Teacher Quits After Facebook Posts Diss Parents, Kids

(Aug. 19) -- Call it an online education.

A teacher in a Massachusetts high school resigned after she posted Facebook comments describing the local parents as "arrogant and snobby" and referred to children as "germ bags."

Some of the postings were at least six months old, but it took only one day for enraged parents and educators to force June Talvitie-Siple to quit her $92,636-a-year job as supervisor of the math and science program at Cohasset High School.

"Clearly, Dr. Siple didn't know how to work Facebook. Maybe she's a great bio teacher, but the Internet is not her thing," senior Olivia Yerardi told a local CNN affiliate.

Talvitie-Siple also posted comments on her public Facebook page saying that she is "so not looking forward to another year at Cohasset schools."

A group of parents informed Superintendent Denise Walsh and school committee members of the comments on Monday afternoon. Walsh, who was out of the country on vacation, immediately asked Talvitie-Siple to resign. On Tuesday, Talvitie-Siple obliged.

"My gut reaction was I couldn't believe it was real," School Committee Vice Chairman Alfred Slanetz told the Boston Herald. "I thought that somebody had hacked her Web page."

A poll conducted by the CNN affiliate showed 62 percent of readers believed it was wrong that Talvitie-Siple lost her job.

Talvitie-Siple declined to comment to AOL News in a message sent via Facebook.

Talvitie-Siple has expressed regret that her comments ever became public. Still, she stopped short of actually apologizing and blamed her technological ineptitude and office politics for her departure.

The Facebook comments "weren't meant for the rest of the world. Most of it was a joke, and my friends would have understood that," Talvitie-Siple told GateHouse News Service. "I didn't think it was a public Facebook page."

In one of her postings she referred to an illness she had and commented, "Now I remember why I stopped teaching kids. They are all germ bags."

Talvitie-Siple was hired to supervise the school's science, technology, engineering and mathematics department last year. In June, she signed an extension to her contract.

In her interview with GateHouse News service, Talvitie-Siple alluded to "issues" between parents and administrators. She did not go into details but said the issues involved "lies" and "disturbing behavior."

Whatever her relationship with the parents, teachers and pupils in the school may have learned a harsh lesson about the limits of privacy on the Internet.

"It's a lesson that we try to teach our kids about use of the Internet,'' Slanetz told The Boston Globe. "It almost doesn't matter if it's on the Web or in a newspaper these days. ... It's all out there.''