Here is an incredibly stupid story for you! A teacher named Juliet Hibbs at Deerfield Beach High School in Broward County, Florida, was standing in her classroom one day, teaching some nonsense or other, who knows. (Because “Florida.”) As she stood there, she saw one of her students, an 18-year-old woman, slinking lower and lower in her chair. The student’s stepdad had found out she was gay, and was burning up her Twitter feed with doubtless warmhearted messages of love and support. (We all agree that young lady should not have been checking her Twitter during class, correct? Okay, good.)
“As each message came, she got smaller … I watched her get destroyed,” Hibbs said, who reported the incident as child abuse and cyberbullying.
Since the young woman was 18, an abuse counselor advised her she did not have to return home. Hmmm, what do we think happened next?
If you had “student’s nutjob parents bitch to the principal that Juliet Hibbs turned their daughter lesbo and tried to get her fired,” then you win eternal sadness for the rest of the day.
The parents told investigators they were upset that Hibbs had not told them about their daughter’s orientation. They accused her of possibly contributing to their daughter being gay and believed Hibbs had told the girl to not come home.
So what did beloved school principal Jon Marlow do? He referred the matter to the district, to investigate whether one of his teachers — a straight woman — had turned a student gay.
So who is this beloved principal? Well here he is in June, being adored by a dozen teachers who said they fear for their jobs, because he is a wackjob abusive harasser.
On Tuesday, teachers and staff at Deerfield Beach High School attended a Broward County School Board meeting to complain about their principal, Jon Marlow. “It was very threatening, very hostile,” recalled former Deerfield Beach High employee Vanetta Gay.
Another employee said, “It is very hostile.”
The school’s vice principal Raquel Lipscomb agreed. “I have basically been bullied out of a job,” she said.
Lipscomb said she has been vice principal at Deerfield Beach High School for two years. However, now Marlow wants her demoted to a teacher, because Lipscomb said she refused to write up a teacher who, in her opinion, did nothing wrong.
Nearly a dozen employees went before the school board to show their support for Lipscomb and to share their personal stories. One employee told the board, “He initially told me, ‘I think you need to find somewhere else to work.’”
Among the disgruntled employees was the school’s teacher of the year, who said, “I have been blacklisted and harassed.”
According to the Deerfield Beach High employees, since Marlow became the school’s principal five years ago, they fear going to work.
Broward Schools employee Wanda Kearney said, “As soon as Jon Marlow stepped on campus, that’s when all hell broke loose.”
Of course, it probably wasn’t just Marlow. Former Deerfield Beach High civics teacher Allen West says that place is so cray-cray he volunteered to go back to Afghanistan.
Hibbs has filed suit with the EEOC.
[Sun-Sentinel, via ThinkProgress / WSVN]




{ 249 comments }
I blame Twitter. For everything.
And you would be right.
Including a never ending timeline of naked babe pics. No wonder she went gay.
Twitter is for twits
Oy! You're on it!
Vanetta Gay? There is a joke in there and I can't quite put my finger on it.
…as it were.
Before she met Juliet Hibbs, her name was Vanetta Smith.
Not even the tip?
I believe you meant "in it" but I could be wrong.
Vanetta Gay? You wish!
"Everybody says she's Gay."
Don't fret. It's not Vajajay Gay
A principal like this is not as rare as you might think. "Educational leaders" quite often make teaching a tougher profession.
PG County is full of such "leaders"
Needs more James Belushi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Principal
In business and politics that's known as "falling up."
Dude obviously couldn't cut it in the classroom, so he moved into Admin.
The Peter Principle. Promote them beyond their usefulness.
Slightly different thing – the Peter Principle is when you were good at the lower level job.
True.
Are you still in the corporatocracy?
The Cesspit Principle, the shit rises to the top.
Shit floats. It's just that one doesn't expect it to grow legs, walk into a job and make everybody's life miserable for years.
until one considers the Bush family…
Yes, the time honored American practice of promoting people uniquely unqualified for their position.
Is it any wonder we ended up in a sinkhole?
Let him be a challenge to you.
Absolutely.
I have two family members who were hounded out of jobs by crazy principals. All too common, I fear.
Both my parents were teachers and I grew up hearing things like "peter principle" and failing up.
They taught in many different schools, (DOD), around the world, and out of all of them, there was only ONE administrator that they respected.
They would NEVER have aspired to be out of the classroom.
The idea in the article that a vice-principal could be "demoted" to a teacher is ridiculous.
But maybe times have changed. (sigh)
Worst after-school special ever.
I am checking my twitter incessantly today as I suspect it's infected
Oh Florida. The only two things you do right are disenfranchise people and make Baby Jeebus cry.
You need to check out the latest election results from Florida. Otherwise, ditto.
The president won despite the disenfrachisement, so I fail to see your point.
The point is that if Obama won Florida despite the efforts to disenfranchise, then they maybe didn't “do it right.”Dick Heitman
Fucking homosexuality. How does it work?
With sufficient lubrication.
Thx, that answers a lot of questions.
Or tongues.
Sir, please, this is a mommy blog. Take your filth elsewhere.
NOOOOOO!!!!
You get it from your (straight) teachers, obviously.
I thought it was "You get it straight from your teachers." No?
Apparently not. (leaves room)
I'll be happy to show you.
Well, see, P-E-N-I-S goes in the anus…
Daddy loves Mommy very, very much. But Daddy moved in with Uncle Carlos because Uncle Carlos has eight thick inches and Mommy does not.
Does that help?
Bwahahahahahaha!
You all were feeling quite literal today, weren't ya?
Well … we have our days.
Evidently you catch it from straight people, apparently…
Statistically speaking, every gay person comes from a long line of relatives who were predominately straight..
Well, you see, when two daddies and two mommies love each other very much…
The Teacher/Nuns at my school totally made me gay by screaming at me to not ever even think about being gay, ever.
Try this exercise: Whatever you do, don't think about a horse. See, you thought about a horse, didn't you?
I thought about a unicorn…what does that mean?
Sure it wasn't a horse with a strap-on?
A horny horse?
Stay out of my mind!!
Every Wonketteer who is a "doc(k)tor" is obsessed with ponies?
Worse, I thought of a gay horse.
This one?
http://www.theonion.com/video/first-openly-gay-ra…
I saw Jennifer Aniston in Sarah Jessica Parker's feed bag..
All I got was Ann Coulter
Dude, you got burned. your comment sounds like any kid's worst Christmas nightmare.
Why the long face?
That's funny, the nuns/priests at our school did the same thing, and it's amazing how MANY of us turned out gay.
Not happy, mind you. But gay, nonetheless.
Hey, being straight ain't no antidote, neither.
damn it, Ralfalca!
I thought about a fine steed with straight fetlocks and a blonde mane that flowed in the wind as I brought the crop down on its flanks, urging it on, faster, faster…harder….HARDEROMGYES!YES!YES!
He was always the quiet one.
I thought about heroin. Do I have a problem?
Depends, Are you holding?
And will you share?
And yet, the nuns didn't turn the girls into nuns, did they? Discuss.
My prediction is that Principal Marlow has an @$$hole the size of a mason jar and is banging Jill Kelley's husband.
Marlow = Goatse!
Broward County. 'nuf said.
Wing-nuts only have 3 solutions to problems: fire a teacher, secede or lower taxes.
1.Fire teachers
2. Secede
3. Lower taxes
4. ???
5. Profit (off the stoopid)
You forgot "blow shit up."
No, that one's just guys.
"Jesus"? Hello???
An accusation, without evidence, is a good enough reason. Thankfully this problem couldn't happen in a private school, because all of the wingnuts and their teachers are happy two-parents-of-opposite-sexes households, etc. etc.
Firing teachers and seceding are just ways to lower taxes.
Wow, what an asshole.
Juliet Hibbs? Sounds a lot like Julius Hibbert. I call bs. Ah he he he he!
The thing to watch out for that'll prove that teacher was recruiting, is if she receives her prize toaster in the mail.
We don't *do* toasters any more.
Williams-Sonoma mini pie makers? One of those puffy pancake pans? I might consider switching for a very fancy coffee maker..
Weedlord, what's are new recruiting incentive? Are we doing blenders this year, or color-coded silverware?
Is there a catalog? Is this like those evil school fundraisers where they raise the kid's hopes that he or she can sell thousands of dollars worth of shitty merchandise and win the cool prizes? (Why yes, I do have a child who just started Kindergarten, thanks for asking.)
I thought they were giving out Obamaphones this year.
Wow, now I wish I was gay, because the gays have all the neatest super-powers! Turning straights to gay, causing natural disasters, destroying marriage, bringing about Armageddon…
Beautifying living space….
Raising property values. Giving Mrs. Romney a cut-and-dye guaranteed to lose her any election.
Raising property values is a myth. Mine went down when I bought my house.
Oh, wait …
Hah. (Hugs you anyway)
Honestly? A lot of that is just our PR department, and they've been getting just a tad carried away lately.
Captain Mahvelous, here reporting for booty, sir!
Get thee to Marcus Bachmann, stat!
See how teachers' unions are impeding progress?
Your move, Colonel Jean Martinet.
"Martinet" comes from the name of a real person?
Yep. Googly him. He was a dick, but invented boot camp, supply depots, and the bayonet. Kind of the Lieutenant Scheiskopf of 17th century French Army.
When Allen West says you are crazy, its time to check into Bellvue.
Either that, or print the statement out, frame it, and display it proudly as proof of your sanity.
Tough call, eh, Sully? (Squeezes you)
Yeah, could go either way.
And Jon Marlow will be arrested for soliciting sex in a men's restroom in 10..9..8..7..
Needs more principles. Put Philip Marlowe on the case.
Did investigators check her desk for the Wand of Ghey™? If they found that, it would be all over for Hibbs.
They found some Ghey Pills™ mixed in The Jelly Belly™ jar on her desk (HINT: those are not 'buttered popcorn, that's just gross).
Uh … I believe Hitachi makes those, and we had that delivered to her home address in a plain brown wrapper for recruiting so well on our behalf.
So, this has replaced the toaster? More practical, for sure.
For the *gentlemen,* or *priests* who might be interested, we have a flexible *sleeve.*
Broward County should know better. I figured this was from Jacksonville when I read the headline. One expects that medieval behavior over there.
Close-the real craziness is in Clay County, where a few years back a principal punished a student for wearing a tux in her senior yearbook picture.
Her stepdad was really pissed to find out she was gay, because he was planning on banging her a little later. Hey, it's Florida, y'all.
Damn you GLEE ! Lost another one to Dytech.
The teacher should threaten to use her gay conversion powers on the principle and all the PTA leaders, if they don't learn to watch what they say, because they just don't know what sort of power they're dealing with.
We're talking about Florida folks. They once fired a teacher for practicing "Wizardry": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP83Db9XDJ0&fe…
BTW, OT sort of, but I just went on Amazon.com to negatively review a deLonghi toaster oven – you can't calibrate the heat – and others reported that theirs had caught on fire, the glass had exploded, all kind o' stuff! So buyer beware. And if we didn't have so many damn gays running the country, maybe we could get some decent products. We need to deport them all to China. No wait, that's where the products are made. D'OH! Damn gays, ruining my WHOLE LIFE!!!
Quality control in the Italian manufacturing sector has taken a sharp nose dive since Berlusconi left office.
And all those bears going un-wrestled.
I call it Bunga Bunga Manufacturing.
Gaysian Invasion
Things are really not like what they used to be.
My Philips toaster claims to have 7 shades of brownness. It goes from dark brown to charcoal.
Sorry dude, wrong website. I think you were looking for http://leasthelpful.com
Thus increasing the number of positive contributions made to society and culture by Twitter to zero.
Now just hold on – they do give Victoria Jackson a podium…
Seems that anyone can get hired in Florida as long as he is enough of an asshole.
If he's a big enough asshole, they elect him governor.
Could Rick be old enough to be goatse? Because he sure does have that certain look about him.
You don't wanna know what he shoves up his ass…
Now I has sads and angry. But not as much as anyone involved with this nightmare. How can I help? Because this shit does not fly with homie.
Me too I haz a sadz and angriez. She's talked to the EEOC, and they used to be pretty competent, so at this point the only thing to do is make sure her story is kept in the media and that there is support for the girl. That part, I don't know how to do. PFLAG? There must be a chapter even in Broward County.
I'm taking the over on whether this principal has kid porn on his work hard drive.
Maybe she shoulda brought the girl down to Mr. West's office so he could scare the ghey out of her by shooting a gun off next to her head.
Wow! This story is whacky enough to be datelined Arizona.
Florida doesn't like that Arizona is competing for its title of Worst Place to Live and is fighting back.
Hard.
Puh-lease… in Texas they have these dust-ups in daycare (and the little tikes are armed, too)
Good grief. I knew West had a failed stint as a teacher (can there be a better poster child for the opposition to alt-cert teacher programs?), but a fucking civics teacher? Save us all!
I presume this to mean they actually knew a lot about the Constitution and why the Civil War was fought, and therefore didn't agree with his insane drivel at all.
If they didn't know, why in the fuck didn't he teach them?
Now that is an excellent question, the need for which causes me to be even more grateful that West's stint in the front of a classroom was a short one.
Yes. If he was, you know, the civics teacher, you might reasonably expect him to teach civics. Perhaps he thought he was the civics inspector?
More likely, the civics interrogator.
(BLAM!) Well? What's the First Amendment, ya little punk? THE EXACT WORDING!!
This story sounds like something Michele Bachmann heard about how schools/inoculations make young girls gay/ret@rded.
"Juliet Hibbs turned their daughter lesbo"
Was it a literature class? Obviously she was forced to read too much Gertrude Stein and Patricia Highsmith.
…and the student was still 18, and Hibbs was talking to an "age of majority" student. And the principal was a pussy.
They should have portraits of Rick Scott in every Florida classroom. That will keep kids of all orientation from sexy thoughts.
Gah. Just thinking about it has finished me for the day.
There are several straight women that have come pretty close to turning me gay.
I've turned a few lesbian myself. After me, they said they could never sleep with another man.
We're they laughing when they said it?
One for sure, when, at sixteen, the only lubricant I could find in the medicine cabinet was Vicks Vapo Rub.
Wouldn't that hurt you as much as her?
[Or I guess if you had a condom on, maybe not.]
Mary Matalin, for example. Sarah Palin. Michele Bachmann. I
could go on.
The persistence of divergent sexual orientation — and the spirit of pursuing the truth about oneself against a tide of bigotry, intimidation tactics and loathsome epithets — has found some realization in stalwart individuals who've come out to public scorn from those who cravenly ignore what biology and history support beyond theory into practice.
The persistence of vile, soul-less, morally bankrupt dildoes getting positions of authority like this principal has, on the other hand, defies what any amount of research, justification or self-projecting can pin down.
FFS.
I can't even image hearing that one of your students parents think you turned their kid gay. I'd think I was drugged or something.
Really? I'd suspect the parent was drugged.
Forget it, Trix. It's Florida.
I used to think Carl Hiaasen was very imaginative writer. It's become apparent, however, that he's really just a reporter.
Makes me think Florida is a scarier place than when I lived there 30 years ago.
Sir, for my money, you have won this thread.
[Bows deeply, with sweep of cape.]
I think the first of his books that I read had me LOL throughout. Now I just haz a scared.
Has anybody started a petition for Florida to secede yet?
I will second that motion.
No worries. In another 20 years it'll be under the ocean. Problem solved.
Secede? They're a blue state! I think it just needs a blow job.
Who doesnt, amiright?!
But most of us aren't such twatwaffles about it.
If she wants to hold on to her job, Ms Hibbs had better start teaching about Jesus riding the dinosaurs. Dok Zoom can point her to all the right textbooks.
I thought of getting gay with a prancing horse.
I believe the correct phrase is "Getting Biblical."
You KNOW your Bible, don't you?
Biblical marriage: a marriage between a man, his six wives, and their horses…
Bristol or Nancy?
This is tough for me to snark about. Abusive crazy parents, gay kid, lone helpful figure threatened by more abusive crazy people.
Sounds just like home! Excuse me while I go smoke a fucking shitload.
I am amazed that noone took "Weedlord Bonerhitler" before you!
He called dibs months ago.
I got granted the title by its creator, I believe. In the event, I bagged it, called dibs on it, reserved it, and lined up my avs for the day after the election, when I could rid me of every trace of Romney. YESH.
OK, WHY AREN'T YOU surprised at my reincarnation?
I don't really want to look at your dildo 700 times a day, but I'm sure you have your reasons for making the Wonkette comments NSFW for everybody with that avatar, and as long as you're enjoying yourself!
You know what, Chet? You need to stop trying to pick a fight with me. I am not going to respond the way you want me to, so get over your fucking self, OK? Geeze, what a whiner. You don't like it? Take a poll. If the majority agrees with you, I'm happy to change my av. I've always been perfectly reasonable, and you've always been a hissy-fit-throwing little princess. Get the fuck over yourself. You want to talk to me, you can always talk to me. But all this bullshit sniping and petty-assed whining? It's not going to work. Take a poll and get back to me, Chet. And remember, I'm not angry with you. I'm still your friend, I still care about you, stop trying to get on my nerves and we'll treat this like it never happened. Or, pick your own poison.
I know you!
Yeah? You think? (Hugs the little wretch)
Am I gay if I say I want to hit that?
Nah. Lots of straight guys think about stuff like that. Sometimes.
This is when I miss "Worst Person in the World" and the joy I would receive when thinking about their email inbox the next day.
This makes me too sad to snark. :0(
Yeah. Pretty shitty story. Story of all our lives, pretty much, huh? Nobody's parents ever celebrated their kid coming out as gay.
Word Up. I'm off to the interwebs to find out how to send a message of support to the abused queer young woman (been that) and the brave, empathetic, super-human wonderfulness of a courage-monster that is that teacher.
That teacher is a credit to her sexual orientation.
You sure know how to make a person laugh, you little nutbag.
Geez! Just when I thought I've reached peak embarrassment that I was raised in Broward Co.
I didn't read the whole thing, but is it true that Twitter turns you gay? Why no warnings???
I feel terrible for the girl, and anybody who doesn't needs to secede from being in my face.
My 8th grade algebra teacher turned me gay. She, too, was straight.
And I'm straight, and I've turned all of my ex-girlfriends gay! That's the same sort of thing, right?
That reminds me of a joke. What does algebra and my dick have in common?
My mom turned ALL her sons queer. Daughters too, come to think of it.
Hey, not bad!
My eighth grade algebra teacher was a lesbian. She didn't make me any gayer, though. But she did make me love lesbians.
Time to send Louis Gossett, Jr., Edward James Olmos and Michelle Pfeiffer into that school.
Alas, noone remembers Nick Nolte's role in Teachers! That movie inspired me to be anything but a teacher. I am still trying to figure out how to sue the producers of And Justice For All for inspiring me to become a lawyer.
I don't blame you, sweetie. (Hugs Prommie carefully)
Holy shitsnacks, I forgot about that movie. But the Nick Nolte part of my brain is pretty full-up with North Dallas Forty.
Have at it, Wonketteer Parodists! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOZPBUu7Fro
You know how many high school girls I tried to turn sorta lesbian? What is the secret, teacher-lady!?
You have to be in the union.
Magic Titty?
DAMN YOU!!!
Magic titty, of course. Geesh.
In my other life as a teacher, I have met my share of dimwitted and abusive administrators, this one appears to be a classic case of the Peter Principle at work.
They let Allen West teach CIVICS?!? WTF? No wonder our childrens isn't learning.
Grown-up people who spend all day hanging around children tend to be childish. This includes teachers and all school employees, football coaches, and army officers.
Ahem, don't forget the stay at home moms (hey Ann!). It don't get more childish than we.
See, I learn stuff about you every day. Now you're a SAHM? I thought you were a businessy lady flying all over the place and stuff and raising the kids on vodka milkshakes.
Is that a dildo bong? Stay away from her.
Why, you afraid she's gonna like *ME* more? Huh? Huh?
I have never known anyone less childish than you, my dear.
You two! Get a HOUSE!
What about us stay-at-home Dads? That's both childish and a little queer.
My Dad was a stay-at-home Dad for a while. Having Dad around can be wonderful. Especially since he's a lot less likely than Mom to hork up his liver if your friends let you spill their new motorbike.
Whatever this young woman's orientation, the fact that her step-parent uses Twitter to harass her, especially while she's at school, should be grounds enough for her to move 3,000 miles from home and never look back.
and get a restraining order.
I'm off to find some info how we can support her financially and legally until she can move on. Leaving home without a diploma, and with no money, pretty much means forget college (best-case), or go homeless (worst-case), unless she can get some support.
That's no easy task. Tuition + the cost of books + cost of living is many times higher than it was in the early-mid 90s when I faced a similar fate.
I have little snark for this. I and many of my friends went through similar ordeals after coming out. I really just want to help both women in their trials.
I have a 3rd grader attending a Georgia public school in a very conservative area. With all the other concerns about raising a kid, I never expected to be called on to fight the librul cause on a regular basis…mainly a bitter stand-off about Chick Fil A that began before the national brouhaha.
I am now kind of a joke among the parents – they just roll their eyes and laugh, good naturedly. I didn't mind it for awhile but I've pretty much had it. Third grade and I'm already burned out.
Is this story what I have to look forward to as she advances through the grades? Effing homeschooling is starting to sound good. Or move out of the South until she graduates from high school.
It must be tough.
You must get a head ache from rolling your eyes so hard.
An inspirational story for you:
My mom was a 3rd grade teacher on an Air Force base in England during the Watergate crisis. She got in trouble when one of her students asked her why the president was gone. She replied that the president was a liar, and that lying was bad. This kid's father stormed in to her classroom and asked her how she could say that his boss, his Commander-in-Chief, was a liar.
"He was," she said.
cray cray
And by that you don't mean a really well-funded computer science club with two supercomputers in da basement?
i hope the key players here choke on a mouthful of chik-fil-a.
choke with votes of course.
Florida. Who can explain it?
It's probably best left unexplained.
Carl Hiassen probably does a better job than anyone else.
Actually, I think I've read just about everything he has written. I guess life really DOES imitate art!
Just the basics will be taught — Readin', Riten' and no fricking homophibians.
Can someone PUHLEEEASE shut off the Florida State Bilge Pump so it will quietly sink into the sea?
Two words: Broward County.
What to say? OK, no snark. So what the fuck should the teacher have done? Should she have told someone she thought the girl was gay? What the fuck? She referred the girl to a counselor. I think that is in general a good idea for a kid who's going through trauma! So in summary, showing kindness to someone is grounds for getting fired.
For fuck's sake.
Ok. Now I can snark. Here are other things that can get you fired as a teacher at Deerfield Beach High:
* Assisting children who are behind catch up with the rest of the class.
* Teaching reasoning skills.
* Being nice to the queer kids. Oh wait, covered that.
* ???
Does this school have a female gym teacher?
According to the right, your average public school teacher is a useless union thug who couldn't teach their way out of a paper bag. But now they have the pedagogic skill to teach someone teh gay?
Snark off, I have a theory about school principals: Bad teachers with lots of seniority, regularly kicked upstairs.
I've been to Deerfield Beach; oddly, it made me homesick for Dogpatch.
Oh, after spending my childhood watching my father barely manage to retain his sanity dealing with corporate nonsense, I made sure never to join a truly big company – my first employer had a staff count in the low 300s, and my current company is much smaller.
(Hugs you)
I don't give a shit what you think of me, I just don't want to look at your fucking dildo.
Either do something about it or quit whining.
Yep, I keep thinking about wrapping my lips around it and sucking it. Ok. I told my wife I would not suck on dick bongs. On weekdays. Is it Friday?
See, now, if you wanted your WIFE to be cool about it, you shouldn'ta mentioned the *dick* part, knowhatImean? Although I'm guessing she wouldn't be too happy if it were a twatbong either. Wives. Can't live without them, can't talk them into your latest louche fantasy.
OhoHO! I like the new look, Mr. BonerHitler!
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