From one of the "related stories" in the Lancaster paper, I get a better sense of how this young lady may have managed to undo all her hard work. When you're student teaching, you're evaluated not only on what you do or don't do, but on how well you take direction from your supervising advisors (see my bolded emphasis, below.)

And I hadn't realized till this evening that she was student-teaching in a HIGH SCHOOL. You don't treat your high-school students as your peers and enlist them in your cause when you think you're being treated unfairly!!! There is a serious, serious boundary confusion at work here, if what is reported below is accurate. If what is described is accurate-- and I still don't know that it is-- her actions demonstrated both a lack of professional boundaries with students as well as an inability to work with senior faculty and administrators. (Find me a principal who wants THAT combination set loose in her or his building, and I'll show you one with her or his OWN problems ahead. Find me a superintendent who would tolerate it, and I'll show you that school system's next wannabe janitor.)

Do these boundary issues happen? Of course they do. Kids in high school... can be pretty mature, and/or act like it. I know a number of people I went to school with, who years later told me about the fairly longterm relationships they'd had with a couple of popular young faculty members, when HS juniors and seniors. Did it harm them? I don't know, and they don't know either, they say; I do know that the teachers were in no hurry to let word out about it.

It's a slippery slope. If you identify with the young adults in that situation, it probably seems silly to worry about it. If you identify with one of their parents, it's probably scary. If you identify with the school's administrators-- maybe that's why these popular young faculty members didn't get tenure???


But this young lady's unfortunate situation looks very much to me like the ministry-aspirations situations I described upthread-- the issue is not only the inappropriate-to-her-evaluators photo, but (much more-so) the complete lack of understanding of what might have been wrong about how she handled the whole matter. At best-- in the best light possible-- if the story is accurate, she lacks the maturity to which she aspires. I agree that the photo isn't so bad-- but sending her students to it????? (Whoo-hoo! Ms. Snyder's COOL!)

And, I think, from her reaction as described below, she's begun to learn a valuable lesson. Maybe someday she'll get another bite of that apple.

She also has said that she perceived that the lawsuit was the only way to get her certificate (in another "related story"). I hope someone a lot wiser adivses her to the contrary-- IMO, the lawsuit is the worst thing she could do to get into the profession. And-- with an apology in print where she takes all responsibility, a judge may well find that she herself negates the suit.

~Susan


.... school district solicitor Howard L. Kelin said Tuesday that criticism of the [Conestoga Valley High School] teachers contained in the lawsuit is unfair.

Kelin disputes the allegations [that] the teachers, Deann Buffington and Nicole Reinking, influenced the college to withhold the degree.

Snyder was given a poor evaluation based on her performance while teaching at the high school and was warned not to direct students to her MySpace page, which contained the questionable photographs, Kelin said.

Despite being warned to maintain a professional relationship with her students Kelin said, Snyder continued to direct students to her Web page.

"Snyder required 'significant remediation' as a teacher, and her evaluation reflected serious performance problems," Kelin said. "Contrary to what is alleged in Ms. Snyder's lawsuit, nobody from the school district threatened that it would not accept any more Millersville University student teachers unless it punished Ms. Snyder.

"Nothing like that ever occurred. Whatever Millersville University decided to do with the evaluation and other information provided by the school district was up to Millersville University."

The university and Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education have declined to comment on the case.

Kelin also said the photograph released along with the lawsuit was not the same one Buffington and Reinking submitted to the university.

The photograph they submitted, Kelin said, shows Snyder holding a plastic cup and making a hand gesture while wearing the pirate hat.

Snyder mentioned on her Web site that she had been warned about posting online messages to students, Kelin said.

According to a statement issued by the school district, "Snyder's Web site invites students to continue looking at her page, and in apparent response to Ms. Reinking's advice that such an invitation was unprofessional says, 'I don't think that they would stoop that low as to mess with my future.' Ms. Snyder's Web site says further that students keep asking her why she will not apply to teach at Conestoga Valley and asks, 'Do you think it would hurt me to tell them the real reason (or who the problem was)?' "

Snyder submitted an apology to the high school and university after being told she would not receive an education degree or teaching certificate.

The school district released a copy of the letter.

"I wanted to express a variety of emotions to each of you: regret, empathy, confidence and responsibility," Snyder wrote in the letter dated May 12, 2006. "I have a large heart that only wants help others, not harm them.

"This incident has caused me to open my eyes and realize that I am the only person to blame. I have to take full responsibility for my actions and live with the consequences determined by the administrative staff from Conestoga Valley High School and Millersville University."