Teacher fired after putting fire out

[The Straight Story]

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Michelle Hammack was fired Wednesday from her teaching job at the Little Temples Childcare facility in Arlington.

It all started when Hammack smelled burning chicken nuggets from her nearby classroom.

"I just leaned over and peeked around and there was a fire in the oven, and I ran in there and opened it to try to put it out, and the fire alarm started going off."

Hammack says she rushed back to her classroom and woke up her napping students. She then took all of the children outside.

While other teachers did a head count, Hammack says she went back for a second check to make sure no other children were inside.

"When I got to the third classroom by the kitchen, I could see that it was just a contained fire in the oven."

So Hammack says she put it out, before the fire trucks arrived, but instead of being thanked, she got a pink slip hours later.

"I fired her only because she left her room," explained the facility owner Olga Rozhaov.

http://www.actionnewsjax.com/content/topstories/story/Teacher-fired-after-putting-fire-out/O0UlIh4m00iLLU3jgwIMdg.cspx

[kestrel91316]

1. Olga Rozhaov sounds like the crazy, evil Russian apartment managers I am having to deal with

these days.

Is it something in the water with these people? Did communism permanently warp their brains??

[The Straight Story]

2. Hoping for more info

Given zero tolerance and fed/state regulations owner could have been playing it safe "you did the right thing but by the law you left when not supposed to"

Common sense seems to have left the building when it comes to kids/schools/etc over fear and lawsuits. They look at violations instead of results, etc.

[ananda]

3. It's a societal thing.

There's a crack in the collective psyche. Many people just aren't
human or rational these days. Even the ones who have brains and/or
money often have lost their hearts.

[ret5hd]

9. What the hell does communism have to do with it???

[kestrel91316]

16. I'm just speculating that living under totalitarianism might have turned most Russians

into pompmous little Stalin wanna-be's.

[Ratty]

18. Ha! Reminds me of what some Russian emigres told me

Two different emigres told me the most shocking thing they encountered when they came to the west was how polite workers were to you in stores. One woman who had arrived in Canada told me: "In Russia they treat you like DOG." They left during the time of the Soviet Union.

[kestrel91316]

22. Pretty much sums up how my apartment managers have treated everybody since they got hired a few

months ago: like DOGS. You know it's bad when the not-so-bad-but-definitely-crazy Israeli former manager goes off on how awful they are.

[Smarmie Doofus]

4. Am I reading this right? Hammack smelled and saw a fire in a neighboring classroom...

... and went into the classroom ( obviously leaving her own classroom for that period of time) and tried to put out the fire?

Then returned to her class when she saw she was unable to do so?

[Curmudgeoness]

5. That is not how I read it.

The article said that she did leave to see what was burning, and then the fire alarm went off. That was why she rushed back to her room. It seems that she did not have time to determine whether she could put it out or not before the fire alarm went off.

[Smarmie Doofus]

10. Check. She returned to her kids before she had a chance to put out the fire. Then....

she removed the kids from the bldg. Then went back and put the fire out.

She sounds like Superwoman.

Don't want someone that smart, brave and common sensical around kids.

[SheilaT]

6. Better she had stayed in the classroom with her small charges

so they could all burn to death.

Which is exactly what happened in a school fire in Chicago in 1958. In the second floor classrooms smoke was smelled, but the nuns had the children stay in the classroom and pray. Ninety-two children died.

To Sleep with the Angels by David Cowan and John Kuenster tells the full story, or at least as much is as known about it.

[Poll_Blind]

8. Thank you for posting- I'm going to have to read up on that.

I hold valuable the wisdom and perspective that other DUers share here, and this is a good example of that.

Thank you.

PB

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. So, she was fired for behaving responsibly?

[suffragette]

15. Sure sounds like that. Topsy turvy world when someone like her is fired

She should be lauded for her actions.

[ZombieHorde]

11. I could understand a meeting with all staff to review proper procedure according to law,

but firing her seems over the top, staring Sylvester Stallone, to me.

[LittleBlue]

12. Of course she is fired in America.

What did you expect? Common sense? Doesn't exist anymore.

[n2doc]

13. Hopefully she will get a better job elsewhere

Some smart school should find a place for her.

[duffyduff]

14. You can't leave a class unsupervised. It's a major no-no. n/t

[TheKentuckian]

19. Bigger "no-no" is being so hide bound that you let the school burn down and worse burning up the

kids.

Rules will only carry one so far before becoming dangerous chains.

[Lurks Often]

17. Primarily a liability issue

If Hammack had been injured the school could have been sued, especially since Hammack went back into the building.

Common sense has been replaced by CYA and fears of lawsuits.

[Jim Lane]

20. My guess is that there couldn't be any liability.

I don't know Florida law, but I think the basic workers' compensation setup is universal: An employee injured on the job automatically receives certain (inadequate) amounts in compensation, regardless of fault, but has no cause of action against the employer or any co-worker.

I'm going with TheKentuckian (in #19): This is just hidebound application of a rule without regard to how circumstances can alter cases.

[Trillo]

21. If people aren't perfect rule followers,

or simply are imperfect in general, then why does hierarchy always try to make them perfect?

[matthews]

24. That''s how they beat down the plebs. Give them little or no room for

initiative and critical thinking and make damn sure that punishment is severe, costly, and swift if they try thinking for themselves. Even when it turns out to be for the best.

[matthews]

23. No room for common sense and intelligent decision making any more. It's FOLLOW ORDERS -

NO MATTER WHAT - FOLLOW THOSE ORDERS.

That should work well. Soon we'll all be good little brainless zombified bots.