Mr. Mullens, the teacher in question, has resigned. It isn't clear
from the news story whether he will be pursuing any legal remedies
against the school district. The Superintendent, Lana Comeaux,
mentioned in his statement cited below, also resigned under mysterious
circumstances last November shortly after the conversation described
by Mr. Mullens occurred.
==
Apparently, many of the school board members and the people who
complained about Mr. Mullens and Ms. Comeaux all belong to the same
Baptist church whose pastor has been hired to replace Mr. Mullens and
teach his classes.
The administration of Brookeland High School made attempts to urge
students to sign a list of alleged chargers against Mr. Mullens of
which over 100 students out of 103 refused to sign.
The students attempted to present to the Board of education a
petition in support of Mr. Mullens and refuting any charges of
inappropriate language made against him.
The Principal of Brookeland High School, not only refused to take
this petition to the board but forbade the students from such
actions. Mr. Mullins is being railroaded by a School board of which
all of those who support his removal are members of the same
church. A church who's pastor has openly called for there to be
only Christian teachers in the Brookeland school district.
http://snipurl.com/bpna6
==
The following is a statement of events from Mr. Mullens, some names
and details were redacted:
I, Richard Mullens, have been a teacher in the state of Texas since
1971. I have never received a negative comment, complaint, or write-up
during this period of time. On the contrary, I have received
recognition for my teaching and the test scores of my students. No
matter what district I've taught in, my students have always excelled
in the state mandated tests.
I currently teach in Brookeland, TX, a small rural district about 16
miles north of Jasper, TX. I've taught at Brookeland for the past 6
years. I've been in my current position as US history, government, and
economics teacher for 3 years. [...]
On November 7th, at a basketball game that was supposed to be our
homecoming scrimmage, I sat at the scores table as a coach with Lana
Comeaux, the superintendent. ...
Lana Comeaux at that time told me she was under pressure from the
school board and they were looking for her to resign. She said that my
name was also on the list of people that the board wanted to resign or
fire. I asked why, and she said that a school board member had
expressed to her that he believed I was an atheist and a liberal. She
asked me if I was an atheist and I refused to answer the question. I
said, "I won't play this game. I didn't know you had to take a
religious test to be a teacher in the state of Texas."
Nothing was said after that point, although there was a lot of tension
among the other coaches about whether they would be able to keep their
jobs or not, because she also told them that many of them were on the
list.
Then on January 7th, a student in my classroom in second period left
my class, went to the Principal's office, and told him that there was
an inappropriate discussion in my classroom. I was informed by the
principal, Richard Turner, that I needed to talk to her mother because
she was very upset. Her mother came to class on January 7th, came to
the school January 7th, very upset. She made some threats to me in the
hallway.
And then on January 8th, Mr. Turner informed me that I needed to call
the parent, Mrs. Lowe. On January 9th, I had Vicki Smith, the school
secretary, call "REDACTED" on my behalf to arrange a conference at
10:35 Monday, January 12th. Monday the 12th, I met with REDACTED and
School Principal Richard Turner in his office.
REDACTED was very angry. She accused me of being an atheist, saying I
was too liberal, and that I allowed the students to talk about
inappropriate things in the classroom. I told her that occasionally
students would get on topics and say things, but I was unable to
censor them before they were able to say them.
She said that I called her daughter a name and I denied the
accusation. But then she said that I didn't believe in god and
shouldn't be teaching. She also said that she had spoken to 3 other
board members who agreed with her that I shouldn't be teaching because
I was too liberal and I was an atheist.
On January 15th, there was a board meeting. Nothing was on the agenda
concerning me. During the open forum, several audience members spoke
to their concerns that I was an atheist and I was too liberal.
On January 16th, I was called to Mr. Richard Turner's office (my
principal), and he informed me that I had been put on administrative
leave with pay. The reasons, as stated to me by Mr. Turner at the
time, were that I was accused of being an atheist and teaching atheism
in the classroom, and I was too liberal. \
On January 23rd, Mr. Turner and members of the board met behind closed
doors concerning my suspension and allegations that were directed at
me. On January 24th, I received a certified letter from Mr. Turner
that stated that the causes for my suspension apparently had been
changed to inappropriate contact with students and comments. He
admonished me in the letter for having contact with students who had
text-messaged me during my first week of suspension, but I had not
received any administrative directive, or anything in writing, prior
to that time telling me I could not have contact with students.
On January 26th, I called my lawyer REDACTED, with ATTE, and informed
him of my situation that I was put on administrative leave with pay,
pending an investigation.
I later had conversations with parents and a person who lives in the
community, who informed me that the principal had met with the
minister of the local church and had discussed my suspension with him.
I also later received information from REDACTED,a "SCHOOL
EMPLOYEE-POSITION REDACTED", that the minister was now subbing at the
school and that he had heard that he would be taking my position, or
if I returned he would be co-teaching with me.
There have been a number of rumors in our community now concerning
inappropriate behavior: high school girls coming to my class to
supposedly smoke marijuana, all kinds of accusations made by the
members of the missionary baptist church at which this minister is the
preacher. In the January 24th letter from Mr. Richard Turner, my
principal, I was also informed that my suspension had been extended
indefinitely.
Sincerely,
Richard Mullens
Links and more here:
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/2/10/123751/653
