The Chronicles of Kearnya: Let's Go to the Audiotape

by: Steven Hart

Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 04:14:54 PM EST

What is the sound of one hand clapping? Beats me, but if you head over to the Observer Web site you can hear the sound of one Kearny High School history teacher getting hoist on his own petard.

Click over to the site and you'll get the audio recording that student Matthew LaClair made when he sat down with the school principal to talk about his complaint that Paszkiewicz was neglecting pedagogy for proselytization. It's not a very attractive performance by either the teacher or the administrators in the room. Paszkiewicz is allowed to speak pretty much without interruption; once LaClair starts speaking, he is constantly interrupted and contradicted, often before he can complete a single thought. Many of us are a long time out of public school, and this recording will be a useful reminder of all the overbearing ways adults use their authority on youngsters. LaClair keeps his cool long past the point when many other teenagers would have crumpled. This is not a guy you want to play against in a poker match.

Steven Hart :: The Chronicles of Kearnya: Let's Go to the Audiotape

You will also wish there had been a video camera on hand to record the facial expressions when LaClair revealed he had taped portions of the class. As he distributed the CDs, Paszkiewicz started to accuse LaClair of being an atheist out to bag a Christian scalp. Somebody (the principal perhaps) abruptly stepped in to keep Paszkiewicz from hanging himself with his own words. I can't say that the recording shows anything like the same solicitude for LaClair.

The site includes three audio clips made in Paszkiewicz's class, which are bothersome in unexpected ways. In all fairness I'd have to say that in the classroom Paszkiewicz doesn't come across as an ogre: he's polite to everyone, and you can even hear him praising LaClair's arguments on some points.But the first two classroom clips are essentially long monologues from a guy who sounds like he hasn't read a newspaper or cracked a book since Fox News started broadcasting. His presentation of evolutionary theory could have been lifted whole from a Jack Chick comic tract; his notion that the Big Bang, for instance, can't be proved because nobody was there to see it is simply beneath contempt, especially coming from a man leading a discussion group for advanced students. After listening to these clips, I'll hear no more nonsense about how liberals are corrupting education.

And there's simply no denying that the third clip shows Paszkiewicz very clearly moving from being a believer saying "this is what my faith stands for" to becoming a full-out evangelist in the classroom. Not in a nasty way, to my ears; he isn't some Elmer Gantry raining hellfire and damnation on his students. But he's clearly over the line on this tape. And the way this mess has been handled so far isn't going to inspire much . . . well, faith in either the curriculum or the competence in the Kearny school district.

Cross posted at The Opinion Mill.

Tags: Kearny, creationists, civil liberties, Christianist wingnuttery, (All Tags)

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The Chronicles of Kearnya: Let's Go to the Audiotape | 5 comments

Everyone Really Should Listen To This Audio.... (0.00 / 0)

Thanks Steve for directing some attention to this case; the more the better. This situation really should be front and center because it is just SO outrageous and SO blatant that it cries out for attention.

I see no way that Matthew loses this case; it's just going to take years and lot's of diligence. Meanwhile...he and his family are getting "beat up" on a psychic/political level....and that's not right!

Steve, when you say Paskiewicz isn't an "ogre"; do you know you are actually quoting what he says about himself?

I say, the worst kinds of ogres are the ones who are intelligent, slick, well spoken, attractive, charismatic and authority figures interacting with children.

Again, I urge everyone to take the time to really listen to the subtle manners in which this guy tries to turn a public high school history class into an indoctrination into a particular stripe of "Christian" fundamentalism. It's blatant and indisputable.

Not even Clarence Thomas or Antonin Scalia would dare permit this kind of cult-ural recruitment in a public school...the evidence here is THAT damning!

To me the actions of Paskiewicz are not mysterious. He is spreading his viral memes. It's "good" for him to do that any way he can. Even if/when he if canned; the publicity will be great for his "career" as a fundamentalist "Pastor".

The much larger, and more troubling, question is why hasn't the Kearney school board suspended this "teacher" pending action to dismiss?

If a teacher physically assaults a student; that person is gone...what this guy did is a kind of mind/spirit rape! Sadly, many of the students were actually buying into the indoctrination. Some of them may have been "bent" for life as a result of the washing their brains received in this class.

After attending their Board of Ed meeting last week I had a chance to meet and speak with some of these kids as I was walking to my car. They refer to Paskiewicz as "Pastor Dan". One of the kids is actually planning to go to Brazil next year to do "missionary work".

All this would be sort of ok if this wasn't a public school, but paying this guy taxpayer dollars to recruit kids into his particular brand of "Christian" culture is downright un-American in my book.

One thing you can say for these folks though:

They show up. They dominated the space 20 to 1.

The Board is either cowed or infiltrated or some combination thereof.

Again, I suggest that y'all listen to the audio; and then consider doing a bit more.

Consider attending the NEXT Kearney Board of Ed meeting with a prepared 4 to 5 minute presentation. Or at least attend and be supportive of those who speak on behalf of the Constitution.

by: Nick Lento @ Sun Feb 25, 2007 at 04:09:10 AM UTC

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It'll come down to money (0.00 / 0)

This matter will be settled in court. Jeering crowds at local meetings are good only because it keeps the story alive in the press. Just as in Dover PA, local residents resent all the "outside agitators." But when it starts costing Kearny Board of Ed & taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars just to be obstinate & insular, people will tend to take a more, ah, balanced view, with Mr. Paszkiewicz increasingly viewed as a royal pain in the ass by residents, Board of Ed members, & fellow faculty, despite his popularity with students who naturally think the real problem is Matthew LaClair.

by: Wesleylake @ Sun Feb 25, 2007 at 18:11:23 PM UTC

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It's More Than Money That's at Stake... (0.00 / 0)

The Le Claire family is besieged and Matthew is vibrationally assaulted as he is seen as "the bad guy" by most of the kids at school, while in reality he's being heroic.
Yes, on one level you are 100% right. As I said above; the case is a no brainer even for the SC we now have.(.....though I have to tell ya; 10 years ago I would have NEVER believed that the SC would have ruled to allow eminent domain to become a way of stealing land and giving it to developers so that local officials could line their pockets.)
It may take 5 years or more to percolate to that level (and who knows who/what will be on the court at that time?!); meanwhile the committed fanatics will be doing all they can to assault and destroy this family. (All in the name of "saving their souls" of course.)
That's one of the problems with us "liberals/progressives; we think that merely having "the law" or "the Constitution" on our side is enough.
The opposition shows up. Yes, they are a minority; but they are a committed one.
Little by little, inch by inch anti-democratic forces (either ideological or greed/power driven or a combo thereof) have been getting stronger and stronger.
It's no accident that we've had Bush in office and that he's "won" two elections.
These people cheat, lie, steal and worse.
Unless we learn how to organize real coalitions that really come out in force to support each other on the "small" stuff in one particular location; we stand less chance of being able to have real influence on a larger broader scale.
The irony is that the ideological canon fodder folk of the "religious right" are themselves being used like toilet paper by the monied interests behind the Bush administration.
In the name of God; these people are being duped into serving the opposite.
BTW Do you think that local Democratic bosses like Ferriero or the crew in Hudson County want to see scores of progressives actually getting together in the real concrete world of action and showing up at a school board meeting to support the Constitution? Don't you think the dynamism/synergy of such actions would be a threat to the machine?
(Expletive deleted) if we can't even get together on something like this where the perfidy is so bloody blatant and obvious...and relatively easy to deal with; there's no way we'll ever be able to deal with pay to play, eminent domain, saving the environment, single payer, stopping the MI complex, or cleaning if machine politics.
Then again, it all depends of who is "we"! ;-)

by: Nick Lento @ Sun Feb 25, 2007 at 21:28:57 PM UTC

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Just to Clarify... (0.00 / 0)

Hey Nick,
I think it was the "liberal" justices that allowed the unfortunate Kelo decision.
I am kinda surprised this teacher is getting so much support in a town like Kearny.

by: 9thDistrictObserver @ Mon Feb 26, 2007 at 16:31:56 PM UTC

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Sometimes the Road to Hell is Paved "Good Intentions" (0.00 / 0)

Thanks 9th!
Liberal Shmiberal, eminent domain law is now being perverted to horrendous ends. It needs to be fine tuned poste haste.
See The Kelo Calamity By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
Now, getting back to the matter at hand,can you make it to the next Kearny School Board Meeting? :-)

by: Nick Lento @ Mon Feb 26, 2007 at 21:36:35 PM UTC

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The Chronicles of Kearnya: Let's Go to the Audiotape | 5 comments