Quote# 90213
Bronx middle school teacher disciplined for ordering her students to pray to Jesus
Michelle Schindelheim told investigators she stopped class and told pupils "they were going to talk to God"
A God-fearing city teacher earned a slap on the wrist for ordering her students to kneel and pray to Jesus, education officials said.
Michelle Schindelheim, of Bronx Middle School 301, drew the attention of investigators in March 2011, after students complained that she was forcing them to pray to God instead of teaching them to read.
Students told investigators that just before Christmas 2010 the English as a Second Language instructor stopped class and told students “they were going to talk to God.”
Then Schindelheim, who is 47 and earns $80,000, ordered students to “sit in a circle and sing and pray to God,” making the kids recite The Lord’s Prayer in their native Spanish.
She even whipped out her cell phone and put her priest on speakerphone, so he could listen to her class’s prayers, investigators said.
Schindelheim, who has worked in city schools since 1991, confessed when investigators questioned her about the incident.
She told them the whole thing was a “stupid idea” suggested by a friend who was teaching a meditation class.
She also admitted that she had made her “class re-enact scenes from the life and death of Jesus,” investigators said.
Michelle Schindelheim,
NY Daily News 31 Comments [10/20/2012 3:28:06 AM]
Fundie Index: 42
Submitted By: Elliott
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#1460608
JeanP
Now I understand why some people born of immigrants don't know how to speak and read English, the language of the country they live in:
their instructor thought ignorance was better than not prying.
10/20/2012 4:20:29 AM
#1460611
OhJohnNo
You're right. It WAS a stupid idea. Now teach them to read and let them draw their own conclusions.
10/20/2012 4:23:43 AM
#1460633
LDM
Christian fundies crying "PERSECUTION!!" in 3...2...1....
10/20/2012 5:05:29 AM
#1460640
Canadia
Nothing like abusing your position to shove your beliefs down peoples' throats.
10/20/2012 5:20:16 AM
#1460649
UHM
Some teacher's breakdowns involve getting naked and running through the school, other force there students to pray - same result: students get traumatized.
Anaway, both kinds of breakdown-havers should be fired and get help.
(Although if it weren't fat old man having the naked kind of breakdown but 30 old slim female teachers the reaction would be quite different)
10/20/2012 6:01:02 AM
#1460684
Horsefeathers
"A God-fearing city teacher earned a slap on the wrist for ordering her students to kneel and pray to Jesus, education officials said."
With a pink slip to come, I should hope. That is unless the school district enjoys being sued.
"Michelle Schindelheim, of Bronx Middle School 301, drew the attention of investigators in March 2011, after students complained that she was forcing them to pray to God instead of teaching them to read."
Talking to an entity that may or may not exist is obviously a more important life skill than literacy. Just nearly any fundy quoted on this site.
10/20/2012 7:19:40 AM
#1460687
Filin De Blanc
I won't get too annoyed at her since she actually admitted that she shouldn't have done it.
10/20/2012 7:30:35 AM
#1460695
Doubting Thomas
She told them the whole thing was a “stupid idea”
Careful, if God hears you say that prayer is stupid, he'll send you to H-E-double hockey sticks. Though I as an atheist do agree it was a totally stupid idea.
I wonder how many Christians will cry "persecution," while at the same time if it were a Muslim teacher having his class bow to Mecca they'd be calling for his head on a platter.
10/20/2012 7:57:01 AM
#1460697
Thinking Allowed
uh lade...that's what private christian schools are for. Go teach in one of those and you'll fit right in.
10/20/2012 8:11:22 AM
#1460701
Mayhem
Don't fire her. Just force her to read the Necronomicon aloud for a couple hours.
10/20/2012 8:14:59 AM
#1460710
Swede
It could have been a bit understandable if all the students new the Lord's Prayer in Spanish well, to then compare that to the Lord's Prayer in English, in order to teach them English. As a reading example that is, not as a prayer exercise.
What does the size of the salary have to do with anything else?
10/20/2012 8:41:23 AM
#1460732
farpadokly
This sounds like no big deal to me. The kind of thing that is only an issue in America for some reason.
10/20/2012 9:38:44 AM
#1460741
J. James
"she was forcing them to pray to God instead of teaching them to read."
Christians have the irresistible urge to make others stupid starting from a young age.
P.S.- @Swede & farpadoply
This is quite a big deal for us Americans. It completely flouts the Bill of Rights set down by our Founding Fathers in the Constitution; we take that quite seriously over here.
10/20/2012 9:56:15 AM
#1460743
Meeeh
Fire that stupid bitch sorry ass!
10/20/2012 9:59:14 AM
#1460755
D Laurier
and if I were to suggest that Ms Schindelheim should have her class stop and talk to Unicorn, she would freak out.
10/20/2012 10:11:32 AM
#1460765
Mr. Bigglesworth
@ D Laurier
Or His Noodliness...
10/20/2012 10:43:59 AM
#1460772
nazani14
The priest involved should be in for some criticism, too.
10/20/2012 11:23:00 AM
#1460778
Anon-e-moose
Should this fundie twat try this again, and she dares take the school board to court over any punitive measures taken against her; even her
dismissal, all the prosecution has to do is for him/her to say to Michelle 'Let's talk to God.
Make him appear in court, and let's discuss this matter with him, personally, face to face. Now, can you do that...?'
As far as everyone in that courtroom would be concerned at that point, said prosecutor wouldn't even have to say
'The prosecution rests.'
If such were to come to pass, I'd search high & low for a streamed feed/YouTube-d upload/etc of said case being televised/recorded.
I'd store it (with backup, natch; I religiously back up all my important/irreplaceable user files [/irony]) in a folder named 'Schadenfreude'. >:D
@Mr. Bigglesworth
"@ D Laurier
Or His Noodliness..."
I'll see ([/irony]) your Unicorn - and His Noodliness - and raise you:
...the Invisible Pink Unicorn -
with FSM Cutie Mark!
And at least we can see her! As per the God(dess) of Bronydom, Lauren Faust (Ponies and Blessings Upon Her):
...it does one's
creator's case for their existence no harm whatsoever to be actually
seen.
So, fundies, the $64 trillion question: if he 'exists', as per your 'claim(s)', why can't he - your 'God' - appear to us in physical form (and no, not 'Jesus', he's not allowed), hmmmmm...?! If he's as 'omnipotent' as you lot claim he is...! >:D [/smartarse]
10/20/2012 12:01:27 PM
#1460785
Old Viking
She earns $80,000 [per year]? The Board of Education should pay her what she's worth. That way she'd give them $80,000.
10/20/2012 12:39:32 PM
#1460809
Osiris
Yeah it was an unreliably stupid idea. So why did you keep doing it right up until the police came knocking on your door?
10/20/2012 1:27:43 PM
#1460820
checkmate
Wow, one of my teachers should have tried that. It would have lasted about 7.3 seconds and that would have been her last day in any school in our town.
She also admitted that she had made her “class re-enact scenes from the life and death of Jesus,” investigators said.
Did she herself volunteer to be crucified and attempt a resurrection? No?
Well, I guess "In God We Trust" does have its limits.
10/20/2012 2:41:15 PM
#1460836
Letipex
@farpadokly : Yeah, no. Try doing that in France or any northern european country, and I guarantee you shit will hit the fan much faster and much more violently than in the US.
10/20/2012 3:33:47 PM
#1460863
breakerslion
"She told them the whole thing was a 'stupid idea' suggested by a friend who was teaching a meditation class.'
Stupid is as stupid does.
10/20/2012 4:52:14 PM
#1460886
Felix Nephthys
$80,000? Isn't dirt poor according to Romney? So why should they care?
10/20/2012 6:17:31 PM
#1460906
Fundies Make Me Sick
If this is a public school, what she did was unconstitutional.
10/20/2012 8:03:48 PM
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