FMS-Blog : The Wildly Whimsical, Mostly Musical WebLog
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Teacher's Rights Vin-quished in Durango, CO !
A violin teacher from Texas was last week sacked for "using alcohol" whilst watching a musical performance at a mountain resort in Colorado called Music in the Mountains.
The 25 year old classical musician it seems enjoyed a glass of wine whilst watching students perform on stage and, despite being one of many people who were consuming alcohol during the event, he was sacked a few days later. This, apparently, was because he was sat among students at the time he was drinking wine.
The source report on this young teacher's sacking was published by The Durango Herald and describes how Richmond Punch has now left the state of Colorado for his hometown in Texas but that he believes there was more to his sacking than meets the eye. Certainly, enjoying a glass of Chardonnay during a performance is perfectly ordinary practise and would not normally constitute grounds for dismissal, especially because this event was, presumably, not during Punch's normal working hours. But, he had been warned about other aspects of his conduct, such as his habit of busking in the street on days off, this that the Conservatory of Music in the Mountains deemed to bring down the tone of their esteemed establishment. Although, how what this teacher does in his spare has anything to do with his employer I'm not sure - seems like there would be grounds for unfair dismissal if this happened in the UK.
It doesn't help that those who jumped to his defence also seem to say nothing of worth, for example Punch's mother, Gayle coming out with this corker :
"People are usually enlightened when they see a young African-American man playing classical music."
What the relevance of Punch's ethnicity is I'm really not sure!
The 25 year old classical musician it seems enjoyed a glass of wine whilst watching students perform on stage and, despite being one of many people who were consuming alcohol during the event, he was sacked a few days later. This, apparently, was because he was sat among students at the time he was drinking wine.
The source report on this young teacher's sacking was published by The Durango Herald and describes how Richmond Punch has now left the state of Colorado for his hometown in Texas but that he believes there was more to his sacking than meets the eye. Certainly, enjoying a glass of Chardonnay during a performance is perfectly ordinary practise and would not normally constitute grounds for dismissal, especially because this event was, presumably, not during Punch's normal working hours. But, he had been warned about other aspects of his conduct, such as his habit of busking in the street on days off, this that the Conservatory of Music in the Mountains deemed to bring down the tone of their esteemed establishment. Although, how what this teacher does in his spare has anything to do with his employer I'm not sure - seems like there would be grounds for unfair dismissal if this happened in the UK.
It doesn't help that those who jumped to his defence also seem to say nothing of worth, for example Punch's mother, Gayle coming out with this corker :
"People are usually enlightened when they see a young African-American man playing classical music."
What the relevance of Punch's ethnicity is I'm really not sure!
