Nashville teacher gets record cleared after being disciplined for not reading LGBTQ book to first-grade students

NY Post ^ | 03/03/2026 | Kristine Parks, Fox News

[DFG]

A Nashville elementary school has cleared the record of a first-grade teacher who was disciplined for refusing to read a book about same-sex marriage to his young students, according to a report.

KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary issued a “final warning letter” to teacher Eric Rivera in January after he declined to read an LGBTQ book to his class that was included in the language arts curriculum.

Due to his Christian beliefs, Rivera said he could not in good conscience read the book to his class, according to legal group First Liberty Institute, and he asked a colleague to read the book instead.

The next day, Rivera was summoned to the principal’s office and threatened with termination. He was told he must maintain “fidelity” to the curriculum, and a discipline letter was placed in his personnel file.

First Liberty said Rivera had received no prior warnings and had no discipline history. Afterward, he asked for a religious accommodation but was instead reassigned to a lab and technology position and then to a kindergarten position, according to the legal group.

After facing a warning letter from First Liberty in February, KIPP Antioch agreed to clear the incident from Rivera’s record, according to a press release Monday from the legal group.

The school will now also allow “all teachers to ask another employee to read materials objectionable to their faith.”

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TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: antioch; lgbtq; nashville; rivera

[Tell It Right]

Elections have consequences.

[HYPOCRACY]

“The school will now also allow “all teachers to ask another employee to read materials objectionable to their faith.”

Not even close to good enough. Get this crap out of the curriculum. Scumbags.

[albie]

“ allow “all teachers to ask another employee to read materials objectionable to their faith.”

…that accomplishes nothing! They’ll always be some dipsh— commie, woke ahole who’ll be glad to read and teach such filth.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

"...he asked a colleague to read the book instead."

While I applaud his stand, this is most unfortunate. He should have told the administration "There's no way in HELL I'm exposing my kids to this immoral and evil garbage."

[BenLurkin]

[hanamizu]

The power of the word “no”.

In the very late 60s I was a Peace Corps Trainee scheduled to go to Afghanistan to teach English. As part of our training, we were told to expect to get solicited for homosexual sex by local government officials. Believe it or not, this was considered a BAD thing.

So a psychiatrist had us role play how we’d deal with such a situation. Everyone hemmed and hawed and finally the psychiatrist told us to simply say, “no”. No explanation, no justification, just to simply say, “no”. That’s how you deal with these kinds of things.

Funny thing is, a word many of us used as our first word, still has power.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Democrats monopoly on education today is THE biggest threat to this nation and nobody does anything about it.

[deport]

Rules are rules and we all have them

[shelterguy]

“””The school will now also allow “all teachers to ask another employee to read materials objectionable to their faith.””””””””””””

So it will still be forced on these innocent little kids.
I don’t see a victory here.

[cuz1961]

Amazing isn’t it ?

If “ I “ read that book to a first grader in the privacy of my house in California,

I could be arrested, charged, convicted and put on a sex offender registration list and sent to the state prison where I’d likely get murdered .

But academia gets permission, paid too, to do that.

The above the law standard for academia needs to go extinct.

[Salman]

A victory fir her, but degeneracy is still the default.

[ADSUM]

I hope she repents, confesses her sins with full contrition in order to avoid Hell.

[ADSUM]

Sorry posted to wrong item.

[MikelTackNailer]

Just went over the school's official materials and was surprised by the things they're doing right, considering it's location in a very ghetto part of Nashville derisively referred to as "L.A." (Lower Antioch). Among the positives are banning phone use during school hours, mandatory uniforms, strict attendance requirements and proactive parental involvement.

The range of students they have makes me think they're not far from herding cats: 620 kids grades K-4, Special Ed 9%, African-American 36%, Hispanic/Latino 23%, Two or More Races 17% (what the hell?), White 12%, Asian 11%, English Language Learners 24%.

But "underneath the hood" I saw this in the opening paragraph:
"The KACPE community is grounded in equity, celebrates diversity, and fosters a rich culture of high academic achievement rooted in joy."

They also have kids using multi-sex restrooms, while at that age seems innocuous, leads them to believe that's the way society should conduct itself. Lastly is the school buildings themselves. Their large boxy structures featuring an odd lack of windows makes me think the place was originally meant to house inmates.

But you can judge for yourself from this link to their web page.