It might have been easy to miss over the weekend. But Brian Dees, the East Lee High teacher fired for letting students keep dictionaries on their desks during the FCAT, appears to have offered a more lengthy explanation for his actions on the Gradebook deep within the comments.

He pointedly notes that most media outlets - primarily TV - didn't air much of what he had to say, and it certainly wasn't his "best 30 seconds" that made the cut. So, we decided to repost the comment here for your consideration. Maybe what he has to say will change what you think about his punishment. (Not familiar with the story? You might want to check this post first to see what we're talking about.)

"Since there has been a lot of talk on both sides of this, I thought I would defend myself personally.  Much has been made of how our scripts clearly stated that nothing could be on the students' desk except a #2 pencil.  What has not been told is that 8 foreign language dictionaries were placed in my room. 

I was testing 15 students.  WE WERE NEVER TOLD WHO WAS OR WAS NOT ALLOWED TO USE DICTIONARIES, AND WHAT KIND OF DICTIONARIES THEY WERE ALLOWED TO USE!!!  I kept all the dictionaries (English and foreign) on a table in the back of my room.  I have an IQ of 140, based on several tests.  But the administration doesn't care how smart I am or anything else about me.  The principal had never even talked to me before he hired me, except once when I approached him in the cafeteria.  They just liked me because I always showed up and was willing to do any job they gave me.

The school district doesn't want us to be smart, they want us to be robots.  Easily disposable robots.  I talked in front of cameras for 3 different networks for roughly 5 minutes each, and less than 30 seconds of my testimony made it into each segment, and trust me, it was not my best 30 seconds.  The district spokesman who was interviewed was NOT BEING TRUTHFUL, but anything I said refuting his statements was mysteriously edited out."