Monday, April 4, 2011

Brody's Notes... Lesbian Teacher Fired From Catholic School After Launching ‘Burn In Hell’ Website

Burn & Rot In Hell Screen Shot
By Editors LGBTQNation (Chandler, Arizona) APR 4 | A lesbian teacher has been fired from her job at St. Francis Prep School in Fresh Meadows, Queens, after launching her website, “Burn and Rot in Hell!”.
Elizabeth Cucinotta said she created the website as a place for people a place to vent, and to offer a forum where they can express themselves.
But the website, launched March 19, has caught the attention of school officials. Among the categories to vent in — “Bad Teachers” and “Bad Students.”
“This is not a cyberbullying site,” she added. “I’m a gay woman and I’ve been bullied and spit on and I would never tolerate it.”
She noted that if someone is defamed wrongly and it’s reported, the post will be removed from the website. “Names are used in every social network,” Cucinotta said. “We can examine a post and delete it if it’s warranted.”
She came up with the website’s name “because that’s what you say when you’re angry at someone” and “anything else I thought of was already taken.”
The school district told WNYW-TV, “Miss Cucinotta has been suspended pending an investigation for a potential violation of the school’s mission and the teacher’s obligation to fulfill that mission.”
On Friday, Cucinotta said school officials told her to expect a letter of termination in the mail.
The principal said that staff members are now working with students to explain “why a great teacher is not teaching anymore,” adding that she is entitled to create a business on the side, “but there are ramifications when teaching at a Catholic school.”
Cucinotta said she has received some hate mail from “religious zealots,” but that overall the response to the website has been very favorable. She said she has no plans to take down the website.

1 comments:

Trab said...

I sympathize, even whilst I think she's overstepped dramatically. If some student had set up such a site, and opened up an avenue to lambast Elizabeth, she'd probably protest vehemently. Ranting and raving is one thing, but the use of "burn and rot in hell" is not internalized, but an outwardly aimed cursing, and as such has no place in the educational system, or even in polite society.

Even the promise to remove names and comments that are not proven accurate is suspect, since everyone knows that once on the internet you CANNOT remove it. If she really wants such a site, at the very least each attempted post should be vetted before getting on there.