Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

First of all this teacher was lauded by the school system and her students before the incident. Secondly, there was no evidence of impropriety shown to exist between Ms. England and any of her students. Thirdly, these are all 8 and 9 year olds from one of the poorer neighborhoods in Tennessee; I doubt these kids are on the Internet at home, let alone looking at MySpace profiles.

Doing what you want to do on your own time is not a "lie." Having HR people troll the 'Net, Googling up prospective employees is not a productive use of their time. Suppose you, as the owner of company are a Republican. I go and apply for a job with you and I am fully qualified, but in the course of checking my references, you do a Google search on me and find out I am not only a Democrat, I write a left wing blog critical of the Bush administration. Do you withhold the offer of employment because you happen to disagree with me?

Her pictures are no more provocative than what children would normally see on TV and, having lived through my daughter's nine year old period, I think those kids, after seeing the pictures, would probably react thusly; "Hey, there's Ms. England, where's my chocolate milk?"

There is no way to say that the pictures on the websites are a proffessional representation of Melinda England. The fact that the pics were, in some minds, questionable isn't up for debate. The question in my mind is when and where do we, as the public tax payers, draw the line. Whether I agree with the pics or whether I don't shouldn't enter into the arguement. How can we or do we want the government to legislate morals as to what is good and bad. How can a school board, who up to this point has had no issues with Melinda England, say to her that she can no longer teach because they don't agree with the content of a set of pictures. Was she doing anything illegal? If she wasn't breaking the law then it becomes and issue of morals. I myself have no desire for any public agency or board to either approve or disappove of the morals I have....do you?

I'm sorry but you have to realize that she has to be judged on her ability to teach our kids the class subject matter. If she has pictures or videos exposed then let that be. She we not let her teach class just because she embraces her sexuality, it's OK(as long as that stays out of the school!!!!!) If we ban her, then let's ban every parent who has given oral sex to their husband/wife from church or any PTA meetings. If what the teacher does outside of work prevent her from doing her job, then so should that apply to any Mom/Dad that has masturbated or pleasured themselves before or after the age of 18 or married should have their parental rights taken away.

This is old news, but it still speaks to the level of journalism displayed by Gary Bourgeault. The truth of the situation was forcibly shoved aside in favor of copy/paste sensationalism from any and every media outlet he could find.
Mr. Bourgeault's end-of-the-world-reaction is laughable and embarrassing to true journalistic media and reading it even so far after the fact still induces a very weary sigh from these lips.

A short list of things Mr. Bourgeault essentially LIED about.
Fact: The photo's in question were never posted by Ms. England.
Fact: The photo's were never posted on Ms. England's MySpace page. Ever.
Fact: Ms. England's MySpace page private long before any of this ever happened.
Fact: After creepily looking up Ms. England's boyfriends MySpace page where the photo's were in fact seen, and in a bid to smear Ms. England, her ex-husband alerted both the schoolboard and the news about the photos.
Fact: The photo's in question, none of which showcase any more skin than is available to see at any North American Beach, were taken long before she was even employed by the Knoxville school system.
Fact: The "blog" in which she was accused of writing about her prescription drug use and "wild students" was in fact a support group website for those suffering from fibromyalgia.

Mr. Bourgeault is a pathetic writer and journalist and should be terminated ASAP.