School bus driver fired for stem cell talk

“I learned that free speech is definitely not free,”

I think the Fark headline summed it up best:

School bus driver fired for talking to students about stem cell research. “Her job is to scowl and scream at the kids, not be intelligent,” according to a school rep.

An elementary school bus driver was fired after sharing a statistic she had read about embryonic stem cell research with students, then encouraging them to tell their parents about it.

Julianne Thompson, 42, told students in November that actor Mel Gibson had said in an article that embryonic stem cell research had not produced a single human cure in 23 years.

Some parents complained and school officials in the Buffalo suburb fired the driver.

Of course, this is a completely factual scientific statement. As a matter of fact, this is precisely the kind of discussion students should be having after class. I would be thrilled if my child came home telling me that he was discussing the nuances of stem cell research on the school bus – in elementary school no less!

Come drive buses in Spotsylvania. Please.