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Tennessee Conservative News Staff –
A Nashville elementary school has agreed to clear the disciplinary record of a teacher who was reassigned and threatened with termination after he refused to read books about same-sex marriage to his first-grade class.
In January, KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary School teacher Eric Rivera was reprimanded by the school’s principal after he did not read the book, which was part of the language arts curriculum, to his students.
Because of his strong religious beliefs, Rivera was not comfortable with reading the book to his students, so he instead opted to temporarily swap classes with another teacher who read to them instead.
Following this, he was called in to a meeting with the principal and told that he would be fired if he did not set aside his religious convictions and abide by the full curriculum.
He then requested a religious exemption but was instead reassigned to a computer lab position before being moved into a kindergarten classroom.
Legal group First Liberty Institute sent a letter to the school on Rivera’s behalf, demanding that the school clear his record and adopt policies that ensure teachers are accommodated.
In the letter, the attorneys explain, “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 established that it is 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 letter continues, “KIPP cannot demonstrate any undue hardship here. Therefore, KIPP failed to reasonably accommodate Mr. Rivera in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.”
The letter also asks the school to ensure that parents are notified when topics of sexuality are going to be discussed.
KIPP officials agreed to restore Rivera’s perfect disciplinary record and also agreed to “all teachers to ask another employee to read materials objectionable to their faith.”
Sources:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/nashville-teacher-record-cleared-refusing-170057409.html
