Indiana Teacher Calls 5-Year-Old Names: Could She Be Fired in Colorado?

The education writer and blogger Joanne Jacobs points to a news story about an Indiana public school teacher who was really mean to a 5-year-old boy in her class:

Ignorant. Pathetic. Self-absorbed.

Those are some of the harsh names an Indiana kindergarten teacher called one of her students, and the boy’s parents captured it all on tape.

So what happened to the teacher?:

After 13 years of teaching, Woodward has been suspended indefinitely, according to the Indiana State Teachers Association.

The teachers’ association is defending Woodward, saying that she “lost her cool” that day and hasn’t had a chance to tell her side of the story.

From this story we also learn:

Woodward — who already was planning on moving to Pennsylvania this summer — told Mooney that this situation taught her a lesson: To never teach in a public school again. Mooney said Woodward will consider teaching at a private school with hopes that things will be handled differently.

It’s sure hard to tell a good reason for the teacher to have said what she did, but what if she didn’t already happen to be leaving? In Colorado, the schools would have to go through this long, costly process to remove her. Doesn’t seem right, does it? It seems like there should be better ways to make sure the best teachers are in classrooms for me and my friends.