Georgia teacher fired after reading book on gender to fifth-grade class
Georgia teacher fired after reading book on gender to fifth-grade class
Katie Rinderle read the book “My Shadow is Purple” to her students. The Cobb County school district accused her of violating their policies on controversial issues.
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.”
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Good shit. Elementary school kids don't need to hear that nonsense.
It exists and kids have a gender identity whether you hide it from them or not.
It’s the same broken logic that somehow sex education is somehow causing kids to have sex. Most guys don’t even realize how women pee, sex education has been so broken.
Republicans fucking love an ignorant populace.
The loony right is mad they're losing their monopoly on teaching kids about sex and gender, which they absolutely do just badly and wrongly
Conservatism's view of school "appropriate" gender norms:
"When you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything ... Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything."
Mate, transitioning is like getting a face tattoo. Its a bad idea, but no one can stop you. But kids can't consent, and it shouldn't be taught to kids. This book goes a step further and acts like its a good thing, and not a last resort for mentally ill suicidal people.
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.
Yeah, because if children can't consent, you'd be in trouble, right?
I can’t imagine how thick and foggy the lens is between your head and the world around you.
…Tf are you on about?
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.
You can teach kids to be themselves without bringing self-harm into it.
That’s exactly what the book teaches…
And guess what? This book isn’t “bringing self harm” into anything!
Take your straw man back to whatever garden you stole it from.
Transistioning is self harm. Chopping off body parts is dictionary definition self harm.
TIL I mutilated myself when I had my tonsils taken out
Let me put this in small words for you:
The book is not telling anyone to transition.I’m not engaging your straw man. Put it back outside propped up in a dung heap where it belongs.
Transistioning is self harm
No, it isn't.
Removing body parts that cause distress to a person is normal medical practice. If your appendix is causing you harm, what do they do? Remove it. If your tonsils are causing you harm, they remove them.
For people with gender dysphoria, certain body parts will cause them psychological harm. Removal or modification of those parts has been shown to provide significant, marked relief for patients who opt for those procedures.
"Self harm" refers to a mutilating practice that serves no functional purpose. There is a functional practice to gender-affirming surgeries. Quit trying to make up your own definitions for words and phrases and pretending that your version is reality. Literally thousands of professionals in this field disagree wholeheartedly with your uneducated, uninformed, baseless assessment.
Read a fucking book. But not My Shadow Is Purple; that seems to be a bit too advanced for you just yet. Have you heard of The Very Hungry Caterpillar? That might be a good starting point.
EDIT: Wait, no, I forgot the main character in that book transitions into a butterfly. I'll ship you a copy of Goodnight Moon, maybe.
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 can teach kids to be themselves without bringing self-harm into it.
Good thing the book teaches that.
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?
My Shadow is Purple. Unfortunately, I read the post.
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.
I think most 10 year olds know what gender and sexuality are. I had sex ed in 5th or 6th grade
yep, i had sex ed starting in 4th grade. im still a straight male, so maybe it didn't work?? /s
More importantly, they are exposed to things that the loony right doesn't want them to hear, like the idea of consent or that LGBT people exist and aren't going to burn in hell. That's the parts they hate
Biological gender yes. But for such young children I think its more confusing than helpful to talk about a gender that is freely chosen by an adult on themselves.
But for such young children I think its more confusing than helpful to talk about a gender that is freely chosen by an adult on themselves.
My 11 year old niece just told me that no, it isn't. I asked her. =) She doesn't find the concept of gender confusing at all.
It's moronic adults that are trying to pretend that it's confusing that are causing the issues.
Way too many folks think kids are stupider than they are.
And way too many folks have learned using kids as an excuse works when they want to normalize their bigotry.
What it really is, is that they're too stupid to understand simple concepts, but think they're geniuses. If they, an adult "genius", don't understand the concept, then that must mean it is too complex a concept for children, an incorrect concept, or both. The idea of introspection, that maybe they are the idiot and just don't get it, never even crosses their minds.
Plus just bigotry for bigotry's sake, of course. There's plenty of that going around too, unfortunately.
“Such young children”
How old do you think 5th graders are?
Yes, thank you, I was asking the person I directly replied to.
Well. Here in northern europe 5th graders are 11 years old. So just about to start puberty and very confused already. I just dont think learning about other than biological gender is of any benefit for so young children. Sexual education in itself is ofcourse important.
About to start puberty seems like the perfect time to start teaching kids about gender and explaining the things confusing them. Which is the age the kids in this situation are.
I'm sorry, but what was wrong with you as a child that things about sexuality were so confusing to you? They were explained to me clearly and I had no problem understanding them.
I didn't really even think about it at all, since I fit in pretty well. I just ignored it. But I'm cis af, and not everyone is. So I can see the benefit to those people.
Also I don't think you remember how arbitrary all the gender norms sound when you first learn them. It all sounds totally unnatural at first.
Just because it sounded "unnatural" to you does not mean that is universal.
My point is it's learned behaviour. Most people just forget the learning of it
You know what's really confusing? Feeling Gender dysphoia and not knowing that's what it is.
There is no such thing as "biological gender." You're talking about sex. Gender is a social construct. That you don't even know that suggests you're way out of your element here.
Stop projecting your inability to understand basic concepts onto children.
Why are you so threatened by a biological boy wearing a dress?
You have no idea what the book in question is actually about, do you?
Trans kids exist, ya dingbat.
And most adult trans people wish they transitioned before puberty. Puberty mess sh*t up 😅
I was one.