Teacher Quizzes Students About "Liars. . . .I mean Republicans"
Face the State Staff Report
Update: It has been confirmed through a second student source that the teacher in question is Brian Mierzwa (see list below for party affiliation information for the school's mathematics department.)
Fort Collins - Face the State has obtained a math test administered to students at Rocky Mountain High School, in which a teacher referred to Republicans as "liars."
The following question appeared on the test:
Question 3: Politics in Florida
In 1988, there were 6.047 million people registered to vote in Florida. Of these, a certain number were registered democrats, some were registered republicans, and others were registered as independent. The number of democrats was 0.908 million more than the number of liars – I mean republicans [emphasis supplied]. The number of republicans was 1.935 million more than the number of independents. Using mathematics from Chapter 1, find the number of registered voters for each party, in millions.
RMHS Principal Tom Lopez refused to disclose the identify of the teacher who gave the test but admitted that the Republican-bashing test did come from his school. Based on its web site, RMHS has 11 staffers in the math department, registered to vote as follows:
Mark Brook - Unaffilated
Brad Avery - Unaffiliated
Katie Campbell-Frederick - Republican
Kate Canine - Not found as a registered voter.
Rachel Drago - Republican
Bob Haddad - Unaffiliated
Brian Mierzwa - Democrat
Todd Pfeifer - Democrat
Rose Sprenger - Unafffiliated
Ken Taylor - Unaffiliated
Derek Widmier - Not found as a registered voter.
It is unknown who wrote the test question, and to date, no one has publicly come forward to admit they wrote the politically-slanted question.
In a voice message, Mr. Lopez said he spoke with the teacher “and I’m convinced…that it was humor only for the audience that was taking the quizzes and tests.” Lopez indicated that the math teacher had been doing this for quite some time having “established a rapport” with his students. When asked if the math question would be humorous if other groups were identified as “liars,” Mr. Lopez admitted it would not be funny.
In Friday's Fort Collins Coloradoan, Mr. Lopez wouldn't comment on any disciplinary actions taken against the teacher, but did question the significance of the incident by telling the paper, “At the time of the test, I didn’t have any students run out of class and come to my office. The student who had a concern never came to my office or to my administration; they just went straight to the media.”
Larimer County Democratic Party chairman Adam Bowen also downplayed the incident, telling the Coloradoan teachers should be given the "benefit of the doubt."
RMHS is part of the Poudre School District; its teachers are members of the Poudre Education Association (PEA). The Colorado Supreme Court recently announced that it will hear arguments alleging that the PEA illegally campaigned for democrat candidate for state senate, Bob Bacon.
Face the State obtained a copy of the test from KFKA 1310 radio show host Amy Oliver. Oliver had the message forwarded to her from a listener.
The results of an out-of-control teachers union
On May 15th, 2007 Socrates says:
So the school district will kowtow to teachers union thugs. What a surprise.....not.
math test
On May 12th, 2007 reveal says:
It seems the "liar" may be the principal.
Math teacher should be fired
On May 11th, 2007 huhden says:
Typical liberal democrat teacher. Democrats can throw out shots but not stand up and take responsibility for their actions. This teacher was out of line and should be fired and not down played.
calm down
On July 23rd, 2007 jcaso says:
This sounds like more PC crap. I am a registered Republican and a teacher for 10 years, and I believe that there is indeed a left-leaning bias at most universities and high schools. However, this is innocuous. I'm sure a math teacher is trying to indoctrinate all of his students with his Deomcratic talking points. I know Brian Mierzwa, which is more than 99% of the people criticizing him can say. You need to have about a 2 minute coversation with him to realize how unfounded and overblown this whole situation is.