JOPLIN, Mo. — A high school math teacher in Joplin, Mo., who allegedly posted anti-gay comments on Facebook, including a suggestion that more gay youth should commit suicide, has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the school district.
Superintendent C.J. Huff of the Joplin Board of Education said that Jim Whitney’s Facebook account “was compromised” and that there were no findings that would indicate Whitney was responsible for posting the remarks.
In the brief Facebook thread on Oct. 19, a comment that originated from Whitney’s account said, “Moral of the story: Don’t be gay.”
The comment was in response to a former student who had posted a link to a news article about Jamie Hubley, a 15-year-old gay teen from Ottawa who recently committed suicide.
When another commenter replied, “How many more kids have to kill themselves before everyone realizes that this is an actual issue?” the response from Whitney’s account was, “11-13 ought to do it.”
In an email statement to the Joplin Globe on Monday, Whitney did not deny posting the comment on Facebook, only that he “regrets the post appeared:”
“I do not condone bullying or harassment of any kind and I am very aware and saddened by the negative impact this type of behavior creates. I regret that the posts appeared on Facebook. They do not reflect my personal views and I apologize for any and all offenses caused by the comment.”
According to Huff, the board of education discussed the matter in a “closed session” on Tuesday night following its investigation into the incident, reported the Globe.
“It’s unfortunate when you’re dealing with social media and dealing with technology and the potential for people to get on to other people’s accounts and say things that shouldn’t be said,” Huff told KZRG Radio.
The school board did not offer any explanation as to who or how Whitney’s account was compromised, nor whether the comments originated from a school computer, of Whitney’s personal computer.
Whitney has declined to make himself available to comment, and has not issued a statement since his email to the Globe on Monday.
A spokesperson at Facebook told LGBTQ Nation on Thursday that an account is almost impossible to hack unless the user had direct access to the password, or the computer was left unattended while the account owner was logged in.
Facebook employs additional security measures to validate account ownership to prevent accessing user accounts from unknown locations or devices.
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really???? wow….just proves how fucked up the state i live in is…
bullshit!
What a load of shit!
WHAT?!?!
That’s fucked up craig…
Wow ok! So a school teacher can say gay youth should kill themselves and he gets a slap on the wrist? I’m confused.
What is the point in anti-discrimination laws if they don’t pick this kinda shot up? I believe in free-speech but there’s a line between that and this!
*eye roll* Well the more shit like this the more homophobic our youth is going to be.
Sounds fishy to me.
So the town gets hit by a tornado and this is what comes out of it?
WHY WHY WHY?! God damn it all!
insane… but not surprised.
Omg is that what he said?! Wow you’d think with the recent rise in gay teen suicides they would be treating this more appropriatly!
If a teacher posted this same comment about black children or white children or Jewish kids, there would be an immediate punishment. But because its about LGBT youth, they are “cleared of any wrongdoing?”!!! As an LGBT young person, this shows me that something is seriously wrong with this country. Either we are ALL free or none of us are.
BS. Another bigot teacher walks free. While a Gay coach lost his job for simply being Gay.
I hate when these people get away with doing and saying any damn thing they want. If it had been a homosexual who had said straight people need to kill themselves then there would have been this whole “evil gays” thing, but no. These “straight” people get away with this kind of bullshit. Latent homosexuals and their need to rip apart anyone who isn’t ashamed of being who they really are. Bah humbug.
BULL. SHIT. FUCKING BULL. SHIT. There was concrete evidence of what he said and he got off!? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY?!
How could the school board let the teacher get away with this? That is so wrong.
How the hell can this be cleared? This totally sends the wrong message, and encourages BULLYING!!! THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!!!
He’ll probably get a promotion
Unnacceptable. Completely and TOTALLY unnaceptable.
: Horrible. That is an insult to each of us!
There is no justice. And this happened in my home state too. That makes it hurt even more.
@Shanita Perry-Wright People who are homophobic can actually be straight. There is a very strong social upbringing that generations older than us have been raised in which sticks hard. People fear what they don’t understand so most people who are homophobic are scared thanks to propaganda they grew up with versus being in the closet.
That doesn’t make it okay but your comment just makes yourself look ignorant which is NOT what the LGBT movement needs in its corner.
Closed session, no compelling evidence, and no explanations offered. Something’s definitely not right here.
Fuck you Ken Zeman!
Our country is so sad really and I dont know how this evil bastard got away with this. Truely unbelievable
what happened to free speech and employment without judgment it pisses me off that people cant leave us alone
missouri is mostly ruled by the republican party. i am ashamed to be from this state.
Although it is, Missouri happens to be a relatively livable state when you look past the homophobia.
I’m happy with the result. Firing someone based on their opinion posted on a social media website is a scary precedent.
you’d think that a city which suffered large amount of damage from a very deadly tornado where many people died…they’d be a little bit more loving, caring, etc? Especially since they are getting aid from in and outside the state? You’re welcome Joplin and that’s how you repay us? Seriously. People. Ugh.
I live in Joplin and didn’t hear anything about this.
someone with that level of hate should not be around kids
I find it very suspicious that the teacher has not denied making the comments. The potential of a compromised account only matters if the teacher denies posting the comments; if the teacher did post the comments, what does it matter that the account may have been compromised?
i agree stacey
Hey Val… do you think the same outcome would happen if this teacher was an atheist saying it about christian students? I believe in free speech as well, but teachers need to be professional. They/we chose a profession where we will be working with many different students, and it is our job to teach and protect them all. With that said, teachers should get fired for being unprofessional. He was most definitely unprofessional.
ugh i hope the whole town gets wiped off the map next time a tornade rolls around.
if i was the superentintent of the school district i would be like 1 semester suspension for first time then id fire that bitch
Val – it’s not so much that they should have been fired for voicing their opinion, it’s how they did it and the things they said. If you had kids, would you want them spending most of their time with someone encouraging suicide? If you had a kid that was in the closet and afraid to come out, would you want them hearing from their TEACHER that they should kill themselves???
Of course… no one ever wants to take responsibility anymore for their actions!!!!
So the post just “appeared”??? wow……. People sure are gullible
omfg that’s as stupid as the excuse my dog ate my homework wtf
Well, at least we all know who he is now and what he is doing. He can be watched closely. We know where to find him if he does anything more :-{P}
Brittney, you don’t believe in free speech if you think anyone should be fired for a comment on a social media website. As a teacher, I do not want to fear being fired for any legal thing that I may do outside of the classroom. It’s archaic. What’s next? Fired because I smoke? Reprimanded because I am at a gay bar drunk? Suspended because I think Tea Party members would be better off with a lobotomy? I don’t like what the teacher wrote at all and think s/he is a worthless human being, but it’s a slippery slope we are walking when one is reprimanded at work for something written on Facebook.
Sasha, had the teacher said it in the classroom s/he should definitely be reprimanded. But it wasn’t said there. It was written on Facebook where the only way the public would see it (assuming privacy settings) is if someone leaked it. Someone had an agenda and reported it. Perhaps the lesson learned here is know who your “friends” are.
Patrick…that was insensitive, offensive, and wishing others dead. Should you be fired from your job because you just stated that you think that the entire town of Joplin should be wiped out by a tornado? ?? Can’t have it both ways.
Did any of you really expect a different outcome ? Ppl can beat us ,kill us ,just about do anything they want and the outcome is always the same !!
wtf? is inbreeding still rampant in missouri???
I’ve lived in Joplin my whole life, I saw this coming sadly.
This is still “good ole boy” Country in a lot of ways, doubt they even did much of an investigation at all.
This is ludicrous!!
Not surprised in the least, that’s Joplin for ya….
Can’t wait to leave this place, something was clearly not right with this picture.. they cleared him entirely too quickly… the session was closed.. the likelihood of his account being “hacked” is almost non existent etc.
Was swept under the rug…. good ole homophobic “good ole boy” southwest Missouri. I doubt they even investigated it to be honest.
Having said that, your comment is incredibly inappropriate as well Patrick, not all of us in this town are bad first and foremost and additionally I wouldn’t wish anything like that tornado to happen again to my worst enemy.
Oh and additionally he was posting about baseball (he’s a huge baseball fan) within some 10 to 15 minutes of the comments that were made.
His account wasn’t hacked, he made what was likely a joke in really poor taste and then once it got out there he freaked out and came up with the hacking excuse.. that our school board somehow either bought, or more likely they had no intention of doing anything about it in the first place. He should have at the very least been suspended and made to make an apology.. not just sweep it under the rug.
Had he said comments like that about any other minority group around, they would have taken things seriously.. just goes to show that people still think they can (and sadly often get away with) saying whatever they want about LGBT people.
It’s pretty terrible, but I’m not surprised. School boards are not governed by brilliance, wisdom, or logic. They’re ruled by politics, and if this teacher had friends in the right places, they’re untouchable. Meanwhile, a good teacher can get pwnt if someone upstairs wants their job for a friend.
bullllllllshit
I feel every straight person should read Stilettos and Steel. It is a novel that is a game changer,like uncle Toms cabin. Straights need to read a novel to touch there hearts in the privacy of there own bed;-} http://www.stilettosandsteel.com
bullshit
IF and that’s a big if the teacher’s Facebook account was compromised, then he ought to be held accountable for being lax on security. However, based on the statements that teacher made, I think he’s lying about his account being compromised.
Another outrage….
Wow, its so sad to see how parts of our country are still bigots
Earlier I said that this teacher needed to be fired and have his teaching license/certificate revoked. I stand by this. If you, like me, want to complain to the school board admins and let them know that this sort of hate is NOT tolerated, you can find contact info at http://joplinschools.org
he admitted to posting it, how can they clear that. even if his account was compromised he said he did it. he is only sorry he got caught. i would not have a child of mine anywhere near him. pre teens and teen are especially vunerable and suicide seems to be on the rise. what is he teaching these kids. i would have fired him immediately, had his comment been for blacks, fat kids, muslums,jews, athiest or any other group to commit suicide it would not have been stood for but gays are the one group our society condones hateing. sad, i bet he is in church every sunday calling himself a good christian. he will be held accountable by god
You sick schoolboard and any others involved in this decision. Shame on you for allowing this man to tell children to go kill themselves! OMG! What terrible things are happening in this country, Fire the scumbag
Sorry. I don’t buy this. No proof his account was hacked???
Closed conference???
Nope. Don’t buy it.
This makes me worry about the future of my young children! I won’t say that this world just keeps getting worse and worse, but people’s ethics Really scare me, especialy if these are the people that have my kids most of the day and teach them! Who knows if he wrote it or not, maybe not although I would think he would make some sort of statement….. I wish there was a magical perfect school district, but its like the lotto it seems, you gotta take your pick of the lesser evil
wow, while I understand you have the right to voice your opinion, as nasty as it sounds, I have the right to express my opinion that you are a heartless human being if you honestly feel that way. I am a very thankful survivor of that tornado and I wouldnt wish something like that to happen to my worst enemy.. hopefully you will never have to huddle in a closet with your family and wonder if you will be alive in a couple of minutes.