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posted by: Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux 21 hours ago
Jarretta Hamilton, formerly a fourth-grade teacher at Southland Christian School in St. Cloud, Florida, is now filing suit against the school and its principal for firing her, and for invading her privacy by telling her fellow teachers and her students' parents why she was dismissed. And certainly, this lawsuit seems justified, because Hamilton was fired, not for anything related to her job performance, but rather because she had sex before she got married.
Hamilton was a widow with five children when she began to work at the school in January 2008. She met her future husband during that year, and they married in February 2009. Meanwhile, the two conceived their daughter, who is now eight months old, three weeks before their wedding. Doesn't seem like a big deal, right? But when Hamilton informed the school's principal, Jon Ennis, that she would be taking maternity leave in the fall, he asked her a strange and personal question: whether the child had been conceived before she had married. Hamilton, taken aback, said yes. "I was honest about it. I didn’t know it would cost me my job,” she said.
A week later, she was notified that she was fired. The letter that explained the reason for her termination contained some pretty shocking claims. The school's administrator wrote, "Jarretta was asked not to return because of a moral issue that was disregarded, namely fornication, sex outside of marriage. The employment application, which she filled out, clearly states that as a leader before our students we require all teachers to maintain and communicate the values and purpose of our school."
So...teachers can't have premarital sex? Because a teacher's personal life doesn't really have anything to do with their ability to be a leader for students. I would assume that this will be a slightly harder legal question because the school is private, but I sincerely hope that Hamilton's lawsuit is successful - it's appalling to think that this kind of precedent could be established. The worst part of the story is that when Hamilton was fired, school administrators called a meeting to inform staff members; they also called her students' parents and told them why she had been fired. Talk about overstepping boundaries - that kind of behavior is simply inexcusable.
The school, meanwhile, has asked that Hamilton drop the suit and "consider the testimony of the Lord."
Teacher Fired For Having Premarital Sex
Jarretta Hamilton, formerly a fourth-grade teacher at Southland Christian School in St. Cloud, Florida, is now filing suit against the school and its principal for firing her, and for invading her privacy by telling her fellow teachers and her students' parents why she was dismissed. And certainly, this lawsuit seems justified, because Hamilton was fired, not for anything related to her job performance, but rather because she had sex before she got married.
Hamilton was a widow with five children when she began to work at the school in January 2008. She met her future husband during that year, and they married in February 2009. Meanwhile, the two conceived their daughter, who is now eight months old, three weeks before their wedding. Doesn't seem like a big deal, right? But when Hamilton informed the school's principal, Jon Ennis, that she would be taking maternity leave in the fall, he asked her a strange and personal question: whether the child had been conceived before she had married. Hamilton, taken aback, said yes. "I was honest about it. I didn’t know it would cost me my job,” she said.
A week later, she was notified that she was fired. The letter that explained the reason for her termination contained some pretty shocking claims. The school's administrator wrote, "Jarretta was asked not to return because of a moral issue that was disregarded, namely fornication, sex outside of marriage. The employment application, which she filled out, clearly states that as a leader before our students we require all teachers to maintain and communicate the values and purpose of our school."
So...teachers can't have premarital sex? Because a teacher's personal life doesn't really have anything to do with their ability to be a leader for students. I would assume that this will be a slightly harder legal question because the school is private, but I sincerely hope that Hamilton's lawsuit is successful - it's appalling to think that this kind of precedent could be established. The worst part of the story is that when Hamilton was fired, school administrators called a meeting to inform staff members; they also called her students' parents and told them why she had been fired. Talk about overstepping boundaries - that kind of behavior is simply inexcusable.
The school, meanwhile, has asked that Hamilton drop the suit and "consider the testimony of the Lord."
Teacher Fired For Having Premarital Sex
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