Maureen P. Giunta, Teacher
Ellsworth High School
I would like to add my name to the list of those who are opposed to the
absurdity of fingerprinting Maine educators and related personnel. To think
that fingerprinting of educators will help to discover those who prey upon
the young is not only naive but also ludicrous. I have been an educator since
1969 and have taught in Maine since 1974. I am disappointed and insulted by
the implications evident in the government's latest attempts to demean and
to denigrate educators in this state. While I would like to be quite
Thoreauvian and refuse to have my prints taken on April 11 in Ellsworth,
I am not inclined to walk away from my career. The tactics being used are
no more and no less than blackmail. If I wish to continue to teach, then I
must submit to fingerprinting. If I submit, there is an assumption that I
accept the premise upon which the law is predicated. If I wish to assert my
rejection of this discriminatory act, I shall become unemployed. If I wish
to refuse because I am innocent of any illegal activities, I must become
unemployed. Let me make it perfectly clear that I am insulted and angered by
this action, but I feel that I realistically have no other recourse than to
comply. The State of Maine is no the friend of educators. The lack of
respect accorded to educators is obvious in yet another way.