I don’t believe she had surgery. I believe she began therapy which, of course, is tantamount to child abuse.
Who would throw away their career for something like this? If the kid and the parents say she identifies as a girl what does that have to do with math class? You got some kid for one year and your job is to teach them some subject not become some culture warrior martyr. Just do your job.
The teacher was doing his job exactly aligned with federal & state law and requirements. The administrators in the district were pushing their political agenda. I should also note that a re-call petition for all the school board members has been launched by the community. They expect to hit the threshold in a short number of days. I think the entire school board will shortly be out of their positions.
I’m sure the mob is growing and the tiki torches and pitch forks are out. No doubt about that. Nothing gets the right going like a good old fashion lynching. Maybe they’ll expel the poor kid for being different.
A school board that fires a very popular teacher on baseless grounds that will cost the district millions of dollars when they lose the upcoming lawsuit leading to higher taxes to cover the damages is more than enough reason for parents to demand the removal of the government idiots who caused the problem.
We don’t know if anything you wrote here will happen. The fact is that the teacher caused this problem by not respecting the child and the parent’s wishes. Blaming the school board or the parents won’t change that the teacher is the problem. You right wingers have a way backing these flash in the pan b level villain types like the lady that tried to deny same sex marriage licenses. Now that lady is a loser and out of a job and the gay couple got their license. You guys are very slow learners.
Virginia is an employment-at-will state. That means employers don't need a reason to fire an employee unless they have a contract that puts stipulations on termination. Besides that, teachers can typically be fired for insubordination if they refuse to follow the rules set by the administrators or the school board, regardless of how asinine those rules may be. I doubt that he would win a lawsuit against he school district unless his teacher contract prevents this type of termination. My guess is he'll be hired by a private Christian school whenever the dust settles.
Actually Virginia is not "at-will" state when it comes to public education. Similar to North Carolina, Virginia has "career status" protection which protects teachers from being fired for political purposes. This has widely been discussed and information provided on other threads. "Career status" was put in place for teachers to protect them from political firing. For example the biology teacher who teaches evolution in the classroom is protected from being fired from the school board made up of right-wing bible belters -- as long as the teacher properly taught the state curriculum. (Yes, this has happened in both North Carolina & Virginia -- and the courts awarded significant damages). In the old days, teachers were fired every time the County Commissioners or School Board changed hands. Usually they would fire all the teachers who did not support them. "Career status" was put in place to eliminate these political firings and protect teachers. This teacher in Virginia who strictly stuck to federal and state laws & guidelines in their teaching is clearly protected under "career status", and "at-will" employment will have nothing to do with the upcoming successful wrongful termination lawsuit.
Well being a pubic school (aka government) means the district cannot compel/suppress the speech of the teacher. It'd be different if this was a private institution. At this point, trannies aren't a protected class I don't think, so crying discrimination has no legs if using the right pronoun.
Once again-- the teacher strictly aligned with federal and state laws and guidelines in his teaching & interactions. What legal grounds did the school board have to fire the teacher? BTW -- I did not support the lady who denied the same sex marriage licenses. She was breaking the current law in the state at the time she was doing it. Nor did I ever support Pharmacists who refuse to provide birth control - which also breaks the law in their respective states. I have little tolerance for religious nuts breaking the law. However this teacher did nothing to break the law; he strictly stuck to legal and education guidelines; he is not the problem. If he had done something like insisting on using the previous gender pronoun for the student then he would be the problem (and creating a hostile environment for the student). You had a bunch of politically driven school board members insisting that he always address the student with the new gender pronoun rather than their given name. By federal and state law he is only required to address the student by their given name -- in fact the guidelines state you should avoid addressing students using gender pronouns if possible. A school board and administrators with a political agenda fired him - which will cost the district a lot of money once the court system is done with them.