(Steve Delaney) Last month, as the war in Iraq heated up, a Spaulding high school social studies teacher named Tom Treece posted a sign in his classroom next to a picture of President Bush. According to school officials, the sign said, “All hail the idiot boy King.” Shortly after that, Barre Town police officer John Mott entered the locked classroom a little after one o’clock in the morning, and took a picture of that sign, saying it was evidence of what he described as Treece’s left-leaning teacher style.
All that led to a lively school board meeting Monday night, in which some of the people there were outraged by the description of the president, and others by the reaction of the officer. It’s all being settled now by administrative procedures, both in the School and in the police department. But the incident raises some questions. David Larsen is interim commissioner of Education for Vermont. Commissioner, welcome to Morning Edition.