Kearny High School students defend their teacher

A number of commenters who say they are students at Kearny High School have stopped by to offer support for their teacher, David Paszkiewicz. Unfortunately, they are making a strong case that instead of saying to his students "you belong in hell," Paszkiewicz should have said, "you belong in remedial English."

neo1123 writes:

Dude this is a fucking joke...... first off why the fuck would you want so much attention over stupid shit... and second... i know this teacher personally and know he is a good person and diddnt mean to offend ne one... and fuck the little bitch ass who recorded this shiit... im a senior @ khs and this just adds to all the fucking drama in this school.. so u know wat fuck all u bitch asses who want to see action taken... u r a sad sad person and need to fucking get a fucking life so ya im done here..... u wanna talk shit tell me @ neo1123@gmail.com

J.Cora writes:

I believe this is the most stupidiest thing ever. That kid is just trying to find attetntion for himself. I've had this teacher and he is one of the best teachers. He taught history the way it was and in group discussions he would view both points without no religion remarks. So who ever reads this, don't be ignorants and know the facts first. The kid who claimed this is the type of kid no one likes and wants to drive attention to hiself. I say to the father to drop it because that teacher is loved by many and going against it will cause much problems.

Both of these commenters seem to have missed a few key points here, such as:

(a) Paszkiewicz is the authority in the classroom, and is responsible for teaching what's in the curriculum.
(b) It is a violation of the U.S. Constitution's Establishment Clause for a teacher in a public school classroom to endorse a particular religious viewpoint.
(c) Satan, the Big Bang, evolution, and Noah's Ark have nothing to do with U.S. history.
(d) Paszkiewicz lied when he told administrators he wasn't saying these things in the classroom.

It is irrelevant to any of these points whether Matthew LaClair wanted attention or isn't liked by his fellow students, or that he asked questions of Paszkiewicz which provoked some of his absurd statements (a point brought up by neo1123 in an email to me). The fact is that it was Paskiewicz's actions which were irresponsible and inappropriate--which he clearly recognized since he initially denied saying these things--and it is he who is responsible for the attention that is now being brought on Kearny High School.

On another note, now that some of the audio of Paszkiewicz is available online, you can find some additional commentary on the content of his teaching at Pharyngula. (A cleaned up version of the audio file may be found here. Thanks, Dave.)

Ed Brayton of Dispatches from the Culture Wars has also weighed in on this controversy, and you can find some more comments on the issue from Garden Staters at Blue Jersey.

And there are also now numerous comments at Metafilter.

UPDATE (November 16, 2006): If you can stand to listen to the audio all the way through, you will find that Paszkiewicz runs his classroom in a very disorganized manner, allowing multiple students to carry on conversations simultaneously and apparently without any kind of lesson plan. He also speaks authoritatively and confidently on a wide variety of subjects about which he is apparently ignorant, as Oolon Coluphid has pointed out in comments. And most of those subjects have little or nothing to do with the topic of U.S. History that he is supposedly teaching. Mr. Paskiewicz says in the class that he homeschools his own children, yet it is his teaching that exemplifies the worst of public school teaching--and there's no doubt his children do no better.

UPDATE: Mike Dunford at the Questionable Authority has transcribed a few pieces of the recording.

UPDATE (December 6, 2006): There is a complete transcript of the September 14 class at Stephen Dranger's site.

Public school teacher tells class: "You belong in hell"

The following is from Paul L. LaClair, a NYC attorney who lives in Kearny, New Jersey, and is posted with his permission. David Paszkiewicz, the teacher described here engaging in incompetent teaching and dishonesty, is apparently a youth pastor at Kearny Baptist Church in addition to being a public school teacher. LaClair's son Matthew has previously garnered attention for protesting Bush administration activities by refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. He seems to be a principled and courageous young man who has caught a really bad teacher:

Kearny, New Jersey
November 10, 2006

A history teacher at the local public high school here may have bitten off more than he cares to chew this fall. Self-described conservative Baptist David Paszkiewicz used his history class to proselytize biblical fundamentalism over the course of several days at the beginning of this school year.

Among his remarks in open class were statements that a being must have created the universe, that the Christian Bible is the word of God, and that dinosaurs were aboard Noah's ark. If you do not accept Jesus, he flatly proclaimed to his class, "you belong in hell." Referring to a Muslim student who had been mentioned by name, he lamented what he saw as her inevitable fate should she not convert. In an attempt to promote biblical creationism, he also dismissed evolution and the Big Bang as non-scientific, arguing by contrast that the Bible is supported by what he calls confirmed biblical prophecies.

After taking the matter to the school administration, one of Paszkiewicz's students, junior Matthew LaClair, requested a meeting with the teacher and the school principal. LaClair, a non-Christian, was requesting an apology and correction of false and anti-scientific statements. After two weeks, a meeting took place in the principal's office, wherein Paszkiewicz denied making many of these comments, claiming that LaClair had taken his remarks out of context. Paszkiewicz specifically denied using the phrase, "you belong in hell." He also asserted that he did nothing different in this class than he has been doing in fifteen years of teaching.

At the end of the meeting, LaClair revealed that he had recorded the remarks, and presented the principal with two compact discs. The teacher then declined to comment further without his union representative. However, he fired one last shot at the student, saying, "You got the big fish ... you got the big Christian guy who is a teacher...!"

Commenting on the situation, LaClair's father, attorney Paul LaClair said, "In a few short weeks, this teacher has displayed bigotry, hypocrisy, arrogance and an appalling ignorance of science. The school's administrators seem not to appreciate the damage this man is doing to young minds. He has some real abilities as a teacher, but this conduct is the intellectual equivalent of the school cafeteria serving sawdust."

The student and his parents have requested that the teacher's anti-scientific remarks be corrected in open class, and that the school develop quality control procedures to ensure that future classes are not proselytized and misinformed. They have also referred the matter for disciplinary action. No apology has been forthcoming from the teacher or from the school. The parents state that because of the administration's inaction, they have taken the matter to the school board this week, from whom they are awaiting a response.

Some local press from this story is expected this week; the blogosphere may generate more attention.

(This came to my attention from a post on the SKEPTIC list by Paul Harrison--thanks, Paul.)

UPDATE (November 15, 2006): This story has now been reported in the Newark Star-Ledger.

UPDATE: The Jersey Journal has picked up the story and put some of the audio online. The story is also being picked up by NYC-area radio and television--the LaClairs have been interviewed by or have scheduled interviews with WCBS radio, 1010 WINS radio, Fox 5 News, and NBC 4 News.

UPDATE (November 22, 2006): The Observer (the weekly newspaper for Kearny, NJ) has published some quotes from the recordings and a few letters to the editor.