Teacher’s job threatened for refusing to read LGBT book: lawsuit

A primary-grade trainer in Nashville, Tennessee, claims that he was threatened with termination and reassigned to a brand new place after requesting spiritual lodging to keep away from studying books to youngsters that promote same-sex marriage, which might have conflicted together with his beliefs about marriage and sexuality. 

Eric Rivera is a religious Christian who taught first-grade college students at KIPP Antioch Faculty Prep Elementary College, based on a Wednesday assertion from the First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit public curiosity regulation agency.  KIPP is a public constitution college that operates below the Tennessee Public Constitution College Fee.

In line with a letter First Liberty Institute despatched to high school officers on Rivera’s behalf on Tuesday, the battle started in January, when Rivera seen that the chosen Language Arts curriculum for his class included a guide that includes a same-sex couple and their youngster. 

“Requiring a teacher violate their religious beliefs in order to keep their job is blatant discrimination that violates the Civil Rights Act,” Cliff Martin, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, stated in a press release supplied to The Christian Put up.

“Our client cares deeply about his students and simply has a religious objection to teaching certain lessons and asked for a simple religious accommodation,” Martin continued. “The school has sent the message that anyone who has a traditional view of marriage is unfit to teach first grade.”

KIPP Antioch Faculty Prep Elementary didn’t instantly reply to The Christian Put up’s request for remark.

The authorized group’s letter acknowledged that it might “pursue available remedies accordingly” if it didn’t obtain a response from the college by Friday.

One of many books Rivera was requested to learn to his college students was Stella Brings the Household, as WZTV reviews. The guide tells the story of a woman with two dads who’s apprehensive about how one can have a good time Mom’s Day and not using a mother. 

Rivera felt the fabric within the guide conflicted together with his spiritual beliefs and that he couldn’t, in “good conscience,” learn it to his college students and lead a dialogue about it. The trainer requested {that a} colleague learn the guide to the scholars on Jan. 6 as an alternative, whereas he remained within the classroom to watch. 

The next day, the first-grade trainer obtained a summons to the principal’s workplace, the place he says that he was issued a “Final Warning” letter and threatened with termination.

“The letter accused Mr. Rivera of failing to meet the ‘expectation’ of teaching the curriculum ‘with fidelity,’ and stated that as a result of his conduct, students will ‘miss content aligned with the scope of the unit,’” First Liberty Institute recounts in its letter to high school officers. 

“Not only was the curriculum still taught to his first-grade class via substitute, but KIPP’s position sends the message that anyone who holds the same religious beliefs and values as Mr. Rivera is incapable of teaching at their school while maintaining ‘fidelity’ to their chosen curriculum,” First Liberty Institute’s letter reads. “Mr. Rivera was further directed to ‘maintain fidelity to the curriculum, teaching all lessons in the KIPP Nashville Scope and Sequence.’”

Along with threatening additional disciplinary motion akin to termination, the “Final Warning” letter additionally acknowledged, “A copy of this unsatisfactory notice is being placed in your personnel file.”

Rivera claims that he had not obtained any prior warnings from the college earlier than they issued the “Final Warning” letter, nor had he been topic to any disciplinary actions. The Christian trainer says that he later accepted a instructing expertise place earlier than switching to a kindergarten place. 

“Mr. Rivera stated he believed he should be able to teach first grade consistent with his convictions by having another teacher read the two books in the curriculum that he objected to,” First Liberty Institute’s letter states. 

“However, the principal indicated that the belief in same-sex marriage is so fundamental to the language arts unit that Mr. Rivera could not possibly be permitted to teach any portion of the unit, and therefore had to be removed from the first grade classroom,” the doc reads. 

Within the letter, the attorneys contend that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it “unlawful for an employer to discriminate against any individual with respect to religion and also requires employers to accommodate employees’ religious practices unless doing so would impose an ‘undue hardship’ on the conduct of the employer’s business.” 

The attorneys argue that “KIPP cannot demonstrate any undue hardship here” and that “KIPP failed to reasonably accommodate Mr. Rivera in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.”

The attorneys also believe that KIPP may have violated the U.S. Constitution and Tennessee law by failing to provide parental notification of “sexual orientation or gender identity curriculum.”

In a statement shared with WZTV, the Tennessee Charter School Commission explained that all charter schools are expected to follow “the identical Tennessee educational requirements as conventional public faculties, and whereas they do have flexibility deciding on curriculum and supplies, they have to nonetheless be aligned with those self same state requirements.”

“All faculties are required to adjust to the prohibited ideas regulation and should present a kind on their web site for reporting violations,” the commission states. “The Fee supplies a kind for submitting complaints associated to the prohibited ideas regulation in addition to every other violations of constitution college regulation on our web site. Lecturers and workers at constitution faculties are workers of the college or constitution operator and as such all personnel issues are dealt with by the college.”

A case involving parental requests for lodging from supplies that battle with spiritual beliefs concluded with the U.S. Supreme Court docket ruling final yr that oldsters can decide their youngsters out of a Maryland college district’s LGBT-themed curriculum supplies. 

In a 6-3 resolution, the excessive court docket dominated in Mahmoud, Tamer, et al. v. Taylor, Thomas W., et al. that Montgomery County Public Colleges can’t pressure youngsters to be uncovered to LGBT-themed books within the curriculum if their dad and mom oppose.

Justice Samuel Alito authored the opinion of the court docket, being joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas.

“A government burdens the religious exercise of parents when it requires them to submit their children to instruction that poses ‘a very real threat of undermining’ the religious beliefs and practices that the parents wish to instill,” wrote Alito.

“And a government cannot condition the benefit of free public education on parents’ acceptance of such instruction. Based on these principles, we conclude that the parents are likely to succeed in their challenge to the Board’s policies.”