SunAlsoRises
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Parents defend teacher who criticized McCain | Quote: | FAYETTEVILLE (MCT) — The Fayetteville teacher shown in a YouTube video questioning a fifth-grader's support for John McCain has the backing of the girl's parents, who say the comments were blown out of proportion.
The teacher, Diatha D. Harris, has come under fire for talking politics in class. In the video, which was filmed by a Swedish documentary crew, Harris tells the girl her soldier father could be in the military "for another hundred years" under a McCain presidency.
The parents of the girl, Cathy Thompson, denied Monday that she was traumatized by the classroom discussion. They also hope school officials investigating Harris's conduct decide to keep the teacher on the job.
The segment of the documentary was filmed May 19 at Mary McArthur Elementary School and aired last week on Finnish television. A snippet of the broadcast was posted on YouTube, Harris said, to make it appear as if she imposed her pro-Barack Obama sentiments on the now 11-year-old girl.
Near the end of the clip, Harris is shown wearing an Obama button at a school rally.
"I'm hurt that someone would think that I would maliciously browbeat a child," Harris said.
During a classroom segment of the video, Harris described the Iraq war as "senseless" and told her pupils a President McCain could keep U.S. troops in Iraq for 100 years.
"So that means that your daddy could stay in the military for another hundred years," Harris told Cathy Thompson in the video.
Over the weekend, Harris apologized to the girl's parents, Army Staff Sgt. Robert Thompson and Angela Moore. She also apologized to their daughter and to the Cumberland County school system.
Moore said Harris has nothing to apologize for.
"She made a truth known," Moore said Monday. "Our daughter knows what her dad does and is in support of her dad."
Sgt. Thompson said he is angry, but not at Harris, whom he praised as a dedicated educator.
"Whoever put that clip together, I am very upset with," Thompson said on Fayetteville gospel radio station WIDU-AM. "I'm just sickened by the thought that somebody would take a minor child to exploit their views on a political situation, the way they have."
Thompson and Moore said the videotaped classroom discussion has been blown out of proportion by bloggers and the news media.
"After talking with my child, she didn't have a problem with it," Thompson said. "So I don't see why anybody else should."
Along with the parents of two other Harris pupils, Moore pleaded on the radio with school officials to keep Harris on the county payroll. Harris, 53, said she has been subjected to verbal abuse from McCain supporters who have called her at home.
The Fayetteville Observer has been inundated with e-mails from YouTube viewers around the globe calling for Harris to be fired. Many believe Harris inappropriately expressed her political beliefs in front of her students.
"I don't believe her job should be in jeopardy," Moore said. |
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