Students of teacher, 23, who posted semi-naked pictures of herself and called a teen ‘jail bait’ launch Twitter page supporting her
Daily Mail: Students have come out in support of a teacher who was suspended from her job after she posted half-naked photos of herself on Twitter and joked about teenager being ‘jail bait’.
Carly McKinney, a math teacher at Overland High School in Aurora, Colorado, was placed on paid administrative leave on Tuesday after admitting to a local TV station that she created the Twitter account with the help of a friend.
Since then a campaign using the hashtag #freecrunkbear has started on Twitter to have her reinstated. Students have also said on new channels that they don’t think McKinney should be punished for what she pursues in her free time outside of school hours.
‘It’s a teacher that’s only five or six years older than our oldest students,’ an Overland High School student named Shaun told 9News. ‘So we kind of relate to her on a personal level.’
The account, CarlyCrunkBear (@crunk_bear), which has since been taken down, included explicit photos of the blonde teacher along with multiple posts about smoking marijuana on school grounds.
It came to light after 9Newswas tipped off about the account by a viewer on Monday. McKinney later admitted to the TV station that she was behind the tweets.
One post read: ‘Naked. Wet. Stoned,’ while another said: ‘Watching a drug bust go down in the parking lot. It’s funny cuz I have weed in my car in the staff parking lot.‘
Other messages suggested that the teacher was grading papers while under the influence of drugs and spending time on Twitter ‘instead of being productive’ during the school day. In one post allegedly referring to a student, McKinney wrote: ‘Just got called Ms McCutie. Point for being clever, however you are still jailbait.’
In a bizarre twist, one of the most revealing photos allegedly depicting McKinney doing a handstand wearing only a paid of lacy panties was retweeted by DJ Diplo to promote his newest single, Express Yourself, iDigital Times reported.
The first-year teacher and a friend told 9News that the Twitter account was intended as a parody. The 23-year-old woman claimed that she was not aware of some of the provocative posts her unnamed friend was making, adding that she never was in possession of drugs on school property.
Cherry Creek School District officials responded by saying that all employees are trained about social media use and are encouraged not to post anything online that they would not want to put on the classroom blackboard.
Officials, however, added that teachers have first amendment right to free speech, especially in so far as personal social media sites are concerned
Tustin Amole, director of communications for Cherry Creek School District, told MailOnline that officials launched an investigation into McKinney’s conduct after learning of the allegations from 9News. Amole emphasized that the paid administrative leave is not a disciplinary action, but rather a routine measure.
According to the district spokesperson, the main goal of the probe is to determine whether the 23-year-old educator used or was in possession of drugs on school property, which is illegal under state law.
Amole went on to say that to the best of her knowledge, McKinney has not been named in any other complaints during her tenure at the school.
Sure, the teacher has a First Amendment right, yet what kind of teacher posts such racy tweets? Not one that I would want my children learning from.
Reason number 999,999 to home school.
DCG
