On June 21st, 2018, high school English teacher Hannah Elaine True will be strapped into a gurney at Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City Missouri and injected with a dose of Pentobarbitol sufficient to stop her heart from beating. It is a heart, she claims, that will beat, until it stops, "for the real education of my students, and not some phony number that means nothing in the long run, except profit for test companies, and for the benefit of those
who wish to privatize Public Education.
I can go to my grave with peace in my heart".
Hannah True is escorted by officer to her trial,
which ended in her conviction, by a jury.
Ms True, who taught English at James Cash Penney High School in the town of Limbaugh, Missouri, has been convicted of the newly-established crime of willfully and repeatedly violating
school testing standards and norms, which is now a capital offense in the state of Missouri,
as well as some other states.
Reportedly, Ms. True expressed doubts about the efficacy of testing openly to her students, and deliberately taught curriculum of her own choosing that fell outside the parameters set for educators by State Law.
Additionally, she displayed materials in her room which cast aspersions on the value of achievement testing's usefullness in educating children, which, according to some sources, was the final straw that led to her receiving the death penalty for her violations.
The death chamber at Missouri State penitentiary,
where Ms. True will meet her fate
Members of the community from Limbaugh, Missouri, are
informed of the indictment.
The community generally was in support of the charges,
and were satisfied with the verdict.
Ms. True violated the testing mandates in direct defiance
of accountability guidelines imposed by the state.
Members of the school board were unsympathetic to Ms. True's position, and
unanimously felt her conviction and sentence were justified. "She got what she deserved", said board member Buford Rockness, top left.
Hannah Elaine True, at her last press conference before being incarcerated, pending her execution.
Ms. True found relatively little sympathy from local parents. "I heard she was a good teacher, but she just went off the rails and never came back. Everybody knows, test scores mean everything to teaching and learning, and she was willing to just throw them out.
I feel sorry for her, but the law's the law", said one local parent.
Jury members prepare to hear the case. Once the trial was over, deliberations took only 6 minutes before a guilty verdict was reached. After the trial, one jury member, who did not give their name, said, "We have got to set the highest standards for educating our kids that we can. This is really all for the kids in the final analysis. So I think the death penalty will send a signal to teachers that when they're in a classroom with our kids, they'd better teach-to-the-test, or else."
The Gold Standard and pinnacle of modern education:
The multiple-choice bubble-mark achievement test,
which True dared to defy.
---INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE---
This poster was hung on Ms. True's classroom wall,
which was material proof of her defiance,
and according to jurors, sealed her fate.
Presiding Judge, Rory Smacker, who said after the trial,
"I believe justice was done in this case.
Now a signal has been sent to all Missouri teachers, and they'd better hear it.
Our childrens' futures are at stake. Protecting our kids should be our top priority.
Ms. True will die, so that test scores may live."
US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos
weighed-in on the case:
"It was a wonderful verdict for all our children in school.
It tells educators, if you don't
follow proper guidelines when teaching our kids,
you will pay a high price."
Leland Austin Grey III, CEO of JJ Educational Testing Services
and Outsourcing Corporation,
was satisfied with the decision.
"This verdict really helps our kids. The kids are what this is all about.
Not money. No, not money at all."
Stunned high school students hear the verdict.
One of Ms. True's former students, Gary Fairburn (right-center, below),
was outspoken in his reaction,
"Gosh, I know she broke the rules, but she was a good teacher.
Isn't the death penalty a little over-the-line?"
Hannah True, in happier times. She has remained defiant, nonetheless.
"It is a far, far better place I go to, then teaching classrooms of children that multiple-choice bubble-tests are the main key to their learning,
which is a lie. I face my fate with a clear conscience, although I do hate needles."
Teachers across the country are coming to the sober realization that from now on, compliance is MANDATORY.
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