[lg policy] Texas teacher placed on leave days after requesting changes to district policy on LGBTQ language

Fri Mar 9 15:50:11 UTC 2018

 Texas teacher placed on leave days after requesting changes to district
policy on LGBTQ language
Mar 8, 2018 3:58 pm
[image: Texas teacher placed on leave days after requesting changes to
district policy on LGBTQ language] A Texas teacher was placed on
administrative leave after she asked district officials to add LGBTQ
language to the district's policy. (Raul Arboleda/AFP/Getty Images)
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Jana J. Pruet Sr. Staff Writer
<https://www.theblaze.com/author/janapruet/>
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A Texas school teacher was placed on administrative leave with pay last
fall after she requested that school officials modify district policy to
include LGBTQ language.

Stacy Bailey, an elementary art school teacher in Mansfield, Texas, sent an
email to the district’s assistant superintendent and some school board
members at the start of the school year asking to “begin a conversation”
that would include “sexual orientation, gender identity and gender
expression” in the district’s policy language, the Dallas Morning News
reported
<https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2018/03/07/popular-mansfield-teacher-suspended-after-asking-lgbtq-language-misd-policy>
.

Last year, Bailey was named as “Teacher of the Year” at Charlotte Anderson
Elementary School, but the popular teacher has spent the majority of this
school year outside the classroom.
What’s the story?

On Sept. 7, Bailey emailed counselors at another school in the district and
asked if that school had a gay/straight alliance group.

“I’m currently starting dialogue with the district to update our
discriminatory policy to include protection for LGBTQ students, families
and teachers,” Bailey’s email said, according. “I’m doing some research on
how/if MISD high school campuses supply support to their LGBTQ students.”

She received a quick reply and was provided with information for the group
and the name of its sponsor.

Bailey emailed the sponsor and stated she was working on a plan to have
LGBTQ language included in the district’s policy and that she would soon be
meeting with district officials about the idea.

The next day, Sept. 8, Bailey received notice from the district’s associate
superintendent, Kimberley Cantu, that she was being placed on
administrative leave with pay while the district completes an investigation.

There was no reason for the district’s actions or basis for an
investigation, according to documents, the Morning News reported.

Bailey was instructed to “make no contact with students, parents or other
staff members,” or to discuss her “administrative leave situation with
others.” She was also reportedly told not to access “school technology, her
office or department.”

Bailey’s attorney said that the teacher’s record ” has been exemplary.”

School officials have not gone on record about Bailey’s leave and the
disciplinary action taken against her.

The district said in a statement on Wednesday to the Morning News that it
“prohibits discrimination, including harassment, against any employee on
the basis of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, disability or
any other basis prohibited by law. In other words, Mansfield ISD does not
condone harassment or discrimination of any kind toward anyone.”

The district has denied any discrimination against Bailey.
“Our current anti-discrimination policy covers all employees, including the
LGBT community,” Donald Williams, associate superintendent of
communications, told the newspaper in a follow-up call. “That’s really the
heart of Mansfield ISD. We truly believe that and that is our position. We
don’t discriminate against any of employees.”
What else?
Dozens of parents and students showed their support for Bailey at a recent
school board meeting Feb. 28.
Some carried signs that read, “I stand with Miss Bailey,” while others
brought artwork they created in her class.
Nothing has changed and Bailey remains on leave.

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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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