Teacher refuses to unfriend students, gets fired by the school

At 79 years old, Carol Thebarge, a long-time substitute teacher, is out of work. It’s not because she’s retiring but because of a flap over Facebook. “There’s a paranoia about the Internet and I think that we’re not realizing how valuable Facebook can be used properly,” said Thebarge. Affectionately known as Mrs. T, Thebarge taught for nine years at Stevens High School in Claremont, New Hampshire. 

A substitute teacher in Claremont, N.H., was fired last week after she refused to defriend the students she’d become connected with on Facebook.  Carol Tebarge, 80 (below), has worked as a substitute teacher in the west New Hampshire area for 35 years. She’s spent the last element at Stevens High School. Last Monday, the school saw the arrest of another teacher, 29-year-old Christopher Leblanc, who allegedly sexually assaulted a 14-year-old in his classroom. School superintendent Dr. Middleton McGoodwin tightened social media restrictions on faculty after that, declaring that students and teachers could no longer connect or be friends on sites like Facebook. Most teachers complied. Tebarge, who told WMUR she’s like a grandmother to her students, refused. She received her walking papers Friday.