Irving teacher who supported gay pride symbols in school says her contract will be terminated – The Dallas Morning News

An Irving teacher who was forced to remove rainbow stickers from her classroom door supporting gay and transgender rights said the district is terminating her contract at the end of this school year.

Rachel Stonecipher, who taught English and journalism at MacArthur High School, and a colleague were placed on administrative leave in September.

Their removal caused hundreds of students to walk out of class last fall in protest, and Stonecipher was moved to a different school in the district.

Since then, gay and transgender students said they have been called homophobic slurs and bullied with school staff members failing to intervene, according to a report on NBC National News this week.

“It feels like a target was put on us,” Adaiah Knight, a junior who uses they/them pronouns, told NBC News.

Last month, school board trustees upheld the ban on rainbow stickers.

“These stickers are part of a personal agenda,” Dennis Eichelbaum, an attorney for the district, said at the meeting. “They’re giving the wrong impression — they may be endangering students.”

In a statement to NBC News, the district said it does not retaliate against employees for expressing their personal viewpoints but district policy “prohibits teachers from using the classroom to transmit their personal beliefs.”

“Labeling certain classrooms as safe havens for certain groups could communicate to students who do not see themselves reflected in that classroom’s decorations that they are unwanted or unsafe in those rooms.”

The district did not provide examples of students reporting that the rainbow stickers made them uncomfortable, according to NBC News.

In Florida, a new state law forbids instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, a policy that has drawn intense national scrutiny from critics who argue that it marginalizes LGBT people.

Texas Lt. Gov Dan Patrick said this week he wants to replicate the bill in Texas.

Stonecipher told NBC News she plans to move to higher education for work after this school year.

“I don’t want to leave K-12 education, because I care,” she said. “But it’s people like me who leave K-12 education because they care.”