation?  No.  No evidence in either case.  And that's the issue that you've dodged yet again (in a cowardly manner, if I do say so).

Right.  Focused on making the accusation regardless of the evidence (the type of thing a coward would do).

A minute ago it was about you not letting Paszkiewicz off for lying about whatever it is you think he lied about (the thing you won't specify that results in you looking like a coward even by your real name).

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I guess that means you do not understand. We'll carry on without you.

[David Paszkiewicz should be fired]

In other words, you're too cowardly to try to back up the smears you published.

My words speak for themselves -- there is no need to re-interpret them. If I was a coward I would have posted under a pseudonym.

Nice dodge. You won't back up the very accusation from which Paszkiewicz doesn't get a pass.

My accusations are crystal clear. If you do not understand them by this point, it's time to bow out of the discussion.

Way to keep to the topic there, O'Donnell.

I am keeping it focused. This is not about you and I, or debating ability, or rhetoric, or Matthew LaClair. This is about the education of high school students and what is and is not appropriate to discuss in a classroom setting.

[David Paszkiewicz should be fired]

Who gets no pass on this one?

Are you supposed to get a pass on the fact that you apparently just gave up on supporting your arguments in favor of just insisting that you're correct?

Paszkiewicz is the one that does not get the pass.

The back-and-forth we were having was an endless stream of rhetoric between the two of us. I was re-focusing the discussion.

[David Paszkiewicz should be fired]

Paszkiewicz, speaking from a position of authority, inculcated lies to children. That is the bottom line, and you do not get a pass on that one.

He was teaching accelerated U.S. History, so he knew he was violating the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.

He placed his religious faith above the education of his students.

[David Paszkiewicz should be fired]

So you're saying that by just offering John 3:16 as his opinion on the matter that therefore he was advancing that belief? Your view of the matter appears to differ from that of the ADL.

Yes. By offering his opinion in class, about a scriptural belief, he is advancing that belief. If my views differ from the ADL, so be it. I'm not their spokesperson.

Respecting the ark, all Paszkiewicz did was answer a student's question about whether or not he believed that there dinosaurs on the ark. Should we quiz prospective teachers on that point before hiring them, or do you think that might be unconstitutional?

You should not hire pre-calculus teachers that do not understand conic sections and you should not hire history teachers that place dinosaurs on man-made boats.

It would be if it were a violation of the Establishment Clause, but there's nothing wrong with having the Bible as a topic of conversation in class per se. Public schools can and do offer Bible courses, for example. Indeed, banning the Bible from class discussion would appear to be flatly unconstitutional. Are you all for it?

The discussion was not about the Bible -- it was about Jesus and salvation. Aside from discussing its existence and effects on history the Bible has no place in a history class. Events (save a few) in the Bible are not history.

You certainly might think so, but you would not have answered my question.

Paszkiewicz: “He did everything in his power to make sure that you could go to heaven, so much so that he took your sins on his own body, suffered your pains for you, and he’s saying, ‘Please, accept me, believe.’ If you reject that, you belong in hell.”

I do not believe it is a wild logical leap to think that someone who is unsure of their personal religious beliefs would be uncomfortable hearing this in their classroom.

How about a quotation? If Paszkiewicz is to be fired it should be for something that he actually said rather than something he could potentially say, right?

I don't have the quotation, but the NYT article references a specific incident where he stated that a Muslim girl would go to hell. I italicized "potentially" because I am speculating on the specific girl's state of mind.

[David Paszkiewicz should be fired]

Grow up.

Matthew loves this attention. As a matter of fact he has built up a very nice cottage industry of speaking engagements and scholarships.

Would you consider my post to be infantile? Perhaps you'll be generous and grant me adolescence.

The matter has nothing to do with any individual's speaking engagements.

Did you have a point to make?

[David Paszkiewicz should be fired]

What personal belief do you think was advanced, Mr. O'Donnell?

The belief that Jesus Christ is humankind's personal lord and savior, and the only path to eternal salvation. See John 3:16.

What evidence of ignorance of science and/or the Constitution do you think Mr. Paszkiewicz evidenced, Mr. O'Donnell?

Regarding science: placing dinosaurs (or anything, for that matter) on Noah's Ark. Injecting religious scripture into a public high school curriculum would be a violation of the Constitution's Establishment Clause.

How did he supposedly do that?

I think it's safe to say that Matthew LaClair as not comfortable in Mr. Paszkiewicz's classroom. Suggesting that Muslim's will go to hell for their beliefs could potentially make some Muslim students uncomfortable.

Liberal insider.

Concerned rationalist.

[David Paszkiewicz should be fired]

I realize that this issue is old, and, as a result of the legal settlement, supposedly resolved.

However, I am shocked that this man is still teaching in any public school setting. I am stunned that the town where I grew up and the high school where I was educated would allow this to happen.

The logistics of the recording and the popularity of Mr. Paszkiewicz are irrelevant. Divorce yourself from the personal passions inherent to the case and consider that the teacher in question:

- Abused a position of authority to advance his personal beliefs;

- displayed incompetence for his position as evidenced by his teaching on science and ignorance of the U.S. Constitution; and

- by virtue of his personal beliefs, made his students uncomfortable in their own ethics and mortality.

This is grounds for immediate dismissal of Mr. Paszkiewicz. Further, the Board of Education's mishandling of the matter should call their own positions into question.

I am not some liberal outsider swooping in to offer a tongue-lashing to the residents of Kearny. I am a concerned alumnus of Kearny High School that realizes, had the events taken place 12 years earlier, I could have been caught in this crossfire.

Sincerely,

Michael O'Donnell

KHS '95