Pine Valley Central School, a small rural district an hour south of Buffalo, aspires to instill five “intrinsic” values in its students: integrity, perseverance, responsibility, curiosity and community service.
It is hard to imagine a teacher anywhere who embodies those values more courageously than seventh and ninth grade history teacher Angela Bittinger. As Angela has proved through her ordeal, however, what sounded good on paper to school administrators does not hold much appeal for them in real life.
On Tuesday, Angela faced still another administrative hearing in what she described to me as an ongoing “witch hunt.” The district seems to have no larger goal than to make Angela go away.