This Columbus teacher isn’t afraid to discuss Trump impeachment with her students
While the impeachment inquiry and trial of President Donald Trump has embroiled the nation in heated debates, a Columbus teacher calmly has guided her students through this controversial topic.
St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School social studies teacher Hollie Queener, a 19-year educator, tries to walk the fine line between staying away from the politics while still diving into the subject with the nine high school students in her current events class.
“It is history, and history is not always pretty,” she said. “It’s very controversial, and it’s very messy, … but I don’t think we should be afraid to talk about these things.”
In fact, beyond the Constitutional lessons, Queener insists on not shying away from potential classroom arguments because she also wants to model for her students — and allow them to practice — how to engage in constructive dialogue about destructive issues.
“I want them to be able to know you don’t have to be scared to ask questions and to have discussions,” she said, “and these are the proper ways to do it.”
Queener uses a variety of sources, including CNN Student News, a 10-minute, commercial-free daily news program designed for middle and high school classes, and websites such as Newsela, Student News Daily and WebQuest, plus major media outlets.
“They like to know what does the Constitution say and what does the law say,” she said. “So I have lots of future lawyers in here.”
Classroom visit
During the Ledger-Enquirer’s visit Wednesday, the students presented their group projects. The three groups answered one of these questions:
What is impeachment, and what is a high crime, according to the Constitution?
Queener asked the students about similarities among this impeachment inquiry and the three others in U.S. history against presidents: Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, who resigned before the impeachment vote, and Bill Clinton.
“With Nixon, especially, they were both very vocal, and they said a lot of things that a lot of people might have disagreed with,” said Pacelli senior Hailey Rice (no relation to this reporter). “So I think maybe the media was really involved. Especially in Bill Clinton’s case too, the media was very involved in their impeachment.”
Queener responded, “The media has always been an influential piece to politics. … Even though it didn’t look like it does now, Johnson still had a lot. The media still was very powerful.”
What is the impeachment process, and what are the rules of impeachment?
Queener reminded her students that the law’s “gray areas” spark disagreements about the process and rules.
“Although the Constitution gives us so much of what we rely on, it is still vague as to what a high crime is, as to what the process for impeachment is,” she said. “This is where we have to rely on the three branches of government, the balance of power.”
Queener asked the students to cite their sources of information for their group projects.
“We always talk about bias in here, so I feel it’s important to find sources that aren’t very biased,” said Pacelli senior Maddie Ginter. “Despite one’s opinion on Trump, when talking about the impeachment, it needs to be very real and based off of the Constitution and not your personal feelings.”
Queener asked the students how they determine whether a source is biased.
“For articles, I just looked at ones that had facts and not opinion, Democratic or Republican,” said Pacelli senior Meredith Robertson.
What is President Trump accused of doing, and what did he say to Ukraine?
Queener asked her students for their opinion about what Trump did.
“It seemed like it was just a conversation about a legal issue,” said sophomore Bo Trotter.
“It was blown way out of proportion,” said sophomore Cole Crawford.
Nobody said Trump should be convicted.
More opinions
Queener also asked how her students decide their opinions, based on the Constitution, the facts of the case or their political beliefs.
“I think it’s really unfair to base your opinion solely off of your political opinion,” Hailey said. “A lot of people really dislike Trump, so this almost makes them happy to see this happening, which shouldn’t be the case. I just personally don’t think, from what the Constitution says is an impeachable offense, that he has done it to that extent. There definitely was something sketchy about the phone call, but I don’t think it’s OK for them to impeach him based on what could happen.”
Bo interjected, “It kind of started out as party against party. Nancy Pelosi was pushing for this to happen.”
Maddie took a different angle.
“It’s not like I don’t want to get involved in politics, but I feel like I’m so young and I have a lot to learn,” she said. “So I don’t really like to go out and be like, ‘Oh, I love Trump’ or ‘I hate Trump.’ I’m just kind of indifferent. Whether or not I support his policies, sometimes I don’t, and that’s OK, but it’s more like a Constitutional thing. … If you look at the other presidents that have gone through this process, I feel like their crimes were a lot worse.”
After the class discussion, Cole and Hailey told the Ledger-Enquirer that Queener’s welcoming teaching style makes them feel comfortable to share their opinions and enjoy learning.
“She’s a great teacher,” Cole said. “… She’ very easy to talk to. The whole classroom environment is great.”
“She’s there to answer all of our questions in a nonbiased way,” Hailey said. “I feel like we’re free to really learn and ask a lot of questions.”
Hailey also credits her classmates for contributing to the positive vibe while discussing such a controversial topic.
“I think we all just really respect each other,” she said. “So even if we have super-strong opinions, we’re able to hold them back and just really listen to what everyone has to say.”
Other schools
The Ledger-Enquirer asked officials representing other Columbus area high schools whether and how their teachers have been using the Trump impeachment inquiry or trial to teach their lessons.
Muscogee County School District communications director Mercedes Parham responded by emailing the instructional standard for American government and citizenship classes. It says, “Explain the impeachment and removal process and its use for federal officials as defined by the U.S. Constitution.”
Parham, however, didn’t answer before this story’s deadline whether the Trump impeachment inquiry or trial has been used to teach those lessons.
The answer from Chattahoochee County superintendent Kristie Brooks also didn’t address the current impeachment.
“Teachers continue to use the Georgia Standards of Excellence as the blueprint to guide activities and learning tasks in all content areas,” Brooks told the L-E in an email. “Also, Chattahoochee teachers have been fortunate to have guest speakers from our elected officials and from Census 2020 to support classroom activities.”
At Harris County High School, government classes have been “using the impeachment trial to study separation of powers and the three branches of government,” social studies department chairman Ben Allen told the L-E in an email. “They also are using the trial to draw students’ attention to the important of the first three articles of the Constitution.”
In Phenix City, government classes “have engaged in collaborative research exercises and discussed pertinent aspects of the Constitution relative to the current impeachment and Senate trial of President Donald Trump,” superintendent Randy Wilkes told the L-E in an email. “An analysis of the impeachment and trial processes of former presidents has also occurred. Characteristics of partisan, nonpartisan and bipartisan political views have been considered and reflected upon.”
At Brookstone School, the “history curriculum aims to provide an understanding of American government so that students become informed, committed citizens,” communications director Connie Mansour told the L-E in an email. “Grounded in a close reading of the founding documents and shaped by the events of the current day, teachers are incorporating the impeachment inquiry into the curriculum in order to train students in the skills of critical reading, thinking, speaking and writing.”
School officials in Russell County and Lee County, as well as Calvary Christian School and Glenwood School, didn’t respond before this story’s deadline.
This story was originally published January 31, 2020 at 4:33 PM.
