Union Township teacher Viki Knox
Well my fine young readers, the fur is flying once again. You may remember a few weeks back that I covered the story of Jerry Buell, the Florida high school teacher that was suspended for comments that he made on his Facebook page against marriage equality. Now, the focus shifts to the state of New Jersey. In Union Township, 49-year-old Special Education teacher Viki Knox has not only been suspended, but was also escorted from school grounds pending an investigation into comments she posted on her bible group’s Facebook account, regarding an LGBT History Month display at the school where she teaches.(1) (2)(The entirety of Mrs. Knox’s comments were subsequently removed from Facebook, but not before a third-party was able to capture them. The discourse can now be found here.)
As with the Jerry Buell situation, FB groups have sprang up both in support of her dismissal and in support of her reinstatement. And, as with the Jerry Buell situation, the debate circulates around the following questions:
- Does Viki Knox have the right to express her personal opinions in a public forum like Facebook?
- Should she be held to account for what she posts on Facebook?
- Most importantly: Are her personal views affecting her job performance?
In this writer’s personal opinion, I would answer those questions in the following manner; Yes, Mrs. Knox has the right to her own opinions and the right to express those opinions, as do I here on The Cybersattva blog. As for question number two, that gets a little more tricky in this case. You see, Viki Knox posted a rather lengthy, intolerant and vitriolic message regarding the school display, and her views on homosexuality. The comments that were made by Mrs. Knox even drew the attention of New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who referred to them as “disturbing.”(3) Within all that commentary were the following trigger words; “That’s what I teach and preach.” So in THIS case, I would say that the Union Township school board is doing exactly what it needs to do. As for question three, I would say that Viki Knox answered it herself, in her post on Facebook.
I have a very close friend who is in a Lesbian relationship. It is a monogamous, long-term one that works for both her and her partner. She also has a son in school, who is a special needs child. For the purposes of this article, we’ll call him “Bobby.” Hypothetically, if “Bobby” had Viki Knox as his teacher at school, and if Mrs. Knox was indeed “teaching and preaching” her views on homosexuality like she says in her Facebook post, what kind of effect would this have on a child like “Bobby,” who has two same-sex parents in the home? How would this impact his views and behaviors in the home?
What I’m about to say here is going to sound quite racist to some, even though it’s not my intention to offend. I’m going to write it anyway, only because it needs to be written. The thing that I find completely ironic is that Viki Knox, while being African-American, completely rejects the concept of tolerance where the LGBT community is concerned. In an age where our nation has finally reached a level of maturity where we feel not only able, but also proud to have elected our first black president, now some (notice I said “some,” not all) who were mere decades ago decrying intolerance are now perpetuating it! Others however, including civil rights activist Coretta Scott King, widow of the martyred activist Martin Luther King Jr. are calling for tolerance and acceptance of the LGBT community.(4) The whole thing has me scratching my head, and again this whole paragraph was not meant as an affront to any particular demographic or race. If it appeared or was taken as such, I deeply apologize.
Again, I feel that in this particular case, the school has done the right thing. In contrast with Jerry Buell, who did not allow his personal views to jade his performance in the classroom setting, Viki Knox personally attests to the fact that she not only allows her intolerant views to jade her job performance, she’s proud of it. In my humble opinion, her brand of intolerance…no, NO brand of intolerance can be allowed to pervade the schoolhouse.
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Just one in a series of articles for the “Gay Agenda.” (Mine has a calculator!)
The Cybersattva 
Anyone who construes your thought as racist is a fool.
Now, getting into the meat of the issue, I’m a little torn here. I’ve made it emphatically clear to everyone who knows me that gay rights are of paramount importance. Anyone who “disapproves” (such a genteel term for such a nasty situation) of a lifestyle or natural-born property (such as homosexuality) that doesn’t harm anyone is a bigot. The moron who claimed that the first amendment means he can’t possibly be a bigot is wrong. Bigotry is hate, pure and simple.
But in the interest of being fair and balanced, I don’t know this woman. I don’t know how she taught or if she preached about her personal beliefs in the classroom. But posting something on facebook, public or not, simply expressing an opinion/belief, however misguided, hate-filled, and bigoted it may be, should not be grounds for being fired from a public school.
Are teachers no longer allowed to hold opinions? What happens if a parent/student overhears a teacher talking about gay rights in the grocery store? Because that’s exactly the same situation.
If she indicated AT ALL that homosexuality is immoral to her students, or vocalized her religious beliefs, by all means, fire her. But if she kept her principles out of the classroom, she should be able to keep her job (though her atrocious grammar and spelling make me fear for the future generations).
To be honest, there was something I didn’t catch about this story, something that makes a little bit of difference. Mrs. Knox posted her comments to a THIRD-PARTY Facebook page, not her own personal account. The third-party “bible group” page was publicly accessible. Therefore, Mrs. Knox made these comments PUBLICLY.
Viki Knox has every right to express her opinions; however, she has NO right to express them without expectations of consequences. I DO have the right to exercise my freedom of speech, much the same as anyone else, but I do NOT have the right to scream FIRE in a crowded public venue without expecting to see the inside of a jail cell if it is a hoax. A public school student should not be subjected to this woman’s obviously tainted views. I have walked out of functions that chose to add a prayer into their functions when they have no religious basis (i.e. my own Beta society induction in college).
Now on to the matter of intolerance, it is not only the author’s but my own opinion that those who have benefited the most from tolerance, and the dumbing down that accompanied it, are in fact the LEAST tolerant people I know. I was once in a Speech class [pretty standard in a liberal arts college] and as the instructor, a lovely mulatto woman with 28 years teaching experience, was stressing the necessity of the use of standardized English when making presentations one of my classmates made this statement:
“Whats wrong with Ebonics? They even tried to make it part of “normal” school in California.”
To which I replied, “I would take offense to that if I were you.”
So she asked, “Why?” in a very ugly tone.
So felt completely justified in telling her this, “Because they are trying to make it LEGAL to keep you stupid, thats why”
Well after the break a note came up from the Dean Of Students for me to report to her office “NOW!”; recognizing what was coming, my instructor dismissed class and we both went. Sure enough the “stupid and I want to stay that way” class mate had gone to the Dean with a complaint that I had made a racist comment in class. It was only because my instructor recounted what had ACTUALLY happened that prevented my suspension from college.
It is amazing that people who, 30 to 40 years ago, weren’t even allowed to drink from certain water fountains or use certain bathrooms NOW want to run up in my bedroom and tell me who to sleep with.
This is simply disturbing. NO teacher should ever let their personal feelings about other people’s religions, races, or sexual preferences get in the way of their teaching. The same goes for politics. It’s one thing to run into biased teachers in college where you’re paying for it, and you can just report it to the dean and/or drop the class, but it’s another thing when it’s in grade school, where you HAVE to attend. If they run their classroom on their own personal opinions, then they shouldn’t be teaching. They should find another profession. Plus, she is a disgrace to all with the name Victoria and any of its diminutives. I just had to add that, considering that my name is Vicki.
Absolutely, and that’s the crux of the argument. It’s not so much that she espouses those views or expresses them on Facebook, but that she insinuated that she is expressing those views in the classroom.
Once a teacher begins to do so, they cease to be an objective instructor, and begin to “proselytize.” The parents of Union Township have a reasonable expectation that their childrens’ education will be free from state-sponsored proselytization while attending a public school. Conversely, if this were a private school setting, then the parent must expect that any instruction would be guided by that institution’s stated faith or belief system.