Teacher Getting Crunk On Twitter Causes Controversy: Should They #FreeCrunkBear?

Get ready, Lifetime – we have a new sexy teacher scandal in our midst.

Carly McKinney, aka “CarlyCrunkBear” on Twitter, recently found herself on administrative leave after tweeting half-naked pics of herself, as well as “inappropriate” content dealing with drug and alcohol use.

Okay, so what do we know about Ms. McKinney? We know she’s a teacher, she’s 23 years old and she likes to get crunk and doesn’t care who knows about it.

This is a tricky one. She hasn’t Mary Kay Letourneau’d any students that we know of. (If you don’t know, M.K.L. was a teacher who got busted for having an affair with her 13-year-old student, Vili. Check out the Lifetime movie for more details. Shiz gets real.) BUT CarlyCrunk is pretty much a real life Cameron Diaz a la Bad Teacher.

Now, this whole thing went down in Colorado, where marijuana was just legalized, but I’m pretty sure schools are “Drug Free Zones” in general. On one occasion there was a drug raid at her school, to which CrunkBear tweeted “…It’s funny cuz I have weed in my car in the staff parking lot…” And then there’s my own personal favorite: “Baked as @*#$ grading these papers…”

I feel like Crunky might just have a little growing up to do. Acting too cool for school is annoying enough when you’re a student. Obviously she’s a grown up and I’m not mad at the girl for taking part in the types of recreational activities that many 23-year-olds take part in. But when you’re dumb enough to tweet those things to the universe, knowing your students, coworkers and superiors can see them, you’re asking for trouble. You might as well be that annoying freshman who got invited to a cool senior party and posted pics to prove she was there and doing cool and slutty things, but then her mom saw the pics and now she’s forbidden from ever going to a party again. You lose.

But Ms. Crunk’s students are sticking up for her. They have started the hashtag #FreeCrunkBear and many have expressed that her attitude has made her a great teacher because the students can relate to her on a personal level. Some of the other teachers are also supporting her on the grounds of freedom of speech.

I was probably on the naive side of life when I was in school. I just figured my teachers were adults, so they knew better. Especially since they were teachers. I’m picturing that scene in Mean Girls when they see Mrs. Norbury shopping in the mall and find out she works at a bar at night, and it gets awkward for everybody.

It wasn’t until I became older and saw my own friends becoming teachers that it really hit me. They didn’t magically stop getting wasted on weekends or making questionable choices when they became teachers. Could it be that the whole time I was growing up, my teachers were people too? My friend once told me that if she ever begins class with a movie, that means she’s hungover.

CrunkBear’s Twitter account has been deactivated, but a Google search will bring up her Twitter bio, forever embedded in the Twitterverse: “Crunker than most. Stay sexy. Stay high. Stay drunk. Stay free. Stay trippy.” Guess she forgot about “Stay employed.”

So, what does everyone think? Should they #FreeCrunkBear?

Featured image via gazette.com