An Indiana counselor fired after criticizing the college’s transgender plan is taking the college district to courtroom, arguing that the coverage violates her spiritual beliefs by compelling her to make use of college students’ cross-sex names and pronouns with out requiring parental notification.
Kathy McCord, an educator and counselor with 37 years’ expertise, is in search of reinstatement after being dismissed in March by the South Madison Community School Corp.’s gender assist plan, which requires employees to make use of college students’ most well-liked names and pronouns, in some instances with out telling mother and father.
The lawsuit stated that beneath the coverage, “if the student’s parents had either not received notice or not given consent to South Madison’s social transition of the student, then Mrs. McCord and the other counselors were required to instruct the teachers not to inform the student’s parents about the social transition.”
“South Madison violated Kathy’s rights by forcing her to contradict her religious beliefs and participate in this policy,” stated Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Vincent Wagner. “Schools can’t keep secrets from parents about their children’s mental health and well-being.”
The federal lawsuit filed Thursday stated the coverage was enacted within the 2021-22 tutorial yr with out being introduced publicly earlier than the college board or posted on-line, however when an Indiana-based reporter discovered about it, he contacted Mrs. McCord for verification.
Mrs. McCord, who had raised objections to the coverage and sought an exemption from her supervisor with out success, confirmed the authenticity of the gender assist plan and expressed her considerations about it.
Six weeks after the primary article ran in The Daily Signal, she obtained a Jan. 20 termination letter accusing her of constructing false statements to the reporter and mendacity about how he gained entry to the gender assist plan. She has denied each allegations. The faculty board voted to fireside her in March.
“I just don’t want this to happen to anyone else. It’s terrible what they’re doing to parents,” fired faculty counselor Kathy McCord tells @TheTonus https://t.co/tcY6SqruLC</ p>— Ken McIntyre (@KenMac55) May 18, 2023
Mrs. McCord isn’t the primary educator to battle faculty transgender insurance policies. Three academics in Loudoun County, Virginia, have challenged the district’s coverage requiring employees to make use of college students’ most well-liked pronouns.
One of the academics, Tanner Cross, was suspended in 2021 for talking out towards the coverage at a college board assembly. He was reinstated in a settlement with the college district.
The McCord lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division, seeks to have her reinstated and prohibit the district from requiring her to implement the gender assist plan.
Mrs. McCord stated she plans to retire in 2026 after her grandson graduates from Pendleton (Indiana) Heights High School, the place she works. The district has one highschool, one center faculty and 4 elementary faculties.
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