A disturbing story from the heartland:

A very popular veteran teacher fom a nearby high school was fired last night, at a public meeting of the school board. This school board's usual procedure is to hold disciplinary meetings behind closed doors. The motives for opening this meeting up to the public are suspect at best, if you ask me.

The teacher was fired for using a school computer, (on a Sunday, when no students were present) because apparently some porn sites were displayed on the screen for less than one minute, according to computer records. The testimony was that several sites were visited, (they rattled off the names of the sites--it wasn't pretty) with a total screen time of less than one minute. Less than one minute. Do the math. What do you think really happened?

Dozens of parents, fellow teachers, and students came to the meeting to speak on the teacher's behalf. The teacher himself did not make excuses, but acknowledged his mistake and apologized profusely. The board stood by it's "Zero Tolerance Policy" and fired him anyway, citing student safety as it's main consideration.

Did he do something stupid? Of course he did. Or maybe he did an internet search and the wrong kind of sites popped up. That certainly has happened to me! Heck, this very blog has even been one of those sites where a poorly worded blog title brought out the creeps before.

His career is over. He will likely never teach again, no matter how little his mistake impacted an actual student. I can't help but wonder if showing this man a little grace would have been a better lesson for the youth of that community. The lesson they have been taught is this: mistakes are not tolerated. Not even a weakness that lasts less than one minute.