Proselytizing teacher in Kearny..... a repeat offender ?

by: FogerRox

Wed Mar 14, 2007 at 01:45:14 AM EDT

The BLUE JERSEY folks have been blogging on this issue as far back as "njdem" on Feb 19th, Nick Lento did a follow up on Feb 21st, and the father of the 17 yr old student, Paul LaClair's diary of Feb 26th, Nick Lento then posted some video on Feb 27th, as well as my own  hack job on March 8th.

Since David Paszkiewicz has been teaching in Kearny for 14 years, I had wondered if this proselytizing was new behavior, or a long term trend. If its been a trend, and the BOE knew and did nothing, its a great issue to elect new BOE members on.

So after trading emails with Paul LaClair, I hit the google, and here is what I found....

He has done this for years. My child, a former student of his and other student/friends, confirm this. Surprisingly, each student, including my own child, is compelled to protect him. Why? In spite of his inappropriate diatribes, they were willing to look past it because he was a good teacher.

Fact: he told his class that "hippies" were evil and anti-Christ because their peace sign was an upside down broken cross.

Fact: he denigrated the humiliated a homosexual student claiming his homosexuality would result in eternal damnation.

Fact: he consistently preached that not accepting Jesus as personal savior would result in eternal damnation and regularly brought up that prayer and religion should be allowed in public schools.

I, on the other hand, feel for this student who had the integrity and bravery to do something--something I should have done and didn't because I feared what the LaClair family is going through would happen to me.

From The Observer.

I also found the Observer Editor's blog., which posted numerous letters to the Editor.

Hello,

I was a student at KHS a few years ago and had Mr. Paszkiewicz for history for three days before I decided to switch out because of more or less the same reasons that student is complaining. I had decided not to write anything in because I thought everyone knew about his less-than-conventional way of teaching, but after reading the article it seems everyone is under the delusion this guy is tolerable.

The VERY first day I was in his class, he said something like "in my class, you will not only gain a good education, but a new perspective." For the next few days, he couldn't help but throw in his opinions on things, such as how "Bush is one of the best presidents to be elected to office." He constantly liked to give his opinions on things instead of giving unbiased reports of what the class was about: history. He needs to keep his comments to himself and teach the class instead of trying to sway people into believing the way he does. I even told my counselor about him and she said something like: "Yeah, some people don't know how to keep their mouth shut on certain things." So I thought everyone knew about it, but was keeping quiet. I don't see why. He isn't as great as a lot of people are making him out to be, and he needs to change his teaching style quick. I was VERY glad to leave his class and be transferred into a more educational and unbiased environment for learning.

-KHS Alumni

The more I find out about this teacher, David Paszkiewicz, the more I wonder about Paszkiewicz, & the Kearny School Board. Things like this don't exactly stay buried for years unles someone wields a shovel and keeps them buried. I am starting to have the feeling that Paszkiewicz has friends, and they have helped to cover up Paszkiewicz's actions, possibly more than one time.

If this is so, Paszkiewicz and anyone else involved, Principal or School Board members, need to go.

UPDATE !

But thats not the worst of it. Apparently there was a meeting  with the Principal, LaClair & Paszkiewicz, where Paszkiewicz denied any preaching and then LaClair provided the audio proof (on CD's, I gather) that indeed Paszkiewicz had been preaching in class. SO it appears that Paszkiewicz lied to the principal. It may be that LaClair has the grounds to ask for Paszkiewicz's tenure to be in front of an Administrative Judge. Its clear at this point what Paszkiewicz is. He needs to be suspended without pay, like yesterday.

I'm going to be at the March 19th Kearny School Board meeting, join me, please.