The Lesson Plan Gone Awry

In Fernley, where the schools prefer arithmetic to wrestling, a substitute teacher delivered a demonstration no curriculum had the nerve to print.

On April 20, according to the Lyon County School District, the gentleman supplemented his lesson with “inappropriate comments” and a practical exercise involving two students’ necks, complete with a shaking, choking motion, as his philosophy of discipline. It is a bold innovation, though not one likely to improve test scores or public opinion.

School administrators, proving that common sense still draws a salary, removed him from campus as soon as the facts caught up with the rumors. He is no longer an employee of the district, which is a way of saying his teaching career received an F grade in red ink.

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.

The district also reminded the public that substitutes must pass background checks and hold proper licensure, assurances which read well on paper but occasionally less so in practice. A license, it seems, guarantees qualification in much the same way a driver’s license guarantees good judgment: it doesn’t, but it looks official in a wallet.

The episode, at least, has clarified that discipline is best with rules, and not hands, and when a man confuses the two, he gets excused permanently.