Transgender Teacher Catches Parents by Surprise

[Kayleigh Katz]

Is this a problem? What do you think?

Transgender Teacher Catches Parents by Surprise | ksdk.com | St. Louis, MO


NBC -- A California teacher's gender reassignment surgery has caught the attention of some parents who want to know why the school district didn't notify them ahead of time about the change.

A music teacher at Foxboro Elementary School, who was formerly a woman, returned to school as a man at the beginning of the school year.

The teacher, who was not identified is now being addressed as "Mister."

Some parents told Travis Unified School District that they feel like their rights to know were violated.

"All the information came straight from our kids and didn't come from the school board or the teachers ... this has all been second-hand information," parent Melissa Oiland said.

The district said it has to respect privacy and personal issues, and that it must preserve privacy rights of the teachers.

The school board said such disclosure would violate HIPAA privacy rules.

"I understand what parents are saying, but we have a right as an employer, we have a legal obligation as an employer to protect our employees," Superintendent Kate Wren Gavlak said.

Gavlak said the district consulted with lawyers and determined that legally, it could not disclose any information about the teacher's gender change.

"We will not be discussing personal matters with either the students, or the parents or the community at large ... because we cannot," Gavlak said.

Parent Angela Weinzinger, who has three children at the school, said she has since transferred her children out of the class.

"I wasn't given the opportunity to make a choice on what I wanted to do with the situation," Weinzinger said.

So far, 23 students from 15 different families have transferred their children out of the music class and into a physical education class.

 

[Tucker Case]

I sure wouldn't want a transgendered person teaching my son how to play the flute!

 

[Kayleigh Katz]

I sure wouldn't want a transgendered person teaching my son how to play the flute!

Shouldn't you be more worried about your daughter? He started as a she.

 

[Tucker Case]

Shouldn't you be more worried about your daughter? He started as a she.

I'm so confused!!!!!

:lol:

 

[Kayleigh Katz]

I'm so confused!!!!!

:lol:

Your not alone.

 

[WI Crippler]

Could you imagine if you were a young teenage boy, who was able to get a piece of ass from your female music teacher before school let out for summer. You brag about it to your buddies and rub it in their face all summer, and you come back in the fall.....

 

[rathi]

Why do the parents think they have to right to know? Unless gender was related to the teachers ability to teach (PE teacher maybe) there is no reason for the parents to get involved.

 

[WI Crippler]

South Park was ahead of its time with the Mr/Ms. Garrison character.

 

[jamesrage]

Is this a problem? What do you think?

I would think most parents would have a problem with a whack job teaching their children.Would you want a guy who thinks he is a duck teaching your kids?Anyone who tries to be a gender they are not is a nut job,its no different than someone trying to be a duck,cow or something else they are not.Its a testament to the poor hiring practices of the school,what next will the hire a sex offender or a rapist or some whacko from PETA? If I was those parents I would have transferred the children to another school,demanded that those who allowed the nonsense to go on to be fired. Because if the school seems to think it is okay to hire nutjobs then who knows what else they will hire.

 

[Tucker Case]

what next will the hire a sex offender or a rapist or some whacko from PETA?

OK I can understand two of those, but define "sex offender".





:lol:

 

[jamesrage]

Why do the parents think they have to right to know?

Because parents pay the teacher's salary,parents pay for the schools,parents pay for the curriculum and anything else with the school and most important the children are going to be around those teachers.So yes the parents do have a right to know who the hell is teaching their kids and whether or not the individuals teaching their kids are nut jobs.

Unless gender was related to the teachers ability to teach (PE teacher maybe) there is no reason for the parents to get involved.

So if a school hired Fred Phelps(the guy who runs around protesting that god hates fags at the funerals of fallen troops)to teach your children it wouldn't matter,after all according you it doesn't matter as long as they can teach?

 

[shuamort]

That's not your teacher, it's a man, baby!

Seriously though, I couldn't give two hoots as long as they taught well.

 

[jamesrage]

OK I can understand two of those, but define "sex offender".
:lol:

When I think sex offender I think child rapist/molester,rapist,some guy who runs around exposing himself.

 

[Tucker Case]

When I think sex offender I think child rapist/molester,rapist,some guy who runs around exposing himself.

Oh.... Sorry, I thought that was covered with the "some whacko from PETA". :lol:

 

[jamesrage]

Seriously though, I couldn't give two hoots as long as they taught well.

So if a school hired Fred Phelps, Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin, or some other whack job to teach your kids you couldn't give a rats ass as long as they taught well?

 

[jamesrage]

Oh.... Sorry, I thought that was covered with the "some whacko from PETA". :lol:

That should include them seeing how those PETA nuts think animals are equal to humans.

 

[shuamort]

So if a school hired Fred Phelps, Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin, or some other whack job to teach your kids you couldn't give a rats ass as long as they taught well?

Are they going to stick to the curriculum? Then I don't have a problem. If they are going to espouse personal opinion, then I'll be down at the Principal's office immediately.

Our oldest daughter, 15, is being taught social studies by a Nader supporter. He's taught a very balanced class and has only brought up 3rd parties once and talked more about Ross Perot than Nader. (I found out that he was a Nader supporter last year during a parent-teacher meeting).

 

[rathi]

Transgender folks are not suffering from any medical disorder. You may not understand or like them, but you have no grounds to question their sanity. They are more than capable of being teachers and functioning in normal lives as anyone else. As long as they are able to teach effectively, there is no reason to bar them from their job. Fred Phelps could theoretically suppress his beliefs and make a competent teacher. However, his actions over the years show he would be quite unwilling to make such a choice.

 

[Summerwind]

Exactly, rathi! Seems a bit sureal to read jamesrage regularly calling someone else a whacko, huh?

 

[jallman]

Seriously though, I couldn't give two hoots as long as they taught well.

That's how you and I probably feel, but I do think that the school could have at least extended the courtesy of notifying the parents that there was a situation that might impact their children and need addressing by the parents.

 

[Summerwind]

That's how you and I probably feel, but I do think that the school could have at least extended the courtesy of notifying the parents that there was a situation that might impact their children and need addressing by the parents.

Sounds like they are getting that chance now. I don't agree that parents deserved a heads up at all. It would empower them too much for what's appropriate with a school. Parents do not have either the priviledge or the responsibility of choosing the teachers. I hate teachers, but even still, this is one place not even a parents toe belongs unless or until a law or ethical standard has been breached or is suspected of pending abreachment (???)

 

[jallman]

Sounds like they are getting that chance now. I don't agree that parents deserved a heads up at all. It would empower them too much for what's appropriate with a school. Parents do not have either the priviledge or the responsibility of choosing the teachers. I hate teachers, but even still, this is one place not even a parents toe belongs unless or until a law or ethical standard has been breached or is suspected of pending abreachment (???)

WRONG. Parents have the right to make decisions about what they will and will not expose their children to. They do not have the right to force their beliefs on the school system by making demands for the hiring and firing of teachers based purely on their disapproval, but they do have EVERY right to make determinations as to whether their kids will be exposed to alternative lifestyles in the classroom.

 

[Summerwind]

WRONG. Parents have the right to make decisions about what they will and will not expose their children to. <snip>

True but not through hiring and firing decisions. They can move the kids to another school, or class, or home school; but they have no business in the hiring and firing without evidence or substantiated suspicion.

 

[rivrrat]

The parents have absolutely no right to know the teacher's medical history. None whatsoever. The school is not, and should NEVER be obligated to publicize a teacher's medical history. Not ever. Not only should they not be obligated, they should not be ALLOWED.

 

[jallman]

True but not through hiring and firing decisions. They can move the kids to another school, or class, or home school; but they have no business in the hiring and firing without evidence or substantiated suspicion.

Absolutely. And that's exactly what I said.

I think the school had an obligation to the parents to notify them that a possibly objectionable decision with this teacher's employment had been made and that, while they have no access to arbitrate over the employment of the teacher, that they should be prepared to exercise other alternatives such as moving their children out of the class if they have moral or social objections.

They didn't do this. The first the parents heard about it was from their kids after the fact. That's just wrong.

But hey...it's California and I'm not surprised at all that the school administration was arrogant enough to trump the rights of the parents, preemptively. This is one instance where I would like to see a lawsuit come down hard on the school.