But Was It In His Lesson Plan?

There are lots of bits of history I would like to cover in class, but I don’t. After all, do my students really need to know about Catherine the Great’s “riding accident”? The controversy over Lincoln’s sexuality? The FDR’s infidelities? Probably not, and common sense dictates that I keep them out of a high school classroom. And if I were a science teacher, I somehow think I would have steered clear of this lesson, with its much greater potential for harm to a student.

ORLANDO, Fla. — A high school chemistry teacher was arrested after students claimed he taught his class how to make a bomb, authorities said.

David Pieski, 42, used an overhead projector in class to give instructions in making explosives to students at Freedom High School, including advising them to use an electric detonator to stay clear from the blast, an Orange County sheriff's arrest report said.

In Pieski's classroom in Orlando, authorities found a book labeled "Demo," which includes the chemical breakdown for a powerful explosive, the arrest report said.

Uhhhh… yeah.

Dude – what were you thinking? Let’s forget about 9/11, Oklahoma City, and Columbine. How about just good common sense?

And then there is this line at the end of the story that almost slipped my notice.

School officials told investigators that Pieski previously had been told he was not allowed to have any form of explosive on campus.

He had to be told this? Shouldn’t that have been a basis for closer supervision? I know it certainly would raise some red flags for me.