A decision to fire an elementary school teacher from Georgia has been upheld, after she read a children’s book on gender identity to her fifth-grade class earlier this year.
The Cobb County School Board of Education voted 4-3 along party lines to uphold Katie Rinderle’s termination, overruling a tribunal that had said she should not be fired. “The district is pleased that this difficult issue has concluded; we are very serious about keeping our classrooms focused on teaching, learning, and opportunities for success for students,” the board of education said in a statement Friday.
Rinderle worked at Due West Elementary School, in Marietta, Ga., and read the storybook “My Shadow Is Purple” by Australian author Scott Stuart to her class in March.
The picture-book is about a child who reflects on his mother’s shadow being “as pink as a blossoming cherry” and his father’s shadow that’s “blue as a berry,” and says their shadow is purple. Some parents complained, although Rinderle said others had also expressed their support for the lesson.
Rinderle, a teacher with 10 years’ experience, was removed from her classroom and the Cobb County School District accused her of violating the district’s policies on teaching controversial issues, and urged her to resign or face termination of employment. She was issued an official notice of termination on June 6.
Rinderle sought to overturn her firing, and a tribunal of retired educators, appointed by the Cobb County Board of Education, determined following a hearing that although she had violated district policies, she should not be fired.
However, on Thursday the Cobb County School Board of Education voted along partisan lines to reject the tribunal’s decision, with three Democrats opposing the decision to fire her and four Republican lawmakers upholding it.
School district lawyer Sherry Culves, speaking earlier this month at the hearing, argued that “the Cobb County School District is very serious about the classroom being a neutral place for students to learn. A one-sided viewpoint on political, religious or social beliefs does not belong in our classrooms.”
This book does nothing of the sort, just says it’s ok to feel like you’re not one thing or the other. It’s not telling kids to go get surgery, ffs.
I’m not even touching the hot mess that is the rest of your comment.
@stopthatgirl7 @jeffw @Blamemeta @Kittengineer
My gawd. The idjits just crawl out of the woodwork whenever gender is mentioned.
My block button is working overtime today.
Not everyone feels like a manly man or a girly girl. On another note, not everyone feels any empathy for people who aren’t like themselves, as you just demonstrated.
Teaching kids that some people feel different and not to stigmatize them is not the same as whatever nonsense you’re implying.
So what if they aren’t a manly man or a girly girl? That doesn’t mean you need to change gender. You can teach kids to be themselves without bringing self-harm into it.
And guess what? This book isn’t “bringing self harm” into anything!
Take your straw man back to whatever garden you stole it from.
Can you not tell the difference between “self-acceptance of not following gender norms” and “electing for sex reassignment surgery” because your comments sound like you’re oblivious to the SEVERAL steps between those things.
Imagine insinuating that informing kids about non-gender conformity has literally anything to do with pushing surgery on them.
You’re absolutely correct that a person doesn’t need to be a “manly man” or a “girly girl”. But you’re confusing gender expression for gender identity. Neither my sister or I are particularily feminine, at least not in most stereotypical ways. She’s cis. I’m trans. I sure as hell haven’t gone through the journey of transition just because I wanted to enjoy a certain activity or wear a certain type of clothes. I could’ve done that before and still gotten less hate. Sure as hell getting sick of people telling me I’m confused (first in my life for being bi, later for being trans - same chapter in the bigots’ playbook really) when they can’t even grasp simple concepts because they don’t apply to them. Is it lack of empathy? Inability to trust that other people understand themselves even if you don’t understand them? Or is it just being fucking stupid?
You haven’t read a single bit of the book in question, have you?
Quick, without using Google, do you even know the name of the book?
Okay great! Now let’s take it one step further. Here’s the full book read aloud. What part of this sounds like self harm to you?
EDIT: Oh, you’re off commenting in other threads now. Guess you didn’t have an answer to this. Figured.
Mate, transitioning is like getting a face tattoo
Thanks for letting everyone know you’re full of shit.
it shouldn’t be taught to kids
You think trans kids are taught to be trans? With that shitty logic, we should be able to teach kids to be straight and cis… except wait, that doesn’t work either! Doh!
This book goes a step further and acts like its a good thing, and not a last resort for mentally ill suicidal people.
Ugh, go spread your filth on Truth Social.
