CASE STUDY 5.4 WHEN TEACHERS FIGHTCarol Johnson is the director of a day-care center in a large metropolis. She has just promoted Tanya, a former assistant teacher, to head teacher of the two-year-old classroom. Although she is not the most highly trained person, the children and parents love her.Tanya is a single mother with a 3-year-old child. She also cares for her sick elderly mother who suffers from multiple sclerosis. Her family had spent several years living in a shelter, which has been very hard on everyone. Currently, the money Tanya brings home is the family's major income. The head-teaching promotion has given her the ability to move her child and her mother out of the shelter. Ms. Johnson is aware of this situation and has seen the pride Tanya has felt as she was finally able to move her family into a small but safe place that they can call home. Tanya is now able to provide for her family on her own without relying solely on the use of food stamps and welfare, which were so impossibly hard to get by on.Tanya has tried valiantly to get everyone in her family back on their feet. Because of this, Tanya's little sister, Delta, also works at the school as an assistant teacher. She was hired due to Tanya's high praise of her little sister's work with children. Delta always has a smile on her face each morning and has proved to be a hard-working and caring assistant.Unfortunately, situations change. Thursday started out like any other day at work. It was a warm spring day and the children were playing outside. They had a good lunch and began to have their rest time. During the children's break, the teachers took their lunch in shifts. One teacher went to lunch while the other watched the sleeping class. Normally it is important for a teacher to eat her lunch within a limited period, and then return to enable the other teacher to eat within the time span of rest time.On this particular day, Delta took the first shift for lunch in her room. After a long period of time, she did not return. The other teacher in the room became annoyed because she was hungry and needed a break. Tanya heard about her little sister's lateness and volunteered to miss her own lunch and watch the room so that the other teacher could take a break. As time went by, Tanya became more and more upset. When Delta finally arrived back from lunch, an hour late, Tanya was furious. She told her sister that her lateness was a bad reflection of her own standing within the school. She told her she had missed her own lunch. Despite the reprimand, Delta did not seem to care. In fact, she responded by indicating that Tanya should mind her own business and not tell her how to handle her professional life.Although the children were still sleeping during rest time, the two sisters began shouting at one another in the classroom. Tanya was furious and Delta egged her sister on by telling her to punch her if she was so mad. Their shouting grew so loud that Ms. Johnson could hear it in her office at the other end of the school.Ms. Johnson ran out of her office to discover the cause of the shouting. But by the time she arrived, Tanya had pushed Delta into a stack of chairs and both teachers were screaming. In fact, Tanya was being held back physically by two other teachers who were trying to prevent the fight from escalating.In the other classrooms, the teachers were doing their best to shield the children from the altercation but, due to the volume of the shouting, the youngsters in this small school were aware of the fight. Some even witnessed the pushing and shoving.Ms. Johnson's presence quickly ended the altercation but the damage had been done. She separated both teachers and made them take independent walks outside to cool down. Children and teachers saw and heard the altercation. All of the teachers were upset and worried. Some of the children seemed to be fine, as many of them had slept through the fight, but others looked a little anxious and confused.Ms. Johnson's immediate reaction was that she should fire Tanya and Delta on the spot. However, it did not seem to be such an easy decision when it came to Tanya. Ms. Johnson knew that if she did this, Tanya, her child, and her ailing mother would end up back in the shelter. Ms. Johnson returned to her office and closed the door while she decided what to do.Questions for DiscussionCan Ms. Johnson justify keeping Tanya in her position? What does the law say regarding this kind of behavior in a preschool situation?If there is no law, should there be one? Why?Should Ms. Johnson consider the problems that Tanya and her family will face if she loses her employment? Should she consider Delta's difficulties?As a professional, if you were in Ms. Johnson's shoes, what woulTitle slide (Be sure to name the case number and title.)

• Introduction
• Summary of case study
• Synthesis of at least 3 peer-reviewed articles relevant to the case study
• 2 questions for further consideration
• Conclusion (Be sure to provide your recommendations for navigating the ethical dilemma.)d you do in this case? How would you explain your decision? Discuss.