A first-grade teacher in Nashville, Tennessee, claims that he was threatened with termination and reassigned to a new position after requesting religious accommodations to avoid reading books to children that promote same-sex marriage, which would have conflicted with his beliefs about marriage and sexuality.
Eric Rivera is a devout Christian who taught first-grade students at KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary School, according to a Wednesday statement from the First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit public interest law firm. KIPP is a public charter school that operates under the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission.
According to a letter First Liberty Institute sent to school officials on Rivera’s behalf on Tuesday, the conflict began in January, when Rivera noticed that the selected Language Arts curriculum for his class included a book featuring a same-sex couple and their child.
“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, said in a statement provided to The Christian Post.
“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 College Prep Elementary did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.
The legal group’s letter stated that it would “pursue available remedies accordingly” if it did not receive a response from the school by Friday.
One of the books Rivera was asked to read to his students was Stella Brings the Family, as WZTV reports. The book tells the story of a girl with two dads who is worried about how to celebrate Mother’s Day without a mom.
Rivera felt the material in the book conflicted with his religious beliefs and that he could not, in “good conscience,” read it to his students and lead a discussion about it. The teacher requested that a colleague read the book to the students on Jan. 6 instead, while he remained in the classroom to observe.
The following day, the first-grade teacher received a summons to the principal’s office, where 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 school officials.
“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.’”
In addition to threatening further disciplinary action such as termination, the “Final Warning” letter also stated, “A copy of this unsatisfactory notice is being placed in your personnel file.”
Rivera claims that he had not received any prior warnings from the school before they issued the “Final Warning” letter, nor had he been subject to any disciplinary actions. The Christian teacher says that he later accepted a teaching technology position before switching to a kindergarten position.
“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 document reads.
In 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.”
Teacher's job threatened for refusing to read LGBT book: lawsuit | Education
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