PDA

View Full Version : Two Time OEF Vet Loses Job Because He Served his Country



thedrifter
07-13-06, 01:14 PM
Two Time OEF Vet Loses Job Because He Served his Country
Posted By Blackfive

Via Mad Monk, Captain John Parker of the US Army Reserve just recently returned home to Tennessee to find out that he has been fired. I say fired. The school says "let go". Read this from Nashvilles NewsChannel 5 and decide for yourself. Contact information for the school director AND the county school board will be in the Extended Section after the Jump:

NewsChannel 5 Investigates: School System Leaves Soldier Behind

Like so many soldiers who have helped fight the war on terror, Capt. John Parker put his life on the line every day while he was deployed in Afghanistan.

"I signed up to serve my country," Parker tells NewsChannel 5 investigative reporter Jennifer Kraus.

And serve he did, which is why he was so shocked at how he was treated when he came back home to Wilson County.

"It just made me feel that the people I was fighting for were the exact people that were taking my job from me," he adds.

You see, Parker is not just a soldier.

He's also a teacher who taught criminal justice to high school students and helped coach the school wrestling team. before he was sent to the Middle East with the Army Reserves.

Parker says that before he left, "I just told all the kids, 'Hey, I'll be going, but I'll be back.'"...

He went back to Wilson Central High School after his first year-long tour in Afghanistan.

And, after a second tour of duty there, he expected to return to the classroom again.

Parker should have had no problem going back to work thanks to a special federal law that protects soldiers like Parker.

It guarantees that, when they come home from their deployment, they'll get their old jobs back for at least a year.

But just one month after Parker went back to work, the Wilson County School system told him his teaching contract was not being renewed and he was out of a job.

Wilson County Director of Schools Dr. Jim Duncan, the man who sent the letter informing Parker that he was being let go, insists that "he was not fired."

Duncan maintains that the teacher-turned-soldier was told not to return to school the next year because there just weren't enough students signed up for Parker's class.

But Duncan also admits that he had problems with Parker being sent to Afghanistan not once, but twice.

"It was like we got these classes going and you're supposed to be the teacher," Duncan tells Kraus.

"So, you're saying his teaching position should have been his priority?" Kraus asks.

"Firmly. Yes."

But it doesn't matter what Duncan thinks. In a document put out by the National School Boards Association, it's spelled out in black and white that a soldier's job is protected when he's called to service.

But despite the law, the director of schools says he still feels that when class started, instead of being on the battlefield, Parker should have been in the classroom.

"Could he have said something to his superiors? 'Look, I really need to get back there. If everything is equal, I need to get back there (to Wilson Central High School) January 3rd because that's when my class starts and I need to be with those kids for the full semester.'"

Parker's attorney Gary Blackburn says his client "chose to risk his life. He didn't choose to risk his job."

Blackburn says what happened to the soldier is not the way someone who has honorably served his country should be treated.

"People who are willing to leave their homes, go to strange environments, endure personal hardships and threats of death should not be punished when they return home for their sacrifice," Blackburn adds.

"It's wrong."

John Parker agrees.

"I just feel it's an injustice," he says.

Parker says he loves his country and his job teaching. And, he doesn't think it was fair to make him choose between the two.

"It's pretty hard to believe in a country where we're out there fighting for liberty, that those same things are not being given back to us when we come back."

Late Thursday afternoon, Capt. Parker filed a lawsuit against the Wilson County School Board claiming the school system broke the law and violated his rights.

He says he just wants his old job back at Wilson Central High School.

Here is the contact information including Jim Duncan who's quotes are in the story and the Wilson County School Board. As always, please keep your correspondence with them courteous:

Director of Schools
Dr. Jim Duncan
351 Stumpy Lane
Lebanon, TN 37090
615-444-3282
duncanj@wcschools.com
(615)444-3282/(615)449-3858

Also the Wilson County Board of Education:

Wilson County Board of Education
351 Stumpy Lane
Lebanon, Tennessee 37090
Telephone: (615) 444-3282
FAX: (615) 449-3858
http://www.wcschools.com/

Ellie

jerryk
07-13-06, 04:34 PM
people ,dont wast ya,ll writing to that duncan guy just did,it came back ,said he will not except it ,it will be listed as spam

marinegreen
07-13-06, 04:45 PM
I wonder how these chicken-chits would be if'en we were over run by the enemy, there panty-waste arse's would be screaming out"WHERE'S OUR SOILDERS" plezz someone help us. GOD I truely hope BAD KARMA bites him and those like him right in the azzz,they are the real traitors to our military.If this fuq'rrrrr would just stop and take the time to realize its because of the american military men/women that he can go to work and make the big buck and that our kids can get a education. Just another SORRY EXCUSE OF HUMAN PARTS !!! SF

10thzodiac
07-13-06, 07:05 PM
That are blinded, hands blown off...do you really think they are being treated any better? Even Murtha threatened the Commandant if didn't give a Marine in that condition (defusing an explosive) a purple heart, he'd give him one of his. The Commandant finally gave him a Purple Heart.

GD the they are giving Bronze Stars out if you got some pull or good at brown nosing for doing your job good instead of heroizm...pis*es me off how we treat our service people from within and outside...

War is a F'N Racket, for the rich and the poor soldier pays the price and nobody really cares.:mad:

marinegreen
07-13-06, 07:14 PM
That are blinded, hands blown off...do you really think they are being treated any better? Even Murtha threatened the Commandant if didn't give a Marine in that condition (defusing an explosive) a purple heart, he'd give him one of his. The Commandant finally gave him a Purple Heart.

GD the they are giving Bronze Stars out if you got some pull or good at brown nosing for doing your job good instead of heroizm...pis*es me off how we treat our service people from within and outside...

War is a F'N Racket, for the rich and the poor soldier pays the price and nobody really cares.:mad:


Thats no chit,a former friend got a Bronze for pushing pencil in Iraq, he's a SgtMaj in the Army guard.Maybe it helped that his parnets were sending over 100's of $$ in footballs,frisbies,basketballs, or maybe his ole man payed the BG of the Ia. guard to get that Bronze.Guys are out fighting/dying and they only get a PH,but push a pencil and you'll get the Bronze but we all know how the army and navy hands out them ribbons

outlaw3179
07-13-06, 08:59 PM
Alot of the battalion officers in our COC got bronze stars ( not with combat v) , for being in direct support of Marines during combat operations. I just thought that was really ****ty seeing as how an officer can get a bronze star being safe and sound inside a little room while Marines are getting shot at and getting pounded by mortars. It kind of cheapens the award.