How have you lost a job in the past? Was it petty? Well-deserved? A fued you could not win? Was it all over a sticker?
A teacher in Irving,Texas was told last Friday that she will no longer be employed come the end of the school year because she chose to be a human being and objected to the school’s removal of a pro-LGBTQ “safe space” stickers from the school building. Rachel Stonecipher received notice which included this statament:
“The Board approved the Administration’s recommendation by a vote of 6-0, with one member absent. Based on this action, your probationary Chapter 21 Contract was terminated and your employment with Irving ISD will end on May 27, 2022.”
As a teacher or in any profession, you know you cannot rock the boat during that probationary period. It seems from the statement that Stoncecipher was still in that probationary period.
She had been out of the classroom since the fall of 2021 on administrative leave. , “I wish I was surprised that the Irving school board voted to terminate my contract,” Stonecipher tells Rolling Stone. “But they have shown absolutely zero willingness to collaborate with or even verbally respond to all of the speakers who have spoken out about discrimination since the district first pulled me from the classroom.”
The ordeal began when teachers returned to campus at the beginning of the 2021 school year and noticed the rainbow “safe space” stickers had been removed from classroom doors without any prior notification.
A bulletin went out to explain the removal of the stickers was because of “district policy” and also the administration wanted to make the whole campus a safe zone for all students. Seven teachers penned one response that went out via Stonecipher’s email to the rest of the faculty. A few days later, she was put on administrative leave, then under investigation after an HR complaint accused of her of defaming a fellow faculty member as homophobic, which Stonecipher denies.
Hundreds of students walked out of class in protest of Stonecipher’s removal in September. Three spoke at the April 18 meeting, where the board voted on the recommendation to terminate Stonecipher’s contract — a move an administration representative said was in the best interest of the district. After the protest last fall, the school released a statement defending the decision. “The district does not allow teachers to use classrooms to transmit personal beliefs regarding political or sectarian issues,” the statement read. – RollingStone
It’s getting rough out there for teachers. I am so very fortunate that I am not in that field at this time. I did teach high school social sciences for 10 years. But to see what gay students teachers, parents must deal with in order to provide a basic education about the world while being called pedophiles, groomers, etc…. the republican’t mob mental dysfunction has been and will continue to be the ruin of this nation.
This article contains opinions of this author and may not reflect those of the magazine or other writers.
Source: RollingStone