District, restored teacher still differ

The settlement that averted the firing of a popular Philadelphia teacher allowed both sides to claim a measure of victory and put an end to a controversy that had literally turned into a federal case.

Hope Moffett, an English teacher at Audenried High School, will return to the classroom Monday but faces a five-day suspension that union officials say they will fight to overturn.

She also agreed to read to her students a statement that district officials characterized as an admission of wrongdoing, but that she said was no such thing.

Moffett, an outspoken critic of the district's plan to convert Audenried to a charter school, had been facing termination for allowing students to leave school and attend a protest at district headquarters without their parents' permission. District officials said she had endangered students by allowing them to leave.

They also said she was insubordinate for making public a letter about her dismissal that school officials had told her to keep confidential.

The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers sued the district, arguing that it had targeted Moffett because of her criticism of the charter school plans. The union said that violated her First Amendment right to free speech.

On Friday, a U.S. magistrate judge brokered a settlement that saved Moffett's job.

"I'm really excited," Moffett, 25, said Saturday. "I think it's sort of unbelievable how it ended up, because I didn't anticipate being returned to the classroom."

A spokeswoman for the district said administrators were pleased that Moffett would admit wrongdoing in a letter that she must read to her students and that will be mailed to their parents.

"I think her acknowledging that she did something wrong was part of what we were looking for all along," spokeswoman Shana Kemp said. "Just that she had some sense of remorse that she put the students in harm's way."

Moffett said the one-sentence letter, carefully worded in consultation with the judge, contained no apology or admission of wrongdoing.

"There's no apology," she said. "I think it's very clear that they wanted an apology, but what they wanted an apology for was something that wasn't true."

School officials have said Moffett encouraged students to attend the protest and gave some of them SEPTA tokens to get there. She said the students had decided to go to the protest on their own. Moffett said that she had given a few tokens to one of her students, but that she did so routinely.

As for the statement she will read to the class, Moffett said, it simply says she did not notify the principal that students planned to leave school early and without their parents' permission.

"It's ridiculous," she said Saturday, "but it gets me back into the classroom. And it's true. I didn't tell my principal because she already knew."

In fact, Moffett said, virtually everyone at the school knew the students planned to leave class and attend the protest.

Union president Jerry T. Jordan complained that Moffett, whom he described as a talented and enthusiastic teacher, had been unfairly singled out for discipline.

"This was a suppression of a teacher's voice, and that made it a First Amendment issue," he said.

Kemp vigorously denied that. "It was never about her freedom of speech," she said. "We were concerned about the safety of the students."

Jordan said he was pleased with the settlement but considered it an incomplete outcome because of the suspension, which union officials will work to overturn at an arbitration hearing.