Anoka-Hennepin teachers accused of harassment put on leave

Protest your kids, remove them from the public schools. The good teachers are standing up to protect the students from evil that is harmful to the health of your child.

There are a lot of good, unemployed teachers that would love for a chance to have the jobs of these 2 terrible teachers. Take away their license and open up the positions for more qualified candidates.

What a sad, sad thing. Have we sunk so low as a society that we simply cannot let go of this hatred and bigotry toward the very Gay & Lesbian children that we ourselves are creating?

The country is watching this story. And these 2 sorry excuses for teachers MUST be made an example of.

How long will we allow this bigotry to poison our society? It is the ugliest thing I have ever been witness to on a societal level, and it really must stop.

We as a society have singled out the very Gay & Lesbian children that WE have created as our source of abuse and torment. WE have done this. And WE have allowed this.

And now WE must clean it up. It denigrates us ALL.

Good! Let’s hope the leave is permanent.

These teachers were not PUT on leave but took voluntary unpaid leave. If some people were calling for your head on a platter you would do the same thing. I believe and have heard there is much more to this story, including the “victim” being punished by one of the teachers the day before. Not one other student has come forward saying this happened, the State Department of Human Services did an investigation that found probable cause, which in legal speak does not amount to anything. You can not convict someone in court on probable cause alone. I heard the district agreed to pay instead of dragging this through the court system and costing more money. I also know this human services department did not contact either one of the teachers when doing the investigation….that’s right….DID NOT CONTACT EITHER TEACHER. What kind of investigation is that? I also hear this department is in hot water for breaking a confidentiality agreement. This is not the end of the story.

I don’t believe that Cleveland and Filson both decided to take a voluntary leave on the same day. Cleveland’s attorney is just saying that to try and make it look better for her. The district is probably allowing her to say its voluntary or perhaps she chose not to appeal the decision and that’s how she can say it’s voluntary. The bottom line is that both of them are out of the classroom where they belong.

Stephanie, (or is it Justine?) I’m not sure where you’re getting your info about the investigation but here are some direct quotes from the MN Department of Human Rights (not “services”).

“In its investigation, the Department of Human Rights determined that EVIDENCE was sufficient to establish that the charging party’s son had been subjected to unwelcome harassment by two of his teachers, and that the conduct had been egregious enough to compel the student to withdraw from the situation by transferring to another school. The investigation showed that the school district had subjected the student to conduct severe or pervasive enough to create an environment that a reasonable person would find hostile or abusive on the basis of his perceived sexual orientation.

The department noted that the school district’s own investigation had identified WITNESSES who substantiated allegations that teachers Cleveland and Filson had made regular ‘gay’ jokes in the classroom, and did nothing to stop subsequent ‘homo and gay jokes’ by classmates, sometimes smiling and laughing after the students’ comments.”

So there you go Stephanie/Justine…there’s your evidence, substantiated by witnesses. “Probable cause” is not mentioned anywhere but is what led them to investigate in the first place. These are the results of that investigation. It’s all here http://www.humanrights.state.mn.us/education/articles/case_month.html

And how do you know that the investigators didn’t contact either teacher? HIGHLY doubtful. I think Filson’s lying to the family on that one…And why is a “confidentiality agreement” so important if the allegations are false? Why aren’t Cleveland and Filson speaking out to defend themselves? Maybe because they know they’re guilty. They should have thought about the potential consequences of their cruelty before they chose to humiliate one of their own students repeatedly.

@Tim: As you say, “The good teachers are standing up to protect the students from evil that is harmful to the health of your child.”

And that is why these BAD teachers who are CREATING the evil, rather than protecting their students from it, are deservedly out. They should no more be allowed back into a classroom than a surgeon who carves his initials onto a patient should be allowed back into the operating room.

This is the first time I have ever been to this website. I have no idea who Justine is, but it sounds like it’s someone who may have share my ideas. Listen, I know for a fact this was a voluntary leave. The district had nothing to do with it. Beyond that, I know for a FACT the State Department of Human Rights did not contact either teacher when doing their investigation….that is another fact. Confidentiality is a huge concern because the district settled, knowing or believing this accusation was not true, therefore, making everyone sign an agreement not to make it public. Settling makes you look guilty, even though the district acknowledged that by paying $25,000, they are in no way admitting guilt. So, the damage is done, the State Dept. of Human Rights published this (making the teachers look guilty) even without them ever admitting guilt or the district admitting guilt. Now, the confidentiality agreement is broken and someone will pay, In the meantime, these teachers are not able to speak due to the pending lawsuit. By not being able to defend yourself, you look guilty. Everyone loves to feel they are doing the right thing, protecting people that are wronged, etc. Please know the facts before you ask they be hung in town square. The distict let them hang already.

Stephanie, how is it that you “know” these “facts” that you’re claiming? And who is it that’s bound by this so-called confidentiality agreement? Do you really think the district wanted the media to find out about this? It would serve their interests much more had this all been kept a secret. The public outcry over this is just as embarassing for them. It was the Human Rights Department who published information about the case after the investigation was over which they are perfectly allowed to do.

(from their website) “The Department of Human Rights publishes information about selected cases and settlement agreements, including its ‘Case of the Month,’ as part of its mandate under the Human Rights Act to ‘educate to eliminate’ discrimination” It goes on to say that settlements don’t indicate an admission of guilt or liability. The fact that neither the district nor the teachers admit guilt is not surprising. People in the wrong often don’t want to admit it, but it doesn’t change what was proven by the investigation.

As for pending lawsuits, I would try to make nice with the district if I were Cleveland and Filson. Its the only place they even have a chance of teaching again, which could all change after the investigation by the MN Board of Teaching.

Because the State dept. of human rights also signed the agreement.

I happen to KNOW FOR A FACT that these two teachers took leave the same week, on different days and that it was voluntary. MPR did a story and talked about it earlier this week. Katrina, I appreciate your passion for this subject, we all need to be passionate about something, after all, that’s what makes life, well, life! However I did check the facts with someone employed by the State of Minnesota and they did verify that the DHR never spoke to to either teacher at any time. In addition, there are facts listed on that sight that are flat out false, the district even verified this. I don’t say guilty, I don’t say innocent, I wait till the dust settles and all have been heard. Respectfully, in peace…

I respect your opinion, although I disagree. I am not going to argue what I know to be a fact, some people have the inside scoop and some do not. I happen to know 99% of what is happening with this case and the teachers involved. It’s likely that does not matter to you, but it will be back out in the news, where these FACTS will come to light. Might take time but it will happen.

If these teachers did as the student accuses – and I say if because I haven’t read any of the papers filed in the case, etc., they suck to the nth degree and deserve to have their teaching licenses revoked for good. LGBT kids have enough to deal with without the so-called adults around them being bigoted homophobic jerks. I’ve worked in several St Paul Public Schools and any utterance of anything homophobic from kids that I’ve witnessed was dealt with quickly and severely – by me and the school administration. It just was not tolerated and kids were punished swiftly. If Anoka really has teachers doing this stuff, I can’t imagine what the kids in that district are saying – and doing – to LGBT kids. Regardless, all schools have to act on mistreatment of LGBT kids – it’s the least they are owed.

All of the arguing isn’t going to change the fact that what occurred with this young man was wrong. I know that this occurrence with this student has left a permanent imprint on him forever. $25,000 is a small price to pay for what this student had to endure for far to long. Confidentiality is over rated…if we don’t know about the wrong’s in the community’s lives, how can we make steps toward safe communities, equality, and to put an end discrimination in any aspect. Be it, race, religion, sex, orientation, ethnicity, etc. This kind of behavior has no place in education or anywhere else for that matter. Even the ELCA has advanced far more on this subject than this school district. If they do not address this issue, maybe the GLBT kids/families/community members will just go away….don’t think so.

If this was a student to student only action the students would have been suspended/expelled.
Student to teacher action, same consequence. But since its a teacher to student action, the teachers involved are hiding behind tenure and the protection of termination by district policy. They say that “corrective action” must be dealt with first. Well, if attending 1 day of a 5 day sensitivity training is “corrective action”…where is the real discipline that took place. That was never, according to reports, a problem at all with the school district that the “corrective action” was never completed. I really think things would have been different if the community knew the “corrective action” was actually completed and things would change, and the teachers showed sincere remorse for their actions with a public apology. That can’t come soon enough, although I think it is too late for us to consider it sincere.

Where is the students Bill of Rights. I think this is definitely “unbecoming a teacher”. It’s a sad day when this is what our tax dollars pay for.

Just read the Star Tribune article from 9-3-09. Even if Ms. Cleveland heard that kind of talk in her room, it is her OBLIGATION as a public school teacher, to make sure what is being said is appropriate and non-offense to this student or any other GLBT student in her room, or the whole class for that matter regardless of orientation. It doesn’t matter if they were all laughing, sometimes that is a reaction to hide the pain. She may have had students from alternative families in her class that found the comments very offensive and abusive, but were afraid to speak up because of the hostile environment in her classroom.

A student should be able to be themselves and not be teased, harassed, or abused because of it. Please remember the cases of bullying and harassment that lead to suicides, drug use, etc. The cost on our kids is way to high to not make a change in our communities NOW.

I’m supprised at how many comments are supporting communism – to ban these teachers for their beliefs. Why don’t you just have them beheaded?

It is one thing to have beliefs but an educators own personal feelings about someone/something needs to be kept out of the classroom. They are supposed to be neutral authority figures with their students, who can and should have open discussion on most topics, but should never cross the line like that which occurred in this case. I have a son who 3 years prior was taunted, teased, harassed, bullied etc. We went to the administration to get answers and to initiate change in this school district. Apparently, that fell on deaf ears. How many more lawsuits is our district going to pay out before enough is enough. Change HAS to happen. If anyone says Anoka-Hennepin, they turn and look and the topic is of disgust at why 2 educators are still employed following that type of behavior? Why does tenure protect the teachers far more then has EVER been done to protect OUR students…ridiculous! What does constitute termination of a tenured teacher? When are OUR kids going to be important enough to protect?

As stated earlier, this case has and will be forever in the psyche of this student. Terribly unfortunate when the district has had plenty of opportunity to make changes but so far has said no to any sort of training. Again when are OUR kids going to be important enough to protect?

What a bunch of crap… Now you can look into his “psyche” ? This kid is off at boot camp with 25K. Watch the Pioneer Press in the coming days. All you naysayers out there, I am going to love watching you eat crow.

Setter15, I think I know who you are!

Two days prior to Merritt’s complaint of harassment, he and 3 other students were overheard talking about bringing a gun to school. This was reported by one of the teachers who are now on leave of absence. This is just the beginning of a stream of unreported facts concerning the initial investigation by the school district. No students other than those turned in for the gun incident, (and one other who had an ax to grind) were interviewed for the District 11 investigation of the “harassment”. I suspect the Dept of Human Rights investigation, if thorough, would have discovered this, but didn’t, because they did not interview, or even attempt to contact the two teachers. Merritt made this story up, got his gun prank conspirators to go along with him, rehearsed the story, and went to the media. The Strib, in a fit of PC gluttony, swallowed the whole thing, hook, line and sinker. Those that want so badly to believe that the teachers were guilty, then piled on with their commentary and letters to the editor about the abuse of the poor wanna-be soldier’s violated rights. Never any concern for the rights of the accused This will be red meat for even the dumbest defense attorney. If I were the school district, the Dept of “Human Rights” and the Merritt family, I would be looking for a hole to crawl into and a rock to pull over the top, because a big storm is about to break. When this is all cleared up and the teacher’s side is finally heard, all those bloggers, letter to the editor writers, Alex Merritt facebook friends, and Strib editors will scurry for cover like a room full of cockroaches when the lights are turned on. I’ll bet that not one will offer an apology for the hurt inflicted on the teachers, their families and their colleagues. Sunlight IS the best disinfectant

Hey there Katrina and Setter 15. I’m waiting for a comment in response to the latest breaking news on this story. Could it be that the sober light of day would slow down those fingers that were so quick on the keyboard to condemn the real victims? Maybe this is time for an apology or retraction. You both seem well spoken and possessed of the critical thinking skills necessary to reason this out. At lest pull back a bit and indicate that you will reserve judgement until all the facts are in. I know better than to expect an apology from that howling pack of PC lapdogs and their waterboy, the Star and Tribune.

Well, what do you know…. There IS another side to the story. So many out there talking about the teachers were not taking voluntary leave, about the “hell” they put a student through, what now? Now that the teachers have spoken out, I would like to know your response to this? Still going to make excuses, or do you have enough strength to stand up and say, “maybe there was another side to this?” I think if people are not willing to apologize at least have the decency to say”maybe we jumped the gun” or “maybe we should wait for all the facts to be presented before we condemn two professionals only doing what they are mandated to do.” Any response?

out loud. Are you looking at the comments on the pioneer press site?