Teacher's Job Threatened Over Tattoos

Mark Johnson has been a high school English teacher for 15 years in Ogden, Utah. He had his arms tattooed (in dedication to his wife and kids) soon after he was hired there, and has never gotten any opposition to them from the school district--until now. Ogden district authorities have established a new dress code that affects all staff across the board; that dress code now requires all tattoos to be covered up. There is no "grandfather" clause.
The fact that Mr. Johnson is a dedicated teacher means nothing; if he doesn't cover his ink, he could be fired. A district rep says that they decided that "teaching is a profession, and we want to set a professional standard so that our students will look at their teachers and say, 'Yes, they are a professional and yes, I could be a teacher, and I would love to have education as my career for thirty years.'"

I love it when bigots make themselves look like total idiots while trying to justify their dogmatism.

For the moment, Johnson isn't backing down, and rightfully so - he feels it's important to stand up for what you believe in. Now that's the kind of lesson I want my kids to learn - and maybe even want to spend 30 years teaching others! Teacher's Job Threatened Over Tattoos originally appeared on About.com Tattoos / Body Piercings on Thursday, March 18th, 2010 at 12:12:19.
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