A California teacher claims that a school district fired her from her job due to her refusal to hide from the students and parents their uncertainties regarding sexual identities and discrimination against her Christian views.
'Refusing to Comply With the District's Gender Policies'
According to Christian Post, Jessica Tapia, a physical education teacher for the Jurupa Unified School District, was terminated on Jan. 31 due to her refusal to comply with the district's gender standards.
Tapia stated that she was forced to choose between complying with the district's directives, even when they went against her ideas, convictions, and faith, or being faithful, choosing to have faith, and deciding to be obedient to the way the Lord has commanded her to live. Then she realized she could not be a Christian and a teacher simultaneously.
Jurupa Unified School District Stance
According to a notice published on the letterhead of Superintendent Trenton Hansen, the school district stated that they could not accommodate Tapia's Christian beliefs. Those beliefs forbade her to conceal information on gender transitions from the parents of the students, Fox News reported.
As a direct result of their decision, the district terminated Tampa's employment effective at the close of business on Jan. 31, 2023. She cannot be dishonest with the parents based on her religious views. Suppose a parent asked Tampa about a student's gender identity. In that case, she is not allowed to refer the parent to a counselor, suggests that they speak with a student, or otherwise deflect the parent's inquiry in any way.
Assistant superintendent of human resources Daniel Brooks further stated in the letter that the district could not accommodate the teacher's religious beliefs that prohibit her from maintaining a student's gender identity and refraining from disclosing a student's gender identity to his/her/their parent(s)/guardians, it continued.
Tapia stated that the pupils in the school district are guaranteed their right to privacy. And so, if a student confides in a teacher information about a pronoun preference or the possibility that they could be the opposite gender of what they are biologically, teachers are supposed to conceal that information from the student's parents if the student's parents are unaware of the data.
A report from the Mail Online stated that the school district denied engaging in religious discrimination against Tapia, pointing out that the law in California prohibits schools from disclosing the identity of transgender students to family members without the approval of the student. According to the California Department of Education, state legislation that went into effect in 2014 mandates that schools must speak with a transgender student before alerting anyone else of the student's gender identity to respect the kid's right to personal privacy.
Under the same law, students in California schools are required to be given access to restrooms and locker rooms that conform with their self-identified gender. Moreover, Tapia stated that she, too, did not want to adhere to that guideline since she did not want to be exposed to 'male genitals' in the female locker room.
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