Jim Whitney, Joplin, Missouri, High School Teacher Accused Of Making Homophobic Comments On Facebook, Cleared Of Wrongdoing

A teacher accused of making homophobic comments on Facebook last week has been cleared of the charges against him reports Towleroad via NewsTalkKZRG.com.

"We've investigated and found no wrong-doing on the part of the teacher," said Joplin Superintendent Doctor CJ Huff.

Whitney was accused of replying to a former student's post about bullying in the schools by saying "Moral of the story: Don't be gay." When another Facebook user asked, "How many more kids have to kill themselves before everyone realizes that this is an actual issue?" another post attributed to Whitney stated, "11-13 ought to do it."

"It's unfortunate when you're dealing with social media and dealing with technology and the potential for people to get on to other people's accounts and say things that shouldn't be said," added Huff who says that Whitney's account was hacked.

Though the former student involved in the incident claimed that the comments seemed "out of character for Whitney," the math teacher's initial response to the accusations mentioned nothing about being hacked and could be read as taking credit for the posts:

"I do not condone bullying or harassment of any kind and I am very aware and saddened by the negative impact this type of behavior creates. I regret that the posts appeared on Facebook. They do not reflect my personal views and I apologize for any and all offenses caused by the comment."

Comments

[MartiniVirtuoso]

08:44 AM on 10/31/2011

If you've ever been to Joplin, you know where this attitude comes from. Rural Missouri isn't just red politically, it's infra-red neon crimson.

[WilhelmKein]

05:40 PM on 10/29/2011

"'We've investigated and found no wrong-doing on the part of the teacher,' said Joplin Superintendent Doctor CJ Huff."

How did some random school superintendent investigate anything?

[FantasticFourFan]

06:19 PM on 10/28/2011

Is this going to be the new excuse? "My account was hacked"? Anytime a teacher gets busted saying what they really think and gets in trouble for it: "Oh, my account was hacked".

[SimonBao]

12:40 AM on 10/29/2011

A few politicians have been using that excuse. That their tweets or facebook posts were from someone else, not from themselves. Anthony Weiner, Joe Miller, Mike Parry, a few others.

If the media and the public permit politicians to get away with it, they should permit teachers, preachers, and all other authority figures and moralists to get away with it also.

Or, if we're going to hold a teacher to account for his/her Facebook... hold everyone to account, and to at least the same standards. At least.

[FantasticFourFan]

09:34 PM on 10/29/2011

If I recall correctly, that excuse didn't work for them either.

[weareallzombies]

05:36 PM on 10/28/2011

In reading the full conversation on the original story all I could think is: how can someone so immature and childish be in charge of teaching students?

[mftinvermont]

03:34 PM on 10/28/2011

Drunk posting again?

[Erin84]

02:19 PM on 10/28/2011

It could be that he is just really computer or facebook illiterate, and doesn't check it often enough to realize he was hacked. When he was first confronted with this scandal, he may have misunderstood the accusations to mean someone he friended put the posts up, and he was being held responsible because he allowed them on his page. I don't know. It does seem fishy that he didn't claim being hacked at first. That is also an uncharacteristic thing for a hacker to do. Usually you just get a bunch of spam put up in your newsfeed and others. Why would someone take the time to frame him as a bigot. I really really hope he's telling the truth, but it doesn't look that way, and I think the school is just accepting the hacker excuse because they don't understand facebook that well, or they just want it to go away. Either way, doubt still remains, so again Huffpost writers' choice of words are poor. To be "cleared" means to be exonerated completely.

[carmenalex]

12:25 PM on 10/28/2011

Another "not intended to be a factual statement"

[Intelligenti Pauca]

10:32 AM on 10/28/2011

Is anybody else suspicious over the fact that Whitney never claimed that his account had been hacked? If that was indeed the case, then why not come right out & say so immediately?

It sounds like we're not getting the full story.....something is missing.

[eehd]

11:50 AM on 10/28/2011

Hmm, yes and no. Remember who was the last person that their account had been hacked. Also, he did say, "I regret that the posts APPEARED on Facebook." Can't the Media call Facebook and ask if the account was hacked. We get these half-baked stories without any actual reporting.

[Spartan112]

11:55 AM on 10/28/2011

I read sarcasm into the statement, meaning he didn't want kids to kill themselves, but no one will recognize the problem until more do.

[Syllogizer]

12:41 PM on 10/28/2011

That is one way to read it. But it is far from clear that that is what he meant. Nor is this the only reason he never should have said that.